Best in Film: 2006: Sound and Sound Effects Editing

I've had a long day and I'm tired. Also, I'm woefully unqualified to really talk about sound mixing in detail. So I'm scrapping the full on explanation and just listing these. Next up is a biggie: Supporting Actor, where I'll be back to pointless droning on why exactly I picked the five candidates.

BEST SOUND MIXING

Apocalypto - Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Cámara
Yeah, it is an awful film but that doesn't take away from O'Connell (Oscar's biggest loser-19 times!) and Co's great work creating the atmosphere of the Mayan civilization. The quiet of the forest, the screaming of the pigs and the loud and textured sounds of the film's last half. Its loud but never blunt work.

Casino Royale - Martin Cantwell, Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith and Mark Taylor
For creating a muscular, loud and energizing mix that threw the franchise back to life.

Children of Men - John Midgley, Chris Burdon and Tom Johnson
Stunningly detailed work: the ringing of the ears, the cat's meows while Theo and Jasper chill out, Theo's flip flops, his foot getting cut all mixed in with the sounds of warfare, a crumbling city and the myriad of languages (Including Sinhalese!) spoken at the edges.

Happy Feet - Wayne Pashley, Greg Fitzgerald, Phil Heywood, Phil Judd, Cory Mandel, Peter Purcell & Robert Sullivan
Musicals are always impressive. Animated musicals are whole other level of wow. Feet not only includes a deft mix of the sounds created to make the world come alive, Mumble's tapping feet and the big booming sound of the most oddly eclectic soundtrack of the year.

Superman Returns - Salty Brincat, John Reitz, Gregg Rudolff and David Campbell
Big, loud and majestic. Just as it should be.

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
Casino Royale - Eddy Joseph
Monster House - Dennis Leonard and Randy Thom
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Christopher Boyes and George Watters II
Superman Returns - Craig Berkey
World Trade Center - Wylie Stateman and Michael D. Wilhoit

Best in Film: 2006: Costume Design

I'm gonna try and do the ballot thingy a little differently this year, scrapping the pretty pictures and names and instead try to illustrate why I've chosen each of the films in each categories. Starting with Costume Design.

The Devil Wears Prada, Patricia Field

A designer's dream, Field (most well known for her work on HBO's Sex and the City) lucks out by costuming a contemporary film where the clothes themselves take centre stage. Luckily she takes the opportunity and runs with it, brilliantly assaying the journey each character (especially Andie) takes through the film and illustrating it in their wardrobe. Also, by using real couture Field creates an authentic fashion world instead of the deplorably fabricated ones we see on television. Miranda and Co. actually look like fashionistas and it gives them the credibility they need for the story to work. Bonus points for creating a singular style for each and every character (no two dress alike).

Dreamgirls, Sharen Davis

Another dream project for any designer. Davis gets to create literally hundreds of costumes for The Dreams, both on and off stage, encompassing over a decade of styles and fads and create them in all their dazzling technicolour glory thanks to the films 'shinier-is-better' mantra. Whilst Production Designer John Myhre is content to cut corners with curtains and lights, Davis is up to task and while it many not always be accurate to the era (neither is the music), it is always stunning.

Little Miss Sunshine, Nancy Steiner

I can sense a big 'WTF?' coming here, but give it a chance. One of my biggest problems with the costumer's branch of the Academy is how they constantly snub contemporary films (though they redeemed themselves by nominating two this year) in favour of period pieces. I'd like to announce that contemporary films have designers too and their job far harder to do and, most times, more impressive. See period pieces with their ornate costumes are definitely pretty but there is no attention paid to who is wearing the clothes. Switch those puffy pretty dresses around between actresses and it wouldn't make a difference, but in a film like Little Miss Sunshine it would be disastrous because each piece of clothing has been especially chosen for each character by taking into account their personality, income and how much attention they pay to what they wear. Look at Grandpa's leather waistcoat, Cheryl's low-key shirts and dresses, Olive's red cowboy boots, Richard's shorts and sandals look and Frank's crisp yet bland shirts. This is extraordinarily detailed work that does a lot to tell us who each character is.

Marie Antionette, Milena Canonero

So just after I dissed work on period pieces here I am nominating one myself. Yes, I think contemporary films are more of a challenge but period films that feature costumes this gorgeous deserve recognition (as they have, Canonero picked up an Oscar for her work). But these aren't your average period costumes. Not only is it an epic assignment for Canonero but it is breathtaking to watch how she devotes herself to Coppola's vision, creating candy-coloured dresses that speak volumes of the obscenity, arrogance, fun and wide-eyed wonder of the French Queen herself.

Prairie Home Companion, Catherine Marie Thomas

Beautiful, instantly iconic looks that never once overshadow the blissfully well-worn feeling of the film. The work is also nicely woven into the film: the way Yolanda chooses a top that gives her more cleavage, the Angel's white coat, Lola picking up her mother's shawl from before when she suddenly has to get on stage. Bonus points for Lily Tomlin's green jacket.

winners will be announced later

50 Best: 2000-05

01. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
02. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)
03. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier)
04. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann)
05. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
06. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov)
07. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
08. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
09. Caché (Michael Haneke)
10. The New World (Terrence Malick)
11. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
12. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar)
13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michele Gondry)
14. What Time is It There? (Tsai Ming-Liang)
15. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
16. The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach)
17. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
18. This is My Moon (Asoka Handagama)
19. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
20. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
21. Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
22. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
23. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
24. Kill Bill, Volume 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
25. Gosford Park (Robert Altman)
26. Under the Sand (François Ozon)
27. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
28. Before Night Falls (Julian Schnabel)
29. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
30. A Time for Drunken Horses (Bahman Ghobadi)
31. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
32. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)
33. Elephant (Gus van Sant)
34. American Psycho (Mary Harron)
35. Good Night, and Good Luck. (George Clooney)
36. Junebug (Phil Morrison)
37. Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
38. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
39. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai)
40. The House of Mirth (Terrence Davies)
41. Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair)
42. The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke)
43. Pride and Prejudice (Joe Wright)
44. City of God (Fernando Meirelles)
45. The Fog of War (Errol Morris)
46. The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)
47. Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi)
48. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
49. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
50. Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson)

Facts About the Nominations

• Dreamgirls managed 8 noms, yet was snubbed for Best Picture. While this has occoured in the past to films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, both those films recieved Best Director nominations and neither was the nomination leader of their respective years. Dreamgirls is the most nominated film this year, making this first time in history that a non-best picture nominee led the nomination count.
• In terms of total nominations, this is the weakest Best Picture line-up since 1932 when there were only 9 categories. This also the first time since 1952 that no Best Picture nominee recieved more than 7 nods.
  
• This is the first time since 1927 (!!), the first year of the Academy Awards, that not one single Best Actor nominee is from a Best Picture nominee. Also, with the exception of Blood Diamond, the other 4 films nominated for Best Actor recieved their only nomination in that category.
  
• With his eighth acting nom Peter O'Toole, if he were to lose, will beat his tie with Richard Burton and become the most nominated actor to never win a competitive Oscar (he recieved an honourary award in 2002)
• With her nomination for Little Children, Kate Winslet becomes the youngest actor ever to recieve 5 nominations. She is 31 years old, 2 years younger than previous record holder, Olivia De Havilland, who was 33. Winslet has only made 19 films, Havilland had made 33 by that time. This also means Winslet has been nominated for 25% of her filmography.

• With her 14th nomination Meryl Streep continues her reign as the most nominated actor in Oscar history.
• Judi Dench recieved her 6th nomination in only 10 years. Since 1997 only 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004 have been Dench-less years.
• Alan Arkin recieved his first nomination since 1968, 38 years ago.
• If you add up the grosses for all of the film's nominated for Best Picture: Babel ($24), The Departed ($122), Letters from Iwo Jima ($2), Little Miss Sunshine ($60), The Queen ($36) they all total $244 million -- the same number as Cars ($244) did in the US alone. Letters is also one of the lowest grossing, if not the lowest grossing Best Picture nominee (at the time of recieving nominations) in the last 20 odd years.
• Penelope Cruz is the first Spanish actress to be nominated. Rinko Kikuchi is the first Asian actress to be nominated since Miyoshi Umeki won for Sayanora in 1957.

• Dreamgirls is the first live action film to recieve 3 Best Original Song nominations. Two animated films can lay claim to the same record: The Lion King in 1994 and Beauty and the Beast in 1991.
• Kevin O'Connell, nommed for sound mixing in Apocalypto, scores his 19th nom. He furthers his status as the Academy's most nominated individual who, so far, hasn't won. Distant runners-up are composer Alex North and art director Roland Anderson, at 15 each.
  

Year in Music: 2006 - The Videos and the Producers

Best Video

It wasn't a very good year for the music video. Artist after artist gave us interesting but ultimately uninspiring, and unoriginal works. Everything reaked of "we've seen it before". However, these five videos did, in some way, manage to bring some wit and perspective to their songs while being visually inventive, and one of them, stood head and shoulders above the rest.


Crazy, Gnarls Barkley with Robert Hales (director)


Here It Goes Again, OK Go and Trish Sie (directors)


Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward, Jenny Wilson with Andreas Nilsson & Johannes Nyholm (directors)


Wolf Like Me, TV on the Radio with Jon Watts (director)


Young Folks, Peter Bjorn & John with Graham Samuels (director)

and the winner is: Here it Goes Again, OK Go and Trish Sie

Producer of the Year

Danger Mouse
Pieces of the People We Love, The Rapture (track)
St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley (album)

Olof Dreijer
Silent Shout, The Knife (album)
What Else is There, Röyksopp (track)

Rick Rubin
12 Songs, Neil Diamond (album)
American V: A Hundred Highways, Johnny Cash (album)
Saints Are Coming, U2 and Green Day (track)
Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers (album)
Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks (album)

David Andrew Sitek
Return to Cookie Mountain, TV on the Radio (album)
Show Your Bones, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (additional production/album)

Timbaland
Beg for It, Omarion (track)
FutureSex/LoveSounds, Justin Timberlake (album)
Get Down, Busta Rhymes (track)
Hey! (A Lil Gratitude), Bubba Sparxxx (track)
Ice Box, Omarion (track)
Let Me Luv U, Chingy (track)
Loose, Nelly Furtado (album)
Right Now, Danity Kane (track)
Wait a Minute, Pussycat Dolls (track)
Want It, Danity Kane (track)

The winner here seems obvious to me. No other producer did quite as much as Timbaland did. Sure, plenty of others were as ubiquitous (hell, if that were enough then Will.i.Am could win the whole damn thing) but no one created a marked sound like T. Mosely did. He not only resurrected Nelly Furtado's flagging career but did so for his own, rescuing him from simply being the best thing in 2003. Timbaland looked into his bag of tricks and pulled out the smoothest, funkiest tracks of the year that had you on the dancefloor all year long.

Tomorrow: Rock categories + the Hikka megapost

If Your Life Was A Movie, What Would the Soundtrack Be?

It's time to hit the shuffle button again.

Here's how it goes:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the 'next' button
6. Don't lie
7. Answers either on your own blogs (link) or in the comments

Here's mine:

Opening Credits: Testify, Common

Waking Up: The Next Big Thing, Vince Gill

First Day at School: When the Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Down, The Magnetic Fields

Falling in Love: Can I Live, Jay-Z

Fight Song, Territorial Pissing, Nirvana (LMAO)

Breaking Up: Fallin’, Alicia Keys

Prom: Waiting, Girls Aloud

Life’s OK: Lips Like Sugar, Echo and the Bunnymen

Mental Breakdown: Tumbling Dice, Rolling Stones

Driving: Home, Dixie Chicks

Flashback: Hours, TV on the Radio

Getting Back Together: Smile Like You Mean It, The Killers

Birth of Child: Take Off Your Cool, Outkast featuring Norah Jones

Wedding: Safe From Harm, Massive Attack

Final Battle: Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap

Death Scene: A Day in the Life, Sean Connery (How fucking perfect is that? Brilliant)

Funeral: Baby Watch Your Back, Nellie McKay

End Credits: Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen

So join in folks...

(Finally) Theena's Music Q

1. CD or Vinyl?
Is this really relevant anymore? I can't remember the last time I used the former and I've never had the pleasure of using the latter. Ultimately, I'm not much of a purist so I'll go with CD.

2. An Album You've Been Meaning to Listen To?
Far too many to count. Off the top of my head, Pink by Boris, Get Lonely by The Mountain Goats, Silent Shout by The Knife and Sign O'the Times by Prince

3. Grammys- Important or load of bollocks?
Load of bollocks. The only thing that keeps me coming back to them is that I am an awards addict. Otherwise, I am routinely in awe of just how profoundly bad some of their choices are.

4. Your Favourite Album is?
Tough question. It's probably between Abbey Road by The Beatles, To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey, Kid A by Radiohead, Nevermind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols, and Surfer Rosa by the Pixies

scratch that- it's Astral Weeks, Van Morrisson. Perfection.

5. Invite 10 Music People for Dinner. Who are they?
Ok, Lennon, Thom Yorke, PJ Harvey, Prince, Phil Spector, Lou Reed, Bjork, Brian Wilson, Brian Eno, and David Bowie. phew.

6. Appropriate punishment for those who play Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ while pretending that its still 1998?
I'm gonna go with Asvi and say a patronizing pat on the back, but I would couple it with a stare that told them just how pathetic they are.

7. Choose your favourite instrument and its best player in your point of view.
This is a hard one. I don't play an instrument, see, so I don't feel like I could give an educated answer. I guess its between guitar and the voice. If its guitar it's Jonny Greenwood. If its voice, its either Tom Waits or Bjork.

8. One Piece of Music That Can Move You to Tears?
'Adagio for Strings' by Samuel Barber or 'Atlantic City' by Bruce Springsteen

9. You are an executive at a major label and have the power to green light one album a year. What would you do?
Fuck.

I would sit David Sitek and Thom Yorke down and try to get their heads together. Certainly ban any artist that tarnishes the good name of hip-hop (That's you 50 Cent/Black Eyed Peas/Busta Rhymes/Akon/etc.), get Jay-Z to record an entire album with Just Blaze. Get PJ
Harvey to pull out another awesome record. Slap the fuck out of Liz Phair until she realises that this 'pop exercise' is not working and try to get another Guyville out of her. Get Bjork and Timbaland to hurry the fuck up with that new album. AND FINALLY, get Lauryn Hill out of whatever fucking funk she is in and finally record a follow-up to that masterpiece of a debut.

Also, the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, [insert any random rock band that British rock critics have hailed as the 'second coming'], Jamie Foxx and other random boring R&B artists will be banned from making new albums until they can craft anything that is remotely original, doesn't sound like a 1000 other fucking bands and/or fun.

Best Picture of Every Year: 2005 - 1927

05: Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)

04: Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)

03: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)

02: Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)

01: In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)

00: Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier)

99: All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar)

98: Festen (Thomas Vintenberg)

97: Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)

96: Fargo (The Coen Brothers)

95: Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)

94: Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)

93: The Piano (Jane Campion)

92: Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)

91: Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott)

90: GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese)

89: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)

88: Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)

87: Broadcast News (James L. Brooks)

86: Blue Velvet (David Lynch)

85: Ran (Akira Kurosawa)

84: Amadeus (Milos Forman)

83: Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman)

82: Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)

81: Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan)

80: Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)

79: Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)/Manhattan (Woody Allen)

78: Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick)

77: Annie Hall (Woody Allen)

76: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)

75: Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)

74: Chinatown (Roman Polanski)

73: Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)

72: The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)

71: A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)

70: M*A*S*H (Robert Altman)

69: Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone)

68: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)

67: Persona (Ingmar Bergman)

66: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols)

65: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy)

64: Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick)

63: 8½ (Federico Fellini)

62: Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut)

61: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards)

60: Breathless (Jean-Luc Goddard)

59: Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder)

58: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)

57: Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)

56: The Searchers (John Ford)

55: The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)

54: The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)

53: From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann)

52: Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly)

51: A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan)

50: Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)

49: The Third Man (Carol Reed)

48: The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica)

47: Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau)

46: Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock)

45: Les Enfants Du Paradis (Marcel Carné)

44: Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)

43: Heaven Can Wait (Ernst Lubitsch)

42: Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)

41: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)

40: Fantasia (James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norm Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts and Paul Satterfield)

39: The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)

38: Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)

37: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Walt Disney and David Hand)

36: Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)

35: The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale)

34: It Happened One Night (Frank Capra)

33: King Kong (Merian Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack)

32: Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer)

31: City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)

30: Under the Rooftops of Paris (Rene Clair)

29: The Man with the Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)

28: The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)

27: Metropolis (Fritz Lang)