When we did the flight sequences for STEALTH at Digital Domain (yes, it too was unwatchable), we built and used a system based on capturing data from X-plane to use for the flight animation. It all depends on the camera angle and the edit pace. The problem is, if you start doing camera moves in CGI that look video-gamey instead of like air-to-air photography, it doesn't look real, no matter how realistic the aircraft and environments are.
However, in that movie, there is a shot of the Talon landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier that looks just as real as anything in Top Gun.
My beef with the EAA's choice is that there are far better aviation movies out there. ****'s Angels, Aviator, The Blue Max, and The Battle of Britain, for example. And if you start looking at Japanese animation, there's Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, and Steamboy by Miyazaki.
I didn't see all the nominations, but was the Iron Eagle series in the running?