In the absence of a de facto Best Picture frontrunner, the Oscar here usually goes to the slickest contender.
This past weekend, Gravity claimed the Live Action Film award for sound mixing from the Cinema Audio Society, one more precursor voting body whose results could prove prescient when it comes to Oscar’s March 2nd endgame.
Last year’s tie in this category allowed us the unique opportunity to call it either 50 percent right or 50 percent wrong.
It would certainly make sense to see Paul Greengrass among shoo-ins like Steve McQueen and Alfonso Cuarón.
“There was never just one,” reads the tagline, desperate to assure you that the pivot to Jeremy Renner has long been in the cards.
Few would argue against The Tree of Life being one of the very best films of the year, but it remains the biggest wild card of awards season.
I don’t mean to speak for Ed here, but this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve started pulling back and rethinking the momentum of our day-by-day Oscar-winner forecasts.
In all the hubbub about Kevin O’Connell’s 20th nomination, no one has brought up the fact that the sound mixer’s co-nominee for Transformers, Greg P. Russell, has 12 winless nominations under his belt as well.
Not every tech category where No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are facing off will settle in either of their favor.
The film works best during its pedal-to-the-metal car chases, which are virtuoso musical numbers of screeching tires and vehicles.