The Editor's Guild Chooses...
Friday, January 2, 2015 at 10:02AM 
The ACE "Eddie" nominations have been announced and though you can't glean everything from the American Cinema Editors guild's choices -- Oscar has only five nominees for best film editing and the Eddies have 17 divvied up into four separate subcategories of features -- some reveals are happening.
The first reveal is that the editors have only just begun to watch the movies of 2014 since almost every serious awards hopeful that just came out is accounted for (save, oddly, Selma & A Most Violent Year). Yes, even Into the Woods and Inherent Vice, which are two of the surprises. On the dramatic American Sniper and Nightcrawler are the surprises. The latter in particular really seems to be gathering momentum in these final weeks making my Gyllenhaal actor prediction, which I so worried was wishful thinking, feel like a safer than expected call.
FEATURE FILMS
Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)
"American Sniper" (Joel Cox, ACE & Gary Roach, ACE)
"Boyhood" (Sandra Adair, ACE)
"Gone Girl" (Kirk Baxter, ACE)
"The Imitation Game" (William Goldenberg, ACE)
"Nightcrawler" (John Gilroy, ACE)
"Whiplash" (Tom Cross, ACE)
One might include Gone Girl among the surprises, given that it's on the Best Picture bubble, except to note that whoever is editing for David Fincher has a good chance of collecting trophies. That's how it works and not undeservedly; his films are always gripping and tight even when they're long and a lot of that has to do with the editing rhthyms. Of these nominees I think the safest for Oscar nods are Boyhood, The Imitation Game and Whiplash.
More nominees and commentary after the jump...
Best Editing Feature Film (Comedy or Musical)
"Birdman" (Douglas Crise & Stephen Mirrione, ACE)
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Barney Pilling)
"Guardians of the Galaxy" (Fred Rasking, Hughes Winborn, ACE & Craig Wood, ACE)
"Into the Woods" (Wyatt Smith)
"Inherent Vice" (Leslie Jones, ACE)
I'm not sure I get the Inherent Vice or Into the Woods nomination given how uneven they feel both rhthymically and within scenes. But the other comedic nominees make a kind of sense. I didn't love Guardians but I recognize that it was really funny and funny requires good editing; timing is everything.
Best Edited Animated Feature Film
"Big Hero 6" (Tim Mertens)
"The Boxtrolls" (Edie Ichioka, ACE)
"The LEGO Movie" (David Burrow & Chris McKay)
Does this mean How to Train Your Dragon 2 should worry about an Oscar nod or is this just a minor bump in the road? Gold Derby thinks it's just bad luck but makes a weird conclusion that there's no bias against sequels solely based on Toy Story 3's win. I'm reasonably certain we can consider Toy Story 3 a rousing enough all-quadrant smash that it might make its own rules.
Best Edited Documentary (Feature)
"CITIZENFOUR" (Mathilde Bonnefoy)
"Finding Vivian Maier" (Aaron Wickenden)
"Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me" (Elisa Bonora)
Should we wonder if CITIZENFOUR can snag an Oscar nomination in this category? It's been an awfully long time since a documentary competed there.
TELEVISION
Best Edited Documentary (Television)
"Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey" - "Standing Up in the Milky Way" (John Duffy, ACE, Michael O'Halloran, Eric Lea)
"Pauly Shore Stands Alone" (Troy Takaki, ACE & Joey Vigour)
"The Roosevelts: An Intimate History" - "Episode 3: The Fire of Life" (Eric Ewers)
Best Editing Half-Hour Series for Television
"Silicon Valley" - "Optimal Tip to Tip Efficiency" (Brian Merken & Tim Roche)
"Veep" - "Special Relationship" (Anthony Boys)
"Transparent" - "Pilot" (Catherine Haight)
Transparent's pilot is terrific but if anything the show got better as it went along.
Best Edited On-Hour Series for Commercial Television
"24" - "10pm to 11am" (Scott Powell, ACE)
"Mad Men" - "Waterloo" (Christopher Gay)
"Madam Secretary" - "Pilot" (Elena Maganini, ACE & Michael Ornstein, ACE)
"Sherlock" - "His Last Vow" (Yan Miles)
"The Good Wife" - "A Few Words" (Scott Vickrey, ACE)
Nice to see "Waterloo" recognized. Damn that was a great hour of television. Mad Men made such an egregious miscalculationi by splitting up that season. It was just starting to get great great great since that series often has slow build seasons.
Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Commercial Television
"True Detective" - "Who Goes There" (Affonso Gonçalves)
"True Detective" - "The Secret Fate of All Life" (Alex Hall)
"House of Cards" - "Chapter 14" (Byron Smith)
Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Television
"Fargo" - "Buridan's Ass" (Regis Kimble)
"Olive Kitteridge" - "A Different Road" (Jeffrey M. Werner, ACE)
"The Normal Heart" (Adam Penn)
Best Edited Non-Scripted Series
"Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" - "Iran" (Hunter Gross)
"Deadliest Catch" - "Lost At Sea" (Josh Earl, ACE & Johnny Bishop)
"Vice" - "Greenland is Melting & Bonded Labor" (Joe Langford & Nick Carew)
True Detective dominates best pay cable editing with 66% of the nominations despite plentiful possibilities for nominations. Is "Who Goes There" the episode with that insane tracking shot that goes on forever with the shoot-out?
Reader Comments (10)
This doesn't strike me as great news for Selma. How many films have won BP in recent years without getting an Eddie nomination? I know the last BP winner to win without a Best Editing Oscar nod was Ordinary People. (I pretty much think Boyhood has it in the bag regardless, but.)
12 Years a Slave won BP last year, so don't expect much love for Selma, regardless of how good it is (I haven't see it yet). The Academy isn't giving it to two black movies in a row. Just the way it is.
I do wonder, though, why the Oscar movies that seem to be catching on are The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything when Selma and Foxcatcher and even Wild are much better...
I haven't done the research but mayb ethere are some ineligibilities here? i mean no guild is as famous as WGA for ruling things out that are hot. But there might be some situations here?
Joseph -- i also remain slightly mystified by this. I mean I think Foxcatcher isn't catching on because it's hard to "love" (being so chilly and filled with dread / slow pacing) but i don't understand why Wild is having awards trouble. it's so well made.
Out of all the love Gone Girl is getting, recognition for its editing seems the most perplexing. I found it to be the single weakest element of the entire film. But I guess the Eddies felt for most, fastest editing = best editing.
I think you are right Nathaniel about Gyllenhaal.
I think he's in and Carell is out. Lots of momentum for him and Nightcrawler.
My Oscar Predictions after ACE nominations:
My Oscar predictions after ACE:
Best Picture
Boyhood
Birdman
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Gone Girl
Foxcatcher
Best Director
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Ava DuVernay, Selma
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Best Actor
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Actress
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamound Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Selma
Foxcatcher
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Gone Girl
Inherent Vice
Wild
Best Cinematography
Birdman
Mr. Turner
Unbroken
Selma
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Film Editing
Boyhood
Birdman
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
Gone Girl
Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Selma
Maleficent
Best Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mr. Truner
The Imitation Game
Into the Woods
Birdman
Best Make Up and Hairstyling
Guardians of the Galaxy
Foxcatcher
Maleficent
Best Visual Effects
Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Guardians of the Galaxy
Godzilla
Best Sound Mixing
Into the Woods
Unbroken
American Sniper
Fury
Whiplash
Best Sound Editing
Unbroken
Fury
Interstellar
American Sniper
Edge of Tomorrow
Best Original Score
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Interstellar
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gone Girl
Best Original Song
Begin Again, Lost Stars
Selma, Glory
Unbroken, Miracles
Noah, Mercy Is
A Most Violent Year, American for Me
Best Foreign Languaje Film
Ida, Poland
Force Majeure, Sweden
Levithan, Russia
Wild Tales, Argentina
Tangerines, Estonia
Best Animated Feature
The LEGO Movie
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Big Hero 6
Song of the Sea
Best Documentary Feature
Citizen Four
Life Itself
Keep On Keepin’ On
Last Days in Vietnam
Jodorowsky’s Dune
In answer to my earlier question - apparently Driving Miss Daisy was the last BP winner not to be nominated for an Eddie. We've seen a lot of statistical Oscar streaks broken in recent years, but those are still long odds.
Selma and Violent Year were both so very, very late to the game. It really is hurting their buzz.
Nightcrawler is starting to look like a good bet for a Picture nomination.
Nightcrawler is one of the best edited films last year. But The Imitation Game? That's just lazy work.