The Flux Capacitor 2.22.08: Week 22 - The Science Fiction Oscars

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 02.22.2008

It's the First Annual Flux Capacitor Science Fiction Oscars *cough*!

Stop the presses! Yes, last week I forgot the Oscars were a-coming, so instead of our scheduled look at the arch-villains of science fiction, I instead have for you:

The First Annual Flux Capacitor Science Fiction Oscars

That sounds sufficiently grandiose, although I need a bit of snappy short hand to go with it. "Sci-Fiscars"? That'll have to do. Anyway, welcome one and all to an awards ceremony dedicated to recognizing the best the SF genre had to offer in the past year. The Academy Awards tend to push science fiction to one side, no doubt because the genre is seen as some sort of nerd haven by the stuffy Academy members. I don't believe a SF movie has won one of the major Oscars since World War II in fact (unless you want to argue Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as sci-fi). So here at "The Flux Capacitor", we're going to take some time out to honor sci-fi in all its cinematic glory. So, without further ado, let's get on with the ceremony! Oh hang on, there does seem to be a small amount of ado left:

SPOILER WARNING - If you haven't seen some of the movies that are nominated for these awards, then I may well be gratuitously spoiling some aspects of them for you. If you don't like it, don't read it.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Nominees:

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer [John Nugent]
I Am Legend [Janek Sirrs]
Spiderman 3 [Richard Kidd]
Sunshine [Tom Wood]
Transformers [Richard Kidd]

Winner: Transformers

Perhaps the only winner in this column that's also likely to win the real-life Oscar as well, there's no doubt that Transformers implements some truly stunning (and at times flawless) CGI, and the requisite big-budget spectacle of a Michael bay film is handled with aplomb by visual effects supervisor Richard Kidd. Kidd certainly deserves some recognition, as combined with his superb work on Spidey 3 he set the bar in 2007 for motion picture visual effects, and it's set at a height we could only have dreamed of a few years back. Despite any reservations you may have about the movie itself, it can't be argued that the Transformers themselves appeared almost photo-real at times, and the sheer scale of the movie's effects easily outshone any of the other nominees. In terms of purely visceral appeal to the movie audience, Transformers is the easy winner here.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Nominees:

28 Weeks Later [John Murphy]
I Am Legend [James Newton Howard]
The Invasion [John Ottman]
Spiderman 3 [Christopher Young]
Transformers [Steve Jablonsky]

Winner: 28 Weeks Later

Kudos to John Murphy, who created probably the only genuinely memorable sci-fi soundtrack of the year for the otherwise mediocre zombie chiller 28 Weeks Later. Taking inspiration from the suspenseful ambient music created for the movie's predecessor by post-rock legends Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Murphy's score is the scariest aspect of the movie (except for, arguably, the zombie-siege opening sequence and the ridiculous name bestowed upon the child actor who takes center stage - Mackintosh Muggleton, if you're curious). Despite falling victim to a rather strange desire to hammer home the central theme no fewer than four times during the film's running length, Murphy's compositions are at once redolent of a devastated world and counterpoint neatly the increasingly frenetic action on screen. Plus, they have the advantage of reminding you of that superb scene in 28 Days Later where Cillian Murphy (no relation) walks around a desolate London to the strains of Godspeed's work. As zombie movie soundtracks go, this is the top of the pile.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Nominees:

Jessica Biel [Next]
Alice Braga [I Am Legend]
Rose Byrne [Sunshine]
Bryce Dallas Howard [Spiderman 3]
Imogen Poots [28 Weeks Later]

Winner: Rose Byrne [Sunshine]

A traditionally weak field in terms of science fiction, but in 2007 there were actually one or two notable performances by actresses in less-than-central roles (as well as one or two nominees here to make up the numbers). I plumped for Byrne purely because in a film whose cast is comprised of a solid ensemble of character performances, her role as Cassie the ship's pilot is the most emotionally centered. With other actors running the gamut from aggressive and deranged to calm and collected, it's Byrne who is the most assured as a character wearing her heart on her sleeve. Plus, she has the credit of being one of the few characters to survive through the film's full running length. Interesting fact - Byrne also appears in a minor role in 28 Weeks Later.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Nominees:

Michael Chiklis [Fantastic Four]
Cliff Curtis [Sunshine]
J.K. Simmons [Spiderman 3]
Mark Strong [Sunshine]
John Turturro [Transformers]

Winner: Cliff Curtis [Sunshine]

Curtis' Dr. Searle is by far the most intriguing character of the crew in Sunshine, and despite being given a disappointingly limited amount of screen time Curtis makes the character his own. Ostensibly the ship's psychologist, and thus presumably the most intellectually and mentally stable character, Searle develops an increasing obsession with the power of the Sun, leading him almost to the brink of paranoia and religious mania. Curtis covers the character arc with remarkable clarity given the short amount of time he has to play with, and when Searle is written out of the movie you spend a good deal of time wondering what he could have offered had he been around until the end. It's interesting characters like this that make good sci-fi work.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE

Nominees:

Appleseed Ex Machina [Japan]
Chrysalis [France]
Eden Log [France]
Nos Amis les Terriens [France]
Tales From Earthsea [Japan]

Winner: Tales From Earthsea

Not a hugely strong field this year, and the only real competition to Goro Miyazaki's adaptation of the Ursula Le Guin novel was the original, if not entirely successful, French mockumentary Nos Amis les Terriens, showing Earth from an alien daytime TV point-of-view. While Tales From Earthsea isn't a stellar anime film, it's certainly a very enjoyable one, even if it does take a fair few liberties with the source material. Miyazaki isn't quite treading in his father's footsteps just yet, but he certainly shows the potential to get there one day. The animation is, of course, sublime, and with Disney now producing very little 2D output you have to think that Japan, and the Miyazakis in particular, have the market cornered in terms of traditional animation. One word of warning though - the dubbed Western version, featuring such thespian luminaries as Matt Levin and Cheech (of "& Chong" fame), shows that these movies are best experienced in their native language.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Nominees:

I Am Legend [Akiva Goldsman; Mark Protosevich]
The Man From Earth [Jerome Bixby]
Next [Gary Goldman; Jonathan Hensleigh]
Stardust [Jane Goldman; Matthew Vaughn]
Sunshine [Alex Garland]

Winner: The Man From Earth

The inevitable "quirky choice gets the surprise win" award goes to Jerome Bixby's intelligent and ruminative The Man From Earth, in which a retiring professor reveals to his colleagues that he is in fact around 14,000 years old. Leaning heavily towards the introspective and philosophical end of the science fiction spectrum, the film grapples with an assortment of gripping ideas, some contrived and some remarkable, and for any frustration you might have with the development (or possibly lack of) of some of themes on display, the movie remains sufficiently well-written to keep you hooked until the denouement. Although the movie was only available on limited release originally, it possesses a script more compelling than that of many Hollywood entries into the genre, and for that it deserves some recognition.

BEST ACTRESS

Nominees:

Jessica Alba [Fantastic Four]
Claire Danes [Stardust]
Julianne Moore [Next]
Michelle Pfeiffer [Stardust]
Michelle Yeoh [Sunshine]

Winner: Michelle Pfeiffer

Another relatively weak category is dominated by the chicks from Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and I have to give the nod to Pfeiffer as the 'orrible wicked witch Lamia. Not wishing to denigrate her performance, but let's face it, the first thing you notice about the girl is that she looks absolutely stunning in this movie. Luvverly. Anyway, assisted by some nifty CGI, Pfeiffer manages to cross the boundary between seductive cougar and shrill evil hag with aplomb, and unlike other members of the cast (De Niro, I'm looking your way) never crosses the essential line into pantomime OTT. Fantasy/SF adventure flicks like Stardust inevitably rely a fair amount on their main villain, and Pfeiffer delivers a solid take on the archetype that, for me at least, was the most memorable part of the movie.

BEST ACTOR

Nominees:

Robert Carlyle [28 Weeks Later]
Shia LaBoeuf [Transformers]
Cillian Murphy [Sunshine]
David Lee Smith [The Man From Earth]
Will Smith [I Am Legend]

Winner: Will Smith

Unlike many of the other categories, this winner was an easy choice and a walk in the park for Smith. As Dr. Robert Neville, the man who will go on to create the titular legend, Smith is burdened with the task of carrying the entire movie for the first forty minutes or so, and even after the introduction of other supporting characters (both good and bad) he remains the central focus. It's a powerhouse performance, convincingly portraying the desparation and paranoia of the last man on earth, and even some of the film's more suspicious scenes (see: the mannequins in the shop, the death of Sam) are lent credence by Smith's abilities. Will may well be one of the most likeable leading men in cinema, but he's also proven himself as science fiction's go-to guy when a strong central performance is required, and he's bang on the money in I Am Legend.

BEST DIRECTOR

Nominees:

Michael Bay [Transformers]
Danny Boyle [Sunshine]
Francis Lawrence [I Am Legend]
Sam Raimi [Spiderman 3]
Matthew Vaughn [Stardust]

Winner: Francis Lawrence

In a rare break from Oscar tradition (well, technically since it's the first time I've done this there's no tradition at all, but you know what I mean), the decision has been split between best director and best picture, two categories that usually go hand in hand. Francis Lawrence was somewhat of an untried hand when it came to directing a big-budget SF movie, especially one that had been gestating in production for over a decade, with only the decent Constantine really to his name. Thankfully Lawrence stepped up to the plate and delivered a confident and assured vision of a devastated future, with some wonderful shots of a desolate New York combined with some bravura action sequences, and fair amount of good-old-fashioned storytelling to boot. Surely the hardest task a director faced all year, and Lawrence was talented enough to succeed.

BEST PICTURE

Nominees:

I Am Legend
The Man From Earth
Spiderman 3
Sunshine
Stardust

Winner: Sunshine

A close call, this one. Spidey was disappointing, Stardust and The Man From Earth were both decent, but I Am Legend and Sunshine were both the standout movies from 2007's crop of science fiction films. Both movies set up an exciting and unique premise and deliver both in the action and storyline stakes for the majority of their time, before slightly unravelling towards the end. In the end I plumped for Sunshine, simply because it wasn't bound by the literary pedigree of Legend and was free to flourish. There's something almost ethereal about Sunshine, with seven astronauts taking to the stars in search of salvation for the Earth and finding instead... well, I wouldn't want to spoil it. If you get the chance to watch this on a big screen, the visuals will sear themselves into your brain (quite literally in places), and the atmosphere the movie invokes is one of the most simultaneously unsettling and satisfactory, and above all unique, of anything seen in 2007.

Some mildly diverting statistics:

Total number of nominations: 50
Total number of categories: 10
Total number of films nominated: 15
Most nominations: Sunshine (9)
Most wins: Sunshine (3)
Unluckiest nominee: Spiderman 3 (6 noms, 0 wins)

And finally…

Well there you have it, the first annual Sci-Fiscars. Hopefully this can become a yearly tradition! As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line or leave a comment. You can also check out my column "The Wonder Years" over at 411 Games. Next week in "The Flux Capacitor" - we get back to regularly scheduled programming with a look at every hero's greatest necessity, the arch-villain. Until then - keep watching the skies.