THE JUNGLE BOOK TAKES TOP HONOURS AT VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY AWARDS

As predicted, The Jungle Book has aced it at the Visual Effects Society awards. Five wins were presented to Disney's live-action-ish remake, as the studio's fellow blockbuster Rogue One goes home empty-handed. Check out the VES' nominations at this link, and their winners in full below.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Joyce Cox, Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, J. D. Schwalm and Adam Valdez (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Burt Dalton, John Galloway, Craig Hammack, Petra Holtorf-Stratton and Jason Snell (Deepwater Horizon)

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

Andrei Coval, Paul Story, Jack Tema and Dennis Yoo - 'King Louie' (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

John Brennan, Robert Legato, Bill Pope and Gary Roberts (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Jean Bolte, Kelvin Lau, Kevin Sprout and Kim Vongbunyong - 'Deepwater Horizon rig' (Deepwater Horizon)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Tim Belsher, Jon Mitchell, Martijn van Herk and Adam Watkins - 'New York City' (Doctor Strange)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Fabian Nowak, Ludovic Ramisandraina, David Schneider and Oliver Winwood - 'Nature effects' (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

Matthew Adams, Masaki Mitchell, Christoph Salzmann and Max Stummer (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Steve Emerson, Travis Knight, Brad Schiff and Arianne Sutner (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Steven Clay Hunter, Jonathan Hoffman, Mark Piretti and Audrey Wong - 'Hank' (Finding Dory)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Rob Dressel, Andy Harkness, Brien Hindman and Larry Wu - 'Motonui Island' (Moana)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Marc Henry Bryant, David Hutchins, John M. Kosnik and Dale Mayeda (Moana)

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Johannes Franz, Alexander Richter, Nicole Rothermel and Thomas Sali (Breaking Point)

VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY: ROGUE ONE, NOMINATIONS SEVEN

The Visual Effects Society has chosen its nominations for the best VFX work in film last year. The VES departs fairly significantly from the Academy's shortlist, with four of those ten absent entirely here, some of them particularly surprising. Awards will take place on the 7th of February.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Richard Bluff, Stephane Ceretti, Vincent Cirelli, Paul Corbould and Susan Pickett (Doctor Strange)

Jelmer Boskma, Frazer Churchill, Hal Couzens, Andrew Lockley and Hayley Williams (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children)

Tim Burke, Pablo Grillo, Christian Manz, David Watkins and Olly Young (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

Neil Corbould, Erin Dusseault, Hal T. Hickel, John Knoll and Nigel Sumner (Rogue One)

Joyce Cox, Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, J. D. Schwalm and Adam Valdez (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Kevin Baillie, Brennan Doyle, Viktor Muller, Sandra Scott and Richard van den Bergh (Allied)

Brian Barlettani, Ivan Busquets, Juan Garcia, Pablo Helman and R. Bruce Steinheimer (Silence)

Dan Barrow, Huw Evans, Julian Gnass, Charlie Noble and Steve Warner (Jason Bourne)

Mark Curtis, Tyler Kehl, Bryan Litson, Michael Owens and Steven Riley (Sully)

Burt Dalton, John Galloway, Craig Hammack, Petra Holtorf-Stratton and Jason Snell (Deepwater Horizon)

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

Gabriel Beauvais-Tremblay, Luc Girard, Laurent Laban and Romain Rico - 'Niffler' (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

Brian Cantwell, Brian Paik, Park Jee Young and Sunny Wei - 'Durotan' (Warcraft)

Andrei Coval, Paul Story, Jack Tema and Dennis Yoo - 'King Louie' (The Jungle Book)

Julio del Rio Hernandez, Jake Harrell, James Hood and Benjamin Jones - 'Shere Khan' (The Jungle Book)

Cyrus Jam, Sven Jensen, Park Jee Young and Steve Walton - 'Grand Moff Tarkin' (Rogue One)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Christopher Baird, Michelle Blok, Patrick Tiberius Gehlen and Drew Wood-Davies - 'Battle of the bastards' (Game of Thrones)

John Brennan, Robert Legato, Bill Pope and Gary Roberts (The Jungle Book)

Mathew Cowie, Landis Fields, Faraz Hameed and Frederic Medioni - 'New York mirror dimension' (Doctor Strange)

Steve Ellis, Barry Howell, Lee Eui Sung and John Levin - 'Space battle' (Rogue One)

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Jean Bolte, Kelvin Lau, Kevin Sprout and Kim Vongbunyong - 'Deepwater Horizon rig' (Deepwater Horizon)

Marko Chulev, Steven Knipping, Jay Machado and Orikasa Akira - 'Star Destroyer' (Rogue One)

Chris Elmer, Andreas Maaninka, Daniel Nicholson and Rhys Salcombe - 'Enterprise' (Star Trek Beyond)

Paul Giacoppo, Gareth Jensen, James Tooley and Todd Vaziri - 'Princess Leia' (Rogue One)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Tim Belsher, Jon Mitchell, Martijn van Herk and Adam Watkins - 'New York City' (Doctor Strange)

Enrico Damm, Yanick Dusseault, Kevin George and Olivier Vernay-Kim  - 'Scarif complex' (Rogue One)

Seth Hill, Marc-Antoine Paquin, Jedediah Smith and Laurent Taillefer - 'Freeway assault' (Deadpool)

Gregory Ng, Raphael A. Pimentel, Brendan Seals and Andrew Zink - 'London' (Doctor Strange)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Jacob Clark, Joseph Pepper, Klaus Seitschek and Cosku Turhan - 'Rust' (Alice Through the Looking Glass)

David Kirchner, Azhul Mohamed, Georges Nakhle and Florian Witzel - 'Hong Kong reverse destruction' (Doctor Strange)

Luca Mignardi, Ciaran Moloney, Miguel Perez Senent and Matt Puchala - 'Jedha destruction' (Rogue One)

Fabian Nowak, Ludovic Ramisandraina, David Schneider and Oliver Winwood - 'Nature effects' (The Jungle Book)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

Matthew Adams, Masaki Mitchell, Christoph Salzmann and Max Stummer (The Jungle Book)

Jess Burnheim, Alana Newell, Andy Peel and Matthew Shaw - 'Quicksilver rescue' (X-Men: Apocalypse)

Jose Fernandez, Matthew Lane, Amy Shepard and Ziad Shureih - 'New York City' (Doctor Strange)

Mathew Giampa, Daniel Lee, Adrian Sutherland and Ed Wilkie - 'Under the mothership' (Independence Day: Resurgence)

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Pascal Bertrand, Jamie Caliri, Jinko Gotoh and Mark Osborne (The Little Prince)

Chris J. Chapman, Lindsey Collins, John Halstead and Angus MacLane (Finding Dory)

Hank Driskill, Ian Gooding, Nicole P. Hearon and Kyle Odermatt (Moana)

Steve Emerson, Travis Knight, Brad Schiff and Arianne Sutner (Kubo and the Two Strings)

David Goetz, Scott Kersavage, Ernest J. Petti and Bradford S. Simonsen (Zootopia)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Andy Bailey, Jessica Lynn, Kim Slate and Dobrin Yanev - 'Monkey' (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Steven Clay Hunter, Jonathan Hoffman, Mark Piretti and Audrey Wong - 'Hank' (Finding Dory)

Mack Kablan, Nikki Mull, Matthew Schiller and Marc Thyng - 'The Mighty Maui' (Moana)

Adam Lawthers, Jeremy Spake, Jeff Riley and Ian Whitlock - 'Kubo' (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Phil Brotherton, Emily Greene, Nick Mariana and Joe Strasser - 'Hanzo's fortress' (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Rob Dressel, Andy Harkness, Brien Hindman and Larry Wu - 'Motonui Island' (Moana)

Stephen Gustafson, Jack Hattori, Jesse Hollander and Micahel Rutter - 'Open ocean exhibit' (Finding Dory)

David Horsley, Kuboto Takashi, Daniel Leatherdale and Eric Wachtman - 'Waves' (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Marc Henry Bryant, David Hutchins, John M. Kosnik and Dale Mayeda (Moana)

Nicholas Burkard, Claudia Chung Sanii, Moe El-Ali and Thom Wickes (Zootopia)

Stephen Gustafson, Allen Hemberger, Joshua Jenny and Matthew Kiyoshi Wong (Finding Dory)

David Horsley, Timur Khodzhaev, Peter Stuart and Terrance Tornberg - 'Water' (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

David Bellenbaum, Denis Krez, Lena-Carolin Lohfink and Adrian Meyer (Elemental)

Victor Caire, Theophile Dufresne, Gabriel Grapperon and Lucas Navarro (Garden Party)

Johannes Franz, Alexander Richter, Nicole Rothermel and Thomas Sali (Breaking Point)

Mareike Keller, Dennis Mueller and Meike Mueller (Shine)

REVIEW - ROGUE ONE (GARETH EDWARDS)

All the artistic integrity in the galaxy can't save a filmmaker from the studio machine. Gareth Edwards knows this all too well, I assume, though as long as they're willing to exploit his idiosyncratic intentions to their advantage, he's willing to allow his artistry these rapidly accumulating opportunities to flourish. There's much too much in Rogue One for Edwards to oversee, and the film is another show of directorial excellence undercut by a fussy lack of focus. As a Star Wars 'story,' it's lacking in magic and majesty, the jobsworth's project whose principal concern is getting the narrative from A to Z, predestined points on a remarkably coherent timeline. Rogue One has no need for the extravagance that both buoyed and blighted the Star Wars prequels, and nor does Edwards - his style is seductive though never embracing, its delights in seeing and never engaging, with a boisterous edit reigning in his aesthetic flair. If that's mostly what this film has in its favour, and thus the attribute without which it utterly cannot do, count your blessings: Rogue One may not hang around long enough to let its finer qualities settle in adequately, but the brevity of their presentation keeps the appetite ever un-whetted until its final payoff. And that sense of predestination, engendering a modesty and a reticence toward world-building that are in too short supply elsewhere in this mega-franchise, means no mistakes left untended, no questions unanswered, no loose threads left dangling. Edwards may still struggle to release the full force of his artistic intentions in the big-budget arena, but his determined efficiency is a perfect fit for a story about a mission to get a good job done at any cost, and those intentions half-realized yet produce the most stylistically satisfying Star Wars movie to date.

OFFICIAL TRAILER #2 FOR ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Not to be confused with 'Rouge One,' the similarly-titled film which many online seem to think is being released worldwide in mid-December, though on which I can find no actual information. Curious that. Anyway, this is the second full-length trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, due to be released in North America and the British Isles on the 16th of December, and virtually everywhere else some time between the 14th and the 16th.

NEW TRAILER FOR ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Oh, just some trailer for some film or something. Out in both British Isles and North America on the 16th of December.

FIRST TRAILER FOR ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Look at this! A new Star Wars movie! Rogue One may be just as much of a gamble for Disney as The Force Awakens, given that this marks the first live action diversion from the main canon story to be afforded a full theatrical release. Gareth Edwards' film will be hoping to ride on the success of last year's smash hit, and probable strong reviews from critics, to box office success when it opens in the UK and the US on the 16th of December.