Category: Best Film Editing

Posted on 2022-08-30 | No Comments |

Top Gun (1986) – Rewatch

Accepted into an elite fighter pilot training school with his best friend Anthony Edwards, cocksure Tom Cruise must battle with his own personal demons regarding his father’s heroism during the Vietnam War to succeed. I wanted to watch this again before delving into the new sequel and it did not disappoint. Certainly an artifact of its times as a Cold War relic, it makes the best use of Cruise’s talents. Further bolstered by a hard-working supporting cast (Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Kelly McGillis), a soundtrack that hits all the right notes, and dizzying action sequences, it’s easy to forget it’s all in support of the military industrial complex.

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

Posted on 2022-08-19 | No Comments |

In the Line of Fire (1993)

Haunted by his inability to protect JFK, secret service agent Clint Eastwood is determined not to fail again when John Malkovich begins a cat and mouse game with the current President’s life at stake. So terribly repetitive and predictable, Malkovich’s clever, ruthless villain almost saves the film. Unfortunately a love affair between Clint and fellow agent Rene Russo is so far-fetched and diluting to both agents’ competency that I can’t imagine wanting to watch this again.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen; Best Film Editing

Posted on 2022-07-24 | No Comments |

The War of the Worlds (1953)

When a large object falls from space, the hopeful reception by the naïve Californians is quickly dashed by the brutal destruction of the visiting Martians. Some brilliant set designs are unfortunately paired with an incredibly hokey story and under developed heroes. While I love a lot of 1950s SciFi films, this one takes itself a bit too seriously while not putting in enough effort for the audience to do so as well. The well-established ending comes along suddenly in a ‘we didn’t know quite where to go with this’ sort of way.

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

Posted on 2022-07-19 | No Comments |

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Another film based on the legendary Tombstone shootout, this stars Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday. There’s a lot of meandering around the Old West from Texas to Kansas before it settles down for the final battle. A pair of love stories weigh down the action though maybe it’s the only way writers and studios could think to get women into the story. The leads work well enough in their respective roles, but it doesn’t stand out in the field of classic Hollywood Westerns nor hold up to the later Tombstone in its rendition of events.

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

Posted on 2022-07-07 | No Comments |

Doctor Dolittle (1967)

Based on three of the Hugh Lofting books, Rex Harrison is the titular doctor whose great love for animals brought him to learn how to speak various animal languages from his parrot friend. For reasons, this leads him on an expedition to find the Great Pink Sea Snail. I do love a film that respects animals as unique individuals and personalities, even when they are as fictitious as the well-crafted Pushmi-Pullyu, and Geoffrey Holder is delightful as the leader of a village of well-read island natives, but this film is way too damn long. Cut out most of the beginning and one or two of the extraneous episodes and it wouldn’t be much of a loss. The songs are mostly unmemorable with Harrison sing songing his way through the majority, even when accompanied by the film’s delightful visuals.

Posted on 2022-07-05 | No Comments |

King Solomon’s Mines (1950)

Deborah Kerr hires British safari guide Stewart Granger to lead her through the African interior to find her husband who went missing while searching for the titular diamond mines. I could do without the condescension towards Kerr as a female and forcing her into a love story, even as she proves to hold her own, but Granger is a decent guide through the gorgeous vistas. They reminded me fondly of the time I spent in Tanzania. While not given top billing, the locals appreciatively are given respect by the main characters and a chance to be featured without being horribly exoticized.

Oscar Wins: Best Cinematography, Color; Best Film Editing

Oscar Nomination: Best Picture

Posted on 2022-07-02 | No Comments |

A Song to Remember (1945)

The life of Frédéric Chopin is fictionalized in this account that features Cornel Wilde in the role of the well known composer. The film was less dry than I had anticipated touching on Chopin’s patriotic revolutionism in his early years while under the tutelage of Paul Muni’s Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner to his later success and relationship with Merle Oberon’s George Sand. Whether accurate to the real woman, it is interesting to see Oberon play such a strong-willed, powerful villainous character. The film uses rich colors in set and costumes to convey the time period and complement the music.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Writing, Original Story; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

Posted on 2022-06-17 | No Comments |

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

In this English language version of the popular Stieg Larsson novel, disgraced journalist Daniel Craig is hired by Christopher Plummer to investigate the disappearance of his niece forty years ago. He’s aided by misanthropic hacker Rooney Mara. I’ve long put off watching this adaptation since I really enjoyed the Swedish language series. While I’ve never read the source material, I’d say the two films are surprisingly fairly equal in their portrayals though the rape scenes in this one are particularly brutal that I had to speed through them. Though its weird having non-Swedes, other than Stellan Skarsgård, feigning Swedish accents, the acting is solid particularly with the two leads and it’s really surprising the series wasn’t continued with them.

Oscar Win: Best Achievement in Film Editing

Oscar Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; Best Achievement in Cinematography; Best Achievement in Sound Mixing; Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Posted on 2022-06-09 | No Comments |

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

In 1933, retired schoolteacher Robert Donat falls asleep reminiscing about the last fifty plus years he served at an all-boys British public school. I generally don’t get a lot out of inspirational educator stories, but pleasantly this focuses more on Mr. Chips’s life and how he is affected by events more than being a motivational teacher. The aspects of aging Donat’s character through so many years with makeup and Donat’s own acting is quite well done. Donat’s relationship with Greer Garson is sweet and would have made a cute romance story on its own. It is clever how the same young actors were used to play generations and generations of each family, representing the constants and the changes a teacher experiences being at the same institution for years on end.

Oscar Win: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

Posted on 2022-05-29 | No Comments |

Grand Prix (1966)

There are almost two distinct films here: one an almost documentary-level film of Formula One racing footage, the other a melodrama involving racers and their love interests. Together they make for one exceptionally long movie. I find as a spectator that car racing as a sport to be quite tedious and Formula One as depicted here is even more difficult to follow with little sense of who is leading and who is far behind. The footage is still absolutely incredible and creative in its editing. The soap opera level writing is decent quality for the style, giving the sense that the women on the sidelines are almost on par with war widows, never knowing if their loved one will survive the next race.

Oscar Wins: Best Sound; Best Film Editing; Best Effects, Sound Effects