The Bourne Ultimatum – Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg
No Country for Old Men – Skip Lievsay
Ratatouille – Randy Thom, Michael Silvers
There Will Be Blood – Matthew Wood
Transformers – Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn
Will win: As Luke Wilson said in Anchorman, this is getting to be ri-god-damn-diculous. I’ve always been suspicious that the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories are really just the same award handed out two different times, almost like if the NFL gave out two honors, one for Best Offensive Lineman and the second for Best Fat Guy Who Protects the Quarterback. Well this year, of the five nominations for Sound Mixing, four of them are also selected for Sound Editing. Doesn’t that seem a little shady to people? Isn’t it the slightest bit possible that some voters look at these two categories and think to themselves, “Fuck it, what’s the difference?”?
Anyway, since There Will Be Blood is nominated here, I could hedge my bets and take it, but I’ve always thought hedging bets to be a wussy strategy. I’ll take No Country again.
Should win: Braveheart.
(But really, why not? It’s like that great “Drug Testing” episode from “The Office”. Dwight finds a joint in the parking lot and becomes completely convinced someone in the office is a user, so he hires a lab technician to come in and test everyone’s urine. When it’s Kevin’s turn to go, he says, “I’d like a magazine” – when the perplexed clerk reminds him that they just need urine, he says, “I’d still like one”. Well, I don’t care if it came out 12 years ago – I’d like another Oscar for Braveheart.
Actually, it turns out Braveheart actually already did win Best Sound Editing in 1995. Oh well, otherwise it was a really sensible thought.)
Jeremy Beck is the editor-in-chief of MovieManifesto. He watches more movies and television than he probably should.