My Award nominations: Sound Editing

Great work out there from the sound designers this year. I tell ya, some decisions were tough to make in narrowing it down to five for my Best Sound Editing nominees.

Brave (Gary Rydstrom, E.J. Holowicki, Gwen Whittle):

As always, Rydstrom delivers terrific sound effects, including a whole library of bear vocalizations and the single best arrow-splitting I've ever heard.

The Dark Knight Rises (Richard King):

King's thunderous soundscape here equals his career best, especially the extensive adr work on Bane's dialogue dubbing (which was done a disservice by the mixers, but sounded really threatening anyway).

Django Unchained (Wylie Stateman):

Stateman brilliantly accentuates sounds that highlight the significance of gestures and actions, like when Django first casts off his slave clothes, or all those slo-mo gunshots.

The Impossible (Oriol Tarrago):

Tarrago's sound effects are especially terrifying during the tsunami sequence, but sound design throughout is richly incorporated and effectively supports the film's real-life-as-horror approach.

Zero Dark Thirty (Paul N.J. Ottosson)

Ottosson's precise sound palette gets showcased nicely in the heart-stopping climatic raid, but his work in the busy CIA hubs or dank torture rooms is no less important to keeping us on edge.

Just missed: The Avengers, The Hunger Games, Life of Pi, Snow White and the Huntsman, Wreck-It Ralph