History VisualEffectsOfAwesome / FILM

!!Film series with their own pages
[[index]]
* ''VisualEffectsOfAwesome/TheLordOfTheRings''
* ''VisualEffectsOfAwesome/StarWars''
[[/index]]
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* Creator/JamesCameron's ''Film/{{Avatar}}'':
** There had been lots of [[SerkisFolk motion-capture]] characters in film, but the Na'vi are probably the first ones anyone would want to have sex with.
** The holographic maps Parker uses and all the other screens in the base.
** And the forest, particularly at night in a world full of bioluminescence, and the flying machines and creatures, and Sam Worthington's convincingly atrophied legs.
** One of the most impressive things about the effects was the way the CG characters interacted with the live action ones. In particular the sequence between Jake and Neytiri when she sees Jake's human body for the first time. Jake touches Neytiri's Face and Neytiri holds Jake's hand, and it looks perfectly seamless.
** The [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D]] was simply revolutionary. This was the first 3D movie with a truly progressive depth of field to fully exploit the effect as opposed to a succession of fairly flat layers with a few gimmicky objects being waved in the audience's face. Easily the biggest leap forward in Visual Effects (and, arguably, film-making in general) since [[{{Film/ANewHope}} 1977]], if not [[{{Film/TheWizardOfOz}} 1939]].
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/IronMan1'':
*** By far the best visual effects work is during the scene when Tony's entire automated workshop dresses him in his Mark III armor, piece by piece, finishing with placing his helmet and mask.
** ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'':
*** Most anyone you ask will agree that the effects were many, many times better than those of the earlier ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' film. Both the Hulk and the Abomination had very good muscle definition and skin texture for CGI creations, and the scenes where they are in the rain are downright cool. Yes, even the Hulk's {{narm}} scene in the cave. The film also required both creatures to do a lot of interaction with real environments, people and other elements, which was pulled off pretty well.
** ''Film/IronMan2''
*** Tony Stark putting on his "suitcase armor".
** ''Film/{{Thor}}'':
*** The cosmic end-credits sequence, featuring the camera zooming through Yggdrasil on the path between Earth and Asgard, is a sight to behold.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'':
*** The film was shot with around 90% of it being practical effects. Scenes like the train scene, any of the shield tossing scenes, and the on foot street chase (which uses slowed frame rates to make it appear as if the titular character is running and jumping really fast) are just bone-chillingly awesome as a result. In addition, Johnston shot the film in 2D with [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D in mind]] so he could ensure careful attention to detail for the 3D conversion. The result is a fantastic practical effects driven film that is awesome watching it, and even looking insanely awesome in 3D, despite being post-converted.
*** The 3D conversion itself was raved about when released in cinemas. Many thought the film was shot in 3D as it looked so good when it was converted. When it was seen in [=UltraAVX=] cinemas, one couldn't help but be blown away by the achievement. Further, the scene where the shield swings into the camera before heading into the base near the end is so well done, it'll make you jump out of your seat.
*** While a lot of it falls because of the [[Creator/ChrisEvans actor]], the visual effects used to show a pre [[SuperSerum Super-Soldier Serum]] Steve Rogers is pretty impressive. A combination of the main actor, a much smaller acting body double, and SFX, and it's quite convincing to the point that some fans thought the post Super-Soldier Serum was special effects.
** ''Film/TheAvengers2012'':
*** Everything from from the Helicarrier rising from the ocean, to Tony's new suit, to Hulk's transformations, to the battle scenes. SceneryPorn galore!
*** The climactic battle scene that takes place in New York? Most of it was either entirely CGI or green-screened at an outside location. The scene with Iron Man coming out of the ocean and flying to the Stark Tower? All CGI.
** ''Film/IronMan3'':
*** [[http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/iron_man_3 CGS details exactly all the work they did]], and on a shorter deadline to boot!
*** Tony's home blown up and falling into the ocean looks ''amazing''. Special kudos to the people that managed to make the Mark 42 armor latch onto Tony Stark as he's climbing and doing rolls during the entire attack look almost flawless.
*** As always, the armor's animation itself looks sleek and impressive. Take that up several notches [[spoiler:with an entire legion of Iron Man armors]] and you've got something that's beyond impressive.
*** Credit also has to be given to the Extremis soldiers, whose organic glowing bodies are rendered just as well as the armors themselves.
*** Even beyond all of that is the Air Force One sequence. The only CGI in that entire set piece was the plane itself, the compositing, and drawing in Iron Man over his stand-in actor. Everything else was done practically; real people jumping out of a real plane, grabbing each other in the air, and so forth. It all culminated in a massive zip-line rig, dropping each one into the water in sequence.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': Most of the effects were done by ILM, and they did ''not'' disappoint.
*** The Helicarriers falling to the sea is absolutely amazing.
*** While the Falcon has some changes from the comics version, the Winter Soldier looks almost ''identical'' to the comics, which is pretty impressive. Who didn't love seeing him flying around and generally being awesome? Whoever did the flight effects for him needs a medal.
*** The Winter Soldier's metal arm is a sight to behold, especially since set photos showed an unconnected metal case for the actor's arm. In the film, it's a seamless, smooth limb.
*** From the start of the film, aboard the pirate ship, Cap appears a true super-soldier, with speed and agility and strength that the first film's CGI didn't catch. None of the ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' films show as well what a superior-trained human can do. Very realistic.
*** The shield tricks, which have taken a massive level in awesome. In general, the action scenes are ''very'' well done. In particular are the fights between Captain America and the Winter Soldier, which many have come to regard as some of the best hand-to-hand combat scenes in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
*** Elderly Peggy Carter is not without its flaws, but considering how bad old age prosthetic makeup used to look in movies, the digital solution that Lola VFX came up with was far more convincing and allowed Creator/HayleyAtwell's performance to show through without restriction. How they did it is detailed [[http://avengersuniverse.com/2014/05/04/see-how-hayley-atwell-was-made-to-look-old-in-captain-america-the-winter-soldier/ here]].
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'':
*** The world in this movie is created largely through intentional use of practical effects, sets, makeup, and puppetry. All over the place with a fantastic mixture of sets, CGI, makeup, costumes and puppets, but on the commentary James Gunn points out an easily missed one: many people assumed Rocket's facial expressions were done with motion capture, but this actually wasn't possible because of how different human and racoon faces are. So all that emotion comes directly from the animators.
** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'':
*** Ultron looks ''fantastic''. Given there was worry that he'd be poorly designed (not helped by a rumour that he'd have a more humanoid face), but the final product has gotten generally positive acclaim.
** ''Film/AntMan'':
*** The digital de-aging of Michael Douglas to look like he did in 1989 is very impressive - it almost looks like he came off of the set of ''Film/WallStreet'' to film a scene for a movie that wouldn't be finished for another 25 years. You can read about the impressive process used to de-age him here in [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/ this article]].
*** Near the end of the movie, the [[spoiler:Quantum Realm]] sequence.
*** The film's awesome looking Yellowjacket suit? It doesn't actually exist, it's completely CGI. The sheer number of people who thought it was a real costume speaks volumes of how impressive it is.
*** The depiction of Ant Man's size-changing looks insanely cool at times.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'':
*** For Tony's first scene in the film, they show a recreation of a memory from 1991 of [[spoiler:the last time Tony saw his parents before they were killed]]. Robert Downey Jr has been brilliantly deaged to the point where he is a convincing young man in his late teens/early twenties (and accurately resembles the real Robert Downey Jr from 1991).
** ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'':
*** The Ancient One opening Strange's third eye is one of the most spectacular, exhilarating sequences ever put to film.
*** The fight scenes take place in a separate reality that works like MC Escher's art. The interactions are seamless. A special mention has to be the fight scene done while time is reversing itself.
*** Special mention also must be given to Strange's cape which has a mind of it's own AND interacts with SEVERAL characters. [[spoiler: like beating the dragon on it's own by beating it's head against the floor. It stops Caecillius' blows.]] and it still looks like cloth.
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'':
*** The CG model of the homemade suit in the third act is so photorealistic that even Tom Holland couldn't tell it from the real deal (as seen in the BTS footage).
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'':
*** The film continues the trend of looking absolutely stunning with the scenery of Wakanda. It's Afrofuturism on a scale that has never been seen before in film, and it is ''absolutely gorgeous''. On top of that, there are the Black Panther and Golden Jaguar costumes, which take Tony Stark's automated armouring and make it look like the work of an amateur. And not forgetting the Ancestral Realm, with its beautiful purple skies over the savannah [[spoiler:and out the window of an Oakland apartment]].
** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'':
*** The CGI-effects used to de-age Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg due to the film taking place in the 1990s. Especially for Jackson, in that they made him look even younger than he did back in the actual 90s with Jackson himself being shocked at the results.
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
*** Thanos is especially detailed and designed in a way where he looks human, but not to the point where it becomes {{Narm}}. Allowing him to fit into the cast without any problems or breaking the suspension of disbelief.
* ''Film/HarryAndTheHendersons'' garnered Creator/RickBaker his second Academy Award for his animatronic Bigfoot. He still claims it as one of his finest works.
* ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' is wall-to-wall special effects derring-do, used in the name of making the Muppets seem like real people that can move around freely. By far, the most famous example is a brief shot of Kermit the Frog riding a bicycle, but the movie tops it with scenes of Fozzie Bear driving cars, Gonzo floating away on balloons, and [[spoiler: a giant animatronic Animal scaring away Doc Hopper and his posse]]. It goes without saying that Creator/JimHenson, Creator/FrankOz and the other Muppet performers went through hell to make these scenes work.
** Not that subsequent Muppet movies are slouches. ''Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper'' features a whole slew of Muppets on bicycles, and ''[[Film/SesameStreetPresentsFollowThatBird Follow That Bird]]'' has Ernie and Bert flying upside down in a biplane.
* ''Film/TheFall'' - How did the director pull this movie off with NO CGI WHATSOEVER? Just about any scene in the film could be framed and put in an art museum. It's THAT beautiful. Then you take into account that shooting took 4 years, and over 20 countries, and the fact that the film is great is a miracle. The level of dedication to shooting live is astounding. There's a brief montage sequence in the movie that features the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramids of Egypt for maybe two seconds each, and both of those clips were ''[[UpToEleven shot on location.]]'' And the film's use of match-cuts, holy shit. There's one beautiful shot of a pinned-butterfly dissolving into an identically-shaped island and coral reef, and another of a priest's face and collar melting into a desert landscape so ''perfectly'' that it provides the page image for MatchCut.
* Ditto for ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', released in 1992, when computer effects were beginning to make their big boom in the film industry.
* Some Creator/BusterKeaton films contain astonishing sequences created by the simplest means.
** In one of his films with Creator/FattyArbuckle, "Moonshine," [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQG4f3e3-_k 50 policemen emerge from a single car.]] This was accomplished by masking out part of the frame to hide the fact that the cops were entering the car on one side and exiting from the other. Once they had footage of the police leaving the car, they rewound the reel, masked the exposed section and filmed the empty vehicle with the unexposed film. Result: clowns exiting a car taken UpToEleven. Here's the really clever part: Buster used jacks to lift the entire car off the ground so it wouldn't bounce on its shocks as the actors climbed through.
** At the start of his short "Film/ThePlayhouse," masking and multiple exposures are used so [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ6soNWPge0 Buster can play everyone in a theater]]: the performers, the orchestra, and the entire audience. At one point, nine Busters are onstage simultaneously performing a minstrel routine. This required the camera operator to crank the film through the camera at exactly the same speed for every take.
** In ''Film/SherlockJr,'' Buster [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRwl8OpUbWU#t=1114s appears to walk right into a movie screen (actually a carefully lit stage), and then contends with a series of jump cuts that takes him from a garden, to a busy city street, to a cliff's edge, to a glade filled with lions, to a desert, to an ocean, to a snowfield, and back to the garden.]] To make the transitions seamless, when setting up a new shot Buster had to replicate his pose in the previous shot at precisely the same distance from the camera.
** And then there's the trope-defining ByWallThatIsHoley in ''Film/SteamboatBillJr''.
* ''Film/JacobsLadder''. None of the visual effects are optical. None. It's entirely "real" and done in-camera.
* People still have to remind themselves that the Xenomorph in ''Film/{{Alien}}'' isn't a real creature. The dripping saliva makes it difficult.
** Hell, most of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' still looks ''incredible'' today, with virtually no special effect failure at all. Even the fact that it's now 80s {{Zeerust}} hasn't dampened how awesome it is.
*** It should be noted that in the climactic fight, half of it consists of miniature models of the powerloader and Alien Queen parrying back and forth. The editing is so good that it's nigh-impossible to tell which are miniature shots and which are the full-size props.
*** The loader-units were so well done that the film-makers were contacted by companies hoping to procure some for heavy cargo lifting. [[TheRedStapler Alas.]]
*** And in the red corner, the Alien Queen puppet remains, to this day, the most amazing animatronic ever created. That thing is mind-blowing and scary as ''shit!''
** The NightmareFuel monstrosity, the Alien Newborn.
* For all the stunning visual effects in ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', the best has to be the engine room. Anyone who saw those churning, thumping steam turbines would've sworn they filmed a real steam engine room. Which they did. That was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Jeremiah_O%27Brien#History SS Jeremiah O'Brien]], fitted with undersized railing and walkways to make the machinery look bigger.
* It's been said that the special effects in ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}'' were so awesome, NASA asked the producers if they could use it. These guys really [[ShownTheirWork showed their work]]. The production crew brought in old mission controllers to see the reproduction of mission control, and there are various quotes to the effect of "someone would ask where I lived and I would point in the direction of my house -- if I were in mission control in Houston" and "I would leave the set at the end of the day and look for the elevator, because the real mission control was on the third floor."
* The titular robots in ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' (2007) are TechnologyPorn incarnate. The sheer jaw-dropping complexity of the robots and their millions of moving parts makes it hard to believe that a human being actually designed that thing. And then you realize the visual effects designers had to ''invent entirely new technology'' to get it done, a leap that hadn't been made since ''Franchise/JurassicPark''.
** Ironhide's cannons alone contain more parts than some of the other robots.
** ''Revenge of the Fallen'' is apparently to take this UpToEleven. [[CombiningMecha Devastator's]] CG model is apparently so bloody complicated that it '''melted''' an animator's computer.
*** From IMDB: "A single IMAX shot in the movie would have taken almost 3 years to render on a top of the line home PC running nonstop. If you rendered the entire movie on a modern home PC, you would have had to start the renders 16,000 years ago (when cave paintings like the Hall of Bulls were being made) to finish for this year's premiere."
*** ''Dark of The Moon'' takes it one step further with an all out alien invasion and the appearance of Driller, a machine that is not only bigger than Devastator (in both size and piece count), but the scene in which it destroys a building towards the end took ILM's top performance computers close to an hour to load. (Also, it took up the entire ILM render farm to be finished!)
* Max Schreck's ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' makeup. Best thing? His name literally translates from German into "Max Scare".
* The various effects of ''Film/TheLastMimzy'', except for the rather cheap-CG "space bridge" in one scene, must set some kind of record for integration into the scene--they seem so tangible that one has to regret not having the wonderful toys that cause them in-story...
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** Say what you will about ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', but the glorious shots of the various starships (''especially'' the ''Enterprise'') definitely belong here.
** Very true, but they pale in comparison to the shootouts in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. Especially the Mutara Nebula battle. Hell, the Mutara Nebula itself, which has been re-used in dozens of shows and movies since.
** ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' is considered the best of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' films, if only because of the insanity of the Borg battle above Earth near the beginning. The Borg ship alone is about the size of the entire Starfleet armada sent to destroy it. And then there's [[EvilIsSexy Borg Queen]]. Both her entrance-in-two-parts and [[NightmareFuel her death]].
** The whales in ''Film/{{Star Trek IV|The Voyage Home}}''. They were realistic enough to fool U.S. fishing officials, who upon seeing the film actually criticized the producers for letting people get too close to the whales.
** The [[Film/StarTrek2009 2009 film]] has an absolutely jaw-dropping sequence where the ''Enterprise'' rises out of Titan's atmosphere like a [[SpaceIsAnOcean submarine breaching the surface of the ocean]]. Yes, atmospheres do not work that way, but this is [[RuleOfCool perfectly all right]].
*** Also, the shot near the beginning, with the crippled ''Narada'' listing off into the distance, and the little fleet of shuttlecraft getting away, all silhouetted against an ''enormous'' sun... [[SceneryPorn breathtaking]].
*** That's one of the few movies where the CREDITS are as pretty as the film itself.
** ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}''. Trekkies, say hello to Spacedock.
** For such a lacking movie, the destruction of the Enterprise-D from ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' was a thing of beauty. You know you're doing something right when your ship crashing is so cool it becomes a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. It's particularly awesome because it was done with practical effects, not CGI or animation. And it looks absolutely AMAZING.
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'':
*** The ''Enterprise'' hiding in the alien ocean during the opening away mission - particularly when it leaves said ocean.
*** A starship crashing into the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.
*** TheReveal of the U.S.S ''Vengeance''.
* The flying on fire/stretching/invisible/clobbrin' scenes in ''Film/FantasticFour''. Say what you want about various members of the cast, but the crew definitely knew what they were doing.
* ''Film/TheHobbit'' has special effects on par with [=LotR=]. One specific example comes to mind in ''[[Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug Desolation of Smaug]]'' with the titular dragon. You'd be seriously hard pressed to find a better computer generated dragon than the all powerful Smaug. The tales are true.
* Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/KingKong2005'' was a box office disappointment considering the success of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings,'' but had if anything even more sophisticated FX. Re-creating midtown Manhattan from a tiny blue-screened backlot in New Zealand works unbelievably well, and the dinosaur is stunning.
** The scene where the crew gets trapped in a pit filled with [[NightmareFuel giant centipedes and flesh-eating "barnacles"]], apparently a recreation of a scene that either wasn't filmed or cut for the original because it was too complicated. The cut scene from 1933 was also re-created for a sepecial edition DVD by Peter Jackson's team using the ''original FX techniques''. You'd swear it was actually lost footage from the original.
** The [[spoiler:three T-Rexs versus Kong with our little damsel in distress tossed in the middle]] was simply flawless.
** The stop-motion FX of the [[Film/KingKong1933 original 1933 version]] still holds up amazingly well and can even stump modern FX arists due to their complexity and detail, made all the more over-the-top because each one was done in a ''single take''.
*** An example of awesome by accident: the original was praised for the detail of actually having Kong's fur move in the wind. This was unintended, merely the effect of the stop motion animators moving him.
* In the early scenes of ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', a typical viewer stares and tries to figure out how they made the Toons look so real. By the end, they're not doing so any more -- simply because they've forgotten they're looking at special effects.
** Made all the more awesome when you actually sit and consider that computer graphics were not an option when the film was made and everything is hand-drawn. The computer only corrected the lighting of the cartoons so they mixed up well.
** Not only is the animation stunning, but the physical effects behind it as well. They never once skimped on showing a toon holding a real object or grabbing a real person. Roger can even jump on a bed, and the bed compresses and expels dust in a totally convincing manner. The DVD shows that if you remove the animation, you are left with probably the most elaborate "Invisible Man" movie ever made.
* Paul Verhoeven's ''Film/HollowMan'' is a badly written, badly plotted piece of dreck with mediocre performances and a lot of bad taste. Some people have seen it repeatedly, if only just to look at those amazing, gorgeous special effects.
** Kevin Bacon's body was so detailed that ''medical schools'' used it as instructional material.
** Bacon also requested, only somewhat jokingly, that if any of the high resolution scans of his naked body are ever released into the wild that people do him the courtesy of *ahem* "enhancing" certain body parts.
* The effects in any ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movie, particularly ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', are incredible to watch. That mine cart sequence model was made out of ''tin foil painted brown''.
** And the miniature sets were so claustrophobic they couldn't fit a full-sized movie camera into them, so they filmed the scene using a specially-modified SLR ''still'' camera with a big film magazine.
** The melting faces from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' truly feel like the wrath of God.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
** Remember that part in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]] where Jack Sparrow entered Port Royal with his ship sinking ''just'' enough to get him to step onto the dock? Know how they did that? They had a huge tank of water, put a [[ChromaKey green screen]] behind it, stuck a movable dock in it and kept the ship in one place. They then slowly let the water out and moved the dock away while filming, then they reversed the film. End result? Complex shot achieved by use of one of the easiest effects to do, ''ever''.
*** Not to mention the awesome skeleton pirates.
*** Those skeleton pirates debuted as Creator/{{WETA}} was working on the equally spooky [[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing Army of the Dead]], which prompted a collective "Oh God''dammit!''" and grudging admiration.
** Davy Jones. The head was so well animated that even critics thought it was a headpiece of sorts.
** Davy Jones, amazingly enough, is played by a real guy, Bill Nighy, who did all of his work in a blue suit with motion trackers on it. He is more famously one of the big bad vampires in the Underworld films.
*** It doesn't hurt that Davy Jones is computer generated genius and had some good lines.
*** "Bootstrap" Bill Turner is the only one of Jones' crew who is ''not'' motion capture; he's five hours' worth of makeup with a little CGI in closeups. The makeup is so good he's often mistaken for an entirely CGI character.
** They immediately had Davy and his crew walking around in bright sunlight and ''they still looked good''. WETA found to be Gollum to be insanely difficult and that's just ''one'' character, who's ''naked'' and dry most of the time!
** Based on the trailers, the villain from [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales the fifth movie]], Captain Salazar, seems to be upping the ante even further: his hair averts NoFlowInCGI ''hard'', and is constantly flowing as if he were perpetually underwater.
* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'':
** The ''Neb'' docking at Zion, and the ''car chase to end all car chases''.
** The shot where the Agent leaps from a police car to a luxury car and then onto the vehicle Trinity's driving. How did they make the car explode and flip over like that? Not CGI. Not digital composition. [[CrazyAwesome They designed a car to implode like that and then drove it down the freeway.]]
* While the latter two ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' films aren't as beloved as the original, they do exhibit TalkingToHimself scenes of incredible complexity for their time, such as Michael J. Fox playing most of the members of the [=McFly=] family circa 2015, and the elderly Biff Tannen giving his teenaged self [[TimelineAlteringMacGuffin Gray's Sports Almanac]].
** In that above scene, the arm Old Biff uses to pass the Almanac to Young Biff after they hear the football game? A mechanical one. You'd never freaking tell.
** And of course, when you talk about ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' and awesome visual effects, you '''have''' to mention the [=DeLorean=] [[spoiler:and the time train]].
* Johnny 5. Just... [[Film/ShortCircuit Johnny 5]]. Of course, considering how it's been said the robot itself was the most expensive piece in the entire movie...
** ...which meant the directors had to use some simple gimmicks to create some awesome effects. Ever wondered how they perfectly created Johnny flipping through the books he read? Compressed air blowing the book pages while a rotor whipped a robotic hand back and fourth. That's it. Doesn't quite look that simple, does it?
** Not to mention a team of talented puppeteers who managed to get so much life out of a few moving parts and head positioning, along with the model makers who gave them that freedom.
* ''Film/Batman1989'' has several incredible visual effects for its time (that still look pretty damn good today), made all the more amazing when you realize that there's no CGI involved whatsoever. In particular, every sequence with the Batmobile, the Batwing sequence, and the shootout in the Axis Chemicals Plant just look incredible and feel like they were ripped out of a comic book.
* Many say that the best visual effects are those you don't notice, and that's so true for ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''.
** ''Film/BatmanBegins'':
*** The climatic train sequence was done mostly with miniatures, and also the fear toxin hallucination sequences were genuine NightmareFuel. The League Of Assassins' dojo being blown up was nice miniature model work too, and a lot of the Tumbler chase is pretty good game for this trope.
** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'':
*** There's so much high-grade win that some things go unmentioned. Like Two-Face. How the hell DID they do that?? %%%Rhetorical question.
*** It wasn't extremely realistic, though - that badly burned face would largely fall apart in a very short time. They apparently did initially experiment with a far more realistic face with more skin and realistic burns, but it looked so horrifying they feared they would get R-rating for it.
*** They couldn't do the jump off the Two-ifc in Hong Kong for real, so that's really a green screen effect. The helicopter crash is some realistic CGI too. Then there's the Batpod's emergence from the Tumbler. And some of the big car chase is made using miniature models. Same with blowing up said Tumbler, using three different shots in three different locations. One really subtle instance is that the windows on the top floor of the hospital that blows up? Those were CGI because the real windows were stolen. And then the hospital [[StuffBlowingUp explodes]]. Really spectacularly. Also, Batman's sonar vision is some trippy and very beautiful stuff.
*** Some of the most impressive visual effects might be described in this context as "cheating", since there ''is'' no effect -- they actually did what they showed on screen. Examples: flipping (not rolling) a full-sized semi, blowing up & collapsing a building.
** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', being the end of ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', was set up from the beginning to outdo its predecessors with even more awesome visual effects:
*** It opens with the destruction of a plane in midair. They actually destroyed a real plane for that scene and it looks stunning.
*** The Bat isn't CGI. It's an actual sized purpose-built vehicle suspended in midair by wires from helicopters and cranes with hydraulic controls to make it look like its maneuvering.
* ''Film/TheFifthElement''. The car chase scene between Korbin Dallas and the police. It's hard not to jerk and sway with the awesome camera and great special effects.
* ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' has a bajillion of these, include the one of Dr. Manhattan on Mars when the crystalline castle rises out of the ground. It is jaw-dropping if seen in IMAX theaters.
** Several more are subtle improvements to inconsistencies from the book: instead of blasting the tank with some sort of never-used-again hand beam, Jon, well, [[IncrediblyLamePun takes it to pieces.]]
* ''Film/SinCity''. Outside of the beautiful spot coloring, worth noting is the fact that Mickey Rourke never met Elijah Wood, who he had a fucking fight scene with. That is just brilliant. And the fact that out of the whole movie there were only three sets? Very deceptive. The movie boasts both flashy and subtle CG to great effect.
* The scene in ''Film/MasterAndCommander'' where the ''Surprise'' is tossed and turned in the typhoon off of Cape Horn.
* Anything that Stan Winston has ever worked on. The dinosaurs in ''Film/JurassicPark'', ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'', the Film/{{Alien}}, the Film/{{Predator}}, Film/EdwardScissorhands, Film/IronMan1. The man was a special effects god! Proof, if it's needed, watch ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', then ''Film/TheTerminator''. The original's effects have held up better. For added awesome, combine Winston with Industrial Light and Magic. The "go-motion" blurred effects aren't particularly good, but that's not Winston's work (the huge Terminator puppet is). But then look at the 2nd one. First the skeletons at the beginning, that is 100% Stan Winston. See the scene where they made an animatronic Arnold? As in a torso of him? You do, but you don't see it. Where he walks down the hallway with a grenade launcher firing tear-gas, it's not Arnold. That's one of Winston's effects. May he rest in peace.
* ''Film/{{Tron}}''. Sure, the effects might be hokey for some now, but this was from 1982. ''Film/TronLegacy'' does not disappoint in this department either. It is the shiniest, ''shiniest'' movie ever, including ''Film/StarTrek2009''.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-XtWob9wo opening credits]] for ''Film/SupermanReturns'' are enough to bring some people to [[ManlyTears tears]], just through the sheer amount of intergalactic SceneryPorn.
** Say what you want about the plot, but the flying sequences are some of the best SceneryPorn in a superhero movie.
** The aircraft rescue at the start, beginning when he dives down after the spinning airliner, is simply one of the most awe-inspiring and downright beautiful super-power sequences ever put on film.
* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. Despite being made in 1968 (!!!) its space scenes are still amongst the best ([[SceneryPorn and most beautiful]]) ever made. It's almost hard to believe that it wasn't made using CGI. Heck, it's hard to believe the footage isn't entirely authentic!
** If you're still in any doubt, consider that at the time the Earth had not yet been ''photographed'' from anything higher than a low orbit - that is, we had no photos of it that took in the whole Earth in one go. The famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble Blue Marble]] photo was still four years away when the film was released! Remember that next time you see the shot of the Earth rotating in the window of the space station as it spins to simulate gravity. Similarly, nobody had ever seen Jupiter except as a blurry image through ground-based telescopes. The high-resolution images of the solar system we now have and take for granted simply didn't exist back then.
** Douglas Trumbull. A lot of his work has been mentioned here... he's the undisputed master of space travel: ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', ''Silent Running'', ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', ''Film/BladeRunner''. Also note that HAL's readouts were made long before CGI was practical-- those "computer" screens are all hand-drawn animation. The wireframe diagnostic readout when identifying the wiring fault is incredible.
** Also, though Douglas Trumbull's film ''Film/{{Brainstorm}}'' faced major problems during production, the ending has probably one of the most spectacular depictions of a NearDeathExperience put on film.
* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' has high production values throughout, but it's telling that the SignatureScene is the climax in the "Escher room", which impressively brings together practical effects, camera tricks, compositing work, and excellent editing.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
** The original ''Film/TheTerminator'' was a fairly cheap movie for its day, with a budget of only 6.5 million dollars; which is why the producers of ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' managed to convince studio heads that they could make a good ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' show on a TV show budget. This does, however, really highlight Creator/StanWinston's genius, since the T:SCC people are following his creation of the damaged Terminator makeup. Oh, and let's not forget his amazing ''puppet'' T-1000. Thought the T-1000 was completely CGI? Only ''six'' of the fifteen minutes of screen time the T-1000 takes up for its transformations are CGI. That's not even counting his Film/{{Predator}} and [[Film/{{Aliens}} Alien Queen]] designs. Stan Winston was ''amazing''; he created the most iconic monsters and machines outside ''Star Wars'', firing up an entire generation's imagination - and terror. And awe.
** The T-1000 in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. Nearly twenty years later, and that liquid metal literal killing machine remains as impressive as ever, from the moment it heals its first wounds all the way to its ShapeshifterSwanSong. Also noted for being the first time a completely CGI character spoke on film.
** The T-800 in ''Film/TerminatorSalvation''. They used a mold of Arnold's face from 1984 to digitally recreate him over the face of a body double.
** The younger T-800 in ''Film/TerminatorGenisys''. They didn't just replace the face this time -- that's a complete digital double.
* ''Film/SpiderMan3'':
** Sandman.
** The incredibly kick-ass climactic fight scene at the end.
** Lack of screen time aside, the Symbiote was particularly well done. They turn the symbiote into a creepy, tentacle like thing. It doesn't just bond with Spider-Man, it ''latches'' onto him. The best moment is during the bonding scene. You see the Symbiote's shadow first looking a little like Venom's head, complete with jaw and tongue. Then it ''morphs'' into a monstrous hand that grabs onto Spidey's arm.
* ''Film/SpiderMan2'':
** The train sequence from part II. Damn.
** Doc Ock's four tentacles. They had a full puppet rig for a lot of the close-ups, and CGI for action shots. And it. Is. AWESOME.
* The Martian war-machines in both [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds the 1953]] and [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds the 2005]] versions of ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.
* It really says something that all the fancy-schmancy CGI effects in ''Film/SupermanReturns'' don't even ''equal'', let alone surpass, the effects from the 1978 ''Film/{{Superman}}'' of 30 years earlier. Perhaps not the literal truth, but the sentiment is sound. The 777 rescue in ''Film/SupermanReturns'' is impressive, though.
* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' was shot on [[NoBudget a budget of twenty-five million dollars]]. It looks like it cost six times that.
* ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' may be one of the sketchier Film/JamesBond movies, but the Ken Adam-designed space station is legitimately incredible.
** Give some credit also to model maker Derek Meddings, who previously built a supertanker model for ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' that was so convincing that Exxon executives asked the producers where they got a real one for the film!
** Daniel Kleinman's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGPBFvDz_HM opening]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoAnMNsVWSI titles]] for the modern Bond films are this, plus SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic, plus a ''metric ton'' of Fetish Fuel. And [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg5lI6NCBxE sometimes]], he doesn't even need the Fetish Fuel.
* ''Film/{{Moon}}'', by Duncan Jones, consistently maintains a feel of a moon base, complete with exterior shots, and a robot assistant. The kicker? It did it for five million, utter pocket change by any movie making standards.
* Then there is the great transformation scene with Creator/RickBaker's effects in ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'', that holds up amazingly well nearly thirty years later.
* There's the single enormous shot in ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', with the camera seemingly fixed to Clive Owen's shoulder as he runs around a war zone. The movie is full of awesome scenes like these, like [[spoiler: the scene that leads up to and includes the assassination of Julian]].
* ''Film/BladeRunner''. The movie's legendary vision of a near-future LA dystopia is breathtakingly incredible, even to this day. In many cases, its miniature effect cityscapes look ''better'' than what can be done with modern CGI. It cannot be overstated how influential this movie was on basically any semi-realistic science fiction movie to date. Creator/EdgarWright hit it right on the money when he said that half of all sci-fi movies made since its release were just trying to do better than ''Blade Runner''. So far, none have quite succeeded.
** Its [[Film/BladeRunner2049 eventual sequel]] may have been massively belated but ''definitely'' worth the wait. The visual effects team and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins both won '''extremely''' well-deserved Oscars for their work.
** Crucially, the FX Team was smart enough not to fix what ain't broke, building on 30 years of technological advancement without ever forgetting how much the original team had done with PracticalEffects - as shown in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBsjZgu7T2U&feature=youtu.be backstage]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLxxbfsj8IM videos]]. To the delight of many fans, they even resurrected the almost-extinct art of MiniatureEffects to build its cities, just like the original team. The LAPD building, Wallace Corp headquarters, [[SceneryGorn the deserted hellhole of San Diego]], and the epic, Spinner-POV passthroughs of the cityscape? 80% handcrafted miniatures.
** The "hologram love scene" with Joi, Mariette, and K. It's very hard to remember that Ana de Armas is not actually a hologram while watching this movie.
** The CGI on [[spoiler: Wallace's version of Rachel]] is one of the best examples of a photorealistic human face recreated through CGI ''ever'', and it completely blows the already-impressive effects from ''Film/RogueOne'' completely out of the water. They even spliced in stock footage of [[spoiler: Sean Young]] from the first movie, and it's '''still''' hard to tell the difference. Any of the small imperfections you might see arguably [[UncannyValley work to the scene's advantage.]]
* When viewing Film/{{District 9}}, there are parts where you'll swear you notice the switch between CGI and puppets/make-up. There are no switches--the aliens are entirely CGI. You'll also believe that there is an honest-to-God spaceship hovering above Johannesburg.
** Neill Blomkamp has a long association with Crazy Awesome CGI, such as his early short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-IainlpGzg Tetra Vaal]]'', his TransformingMecha [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dilUbkP-PI break-dancing Citroen commercial]], and his ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BaVb2TlWb0 short film]].
** Bonus Points for having a low budget (30 million)
* ''Film/StarWreckInThePirkinning'': Would you believe this movie's special effects shots were done in people's homes and their rendering farm was in a kitchen?
* The sequence in ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'' with miniature humans (created by Dr. Praetorius) in glass bottles is pretty astonishing for 1935! Watch it [[http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2656761/pretorius_little_people/ here.]]
* The entire "battle in the sky" sequence in ''Film/Gamera3AwakeningOfIrys''. It's just beautifully stunning to look at and you really start to believe that a giant turtle as well as a giant tentacled....thing are duking it out above the clouds near Kyoto, Japan.
** Heck, the whole film qualifies. The effects used to bring the title Kaiju to life (Via a mixture of CGI, puppetry, and good old-fashioned "suitimation") are nothing short of incredible.
** Kaneko's Gamera series generally feature fantastic visuals, and keep improving through the series. One standout is Legion (although her Toho 'counterpart', Biollante, is even more stunning).
* The monster fights (as well as any battles in which the JSDF are involved) in the film ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack'' are so well-done that you almost forget that it's mostly done with PeopleInRubberSuits and highly detailed tiny model sets.
** Likewise, the effects used for [[spoiler:Godzilla's death]] in ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'' are quite good. 'Course, [[TearJerker you'll most likely be too busy crying during such a tragic moment to truly appreciate the technical aspects of the scene.]]
** The miniature sets in ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'' are pretty spectacular, especially during the faceoff between the Super-X and Godzilla.
** Heisei Godzilla films are considered the ''pinnacle'' of the Toho monster films. With each film, Godzilla's suit improved more and more, becoming more lifelike and the sets become more elaborate. Minus the asteroid scene in ''Film/GodzillaVsSpaceGodzilla'', the final battle and Space Godzilla's arrival on Earth rivals even the ''best'' CGI of today in terms of scope, with practical effects galore. And M.O.U.G.E.R.A is a highly impressive ''animatronic'' instead of a suit.
** King Ghidorah's introduction is still an amazing piece of artistry.
** And also [[Film/GodzillaVsBiollante Biollante]]. Just Biollante. Holy Crap. Suitmation at its finest. In fact, the whole final battle is a thing of beauty (and horror).
** As is the shot of Rose Biollante in the lake.
** The original ''Film/{{Godzilla|1954}}'' still looks great despite age and budget due to the amazing shadowy cinematography, especially in the scenes of city destruction.
** The flooding of the Osaka subway in ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'' is still jaw-droppingly convincing...and horrifying.
** It's hard to believe that the Mt. Fuji used in ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'' was actually a matte painting.
* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'':
** Although there is debate, a lot of people would agree that the King of the Monsters himself looks fantastic.
** The shot of the soldiers HALO jumping from a plane down to the burning city below is something to behold. The part where it cuts to Ford Brody's POV perfectly captures the feel of jumping off of a plane.
** The Visual Effects director ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Rygiel Jim Rygiel]]) did ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' Trilogy. That alone is proof.
** All this is made more impressive by the fact that the film had a $160,000,000 budget, which is four-fifths of what most American Summer blockbusters cost to produce at the least, and what's even better is that the effects ''look'' better than titles with bigger budgets behind them.
** [[spoiler: The effects of Godzilla himself and the MUTO's are awe inspiring. You truly see the ''scale'' of how big these creatures are, and Godzilla himself is highly detailed and has ''very'' convincing facial features.]]
* Have to give a shout out to ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'', with the "computer graphics" used in the navigation system in Snake's plane. The production crew created them by painting a physical model built for the landing scene entirely black, covering it with lines of reflective tape, and filming the result; it still looks good today.
** Those effects were designed and directed by Creator/JamesCameron, as in [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} t]][[Film/{{Aliens}} h]][[Film/{{Titanic 1997}} a]][[Film/{{Avatar}} t]] Creator/JamesCameron.
* The Vogons in the film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Forget CG: when it comes to beautifully-realized monsters, you just can't beat the Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop.
** The Magarathean factory floor was also very impressive.
** Humma Kavula‎'s thousands of tiny little robotic legs were extremely impressive, as was the Earth being blown up. But it all pales in comparison to the awesomeness of seeing the Earth being rebuilt, bit by bit, with massive hoses to fill the oceans and paints and chisels for the mountains.
*** [[EarthShatteringKaboom Whh-opoof!]]
* [[Creator/LonChaney Lon. Chaney. Senior.]] Even after eighty years of advances in makeup and visual effects, his portrayals of [[Film/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame1923 Quasimodo]] and [[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1925 The Phantom of the Opera]] still rank among the most effective physical transformations ever created for film.
* ''Film/TheMask'''s "turning a guy into a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Looney Tune]]" effects still hold up pretty well today.
** As the people who worked on it would say, it helps that Creator/JimCarrey's face is so rubbery to begin with.
* ''Film/TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton''. It's hard to guess how much is CGI and how much is make-up.
** It's so good, it made it onto [[http://www.ted.com/talks/ed_ulbrich_shows_how_benjamin_button_got_his_face.html TED]].
* ''Film/{{Rent}}'''s special effects were done by Industrial Lights And Magic, so it goes without saying that it's got a lot of these, but the "Without You" sequence takes the cake. It's a montage of the character's lives, from roughly late January to right around Halloween. There's a little support group for people with AIDS called Life Support. The camera pans around the room at a few points, and people fade away... how they made that look so smooth is just amazing. The camera doesn't jump at all, and everyone who didn't fade is still right where they were and it's just amazing. Even with the TearJerker of that scene... wow.
* The title characters of ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' react to the world very realistically; not surprising considering that most of the time when you see them, they're actually right on camera. Most of the time CGI was only used for the facial animation, and even that is incredibly lifelike.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLwtFzmUE7c&feature This Is My Song]] from the Tom Thumb movie. Especially when he dances with a paper cutout of himself.
* Say what you will of ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'', but this sure looks like its entire purpose. And on this point at least, it delivered in spades; MonumentalDamage has never looked so good. The sequence of driving and flying through Los Angeles as it crumbles into the sea, with our heroes driving under collapsing overpasses, though falling offices and flying under subway trains is ''astounding''.
* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'''s graphics were utterly superb, from the nature elemental to the vicious swarm of tooth pixies to the titular Golden Army. Hellboy and Abe sure looked real, and Kraus's spirit-steam effects were fun to watch.
** It helps they have Ron Perlman in the red suit. As someone once put it, "Ron Perlman ''is'' Hellboy. You don't need makeup, just paint him red."
** And they did it on the cheap. How? By [[DoingItForTheArt minimising use of CGI]].
** The Angel of Death. Most, if not all of the Angel's look, was done with practical effects, and she's probably the best damn incarnation of the Reaper that's ever been put to film, at least visually.
* ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}''. The original film. Did we mention that it's 100% practical effects?
** Its prequels, ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' and especially ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' show off arguably some of the finest use of CGI ever, making the motion-captured apes near seamless. ''Dawn'' in particular has been praised as having some of the best use of CGI to enhance storytelling, working with excellent motion-capture performances to infuse real humanity into the apes.
** The new ''Apes'' films are widely considered to be the best SerkisFolk characters since Avatar. There are people who ''didn't know'' that the apes, monkeys, orangutans, and gorillas are all CGI - they were legitimately good enough to be mistaken for ''practical effects''. Then there's the fact that they avert the infamous UncannyValley ''completely'', to the point where some people claimed that the apes are more emotive and convincing than the (very talented) human actors.
** The special effects in Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'' are considered to be the best aspect of the film. The suits are incredibly well-detailed and resemble real apes better than ever before. Even more then a decade later, the suits can offer serious competition to the digital apes in the reboot series.
* ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'': The ending scene where Capa is looking at the sun is particularly beautiful, but there's a whole bunch of stunning visuals in this movie.
* The original ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990''. The suits and puppets used in the film were as complex and top-of-the-line as animatronics got back then. Creator/JimHenson did the creatures of the film not not for money (it was an ''independent'' film), or fame, [[DoingItForTheArt but simply because he knew it would change how his company would have to do these things]]. Even today the Turtles and Splinter look totally ''real'' even to eyes that have been spoiled by CG effects. As soon as you see the Turtles turn that corner in the opening titles you completely buy into that these things are alive, they show any and every emotion conceivable throughout the action of the movie, and all four of them have a wholly unique face and body structure (not many people notice this, but Raphael has a small scar under his left eye, that's ''dedication''). The system that governed the facial movements went on to become the Henson Control System, widely regarded as the best in animatronics, and is still in use today. This is to say nothing of the darkly beautiful underground sets that comprise the fictional New York sewers and the Turtles' home.
** Speaking of the Turtles, say what you will of ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}'', but that contains some of the most beautiful CGI in a Weinstein Brothers movie yet. The buildings, lighting, the way the clothes move in the wind, and even how the rain trickles off the turtles' shells is '''''PHENOMENAL.'''''
* ''Franchise/JurassicPark''. Tell yourself those dinosaurs are fake. It's been said that an effects supervisor broke down crying when watching the dailies of the scene where the first Bracchiosaurus is revealed to us. Even today, watching that scene almost 30 years later, it's damn near impossible not to get a lump in the throat watching that scene - today's CGI creatures may be better in terms of detail and realism, but they will never match the sheer beauty and ''majesty'' of that very first scene.
** "They've got some pretty well trained dinosaurs..." - a friend's comment on the film.
** In the [[Film/JurassicParkIII third movie]], Velociraptors were depicted by both CGI and full-sized animatronic puppets. Visually it's virtually impossible to distinguish between the two, and both look outright hyper-realistic. This is an awesome achievement in both CGI ''and'' animatronics.
** Speaking of the third film, we also get to see an excellent and convincing image of a ''Pteranodon'' snatching up a human, as well as a really well shot scene of said ''Pteranodon'' carrying the boy on a reluctant flight around the territory. [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology Accurate or not,]] that scene was really well done.
** The dinosaur models in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' are so good, they even look real in the "making of" featurette when they're shown in the workshop with plain fluorescent overhead lighting and no camera tricks.
** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': Par for the course of a good Jurassic Park movie. Special mention goes to the Gyrospheres, the ''Mosasaurus'' Feeding Show, the pterosaur attack, the dying ''Apatosaurus'', and the Innovation Center holograms.
* Creator/RayHarryhausen and Willis O'Brian as its originator.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXmRuJByoVs climactic skeleton fight]] in ''Jason and the Argonauts'' is stop-motion animator Creator/RayHarryhausen's [=CMoA=]. Although every monster in that film was cool; Talos was voted the second greatest movie monster by Empire readers for a reason, guys.
** Harryhausen's greatest scene to be the fight with the 6-armed statue of Kali in ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROssbvtE41U You will never see a cooler swordfight.]]
** ''Film/TheValleyOfGwangi'' - [[TheWestern Cowboys]] [[CoolVsAwesome versus]] [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Dinosaurs]] using LASSOS! There is nothing about that one scene that isn't awesome. Knowing how it was done and the complexity of the shot make it even more awesome.
** ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'' - Ray's [[NightmareFuel Medusa]] changed how we view that mythological character and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmDafvIBKrI can still scare people today]]--not to mention the horrible complexity of the shot itself.
* The movie may be crap, but Music/MichaelJackson's OneWingedAngel into a killer robot in ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'' is quite simply unbelievable for the time period. Remember, the movie was made a full ''three years'' before ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''.
* [[Film/LittleShopOfHorrors The Audrey II.]] At first it looks like an obvious puppet, but once that thing starts talking, you forget that pretty quickly.
* A very old example: one of the actors in ''Film/SevenSamurai'' had never handled a sword in his life. With some clever camera tricks, he looked like the best swordsman in the film. Considering that this is long before digital editing, that's pretty impressive.
* The 2010 ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' has absolutely AMAZING CGI and 3D work.
** Likewise, the sequel ''Film/AliceThroughTheLookingGlass'' features a lot of stunning CGI environments. Particular standouts include Time's clockwork palace, Alice piloting the Chronosphere over the Ocean of Time, and the climax where [[spoiler: all of Underland is rusting over.]]
* ''Film/MaryPoppins'' is another classic example whose effects still hold up very well today.
* While the original is mentioned in the Harryhausen section above, the remake of ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|2010}}'' deserves to be mentioned too. Specifically, the Kraken itself was jaw-droppingly awesome in every way, from its [[EldritchAbomination alien design]], to all of its limbs twisting and moving around, to the sheer volume of water pouring off the thing as it moves, the effects guys did an incredible job making that thing look ''huge''. Also worthy of mention, Pegasus.
* ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}''! From the opening shot of Thebes, to Imhotep's walking, talking corpse, the plagues, the sand wall, and the soldier mummies were just pure epic.
* In ''Film/DrStrangelove'', the filmmakers asked the army if they could take pictures of the then state of the art B-52 cockpit for the on plane scenes. The Air Force denied their request citing national security reasons. What do the filmmakers do? Go look at old B-29 cockpit and base the design off that and exterior shots of the B-52 nose section. When they invited the military to view the result, they were told that "it was absolutely correct, even to the little black box which was the CRM." Director Creator/StanleyKubrick was afraid of an FBI investigation after that.
* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' was by no means photo-realistic, but it sure hell looked exactly like the comic books and serials it was emulating, brought brilliantly to life.
* [[Film/SpeedRacer Speed, Fucking, Racer.]] Yes, within the first, like, 5 minutes of the film you will be very much able to tell this is all CGI. But keep in mind that it is trying to be essentially a live action Anime, [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]], and damnit, it looks ''pretty.''
* The exploding head, and its subsequent regeneration, in ''Film/SpeciesII''.
* When Frank escapes The Labyrinth in ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'', and slowly grows from a puddle to a vaguely humanoid form.
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' The entire movie is full of brilliant effects [[spoiler: , but that one scene near the end, when the Reavers come out of that nebula and just engage the Alliance fleet waiting there head-on!]] That scene was also quite definitely a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* ''Film/{{Inception}}'':
** Everything in zero-g, particularly the first fight scene where they run around all three dimensions of that hallway to beat the crap out of each other.
*** What's particularly cool is that the hallway scene was actually filmed in real life--they actually built a ''rotating hallway'' to film the scene in! Not that that makes it any less of an amazing effect!
** The streets of Paris exploding around (a very calm) Cobb and Ariadne.
** The streets of Paris ''folding in half''.
** The decrepit city in [[spoiler:the fourth dream layer]].
* ''Film/VForVendetta''. Made on a considerably lower budget than many successful comic book film adaptations, the film boasts various cool action setpieces. The domino scene was done for real by Weijers Domino Productions from the Netherlands. And they had to do the elaborate setup twice because of problems with the camera angles the first time around. And when the houses of parliament get blown up at the end? Minuature effects. Boo yeah!
* The CG animals in ''Film/TheGoldenCompass''.
* The "London Walk" in ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', where Jim roams the city looking for anyone else, passing by several landmarks and giving the completely convincing impression that one of the world's major capitals is devoid of human life. All achieved by filming early in the morning, stopping traffic for a few minutes, and blanking out anything else in post-production.
* Voldemort's face in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' movies. The really impressive part, of course, is the nose. Many viewers have wondered what they could have done to make Ralph Fiennes' nose look like that short of facial surgery. The answer is that they erased his nose with CGI. And it's worth noting they had to not effect Ralph Fiennes' performance while they were digitally altering his face in every shot in which he appears, whether it's a close-up of his face or a wide shot in which he can only be seen from a distance.
** Buckbeak in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''.
** The Dementors, especially in the third.
** The scene where [[CloudCuckooLander Luna]] and Harry watch the Thestrals.
** ''Anything'' Dumbledore does with his wand is gauranteed 100% unadulterated awesome, though special mention should go to his fight with Voldemort at the end of [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix the fifth]] and his EPIC ring of fire in [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the sixth]].
** The ''Film/HarryPotter'' film series managed to utilize and '''''IMPROVE UPON''''' this trope since ''Philosopher's Stone''. Just try to say you didn't gasp in awe at the Wizard Chess, the Anaconda escaping from the London Zoo scenes, the brick wall of Diagon Alley opening, as well as the final duel between Harry and [[spoiler: Quirrel/ Voldemort]] in the first film.
* The three main ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' movies all feature incredible visual effects, especially since [[Film/XMen1 the first]] was released in 2000:
** ''Film/XMen1'':
*** Particularly impressive is the scene where Magneto confronts the cops, takes control of their firearms and floats them in midair, aiming at each of them. Also, the various closeup shots of Wolverine's claws emerging, Senator Kelly's NightmareFuel mutation, Mystique's transformations (that got progressively better as the films went on) and so on. Also in the first film is an extreme TalkingToHimself scene where Wolverine fights Mystique (the latter disguised as Wolverine) and one seriously cannot tell which is the real Logan.
** ''Film/X2XMenUnited'':
*** Some higlights include the X-Jet tornado sequence, Nightcrawler's teleportations and the ending scene where Jean Grey telekinetically holds back the water from the dam.
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'':
*** Some highlights include Angel's wings, Quill's spikes and of course the Golden Gate bridge uprooted and plonked on Alcatraz Island. One moment that is slight more subtle is the "digital skin grafting" that made Patrick Stewart and Ian [=McKellen=] look two decades younger.
*** Not forgetting the practical makeup effects, such as the muscle suit Vinnie Jones wore as the Juggernaut, Angel's wings in their folded position and of course the full-body makeup applied to Beast, Mystique and Nightcrawler.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** Magneto ''lifting an entire baseball stadium'', among other things.
** ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'':
*** Colossus looks absolutely incredible, his metal skin appearing almost photorealistic.
*** In a more subtle manner, the animated eyes of Deadpool's mask. Just cartooney enough to make his mask-covered face more expressive and humorous like the comics, but not attention-grabbing enough to be distracting.
*** Also, the special effects used to simulate Deadpool's tissue regeneration.
* The 2006 remake of ''Film/{{Poseidon}}''. Beautifully shot capsizing scene or the wonderful opening sequence just goes to show you what computers and animators are capable of.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Roayx-79cAs The Capsizing scene]] and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXrcTto7mzI&feature=related opening scene]]
* The makeup effects in ''Beetlejuice''. Especially near the end of the movie.
* ''Film/TheFountain''. Now consider it's not CG, they used actual deep-sea microorganisms to get their effects because they felt CG would look outdated in a decade or two.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad''. Watch the scenes on the Magic Railroad itself. And then there's the scene of Lady steaming up for the first time in decades. They did it perfectly, you'd never be able to tell that engine was only a prop. The model work is good too.
* ''Film/DragonSlayer'', made in 1981, had Vermithrax, who is the most realistic stop-motion animated creature ever, thanks to Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic's new "Go Motion", which added subtle blur to the movement, removing the jerkiness most stop-motion animated visual effects had.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' is interesting in that it is a comedy with a big budget, but the money spent actually helps instead of hurting the film. The film uses StylisticSuck when showing how cheaply-made the in-universe "Galaxy Quest" television show was, but pulls out the big guns with CGI and scale models that were fairly realistic for the time (I daresay the wormhole was as good as the one in ''[[Film/StarTrek2009 Star Trek]]''), building the starship bridge set on an actual gimbal that would shake and tilt, and especially the animatronic and prosthetic effects provided by Creator/StanWinston and his studio.
* In the Eragon film, Saphira was a scene-stealer and the lone bright point it had. The magnificent blue-scaled dragoness invoked JustHereForGodzilla in just about everyone who bothered to watch that tripe.
* The climax of ''Film/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians: The Lightning Thief.'' [[spoiler:Percy using his I'm-the-son-of-the-sea-god powers to control the water in the nearby water tanks like a [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Waterbender]] to kick Luke's ass with. Then he forms a trident ''out of water''. That is all.]]
* Here's one that's a bit different: ''Film/TheSocialNetwork''. Armie Hammer provides the face of ''[[ActingForTwo both]]'' of the Winklevoss twins. They edited his face onto the other guy's body. Why is this SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome? Because they did it so perfectly that there is absolutely no trace of it in the film. It is utterly seamless.
* ''[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]'''s transformation in the kennel. While there are some brief moments of slightly dodgy special effects, that first transformation is golden and still terrifying today.
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries''
** ''Film/UltramanZeroTheRevengeOfBelial''. The entire movie is gorgeous and visually amazing, probably the best in Tokusatsu history.
** ''Film/MegaMonsterBattleUltraGalaxyLegends'', is absolutely gorgeous, from the Land of Light to the Monster Graveyard. The standouts are Belial vs the Land of Light and the stunning Zaragas vs Gomora battle. Bonus points for the fact that this movie was one of the very few {{Toku}} works at the time done largely in greenscreen instead of the traditional miniatures, and one of Creator/TsuburayaProductions first forays into it.
* ''[[Series/{{Garo}} Garo: Soukoku no Maryu]]'' is a visual feast throughout the movie. Easily rivals ''Film/UltramanZeroTheRevengeOfBelial'' as one of the most visually amazing Tokusatsu movie in history.
* Any Creator/GuillermoDelToro movie involving prosthetics will end up like this. The man has designed some of the most fantastical ([[UglyCute and bizarre]]) creatures in movie history, and since one of his first ever jobs in film was as a makeup artist, he knows ''exactly'' how to get the look he wants. Screw CGI: look at [[Film/Hellboy2004 Abe Sapien's]] smooth, damp skin, or [[Film/PansLabyrinth the Faun's]] ridged, curling goat-horns. Don't you just want to reach out and touch them? Well, if you'd been on set that day, ''you could have''. That's a magic that no computer can ever give you.
* The Animated Armor scene in ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks''. It beats CGI forever!
* The ChariotRace in ''Film/BenHur1959''. Sweet mother of mercy, the ChariotRace. And the sea battle isn't too shabby, either.
** The chariot race for the most part was real and not effects. There were matte paintings for the long shots showing the area surrounding the track of but those were real extras, real sets and real horses. It's movr "Stuntwork of Awesome".
* The CreepyAwesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcp9Ysi75f0 titles]] for ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo''.
* [[TechnologyMarchesOn For its time,]] ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' was a special effects masterpiece, particularly the parting of the Red Sea.
* While the later ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' movies used obvious CG, the original used EXTREMELY GOOD animatronics for the [[SandWorm Graboids]]. Watch the original Tremors and tell me those worms are fake.
* The entirety of ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'', the fight scenes in particular, seriously looked like a live-action video game, with both subtle and not-so-subtle awesome effects: a subtle example is when Scott and Ramona are on a bus discussing the Evil Exes, where the lights behind Scott are shaped like hearts and the ones behind Ramona are shaped like X's at first but then change to hearts as well, and a not-so-subtle example being the holographic Dragons vs. Yeti battle. Other special mentions go to Todd's Vegan Powers, the Exes bursting into coins, and the various weapons, especially Gideon's Pixel Katana. (Notice how anything behind the sword trail looks pixellated!)
* Peeta's camouflage in the film of ''Film/TheHungerGames'' makes him entirely indistinguishable from the environment and still looks like a plausible, realistic makeup job. No CGI here.
** That and the fire. Not just during the chariot rides--all the fire in the movie.
** The sequel ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'' had a bigger budget and better CGI. The best effect is when the Cornucopia in the middle of the arena is spinning.
* ''Film/{{Hugo}}''. Dear Lord, Hugo. It's a dreamy, romantic, somewhat whimsical but still restrained depiction of Paris in the 30s, and features some truly magical visuals, achieved with a mix of CGI and gorgeous period sets. It's also a loving tribute to the great grandaddy of special effects, Georges Melies.
* ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'''s Grinchy makeup effects on Jim Carrey is absolutely incredible. It helps that Jim Carrey has already played a [[Film/TheMask smirking, green-faced cartoon character before.]]
* Part of what makes ''Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainMarvel'' one of the greatest examples of the classic FilmSerial are the excellent visual effects, especially when [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] flew using a very well designed and dressed mannequin on a wire and careful filming to make a very convincing sight in long shots for 1941.
* ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride''. The only computer effects were the removing of wires for flying creatures, and the fire. The facial expressions are extremely subtle, by use of clockwork mechanics in the puppet's heads. It's a beautiful film.
* The film adaptation of ''Film/LifeOfPi'' has some ''amazing'' CGI. Most notably is the model for Richard Parker. Who's CGI for almost the entire film, but looks incredibly realistic.
* As reviled as it is, ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' did an outstanding job on its visual effects. It featured CG back when it was still in its infancy but has aged remarkably well, even if the film itself has not. While most of the film used practical effects, the de-evolutions were computer aided.
* While the digital giants in ''Film/JackTheGiantSlayer'' are quite good, the effects that brought the beanstalk sequences to life are pretty darn impressive.
* ''Film/PacificRim'': Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic created the special effects and the 3D. As for the animation itself, it's absolutely gorgeous work, almost painting like.
** The Jaeger cockpits are dominantly PracticalEffects and were filmed in rigs that would jostle to corresponding movements in the film.
** A [[spoiler:nuclear weapon]] is detonated at [[spoiler:the bottom of the Pacific]] with enough force to ''push back all the water'' in a 360 arc before quickly rushing back.
** [[spoiler:Beyond the Rift. Pure eye-candy.]]
** The [[https://vimeo.com/70196332 end title sequence]]?
* Although all of G-Force (the movie) looks pretty good, the bit the takes the cake has to be the car/hamster ball chase scene. The FBI guys get to the hideout, and the team have to do a runner in a motorized vehicle that is made out of three hamster wheels and a miniature supercharged engine. They break out the window... the whole scene gets more and more "holy crap this is cool" until the finale of the scene where the FBI jeep accidentally ''sets off a ground fireworks display, so that the rest of the scene is G-Force fleeing from the FBI while fireworks are exploding all around making it look like they're out driving a fireball.''
* ''Film/TheInvisibleMan'': The optical effects utilized for this film in 1933 still largely hold up today.
* ''Film/{{Gravity}}''. It's very tempting to say just "the entire film" and leave it at that, but in particular, this is probably the most realistic depiction of space in film to date, to the point where it's difficult to believe the entire thing wasn't actually filmed in space.
* In ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'':
** The filmmakers have nailed Maleficent's look.
** The PlantPeople army and especially the dragon.
** The various fairies seen throughout.
** [[LandOfFaerie The Moors]], which shows what happens when the filmmakers get the people who worked on James Cameron's ''Avatar'' and have them design a Myth/{{Celtic|Mythology}}, faerie wonderland.
* The transformation sequences in ''Film/TheWolfman2010'' are pretty awesome, just as Creator/RickBaker's incredible makeup effects. No wonder they won an Oscar for Best Makeup.
* ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'' ... the rest of the movie clearly doesn't stint on its (relatively low) budget.
* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** ''Film/ManOfSteel'':
*** A Creator/ZackSnyder staple. Special mention has to go to Zod's armor. It looks so real you would never guess that it's CGI.
*** A major highlight are the action scenes, which are a live-action adaptation of how Superman's fights are drawn in the comic books. ''Man of Steel'' properly adapts the speed and power the Kryptonians display in the comic books, and their fights are powerful brawls, whereas prior depictions relied a lot more on CoconutSuperpowers and some degree of obvious WireFu.
** ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'':
*** The make-up and prosthetic work for Killer Croc is spectacular. It's rare for such things to look just as good in behind-the-scenes photos as it does on camera.
* ''Film/{{Lucy}}'': ILM helped create a majority of the digital effects work and their work particularly shines during Lucy's [[spoiler: time jump sequence]] at the end of the film. Another effects highlight is Lucy the Australopithecus afarensis, who features in two scenes.
* While the overall quality of ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' is debated, the visual effects are almost universally praised, and for very good reason. Simply put, this movie has some of the best visual effects ''ever,'' and combines real-world props and stunning CGI to a degree that's scarcely been done this well since ''The Lord of the Rings'' movies.
** Unlike with every film of the last 15 years, almost every scene in this film was done with real, physical props and sets, with CGI limited to space backgrounds and a few other scenes. (Of course, this is a defining trait of the director, Christopher Nolan. He often opts for physical props over CGI, and ''Interstellar'' is no exception.)
** Nolan opted for a highly documentary-like style of filmmaking for the movie, emphasizing realism in cinematography and using various effects to that end. The film's starring spacecraft are full-size models in shots including actors and highly detailed miniatures in space scenes. The miniatures in particular were shot with very long exposure times, emulating the deep-contrast shadows of a vacuum, and almost all the exterior shots are from cameras mounted onto the ships, emulating footage from real-life engineering cameras. Plus, the way light plays on the surface of these miniatures results in an incredibly realistic look unachievable with CGI. The interiors of sets are lit not with studio lights, but with "in-universe" light fixtures, instrument panels, and the like. Even the view through the windows of the ships wasn't added in post-production - instead, the views were rendered beforehand, then rear-projected through the windows. The projected images are also bright enough to light the scene as if the ships were really in space - something that simply can't be done with post-production.
** The [[SignatureScene docking sequence.]] Never has two spaceships docking with [[spoiler: a broken airlock]] been so nail-biting, and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome.]]
** Those folding, transforming, robots that look like a cross between the Monolith from ''2001'' and a Transformer, with geometric transformations that border on AlienGeometries? ''PracticalEffects.''
** But [[SignatureScene by far]], the most visually striking element of the film is, ironically, a CGI element - specifically, the film's black hole. Generated with real physics-based models of black holes, the film's [[EldritchLocation black hole]] is the most realistic ''ever'' depicted on film. It is simultaneously ''terrifying'', and absolutely beautiful. Shout-out to the directors for managing to make an accurate depiction of wormhole where they cross from [[MindScrew standard reality]] to [[AlienGeometries the inside of a sphere-shaped hole in reality filled with stars]] and still have it be ''comprehensible.'' It has a terrifying beauty not seen in any other cinema depictions of black holes, perhaps because of its realism. WordOfGod has stated that the black hole renderings resulted in two published papers - one for the computer graphics community, and one for the scientific community.
** The temporal [[ChekhovsGun "handshake"]] where [[MindScrew space-time]] [[RealityWarper bends itself into the form of a hand]] to shake hands with a character.
*** And to to add the astonishing MindScrew cherry on top of the sundae, the climax of the film where Cooper finds himself [[spoiler: in the Tesseract where he sees multiple versions of his past unfolding simultaneously]]. Most of his surroundings throughout that part was a ''set'' that they [[DoingItForTheArt really dangled Matthew McConaughey in]].
* ''Film/{{Monsters|2010}}''. Considering the tiny budget, anything resembling special effects would have been commendable but its visuals would ''actually shame'' some movies 100 times its cost. And Creator/GarethEdwards did it all himself. Special mention goes to the [[spoiler:ending, when two of the creatures meet whilst Samantha and Andrew look on in awe]].
* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': Furiosa's robot arm is utterly seamless.
** The sheer amount of stuntwork and other practical effects that were used to bring the post-apocalyptic world to life, and all done in vivid colors instead of washed-out so that you could fully appreciate all of it. Over a year after the film's release, a new reel of raw stunt footage was released that ''still'' left critics and fans in awe. And on the CG side of things, that ''sandstorm''.
* ''Film/{{Pixels}}'': Generally agreed to be one of the lone bright spots of the film. And it's not hard to see why. Special mention goes to the Centipede and Pac-Man sequences.
* ''Film/JupiterAscending'':
** In an interview after production wrapped up, Lana Wachowski mentioned that the effects were much more complex than the stuff that was in ''Film/CloudAtlas''. They spent a lot of time and energy creating a unique feel for every set, from the claustrophobic and crowded Orous to the ostentatiousness of Titus' ship.
** The hunters chasing Caine and Jupiter around Chicago has some truly stunning cinematography. Some of the shots were pulled off by having helicopters fly around the city, catching as many possible angles as they could.
* ''Film/WarCraft'':
** The actors and actresses playing Orcs hardly look recognizable under CGI - and in a very good way. [[http://static.srcdn.com/slir/w786-h981-q90-c786:981/wp-content/uploads/warcraft-2016-ogrim-robert-kazinsky.jpg This image in particular]] look like something you could see in the real world.
** The dedication that went into making [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMrznKC8O7o the Orcs look realistic through motion-capture]] is just incredible to see unfold.
** In general the entire first trailer is absolutely breathtaking.
** It's only seen for a brief moment, but [[https://i.imgur.com/Fe2fK6V.jpg Stormwind]] looks incredible.
** There's a reason that many people have called ''the first trailer alone'' better than [[VideoGameMoviesSuck most]] video game movies.
* ''Film/{{Dredd}}'': For an independent production with a budget of $45 million, most of the special effects and slow motion sequences are pretty impressive.
* ''Film/TheRevenant'': The Bear is the most obvious one but some of the CG used for other animals is quite good and naturalist photography is nothing short of ''stunning''.
* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'': Given how the effects were done by Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic, [[ParodyAssistance who also created the special effects of Star Wars]]...
** ''Spaceball One'', the prop looks just as good the ships in ''Franchise/StarWars''.
** The obvious track aside, the dancing Xenomorph is actually a pretty decent puppet for a comedy.
* ''Film/TheJungleBook2016''. Everything except Mowgli is computer-generated. Think about that for a second. Now go back and look at the film again. The animals, the jungle, the water, the fire - all of this was done with blue screen and computer graphics. And it all looks entirely real. The mere fact that they managed to make realistic-looking talking animals without descending into the UncannyValley is an impressive enough accomplishment on its own. The fact that it ''all'' looks this good is an almost unparalleled artistic accomplishment. This is quite possibly the most impressive example of this trope since ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' (and not coincidentally, many of the same VFX people worked on both films).
* ''Film/TheMartian'' has some very impressive effects, especially the sand storm at the start of the film. The scenes in space also rival the ones in ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' and ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' for how realistic-looking they are. But perhaps the most impressive factor is that the Martian scenes actually look like they really were filmed on Mars.
* ''Film/ExMachina'' won an upset Oscar victory for Best Visual Effects over favourites for the award like ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' and ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. The android characters provide one of the finest examples of the UncannyValley in recent cinematic history, and it's difficult to believe they're not actual androids. Making the accomplishment even more impressive, the entire film was made on a shoestring budget and the effects were all done in post-production. There are a couple of minor flaws with the effects (mostly in [[spoiler:the scene in which Alicia Vikander's character Ava takes skin from another robot character, due to the changing size of her breasts]]), but for the most part the whole thing is seamless, and it all looks like it was a lot more expensive to produce than it actually was.
* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': Most of the practical effects hold up well. The CGI...doesn't.
* The rendering of David's building in ''Film/TheDivergentSeriesAllegiant'' is beautiful to look at - especially the colours and lights. Even the elevator looks impressive. The entire design for the barren future is also quite impressive.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' doesn't seem like the kind of movie for that, but then you watch [[http://www.moving-picture.com/reels/vfx-breakdowns/kingdom-of-heaven-vfx-breakdown this.]]
* Let's just say there's a reason why ''Film/IndependenceDay'' won the Oscar for visual effects. The destruction of the White House alone was enough to hang a whole advertising campaign on.
* Michael Powell's classic ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' is a film featuring stunning SceneryPorn of India. Except it was shot entirely on soundstages at Pinewood Studios. Matte paintings, hanging miniatures and glass effects were used to simulate Himalayan scenery. The result is a film that looks as if it was at least partially shot on location.
* ''Film/AssassinsCreed2016'': [[InvertedTrope The awesomeness is in the foregoing of visual effects]], with Aguilar's Leaps of Faith performed by Fassbender's stunt double, Damien Walters, rather than using CGI. The film crew also made functional Hidden Blades.
* The live-action ''Film/FatAlbert'' movie: The effects used to show the characters transform from cartoons to real people by jumping out of the TV screen hold up pretty well. To say nothing of the gorgeous traditional animation.
* Many horror movies have spectacularly upsetting transformation sequences, but they usually take a few minutes at most for the audience and the afflicted characters. They were so common in the early 1980s, with varying levels of quality in the execution, that by mid-decade it seemed nothing new could be done with the conceit of a man becoming a monster. And then Creator/DavidCronenberg's ''Film/TheFly1986'' went with a {{Metamorphosis}} which unfolds over the course of a month-plus in-story, like a disease. ''Seven stages'' of transformation are depicted (an additional midpoint stage didn't make the final cut but DVD bonus features contain the sequence in question) -- five via increasingly repulsive yet realistic makeup effects, and the final completely inhuman-looking ones via puppetry. Stage 5 becomes 6 right before the audience and characters' eyes as the DoomedProtagonist's body literally sheds its human form! Chris Walas and company's work deservedly won the Academy Award for Makeup, while Creator/JeffGoldblum's amazing performance as poor Seth Brundle ''not'' receiving similar recognition for making the transformation fully come alive was regarded then and now as a serious AwardSnub. Suffice to say that ''this'' SlowTransformation will likely stick around as the trope's page image and codifier for a while to come.
* ''Film/TheyShallNotGrowOld'': The work Creator/PeterJackson, Stereo D, and Park Road Post put into the film, you'd think they had talkies, color film, and 3D back in the days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
* Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu:
** While the designs themselves fall somewhat under UncannyValley, the integration of the Pokémon into live action itself works pretty damn well, often to the point where [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight you might not notice them in some shots]].
** Special mention goes to the shot of Charizard using flamethrower and the herd of Bulbasaur walking along with Morelull floating around them.
** The FantasticNoir aesthetic for Ryme City that blends a family friendly FilmNoir look crossed with Pokémon was well received as well.
** The surprise Mewtwo bursting out of the flames looks amazing.
** [[https://i.imgur.com/3344mJj.jpg The Torterra]] in the 'Casting Detective Pikachu' video has lots of detail such as scales and marks over its body. [[spoiler: Seeing a bunch of them artificially enlarged to the size of islands is like something out of ''Film/JurassicPark''.]]
** Another mention go to the Pangoro's fur and incredible detail with the photorealism. It looks like what an actual scary Panda while also being a bear would look like.
** The Bulbasaurs in the lake scene are especially detailed, with glimming eyes.
----

* Any and all space battles in ''Franchise/StarWars'', but most of all the final flight '''inside''' the Death Star in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.
** The [=AT-ATs=] in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''.
** Speaking of ''Empire'', say hi to Darth Vader's new [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsHNigj-mN0 ride]]. Rebel [[BringMyBrownPants pants-soiling]] ensues.
** The opening sequence of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Calm flyover of a lone Star Destroyer, two fighters appear, then just as they look down below the Star Destroyer, '''WAR!''' In a long take, you have two fighters winding their way through a massive warzone. The juxtaposition of sedate view vs. intense warzone is a reminder that Lucas is a ''hell'' of a visual director. And did you know that the minute-long battle between Anakin and Obi-wan took over 700 days to complete? And it was wonderful, wasn't it?
** While the space battle in ''Return of the Jedi'' is impressive on its own, it becomes a thing of beauty when considering that every single ship on screen is a model, the incredible sense of scale created with these tiny little things. Even more impressive is the fact that the Star Destroyer models were around 2.5 meters long -- and moved smoothly.
** No Clone Trooper suits were built for Episodes II and III. Yes, they're all SerkisFolk. The effects are ''that'' realistic!
** These days it's more obvious that the Yoda from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' is a puppet. But what a puppet! Star Wars special effects ''have'' become somewhat dated, but even now they don't hold up terribly at all.
*** It should be noted that at the time, there was actually a small movement that attempted to get Frank Oz nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Yoda.
*** You think ''Yoda'' was an impressive puppet? If you're looking for an impressive puppet in the ''Star Wars'' trilogy, look no further than '''Jabba the Hutt!''' His huge size makes it much easier to believe he's real, and the actual puppetry works well, too.
** The original and the best, the opening of ''Film/ANewHope''.
** Much of Count Dooku's saber duels in Episodes II and III featured a body double for Christopher Lee with his head composited into the shot. In fact, his part in Episode III was filmed at a different time than Ewan [=McGregor=] and Hayden Christenson's, but you'd never know it in the final film because the compositing and editing is absolutely seamless.
** For ''Film/TheForceAwakens'':
*** The brief sequences from the trailer look absolutely ''stunning''. Even more impressive is that most of the effects are apparently being done practically rather than the CGI approach of the prequel trilogy. Special mention to the ''Millennium Falcon'' dogfighting with some TIE fighters.
*** Another mention goes to BB-8, who is a ''controllable practical effect'' as proven at Celebration Anaheim 2015. Most of the shots were puppetry, but remote-control electronic BB-8 models have also been made fully functional and independent.
*** The muffin Rey makes. She puts the mixture into a bowl right in front of the audience's face, and while the audience is distracted watching her in the background the water seamlessly forms into a muffin. ''None of that shot was CG''.
*** Maz Kanata is very good motion-capture that really brings her to life.
** In ''Film/RogueOne'':
*** K-2SO looks so incredibly realistic it's very easy to forget that he is ''completely'' digital - in a movie that has quite a lot of PracticalEffects robots and creatures, put the digital K-2SO next to any of the others and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
*** The appearances of [[spoiler:Creator/PeterCushing, who has been dead for over twenty years, as Grand Moff Tarkin, and a forty-years-younger-looking Creator/CarrieFisher as a young Princess Leia, thanks to some ''ridiculously'' good CG/motion capture. Some people have claimed they fall into the UncannyValley, but they're nonetheless stunningly realistic-looking. If you didn't know they were CG, you probably wouldn't be able to tell their parts weren't filmed forty years earlier.]]
*** The battles in general are gorgeous, some of which is down to some excellent cinematography but a lot more of which is down to ILM's usual fantastic effects work.
*** The Death Star's power is given a minor test in this movie, leaving behind a massive explosion with waves of debris. In the words of Director Krennic, "It's beautiful."
*** When a Hammerhead corvette forces two star destroyers to collide, the blade of one shearing the conning tower of the other right off, scattering clouds of debris everywhere. Seeing the painstaking detail put into the 3D models just so they can be slowly torn apart is immensely satisfying.
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'':
*** Out of the shadows, motion-capture Snoke looks completely real despite his obviously impossible features.
*** The thala-siren milked by Luke was a practical effect, but the puppetry and detail are so good that it's not only hard to believe that it's not a real creature, but also that it's not CG.
*** [[spoiler: Admiral Holdo's HeroicSacrifice by ramming the ''Raddus'' into the ''Supremacy'' at '''lightspeed'''. Snoke's massive MileLongShip is split ''in half'' [[ShockingMoments in a flash of blinding white light and absolute silence.]]]]
*** [[spoiler: Yoda's triumphant return, portrayed by an actual puppet!]]
*** [[spoiler: Yoda]] looks exactly like he did in [[spoiler: ''Empire'',]] to the point where it's a little unnerving. There's a reason for that. The filmmakers tracked down the molds used to create [[spoiler: the original puppet]]. They even found the woman who PAINTED [[spoiler: HIS]] EYES just for the sake of 100% accuracy.

* The ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' film trilogy set a standard for creating a whole other world that has yet to be met. Yes, even by ''Star Wars.''
** Indeed, ''The Lord Of The Rings'' movies: Basically the ''Star Wars'' for this generation, shattering the boundaries of visual effects. Technology used for many of the film's effects was invented specifically for the movie, such as the Balrog's flaming skin, and the unforgettable stampede of a hundred Oliphaunts. From that first scene of 'The Fellowship Of The Ring' where thousands of elves and men and ungodly creatures are blackening the sky with arrows and you immediately know the films are going to be amazing, to the first shots of Hobbiton, to Rivendell, to all that suspense leading up to the onslaught of Orcs in Moria and then they get there and they're ''f*** ing horrible'', to the troll and Balrog to Lothlórien to Gollum ''changing everything'' and calling for demands that a [[SerkisFolk CGI character]] get an Oscar nomination, to Helm's Deep to [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the Pelennor Fields]] to the entire rest of the trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy could be the mascot for this article. True magic.
** What's all the more impressive, is in the knowledge that whenever possible, everything that appears on film ''actually exists'' in one form or another and was seamlessly put together for the finished product. This includes just about every static/scenery piece in all three movies, regardless of scale. Truly a new standard in model making/filming.
** Most of the horses in the epic battle sequences were CGI. Even professional equestrians have difficulty telling them apart from real horses.
** [=LotR=] wasn't just crowning-level awesome for how good the effects looked, but how they also acted. The Programmers didn't want to script the battles by hand, so they programmed all of the CGI characters to go nuts and try to kill each other. At one point in filming, the human armies started running away from the Orcish armies because they didn't know how to deal with the incoming oliphaunt riders!
** While just about every scene has multiple examples of this trope, the one that comes immediately to mind is the scene in The Two Towers where Saruman's spell on King Théoden is broken and he turns back to his former self.
** For all the glory that was the CGI involved, the behind the scenes show just how breathtaking ''practical'' effects can be; upwards of 90% of the shots showing folks of varying heights (mostly Gandalf and Frodo) interacting with each other was done through old-school trickery like forced perspective, creative props, etc. As just ONE example, Frodo and Gandalf aren't riding side by side, that carriage top was basically split in half and separated by a good 6 feet with the camera lined up so perfectly you couldn't see the seam, even if you weren't busy trying to find the (nonexistent) green screen and CGI artifacts.
* Similarly, ''Film/TheHobbit'' has special effects on par with [=LotR=]. One specific example comes to mind in ''[[Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug Desolation of Smaug]]'' with the titular dragon. You'd be seriously hard pressed to find a better computer generated dragon than the all powerful Smaug. The tales are true.

** The Visual Effects director ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Rygiel Jim Rygiel]]) did the ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' Trilogy. That alone is proof.

* The ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord Of The Rings]]'' film trilogy set a standard for creating a whole other world that has yet to be met. Yes, even by ''Star Wars.''

*** Those skeleton pirates debuted as Creator/{{WETA}} was working on the equally spooky [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Army of the Dead]], which prompted a collective "Oh God''dammit!''" and grudging admiration.

** Heisei Godzilla films are considered the ''pinnacle'' of the Toho monster films. With each film, Godzilla's suit improved more and more, becoming more lifelike and the sets become more elaborate. Minus the asteroid scene in GodzillaVsSpaceGodzilla, the final battle and Space Godzilla's arrival on Earth rivals even the ''best'' CGI of today in terms of scope, with practical effects galore. And M.O.U.G.E.R.A is a highly impressive ''animatronic'' instead of a suit.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark''. Tell yourself those dinosaurs are fake.

** ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'':

*** [[spoiler: Admiral Holdo's HeroicSacrifice by ramming the ''Raddus'' into the ''Supremacy'' at '''lightspeed'''. Snoke's massive MileLongShip is splint ''in half'' in a flash of blinding white light and absolute silence.]] [[HolyShitQuotient Absolutely jaw-dropping work.]]

* Say what you will of ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'', but this sure looks like its entire purpose. And on this point at least, it delivered in spades; MonumentalDamage has never looked so good. The sequence of driving and flying through Los Angeles as it crumbles into the sea, with our heroes driving under collapsing overpasses, though falling offices and flying under subway trains is ''[[HolyShitQuotient astounding]]''.

** But [[SignatureScene by]] [[HolyShitQuotient far]], the most visually striking element of the film is, ironically, a CGI element - specifically, the film's black hole. Generated with real physics-based models of black holes, the film's [[EldritchLocation black hole]] is the most realistic ''ever'' depicted on film. It is simultaneously ''terrifying'', and absolutely beautiful. Shout-out to the directors for managing to make an accurate depiction of wormhole where they cross from [[MindScrew standard reality]] to [[AlienGeometries the inside of a sphere-shaped hole in reality filled with stars]] and still have it be ''comprehensible.'' It has a terrifying beauty not seen in any other cinema depictions of black holes, perhaps because of its realism. WordOfGod has stated that the black hole renderings resulted in two published papers - one for the computer graphics community, and one for the scientific community.

** The sheer amount of stuntwork and other practical effects that were used to bring the post-apocalyptic world to life, and all done in vivid colors instead of washed-out so that you could fully appreciate all of it. Over a year after the film's release, a new reel of raw stunt footage was released that ''still'' left critics and fans in awe. And on the CG side of things, that ''sandstorm''. [[HolyShitQuotient Damn]].

** The ''Neb'' docking at Zion, and the ''car chase to end all car chases''. {{HSQ}} indeed.

* Anything that Stan Winston has ever worked on. The dinosaurs in ''Film/JurassicPark'', ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'', the Film/{{Alien}}, the Film/{{Predator}}, Film/EdwardScissorhands, Film/IronMan. The man was a special effects god! Proof, if it's needed, watch ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', then ''Film/TheTerminator''. The original's effects have held up better. For added awesome, combine Winston with Industrial Light and Magic. The "go-motion" blurred effects aren't particularly good, but that's not Winston's work (the huge Terminator puppet is). But then look at the 2nd one. First the skeletons at the beginning, that is 100% Stan Winston. See the scene where they made an animatronic Arnold? As in a torso of him? You do, but you don't see it. Where he walks down the hallway with a grenade launcher firing tear-gas, it's not Arnold. That's one of Winston's effects. May he rest in peace.

** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', being the end of ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'', was set up from the beginning to outdo its predecessors with even more awesome visual effects:

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome:

* [[Creator/LonChaney Lon. Chaney. Senior.]] Even after eighty years of advances in makeup and visual effects, his portrayals of [[Film/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Quasimodo]] and [[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1925 The Phantom of the Opera]] still rank among the most effective physical transformations ever created for film.

*** The film was shot with 90% PRACTICAL EFFECTS. How bloody awesome is that? Scenes like the train scene, any of the shield tossing scenes, and the on foot street chase (which uses slowed frame rates to make it appear as if the titular character is running and jumping really fast) are just bone-chillingly awesome as a result. In addition, Johnston shot the film in 2D with [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D in mind]] so he could ensure careful attention to detail for the 3D conversion was paid. The result is an awesome practical effects driven film that is awesome watching it, and even looking insanely awesome in 3D, despite being post-converted.
*** The 3D conversion itself was raved about when released in cinemas. Many thought the film was shot in 3D, it looked so bloody awesome. When seen in [=UltraAVX=] cinemas, one can't help but be blown away. Further, the scene where the shield swings into the camera before heading into the base near the end is so well done, it'll make you jump out of your seat.

*** The climatic battle scene that takes place in New York? Most of it was either entirely CGI or green-screened at an outside location. The scene with Iron Man coming out of the ocean and flying to the Stark Tower? All CGI.

* Let's just say there's a reason why ''Film/IndependenceDay'' won the Oscar for visual effects.

* Many horror movies have spectacularly upsetting transformation sequences, but they usually take a few minutes at most for the audience and the afflicted characters. Creator/DavidCronenberg's ''Film/TheFly1986'' goes with a {{Metamorphosis}} which unfolds over the course of a month-plus in-story, like a horrible sickness. ''Seven stages'' of transformation are depicted -- five via increasingly repulsive yet realistic makeup effects, and the final completely inhuman-looking ones via puppetry. On top of that, Stage 5 becomes 6 right before the audience and characters' eyes as the DoomedProtagonist's body literally sheds its human form! Chris Walas and company's work deservedly won the Academy Award for Makeup, while Creator/JeffGoldblum's amazing performance as poor Seth Brundle ''not'' receiving similar recognition for making the transformation fully come alive was regarded then and now as a serious AwardSnub.

* Have to give a shout out to ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'', with the "computer graphics" used in the navigation system in Snake's plane. The production crew created them by building a physical model, covering it with lines of reflective tape, and filming the result; it still looks good today.

*** While a lot of it falls because of the [[Creator/ChrisEvans actor]], the visual effects used to show a pre [[SuperSerum Super-Soldier Serum]] Steve Rogers is pretty impressive. Rather than paste Evans's head onto a scrawnier actor, they actually slimmed him down using SFX, and it's quite convincing to the point that some fans thought the post Super-Soldier Serum was special effects.

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'', a Creator/ZackSnyder staple. Special mention has to go to Zod's armor. It looks so real you would never guess that it's CGI.
** A major highlight are the action scenes, which are a live-action adaptation of how Superman's fights are drawn in the comic books. ''Man of Steel'' properly adapts the speed and power the Kryptonians display in the comic books, and their fights are powerful brawls, whereas prior depictions relied a lot more on CoconutSuperpowers and some degree of obvious WireFu.

* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'': The make-up and prosthetic work for Killer Croc is spectacular. It's rare for such things to look just as good in behind-the-scenes photos as it does on camera.

* The three main ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' movies all feature incredible visual effects, especially since [[Film/XMen1 the first]] was released in 2000.
** Particularly impressive is the scene in the first film where Magneto confronts the cops, takes control of their firearms and floats them in midair, aiming at each of them. Also, the various closeup shots of Wolverine's claws emerging, Senator Kelly's NightmareFuel mutation, Mystique's transformations (that got progressively better as the films went on) and so on. Also in the first film is an extreme TalkingToHimself scene where Wolverine fights Mystique (the latter disguised as Wolverine) and one seriously cannot tell which is the real Logan.
** The [[Film/X2XMenUnited second film]] had the X-Jet tornado sequence, Nightcrawler's teleportations and the ending scene where Jean Grey telekinetically holds back the water from the dam.
** The [[Film/XMenTheLastStand third film]] has Angel's wings, Quill's spikes and of course the Golden Gate bridge uprooted and plonked on Alcatraz Island. One moment that is slight more subtle is the "digital skin grafting" that made Patrick Stewart and Ian [=McKellen=] look two decades younger.

* ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' Magneto ''lifting an entire baseball stadium'', among other things.

* ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'': Colossus looks absolutely incredible, his metal skin appearing almost photorealistic.
** In a more subtle manner, the animated eyes of Deadpool's mask. Just cartooney enough to make his mask-covered face more expressive and humorous like the comics, but not attention-grabbing enough to be distracting.
** Also, the special effects used to simulate Deadpool's tissue regeneration.

* There's so much high-grade win in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' that some things go unmentioned. Like Two-Face. How the hell DID they do that?? %%%Rhetorical question.
** It wasn't extremely realistic, though - that badly burned face would largely fall apart in a very short time. They apparently did initially experiment with a far more realistic face with more skin and realistic burns, but it looked so horrifying they feared they would get R-rating for it.
*** Miniatures. They used a miniature Garbage truck and miniature Tumbler. Same with blowing said Tumbler, using three different shots in three different locations.
** Some of the most impressive visual effects in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' might be described in this context as "cheating", since there ''is'' no effect -- they actually did what they showed on screen. Examples: flipping (not rolling) a full-sized semi, blowing up & collapsing a building.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', being the end of ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'', was set up from the beginning to outdo its predecessors with even more awesome visual effects.
** It opens with the destruction of a plane in midair. They actually destroyed a real plane for that scene and it looks stunning.
** The Bat isn't CGI. It's an actual sized purpose-built vehicle suspended in midair by wires from helicopters and cranes with hydraulic controls to make it look like its maneuvering.

* Many say that the best visual effects are those you don't notice, and that's so true for ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', especially, well, ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. They couldn't do the jump off the Two-ifc in Hong Kong for real, so that's really a green screen effect. The helicopter crash is some realistic CGI too. Then there's the Batpod's emergence from the Tumbler. And some of the big car chase is made using minuature models. One really subtle instance is that the windows on the top floor of the hospital that blows up? Those were CGI because the real windows were stolen. And then the hospital [[StuffBlowingUp explodes]]. Really spectacularly. Also, Batman's sonar vision is some trippy and very beautiful stuff.
** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' was pretty good with this too. The climatic train sequence was done mostly with minuatures, and also the fear toxin hallucination sequences were genuine NightmareFuel. The League Of Assassins' dojo being blown up was nice minuature model work too, and a lot of the Tumbler chase is pretty good game for this trope.
** ''Film/Batman1989'' also has several incredible visual effects for its time (that still look pretty damn good today), made all the more amazing when you realize that there's no CGI involved whatsoever. In particular, every sequence with the Batmobile, the Batwing sequence, and the shootout in the Axis Chemicals Plant just look incredible and feel like they were ripped out of a comic book.
** It says a lot that this is the ''second time'' someone has had to list ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' on ''this very page.''

*** [[http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/iron_man_3 CGS This details exactly all the work they did]], and on a shorter deadline to boot!

* ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' continues the trend of Marvel film looking absolutely stunning with the scenery of Wakanda. It's Afrofuturism on a scale that has never been seen before in film, and it is ''absolutely gorgeous''. On top of that, there are the Black Panther and Golden Jaguar costumes, which take Tony Stark's automated armouring and make it look like the work of an amateur. And not forgetting the Ancestral Realm, with its beautiful purple skies over the savannah [[spoiler:and out the window of an Oakland apartment]].

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' was shot with 90% PRACTICAL EFFECTS. How bloody awesome is that? Scenes like the train scene, any of the shield tossing scenes, and the on foot street chase (which uses slowed frame rates to make it appear as if the titular character is running and jumping really fast) are just bone-chillingly awesome as a result. In addition, Johnston shot the film in 2D with [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D in mind]] so he could ensure careful attention to detail for the 3D conversion was paid. The result is an awesome practical effects driven film that is awesome watching it, and even looking insanely awesome in 3D, despite being post-converted.
** The 3D conversion itself was raved about when released in cinemas. Many thought the film was shot in 3D, it looked so bloody awesome. When seen in [=UltraAVX=] cinemas, one can't help but be blown away. Further, the scene where the shield swings into the camera before heading into the base near the end is so well done, it'll make you jump out of your seat.
** While a lot of it falls because of the [[Creator/ChrisEvans actor]], the visual effects used to show a pre [[SuperSerum Super-Soldier Serum]] Steve Rogers is pretty impressive. Rather than paste Evans's head onto a scrawnier actor, they actually slimmed him down using SFX, and it's quite convincing to the point that some fans thought the post Super-Soldier Serum was special effects.

* Most anyone you ask will agree that the effects on ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' (the one with Creator/EdwardNorton) were many, many times better than those of the earlier ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' film. Both the Hulk and the Abomination had very good muscle definition and skin texture for CGI creations, and the scenes where they are in the rain are downright cool. Yes, even the Hulk's {{narm}} scene in the cave. The film also required both creatures to do a lot of interaction with real environments, people and other elements, which was pulled off pretty well.

* Tony Stark putting on his "suitcase armor" in ''Film/IronMan2''
** By far the better scene was the first movie, when his entire automated workshop dresses him in his Mark III armor, piece by piece, finishing with placing his helmet and mask.

* Everything from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', from the Helicarrier rising from the ocean, to Tony's new suit, to Hulk's transformations, to the battle scenes. SceneryPorn galore!
** The climatic battle scene that takes place in New York? Most of it was either entirely CGI or green-screened at an outside location. The scene with Iron Man coming out of the ocean and flying to the Stark Tower? All CGI.
* From ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Ultron looks ''fantastic'' in what's been seen so far. Given there was worry that he'd be poorly designed (not helped by a rumour that he'd have a more humanoid face), but the final product has gotten generally positive acclaim.

* ''Film/{{Thor}}'': The cosmic end-credits sequence, featuring the camera zooming through Yggdrasil on the path between Earth and Asgard, is a sight to behold.
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': The world in this movie is created largely through intentional use of practical effects, sets, makeup, and puppetry. All over the place with a fantastic mixture of sets, CGI, makeup, costumes and puppets, but on the commentary James Gunn points out an easily missed one: many people assumed Rocket's facial expressions were done with motion capture, but this actually wasn't possible because of how different human and racoon faces are. So all that emotion comes directly from the animators.
* ''Film/IronMan3'': [[http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/iron_man_3 CGS details exactly all the work they did]], and on a shorter deadline to boot!
** Tony's home blown up and falling into the ocean looks ''amazing''. Special kudos to the people that managed to make the Mark 42 armor latch onto Tony Stark as he's climbing and doing rolls during the entire attack look almost flawless.
** As always, the armor's animation itself looks sleek and impressive. Take that up several notches [[spoiler:with an entire legion of Iron Man armors]] and you've got something that's beyond impressive.
** Credit also has to be given to the Extremis soldiers, whose organic glowing bodies are rendered just as well as the armors themselves.
** Even beyond all of that is the Air Force One sequence. The only CGI in that entire set piece was the plane itself, the compositing, and drawing in Iron Man over his stand-in actor. Everything else was done practically; real people jumping out of a real plane, grabbing each other in the air, and so forth. It all culminated in a massive zip-line rig, dropping each one into the water in sequence.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': Most of the effects were done by ILM, and they did ''not'' disappoint.
** The Helicarriers falling to the sea is absolutely amazing.
** While the Falcon has some changes from the comics version, the Winter Soldier looks almost ''identical'' to the comics, which is pretty impressive. Who didn't love seeing him flying around and generally being awesome? Whoever did the flight effects for him needs a medal.
** The Winter Soldier's metal arm is a sight to behold, especially since set photos showed an unconnected metal case for the actor's arm. In the film, it's a seamless, smooth limb.
** From the start of the film, aboard the pirate ship, Cap appears a true super-soldier, with speed and agility and strength that the first film's CGI didn't catch. None of the ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' films show as well what a superior-trained human can do. Very realistic.
** The shield tricks, which have taken a massive level in awesome. In general, the action scenes are ''very'' well done. In particular are the fights between Captain America and the Winter Soldier, which many have come to regard as some of the best hand-to-hand combat scenes in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
** Elderly Peggy Carter is not without its flaws, but considering how bad old age prosthetic makeup used to look in movies, the digital solution that Lola VFX came up with was far more convincing and allowed Creator/HayleyAtwell's performance to show through without restriction. How they did it is detailed [[http://avengersuniverse.com/2014/05/04/see-how-hayley-atwell-was-made-to-look-old-in-captain-america-the-winter-soldier/ here]].
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': For Tony's first scene in the film, they show a recreation of a memory from 1991 of [[spoiler:the last time Tony saw his parents before they were killed]]. Robert Downey Jr has been brilliantly deaged to the point where he is a convincing young man in his late teens/early twenties (and accurately resembles the real Robert Downey Jr from 1991).

* ''Film/AntMan'':
** The digital de-aging of Michael Douglas to look like he did in 1989 is very impressive - it almost looks like he came off of the set of ''Film/WallStreet'' to film a scene for a movie that wouldn't be finished for another 25 years. You can read about the impressive process used to de-age him here in [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/ this article]].
** Near the end of the movie, the [[spoiler:Quantum Realm]] sequence.
** The film's awesome looking Yellowjacket suit? It doesn't actually exist, it's completely CGI. The sheer number of people who thought it was a real costume speaks volumes of how impressive it is.
** The depiction of Ant Man's size-changing looks insanely cool at times.

* ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'':
** The Ancient One opening Strange's third eye is one of the most spectacular, exhilarating sequences ever put to film.
** The fight scenes take place in a separate reality that works like MC Escher's art. The interactions are seamless.
*** A special mention has to be the fight scene done while time is reversing itself.
** Special mention also must be given to Strange's cape which has a mind of it's own AND interacts with SEVERAL characters. [[spoiler: like beating the dragon on it's own by beating it's head against the floor. It stops Caecillius' blows.]] and it still looks like cloth.