The 'Guild Week' starts with the Cinema Audio Society

by Cláudio Alves

The Cinema Audio Society sure loves themselves some Timothée Chalamet.

This week will be all about the Hollywood guilds having their say, giving us awards obsessives a better picture of the industry's reaction to the season's top contenders. Today, the Cinema Audio Society shared their film and TV nominations, with various of the Academy's shortlisted picks making the cut. But pundits beware, for the CAS can fail to be in perfect synchronicity with AMPAS. The TV nominees are much of the same as we've seen so far in the season, Emmy and Golden Globe favorites on repeat. That being said, there's a sense of individuality to the organization's taste. The voters love music-heavy projects, war, and racing cars…

Let's start with the film categories since the voting period for the Oscar nominations begins tomorrow.

Motion Picture – Live-Action

• A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
• DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
• DUNE: PART TWO
• GLADIATOR II
• WICKED

Motion Picture - Animated 

• INSIDE OUT 2
• MOANA 2
• MUFASA: THE LION KING
• THE WILD ROBOT
• WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL 

Motion Picture – Documentary

• ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE
• I AM: CELINE DION
• MUSIC BY JOHN WILLIAMS
• SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY
• THE BLUE ANGELS 

This is a boost for the live-action feature nominees – all shortlisted by AMPAS – and The Wild Robot, too. Hilarious that the CAS refuses to abide by Disney's absurd assertions that their new Lion King movies aren't animation. In the Documentary category, it's interesting to note how much this guild loves music docs and celebrity profiles. Hell, all the guilds love the latter. Thank heavens, AMPAS' non-fiction branch is more adventurous.

But now, let's talk about recent Oscar history. Since the Academy returned to only one sound category in 2020, they have matched the CAS twice – 2020 and 2022. In 2021, AMPAS went with Belfast instead of the CAS-nominated Spider-Man: No Way Home. And last year, the guild went with Barbie, Ferrari, and Killers of the Flower Moon, whereas the Academy nominated The Zone of Interest, The Creator, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Don't bank on these nominees being the ones heard 'round the world on Oscar nomination day.

There's still hope for Alien: Romulus, Blitz, Emilia Pérez, and Joker: Folie à Deux. Although, in the French musical's case, I wonder if this is a sign that the industry might not be as infatuated with Audiard's vision as the Globes recently were.

Non-Theatrical Motion Picture or Limited Series 

• BABY REINDEER (S01E07)
• MASTERS OF THE AIR (S01E05)
• RIPLEY (S01E03)
• STAX: SOULSVILLE, USA (S01E02)
• THE PENGUIN (S01E01)

Television Series – One-Hour 

• FALLOUT (S01E01)
• SHOGUN (S01E01)
• SLOW HORSES (S04E06)
• TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (S04E06)
• YELLOWSTONE (S05E014) 

Television Series – Half-Hour 

• CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (S12E09)
• HACKS (S03E09)
• ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (S04E06)
• THE BEAR (S03E03)
• WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (S06E05)

Television Non-Fiction, Variety or Music Special 

• BEATLES '64
• FORMULA 1: DRIVE TO SURVIVE (S06E08)
• JIM HENSON: IDEA MAN
• THE 100TH: BILLY JOEL AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
• YACHT ROCK: A DOCKUMENTARY

I'm more fascinated by some of these episode choices than the chosen shows themselves. Wouldn't one of The Penguin's more action-packed hours be preferable as a submission? Either the episode with the Batman flashback or the last few chapters, when all hell goes loose, felt like better sonic showcases. The same could be said about Shogun, whose more martial narratives should be catnip for this guild over the courtlier premiere. Oh well, these are fine nominations, just the same. Kudos for recognizing Ripley, whose predisposition for thick silence often made for a haunting watch, viscerally uneasy even when the screen looked like a black-and-white postcard. Night Country also makes great use of silences that aren't really silent, the whisper of distant terrors.

I am, however, mystified by the Jim Henson: Idea Man nod. But I've been mystified by all the praise that Ron Howard joint has received this season.

What do you make of the CAS nominations? Were you surprised by any of their picks? Or, perchance, by who they didn't pick?

Comments

[Robert G]

I'm not mad at the feature nominations.

I will say that it's a shame Love Lies Bleeding mainly got noticed for Katy O'Brian as the sound mixing and editing in that film is INSANE. The film works because of how visceral the sound design is during the injection scenes. Still, anything for that bizarre film was always going to be a long shot.