15 finalists for Best Visual Effects

Even with their newly expanded field, the Academy's visual effects branch still feels they must put films vying for the Oscar through a bake-off process. The first wave of contenders to survive the scrutinous procedure have been announced. They will later be trimmed down to ten before the final five are announced on nomination day.

There are no real surprises to be had at this early stage, but this branch can sometimes surprise when it all comes out in the wash. Last year's inclusion of Hereafter's subtle supporting effects over TRON Legacy's CG-heavy environs comes to mind (in fact, that Hereafter nomination is what has vindicated many guessers, myself included, to predict a nomination for The Tree of Life for the past several months).

See all fifteen finalists after the cut.

Sunday Top Ten: Movie vehicles I wish I owned

What I hope to get out of this Sunday Top Ten series (which officially starts today – right now, in fact!) is a collection of lists that reflect a bit about me. Needless to say, all the opinions on this blog are my own personal ones, so don't be expecting any thoroughly researched expert analysis. For instance, dork that I am, I would ill qualified to write about the ten “coolest” movie vehicles of all time. But ten movie vehicles I myself would love to own, that's something I can write about. So why not make that the inaugural countdown:

IFMA winners!

Film Score of the Year: John Powell, How to Train Your Dragon
Composer of the Year: Alexandre Desplat
Best Score for an Animated Film: John Powell, How to Train Your Dragon
Best Score for a Drama Film: Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech
Best Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: Alexandre Desplat, The Ghost Writer
Best Score for a Comedy Film: Pinar Toprak, The Lightkeepers.
Best Score to a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film: Daft Punk, TRON: Legacy
Best Score for a Documentary Film: Bruno Coulais, Oceans
Best Individual Composition: Danny Elfman, “Alice Theme” from Alice in Wonderland
Breakout Composer of the Year: Nuno Malo, Amalia

I have to say I like these winners. For the most part that is. I am a wee bit baffled as to how Danny Elfman's derivative "Alice" can be seen (or heard) as a more accomplished composition than John Powell's beautiful "Forbidden Friendship", but at least Powell took home the big prize for Best Film Score of the Year, a fitting consolation given that he stands little chance of winning the Oscar.

I'm thrilled to see Daft Punk get some due recognition for what is some of the year's most awesome music in TRON Legacy, and to see Alexandre Desplat actually win for his atmospheric Ghost Writer score, to go along with his expected win for King's Speech. It's looking like his year.

MPSE winners!

This is a pretty good slate. Inception took home two deserved trophies for Richard King's terrific sound design and for the outstanding integration of Hans Zimmer's music. It's the one with the Oscar heat in this category, but there's still a chance True Grit could upset.

The Social Network, meanwhile, impressed the organization with its tricky tidying-up of Aaron Sorkin's dizzying dialogue. Fine choice, but I may have liked to see TRON Legacy take that category.

Finally, I'm thrilled to see Randy Thom get his due for How to Train Your Dragon, the best sound editing of the year sadly overlooked by Oscar.

Best Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film: Inception
Best Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film: The Social Network
Best Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR in a Animated Feature Film: How to Train Your Dragon Sweet!
Best Music Editing in a Feature Film: Inception
Best Music Editing in a Musical Feature: Country Strong
Best Sound Editing in a Documentary: Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
Best Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in a Foreign Feature: Micmacs

One Category at a Time: Sound Editing

What to do, what to do? It's been many a year since I guessed both Sound categories correctly. The unprecedented split between Slumdog Millionaire and The Dark Knight in 2009 lead me to believe that it might happen again last year, only to end up being another two-for-one year with The Hurt Locker taking both Sound prizes away from Avatar. Methinks the split was just a flash in the pan. To have one film win both categories is the norm.

To that end, it didn't take much to convince me that Inception is the most typical winner in both, but especially Sound Editing. And it's a worthy winner. Richard King's distortion of sound for deepening dream levels is a nifty aural cue for the benefit of the audience. He also achieves bombastic full-bodied sounds by mixing together multiple recordings of the same sound from varying distances. It's terrific work that'll likely bring him his third Oscar.

Unfortunately, it comes at the expense of Gwen Whittle, who should have won last year for Avatar, and should also be winning this year for TRON Legacy. But there's nothing the poor woman can do. The sad fact of the matter is that the movie she's representing is bad, even though her work in it is exemplary. She'll win some day (I hope).

The possible spoiler is True Grit. The movie is quite loved and sound plays a big part, but if it were to steal one of Inception's Sound trophies it would probably be in Mixing.

The other two are just happy to be there, despite the fact that they both boast quality work. Toy Story 3 isn't sound-driven enough, and Unstoppable flew too low under the radar.

Will win: Inception
Runner-up: True Grit

Should win: TRON Legacy
Should have been nominated: How to Train Your Dragon

My Award nominations: Original Score

Best Original Score:

How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell):

Powell gives an enjoyable Celtic/Gaelic mash-up to the film, making great use of bagpipes, snare drums, & recorder. Has the most memorable melodies of the year.

Inception (Hans Zimmer):

Zimmer's layered, powerful score is right on target with all the emotional cues and bombastic action sequences. A wholly original, commanding, and effective work.

The Social Network (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross):

Reznor and Ross' dense atmospheric themes help to give the movie a unique aesthetic identity; soft spoken but agitated, with a somewhat hostile edge.

Tangled (Alan Menken):

Chalk it up to nostalgia, but Menken's score just managed to hit a soft spot with me, taking me back to the days of my childhood when he'd be producing an Oscar-winning score every two years.

TRON Legacy (Daft Punk):

Their musical stylings are a perfect fit for the cyber environments of TRON Legacy. They aptly combine synthesized beats with full-bodied orchestrations.

Just missed: The Ghost Writer, I Am Love, True Grit

What to do about Sound...

Interesting factoid: The Academy has only been nominating five films for Sound Editing for the last five years (up until 2006 it was only three nominees), and every year those nominees have matched up 4/5 with the Sound Mixing nominees.

Assuming a continuation of that pattern, I might touch up my Sound predictions a bit, but that means that only six films can earn nominations for Sound, and as we know, there are many more contenders than six.

What are the locks? I'd say Inception is safe in both categories, and, despite its absence from the CAS nominees, so is TRON Legacy. What else is there?

Well, if there is a 4/5 matchup, then there can be only one film per category that is not nominated the other. For Sound Mixing, the hopeful that best fills that description might be The Social Network, which has a fine mix recognized by the CAS, but is highly unlikely to grab a Sound Editing nomination.

My Award nominations: Visual Effects

With the VES announcing their nominees tomorrow, I thought I'd better announce my own nominees for Best Visual Effects:

Black Swan (Dan Schrecker, Henrik Fett, Conrad V. Brink Jr., Michael Capton):

Devilishly clever freakout effects. Lots of fun with mirrors. Let's not forget all the subtle clean-up work.

Inception (Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Marc Weingartner, Tom Struthers):

What sets Inception apart is the fact that its special effects are actually special. Borrowing techniques as old as Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nolan's brilliant effects team put on a spectacular show that looked so real because a lot of it was, particularly those stupefying zero gravity sequences.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
(Grant Freckleton, Aidan Sarfield, Ben Gunsberger, Craig Welsh):

The photorealism of the effects animation is dazzling every detail, from the hair-raising grandeur of the matte paintings to the immaculate minutia of each individual feather on the owls' heads, which are forced to interact with wind, ash, and in one especially breath-taking sequence, torrential rain.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
(Frazer Churchill, Arthur Langevin, Dennis Berardi, Aaron Weintraub):

Nifty graphics pop in and out of frame indicating point levels and character specifics, vanquished foes burst into coins, and the fight scenes are as full of visual exclamation points as a Mortal Combat face-off. The virtue of these wonderfully creative effects are that they give the film such personality.

TRON Legacy (Eric Barba, Alex Burdett, Steve Preeg, Ben Procter):

Sure, young Jeff Bridges looked a little hokey, but the rest is pretty stunning CG light show.

My Award nominations: Sound Editing

Sound Editing:

Black Swan (Brain Emrich, Craig Henighan):
Dance steps and swirling costumes sound suspiciously like fluttering wings. Creative ambient noise cranks up the tension considerably.

How to Train Your Dragon (Al Nelson, Randy Thom, Jonathan Null):
A plethora of wonderfully imaginative and persuasive dragon sound effects stand out, although let's not forget all those awesome Viking war machines!

Inception (Richard King):
Explosions and weapon-fire are subtly altered to give a convincing but slightly surreal palette of sounds for the dream world.

Robin Hood (Harry Cohen, Ann Scibelli, Wylie Stateman, Mark Stoeckinger):
Didn't care for the movie, but it sounded great! Those zipping arrows and combative clanks are what carried the action sequences.

TRON Legacy (Steve Boeddeker, Christopher Boyes, Addison Teague, Gwen Whittle):
Those digitized crashes, hums, vrooms, and booms feel right at home in The Grid. They sound appropriately dangerous as well.

Just missed: 127 Hours, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim vs the World

My Award nominations: Sound Mixing

Sound Mixing:

127 Hours (Douglas Cameron, Steven Laneri, Niv Adiri, Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp):
The mixers of Danny Boyle's unique experience aurally expand and compress the space via their fine integration of everything from the bombastic (ie: reverberating echoes) to the subtle (ie: insect footsteps).

Black Swan (Ken Ishii, Craig Henighan, Dominick Tavella):
Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller owes much of its tension-building panache to the intense sonic environment. The music and the ambient sound effects dance together in perfect tandem as Nina's mind becomes a wash of maddening noises.

Restrepo (Coll Anderson):It may not be a hugely sophisticated or polished mix, but the gritty sound of this cinema verite documentary is a huge part of the intensity with which it glows. Untidy production audio is translated into a comprehensible but jarring soundscape.

The Social Network (Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Mark Weingarten):
The sophistication and nuance of this mix is a really tough one to notice in one viewing, but after you've seen it a few times and have accustomed yourself to the dialogue and the editing rhythms, it becomes more apparent how crucial the aural detail is to the experience.

TRON Legacy (Michael McGee, Christopher Boyes, Juan Peralta, Gary Rizzo):
Much of what envelopes us in the world of The Grid is the distinctive sound atmosphere spun by these expert mixers. The marriage of the sound effects and Daft Punk's techno score (which is like a sound effect itself) is a feast for the ears.

Just missed: How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, Shutter Island, The Town

Review - TRON Legacy

Watching TRON Legacy is like watching a pretty fireworks display that you promptly forget all about as soon as it's over. Can't say I'm surprised. It's hard enough to make a good sequel to a good movie, let alone to a movie that was never that good to begin with (by which I mean the original TRON from 1982). At least this updated continuation manages to eke by on its dazzling look and, especially, its awesome sound.

That's the only justification I can give to paying money for a ticket to this flashy but otherwise hallow light show. The first act is a whirlwind of nonsensical action, while the second act is nearly 50 minutes of stagnant exposition and stilted “character development” with little more than one fight scene to liven things up. Only the climactic third act has a solid pace, and it still suffers the rest of the atrocious screenplay's many foibles: it's full of logic holes, ear-splitting dialogue, and inconsistent characterization. The actors are none too convincing either, but I'd be surprised at anyone who could deliver such preposterous lines convincingly.

But on the big screen, with big sound, and with tricked-out 3D, it is quite something to behold. The effects are impressive (save for a not-quite-realistic CG model of the young Jeff Bridges), working nicely to accent the unique production and costume design. More than anything else though, this is one of the best sounding films of the year, boasting terrific sound effects and an outstanding musical score by Daft Punk (who earn a well-appointed cameo in one scene).

Oscar nods for Visual Effects and both Sound categories are probably coming, but I'm less optimistic about Original Score, given the music branch's staunch aversion to nontraditional scoring.

**1/2 out of ****