The seaon barrels forward waiting for no man! ACE (American Cinema Editors) have announced their nominees and it's the talented cutters who worked on Best Picture hopefuls. Like Pamela Martin here, who so beautifully responded to David O. Russell's squirrely rhythms and caught indelible acting moments with precision.
Pamela Martin at work on The Fighter
Editing (Dramatic)
- Tariq Anwar for The King's Speech
- Pamela Martin for The Fighter
- Lee Smith for Inception
- Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter for The Social Network
- Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan
The snubs of note here, in terms of the Oscar race -- which is a different discussion than pure category worth since each awards season reminds us that Hollywood only makes ten movies each calendar year and they're brilliant in ALL categories -- are 127 Hours and True Grit. This is especially bad news for 127 Hours since Danny Boyle's films are nothing if not edited if you know what I mean. One could immediately assume that it's going to fall from the Best Picture list but then Winter's Bone hasn't scored with any guilds so... who knows? Both have obsessed fans and thus #1 votes. So maybe it'll be The Town that can't rally or something we assume is safe that isn't? True Grit? I'm still worried about The Kids Are All Right but that's probably just because it's so high up my own top ten list.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...
More Editing honors to come. ACE, like many guilds, has several categories including Comedy (a far worthier list than the Globes came up with). So there's a few more to cover. Plus: Visual Effects.
Susan Littenberg for "Easy A"Editing (Comedic)
- Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
- Chris Lebenzon for Alice in Wonderland
- Susan Littenberg for Easy A
- Michael Parker for Made in Dagenham
- Jeffrey M Werner for The Kids Are All Right
Why isn't this the Golden Globe Comedy list? [Yes, we'll be live-blogging both the BFCA tonight and the Globes this weekend] Seriously now. I still can't get over their temporary bout of insanity this year. This grouping would have been MUCH more respectable, even with the Burton film being the mandatory "it made a bajillion dollars!" entry.
Editing (Animated Feature)
- Maryann Brandon & Darren T Holmes for How To Train Your Dragon
- Gregory Perler & Pam Zeigenhagen for Despicable Me
- Ken Schretzmann & Lee Unkrich for Toy Story 3
I'm really starting to worry that that's the Oscar lineup for Animated Film. I liked Despicable Me well enough but Tangled and The Illusionist deserve that 3rd spot. As I said in my honorable mention rundown, they're nothing alike but let's group them together anyway. Tie!
Editing (Documentary)
- Chad Beck & Adam Bolt for Inside Job
- Jay Cassidy, Greg Finton & Kim Roberts for Waiting for "Superman"
- Tom Fulford & Chris King for Exit Through the Gift Shop
Yes, these were the only 3 documentaries made this year. (If you'd like to see the TV awards, Deadline has those too.)
And now a few words on the Visual Effects Society nominations which I never got around to talking about earlier this week.
Angelina is not the only visual effect in "Salt"
Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature
- Inception
- Iron Man 2
- Tron Legacy
- Alice in Wonderland
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1
These were the same films I'd already predicted for Oscar -- though again I weep for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World which actually understands that visual effects can be more than just spectacle and actually add to the film's character.
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature
- Black Swan
- Green Zone
- Hereafter
- Robin Hood
- Salt
I love the title of this award but I think the absence of (nearly) all of these from the Academy's own "finalist" list in the visual effects category only goes to show you how questionable the "best" judgments are each year. Clue: If a motion picture has gorgeous special effects which support the entire vision of a movie isn't it more worthy of honors than adequate special effects that are the whole raison d'etre of the lame movies that contain them? Think it over voters.
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature
It sounds redundant but it's not since animated elements are now often in live-action features as well. Ah the "magic" of CGI.
- How To Train Your Dragon
- Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
- Tangled
- Toy Story 3
- Shrek Forever After
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature
See what I mean?
- "Dobby" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- "Kitty Galore" Cats vs. Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
- "Kreacher" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- "Reepicheep" The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Features
- "Digger" The Legends of Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
- "Minions" Despicable Me
- "Rapunzel" Tangled
- "Toothless" How to Train Your Dragon
If "Toothless" does not win this prize, it'd rather be like The Social Network not getting a Best Picture nomination. That'd just be so... wrong. You know I love Rapunzel but seriously why could they not nail down her hair conceptually? In some scenes it's like 1,000 yards long and in others merely 20. Is it prehensile or not? Or is it only prehensile within split ends and not when it's closer to her saucer-eyed face? It's as confused about itself as Rapunzel is about leaving the tower!
Your thoughts on Editing and Visual Effects?