My Award Nominations: Visual Effects

Tomorrow the VES will bestow a bunch of hardware on The Jungle Book (or so I presume), but there was a ton of other impressive work done out there worthy of Best Visual Effects consideration. And I have to hand it to the Academy's vfx branch too: This year, they got it exactly right.
Here are my top five:

DEEPWATER HORIZON

(Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington, Burt Dalton)

Perhaps the greatest feather in its cap is that people weren't even noticing its amazing effects until they were revealed at the vfx bake-off. That's how convincing they are. Favourite effects include:

-The mud blowout

-The derrick explosion

-The on-set pyrotechnics

DOCTOR STRANGE
(Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli, Paul Corbould)

Aka: Inception on steroids. This eye-crossing action adventure is undoubtedly at its best when treating us to its trippy, kaleidoscopic spatial manipulations. Dare to watch in 3D? Favourite effects include:

-Magical mystery tour

-New York mirror dimension

-Tokyo reverse-destruction

THE JUNGLE BOOK
(Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones)

It's an extensive achievement: An entirely virtual environment (a gorgeous one at that) and a whole menagerie of photoreal animals that look and move like the real deal. Favreau et.al., take a bow. Favourite effects include:

-King Louis

-Shere Khan

-The fiery climax

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
(Steve Emerson, Brad Schiff, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean)

Animated innovation of rarefied ilk. Laika's interplay of practical riggings and digital elements has never been more seamless. Harryhausen himself would be stunned. Favourite effects include:

-Kubo's origami puppet show

-The leafy galleon

-The garden of eyes

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
(John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, Neil Corbould)

Designed from the outset to put us more in the centre of the action than most Star Wars efforts. Painstakingly recreates digital models of familiar ships (and familiar people...). Favourite effects include:

-K-2SO

-Jedha destruction

-Vader's hallway massacre

Just missed:
Arrival
(Louis Morin, Philippe Theroux, Alexandre Lafortune, Arnaud Brisebois)

Other considerations:

Captain America: Civil War

(Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Greg Steele, Dan Sudick)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

(Tim Burke, Christian Manz, Pablo Grillo, David Watkins)

Passengers

(Erik Nordby, Pete Dionne, Sebastien Gourdal, Dan Sudick)

Star Trek Beyond

(Peter Chiang, Sean Stranks, Kevin Baillie, Cameron Waldbauer)