Category: Best Sound

Posted on 2022-07-05 | No Comments |

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

A teenaged Anne Boleyn catches the eye of King Henry VII and he’s willing to sacrifice almost anything for the chance to produce an heir with her. She’s willing to forego love to rise in power and esteem, but unfortunately for her what comes around goes around, especially when you’re subjected to the whims of a capricious leader. Lavish costumes and settings provide ample period style, while Geneviève Bujold’s Anne convincingly portrays a young woman caught in the crosshairs of power and rarely unable to stare it down. Richard Burton’s Henry is filled with his own self importance and lechery, overwhelming any accomplishments in other realms.

Oscar Win: Best Costume Design

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Cinematography; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Sound; Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical)

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

Posted on 2022-05-24 | No Comments |

Back to the Future (1985) – Rewatch

Trying to escape Libyan terrorists, Michael J. Fox accidentally triggers a time machine which sends him to the days of his parents’ youth where he must make sure they still hook up or risk erasing himself from existence all while trying to get himself back to 1985. This is possibly the ultimate classic in the time travel genre for good reason. The camaraderie between Fox and Christopher Lloyd as his eccentric scientist best friend, the duel roles of Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson playing themselves at two different ages, and writing that manages its multiple timelines while being endlessly quotable and keeping a steady tone throughout are all perfection. It’s not surprising that I’ve seen it approximately thirty times in my lifetime.

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

Oscar Nominations: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen; Best Sound; Best Music, Original Song

Posted on 2022-05-23 | No Comments |

The Fifth Element (1997) – Rewatch

In the 23rd century, Milla Jovovich, while on the run from authorities, lands on Bruce Willis’s cab, drawing him into a centuries-long, intergalactic battle for the future of humanity. A Sci-Fi spectacle, it’s not surprising that the story began in the mind of a teenaged Luc Besson. While this came before Willis started auto-piloting his action roles, he is nowhere near the highlight of the film. That distinction goes to the bright, candy colored visuals and an over the top performance by Chris Tucker. Honorable mention goes to Gary Oldman in an almost unrecognizable turn as one of the movie’s villains.

Oscar Nomination: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

Posted on 2022-05-06 | No Comments |

Four Daughters (1938)

Claude Rains’s four daughters are all musically talented and ready to catch the eyes of the male musicians and neighbors who visit their home. The daughters are played by three of the Lane Sisters and Gale Page. Unfortunately Page sticks out as a sore thumb amongst the actual siblings. Though she tries, she lacks their natural camaraderie and charm. The story itself is mostly unmemorable with unnecessary tension added to the obvious central romance between Priscilla Lane and Jeffrey Lynn.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Sound, Recording

Posted on 2022-04-20 | No Comments |

Silverado (1985)

Four cowboys, Danny Glover, Kevin Kline and brothers Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner, become acquainted by happenstance on their way to Silverado and join forces to rid the town of a corrupt sheriff and his compadres. There’s a few too many side stories and the group doesn’t even reach the city until well into the film, but it’s entertaining enough for what it is. I kept thinking Sam Elliott should be in this film, but instead there’s John Cleese, Linda Hunt, and Jeff Goldblum. All weird choices for a western, but each really makes the best of their roles and are actually the only parts that pull the film from being a completely forgettable trope parade.

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound; Best Music, Original Score

Posted on 2022-04-14 | No Comments |

Belfast (2021)

The coming of age tale of nine year old Jude Hill, including an absentee father working in London and an attraction to a Catholic classmate, is disrupted when the Troubles comes to his neighborhood. His entire family must decide which path they will follow from that point on. The whole film feels like a personal memoir for writer-director Kenneth Branagh, very similar to Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma all the way to the black and white cinematography. It’s an oddly short film for the subject manner and I wish there was more time spent on characterization, particularly of grandparents Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench who are both delightful and wise in their roles. The film is often shot from a lowered perspective, giving a great feeling as if it is truly from a child’s perspective.