Transformers Short-Listed for Oscar Noms

Oscar's are coming next year and Transformers is already on the short lists for two categories for Visual Special Effects and Best Song.

According to Variety Transformers joins 14 other movies on a short list which will be reduced to 7 and then further reduced to the final 3. The whittling down process is that voting members have time to see the films before casting a vote, which is typically a problem for the Oscars where the voters don't really know anything about what they are voting for and so make choices either based on popularity or advertisments (hmm that sounds familiar). Visual effects specifically refers to computer generated or model work that is used in film. So for the Transformers, that work would be, well most of the film. For Die Hard 4, it might be the jet sequences which was a combo of real, CGI, and model work.

I guess the hope is that this will lead to a more solid line up of contenders rather then head-scratchers but then that doesn't explain some of the choices below. They all use VFX but to me the category should be about those that really use visual effects effectivily and move the quality bar a little further and of the list that is Transformers.

The entire list of 15 for Special Effects, in alphabetical order, is: “Beowulf,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Evan Almighty,” “The Golden Compass,” “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix,” “I Am Legend,” “Live Free Or Die Hard,” “National Treasure: Book Of Secrets,” “Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End,” “Ratatouille,” “Spider-Man 3,” “Sunshine,” “300,” “Transformers,” and “The Water Horse.”

For Best Song, the "short-list" is made up of 59 songs, one of which is "Before It’s Too Late (Sam and Mikaela’s Theme)” from “Transformers” by the Goo Goo Dolls. The complete list is here. From this list the final 3-5 songs will be chosen for Oscar contention. Hate to say it, but I don't think the song stands a snow balls chance. It was barely used in the movie (chords where used during the film) and it wasn't really all that impressive a song. Also its a big summer box office movie. Best Song nomonees rarely come from those.

Now remember this is just a short-list of possible Oscar contenders, not a finalized list of nomoniees for only those two categories. There are many other categories that its can still be nominated for. Usually the Oscars snub summer big boom movies for the main categories (those that air on TV) but they tend to get nominated in the technical rewards (effects, etc) so I wouldn't be surprised if Transformers gets a few more nominations in mid-January. (source)