The ACE Eddie Nominations are out and as usual there are some real head-scratchers. The guild nominations that precede Oscar noms tend to throw something or other for a loop in terms of perceptions of what the industry loves. Or perhaps it's less complicated than we always assume and it's merely that those who vote on awards just don't see that many movies. Guild types are often more busy making movies than watching them after all.
One head scratcher: I'm not sure how we've ended up in a world where Joy, David O. Russell's latest ode to Jennifer Lawrence, is nominated for its editing. I don't mean to pick on the picture as I actually think it's far better than its reviews imply and am happy to have company with Nick and Jose on this; it seems fairly obvious that the nation's film critics are working through their David O. Russell issues now that he's made a woman's picture. But for all of Joy's underdiscussed strengths the editing is not one of them. This is no mark against any of its four editors who've done great work in the past but it's fairly obvious that they're struggling with a film that is so multi-toned and multi-authored and possibly unfinished and trying to make the most of its competing impulses and weird detours. The picture struggles to find its rhythm throughout.
But let's not pick on Joy because people have been way too mean to it. The nominees and more thoughts are after the jump.
Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic
Mad Max: Fury Road (Margaret Sixel)
The Martian (Pietro Scalia, ACE)
The Revenant (Stephen Mirrione, ACE)
Sicario (Joe Walker, ACE)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Maryann Brandon, ACE & Mary Jo Markey, ACE)
They went nearly full blockbuster this year. Which is bad news for the quieter dramas like Room, Carol, and Brooklyn and (gasp) Spotlight. A gasp is called for since Editing seems like one of Spotlight's best chances at an Oscar to go with its presumed Best Picture pull but if it misses out on the Editing nomination come Oscar time it could be in trouble since only two films in the modern era have won Picture without a film editing nomination (Ordinary People and Birdman)
Best Edited Feature Film – Comedic
Ant-Man (Dan Lebental, ACE & Colby Parker, Jr., ACE)
The Big Short (Hank Corwin, ACE)
Joy (Jay Cassidy, ACE, Alan Baumgarten, ACE, Christopher Tellefsen, ACE & Tom Cross, ACE)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (David Trachtenberg)
Trainwreck (William Kerr, ACE & Paul Zucker)
Ant-Man is a surprise but not a strange or undeserved one. Remember the comic highlight of Michael Peña's narrated flashback? It's worth noting that Ant-Man is only the 3rd superhero film ever nominated by the guild (unless you count Scott Pilgrim). The only previous such honors went to Superman (1978) and The Dark Knight (2008) which both occurred before the guild divvied up their categories and thus had lots more annual nominees.
The Big Short was the most obvious since it definitely qualifies as Most Editing and we should expect to see it Oscar nominated in 10 days. But the rest of this list feels vaguely like a disaster. I laughed a lot during Trainwreck but it is seriously slack in places as we wait for improv moments or straining toward dramatic arcs to play out -- both are typical banes of modern comedy filmmaking.
BUT WHERE IS TANGERINE ? So many of its laughs spring from its hard-stomping rhythms, and economy of storytelling.
Best Edited Animated Film
Anomalisa (Garret Elkins)
Inside Out (Kevin Nolting, ACE)
The Good Dinosaur (Stephen Schaffer, ACE)
Only 3 animation nominations. I'm unclear on the rules here but as you'll see in their television nominations they aren't really consistent about numbers. Some categories have 5 nominees, some 3.
Best Edited Documentary – Feature
Amy (Chris King)
Cobain: Montage of Heck (Joe Beshenkovsky & Brett Morgen)
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (Andy Grieve)
He Named Me Malala (Greg Finton, ACE, Brian Johnson & Brad Fuller)
The Wrecking Crew (Claire Scanlon)
TELEVISION
Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television
“Inside Amy Schumer” – “12 Angry Men” (Nick Paley)
“Silicon Valley” – “Two Days of the Condor” (Brian Merken, ACE)
“Veep” – “Election Night” (Gary Dollner)
Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television
“Better Call Saul” – “Five-O” (Kelley Dixon, ACE)
“Better Call Saul” – “Uno” (Skip Macdonald, ACE)
“Fargo” – Did You Do This? No, You Did It!” (Skip Macdonald, ACE & Curtis Thurber)
“The Good Wife” – “Restrain” (Scott Vickrey, ACE)
“Mad Men” – “Person to Person” (Tom Wilson)
Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Commercial Television
“Game of Thrones” – “The Dance of Dragons” (Katie Weiland)
“Game of Thrones” – “Hardhome” (Tim Porter)
“Homeland” – “The Tradition of Hospitality” (Harvey Rosenstock, ACE)
“House of Cards” – “Chapter 39” (Lisa Bromwell, ACE)
“The Knick” – “Wonderful Surprises” (Mary Ann Bernard)
Best Edited Longform (Miniseries or Motion Picture) for Television
“Bessie” (Brian A. Kates, ACE)
“Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” (Maysie Hoy, ACE)
“Orange is the New Black” – “Trust No Bitch” (90 minute episode) (William Turro)
Best Edited Non-Scripted Series
“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” – “Bay Area” (Hunter Gross, ACE)
“Deadliest Catch” – “Zero Hour” (Josh Earl, ACE & Ben Bulatao)
“Whale Wars” – “The Darkest Hour” (Eric Driscoll, Nik Jamgocyan, Chris Kirkpatrick, David Michael Maurer, ACE, Greg McDonald, Marcus Miller & Alexandria Scott )
Best Edited Documentary – Television
“Keith Richards: Under the Influence” (Joshua L. Pearson
“The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst – Chapter 1” (Richard Hankin, ACE, Zac Stuart-Pontier, Caitlyn Greene, Shelby Siegel)
“The Seventies: The United State vs. Nixon” (Chris A. Peterson, ACE)
What do you make of the nominations? Trouble for Spotlight or just a fluke?