Oscar 2016 - Sound Editing & Mixing

I decided to give my quick picks for this year's sound categories, although this is never easy. I'm starting to believe that's a rule to have here four common nominees for both editing & mixing, plus one different for each. I don't remember when, or if I've noticed any other nominee configuration. About the difference between editing & mixing, oh well ... let's backlink again to older references. At the next link you can find a pretty good summary of where and how the sound gets involved in a movie, and should be clear what part in which category goes: https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/film-editing-stages-sound/ . So, let's move one to the main list ...

"Bridge of Spies" is the single black sheep, or otherwise said the only case with a nomination just for mixing. The movie is nicely done, carefully put together, but I couldn't find any clip more relevant than the one below. It shows somehow the typical sound of the Cold War time. The background music, the rain outside ... In the end that's the role of a final mix: what the sound feels like ... Still, I don't see much winning chance here.
"Mad Max" wins clearly in mixing. Just if we rely on the first impression given by a track that combines a guitar rock solo with burning engines in something noisy but not annoying, and "listenable". On the editing side, the situation is more complicated ...
"The Martian" didn't catch my ear on mixing. For editing, I don't know... We have a storm, other diverse atmospheric events ... Still, what I heard did sound less complex than "Mad Max" or what's following ...
"The Revenant" is my risky pick for a winner on sound editing, very closely followed by "Mad Max" and "Star Wars". Let's just say that I was convinced again by ... the bear :) who apparently is not just a bear (details below - to watch on Vimeo, unfortunately their embedding doesn't seem to work anymore). For mixing it's good but not the best, so let's move forward ...

"Sicario" has a sound editing nomination. I didn't hear anything to impress me. It's a movie with an ok sound, as good on the effects side as many others that include bullets and explosions. However, I'd rather pick the mixing as something that deserves more attention here. But that doesn't show up in the nominees list.
"Star Wars" is closing the day with entries in both categories. And many say it'll win them. And if the editing vote is politically correct has big chances ... I prefer to keep my options above.

Oscar 2015 - Sound Editing & Mixing

I keep writing every year about the difference between sound editing and mixing. So, I'll take a break from that for 2015 (since again I'm rushing to finish this entry) and I'll refer to more detailed info to last year's post (you can find it indexed also in the month of February, but of course Anno Domini 2014). Now, the nominees ...

It's always said that in sound sections the favorites are the war movies. I'd give a nuance here, and more precisely I would agree with that but only for editing, and not also on mixing, because what gives an edge in this case is what's related to sound effects and their processing. And to confirm the nuance, without further ado I'll give "American Sniper" as favorite this year on sound editing. As a small argument, let's consider the clip below, for as long it will hold on YouTube. So, with editing we're pretty much done, but on the mixing side the discussion is still open ...
"Birdman", nominated on both sections seems to be present on editing just to fill up the list. For mixing, however, the situation is quite interesting, because what we have here is an attempt to supplement the continuous frame we see (we'll talk more about it in cinematography) with a final mix, that syncs in percussion highs, in volume cuts, or other sequences like that. Not that this is something abnormal, but what we hear tries at least as I said to give the sensation of a final unique track which "moves" along the camera. Still, doesn't seem enough ...
The last "Hobbit" managed to snatch a nomination on sound editing. Which seems to be granted more to ... let's say not to seem that the movie passed completely unnoticed at this year's Oscars. Enough comments on that.
Although the clip below seems more centered on editing than on mixing, "Interstellar" is a movie with a brilliant final mix. It's true that I might be influenced by the soundtrack which is ranked separately, but even leving that aside, I think I'd still risk naming it as winner here. Well, as usual, despite that we have a musical among the nominees, I think this section is much harder to predict than editing, so we'll se if it gets the statue or not ...
"Unbroken" is the second war movie with a double nomination on sound sections, but despite all praise it got in the extensive presentation below I can't say that my humble ears heard something that can be ranked above "decent". So ...
The last nominee is "Whiplash". Just for mixing. And as any musical it implicitly ranks high in chances here. The difference, however, to others (e.g., "Les Miserables") would be that in this case we don't have an actual pure musical, but more a drama with a lot of jazz. So ... as I said, the mixing award is hard to predict :) and I hope for another winner, which I think deserves it more.

Oscar 2014 - Sound Editing & Mixing

Ok .. We're getting to more complicated stuff. As usual, I guess here's a bit confusing what gets into editing and what into mixing. And again, I guess I should re-re-rewrite the description of apples, pears and why both are fruits. But I'm awfully lazy at the moment, so I'll go for a link that explains quite nicely the background of the sound in a movie: Film editing stages - Sound . I guess that still doesn't clarify the Oscars separation though, but at least lets me skip some definitions :). So .. the work on ADR, dialogue, effects and the foley part as far as I know gets (mainly) into editing. The location mixing or live recordings & the re-recording mixing or the final track gets (mainly) into .. guess what, mixing. "Mainly" means that the line between one and the other is quite thin. In rough lines, everything starts with the recordings during filming (= mixing department), it goes to editing that sound and adding effects (= editing department) and ends with mixing & tuning the final track (= mixing department again). Obviously, in all this flow there's enough interaction between the various stages. Well, it seems I sort of re-explained it again after all ... Let's get to the nominations, where thanks again to the very comprehensive clips from Soundworks Collection I can write less, and leave more experienced people to talk more ;)

"All is Lost" is nominated only on sound editing. What we have here is a movie about a guy stranded in the middle of the Indian Ocean after his yacht hits a .. drifting container, probably lost by a cargo ship. It's a sort of "Life of Pi", but with a stronger sense of reality. The movie stars only one actor (Robert Redford). Consequence 1: the dialogue (or monologue) is minimal. Consequence 2: the sound (what's beside the dialogue) has a major impact in the movie. I can even say that it could be considered as the second actor. It's so nicely worked out, and it contributes a lot to the sensation of isolation and pressure that doesn't predict anything good, from the cracks in the damaged boat to the far thunders forecasting a storm, and many more. As personal choice I would pick this for sound editing, and if "Gravity" loses at any of the two categories I hope it's this one and "All is Lost" will be the reason.

"Captain Phillips" is another movie set in the Indian Ocean, but on a bigger boat. Which is attacked by Somali pirates. Which results in gunshots. Which results further in nominations on both of the sound categories. I wasn't very impressed, and on the mixing side I don't think the movie has much chance. On the editing I can notice a tendency of the Academy to get easily convinced by the bullets swish (e.g., "The Hurt Locker" or "Zero Dark Thirty"). But even for this "quality" we have another contender that might fit even better the profile ...

"Gravity" has the strongest chances to nail the Oscars on both sound categories. On editing we have plenty of effects and ADR to get the job done ( "there is no sound in space" :) remember ? and not a very decent one in the studio mics either when Sandra Bullock panics with an astronaut helmet on ;) ). And even if on editing maybe we can get a surprise, I find hard to believe that "Gravity" can lose the Oscar on mixing. The final track for me is the best part in this movie after VFX. I didn't watch it in a cinema with Dolby Atmos (one of the latest surround environments) for which was done as I got from the clip, but in a normal hall I can say that it already sounds far more than ok.

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is probably the "fill up" nomination for both sound sections. Obviously, it's not bad. However, on editing, besides Smaug's voice I didn't notice much, and for the final impression on mixing the credit goes more to Howard Shore's score than anything else, so ...

"Inside Llewyn Davis" is the latest movie by the Coen brothers, following a week in the life of a folk singer from the '60s. One without a home, dropping from a friend's house to another, and getting in conflict with most of them = the result is a sort of "surreal life" passage, but a bit lighter than other Coen films as "Barton Fink", "The Man Who Wasn't There" or even "A Serious Man". Folk music is quite far from what I listen, but I really liked the mixing, for which the movie got the nomination. If I would remove "Gravity" from the category, this one would clearly stand as the option of choice. In particular, we have a sequence at some point, somewhere on a highway, during night. You can feel the winter .. and 50% of that is caused by the sound mix. About the rest, we'll talk when we get to cinematography ;)

"Lone Survivor" closes the series of nominations both on editing and mixing. Neither one, nor the other impressed my ears, and I don't see much chance of winning any of them. But still, we have again lots of bullets swishing by the voters ears, in a movie which tells the real story of a war mission failed in Afghanistan, so who knows ... In any case, it's the only movie for which I couldn't find (or maybe I didn't have the patience to look enough) a decently conclusive clip. Even for the trailer, I had to get to the 2nd version to have something a bit more close to the current entry topic, given what you can hear from the movie track ...

Oscar 2013 - Sound Editing & Mixing

I'll start (as in many other occasions ...) complaining that I'm not really in the mood for writing, Not as many other occasions though, I have a headache lasting for over a week (with some small breaks ..) which starts to get stressful .. Fortunately (as in other years), mostly thanks to Soundworks Collection that makes an excellent job in documenting for public an area that's not that popular, I can shorten a bit my comments. And talking about that, also as in other year I should say maybe again (as reminder) why we have two categories here .. or more exactly what each of them means. Very briefly: mixing = final audio track - combining effects, soundtrack, dialogues and anything else sound related in one piece ; editing = the pieces for the track - effects editing, ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording), etc. Ok, let's see what we have around this year ...

"Argo"is nominated on both sides. And is also an outsider on both sides. I don't see many chances for editing either. But as a mix, it's true that it gets a bit lost among the others, but for me it was the most ok of all. Anyway, I'm probably subjective because from the rest of nominees on this section, three left me completely unimpressed (and not just on the sound side), and "Life of Pi" ... well, it's ok but still no ..

"Les Miserables" is nominated just for mixing. And I'll risk saying that's probably also going to win. On this category the prognosis is after all quite easy to make, considering that the movie is a musical = other league (at least apparently, I've stated my opinion above). The only counter-argument would be that since "sound" was split in "mixing" and "editing", it didn't happen often that one of these to be won by a movie that wasn't nominated on the other. Well, the last exception, I don't know how many years ago was "Dreamgirls" if my memory is still working ... and guess what genre of a movie that was ..

"Life of Pi" has a nomination on both the categories. The mix is nice, helping on some parts to build an effect of a "dreamy atmosphere", although I think the soundtrack contributes to that more than the arrangement. Anyway, as I was saying above the odds look quite simple on the mixing side, so let's leave that and have a look or drop an ear on the other one. Where the situation is more complicated. I'll go for editing on "Life of Pi" though both as prediction and mostly as preference. It's by far the movie with the most complex sound effects, given the amount of CGI that needed to be "brought to life", from animals to the storm. More on that, below ..

"Lincoln" is only on the mixing list. And it's the title to fill it up to five. That's all. I won't bother talking more. The clip below it's lengthy enough .. Even though is about editing .. Or about Lincoln's watches .. aka editing overkill .. I'm really curious if there's somewhere written on the credits "Lincoln original watch used", or how different does that sound from a contemporary watch (well I know I won't re-watch the movie to find out) ..

"Skyfall" aka the last Bond has a double nomination. I agree that the sound is good. Actually I think that's the best part of that movie, which for me is incredibly overrated (what secret agent leaves with the boss of MI6 after him to an isolated cottage in northern Scotland, all alone, without taking at least a damn submachine gun with him when he expects waves of evil guys storming in .. literally, waves .. = not all at once, and organized at equal distance in the field .. to look as a wave .. and I have more .. don't get me started). Getting back to sound, 007 is probably the only title that has a chance to produce a surprise on mixing (well I still hope for "Argo" to do that). For editing as I said it's more complicated, but I could place it here also on 2nd position after "Pi" ...

"Django Unchained" is on editing pretty much in the same position as "Lincoln" on mixing. And still, at least here we have some typical western effects = guns, horses, more guns, more horses, dynamite, more horses ...

"Zero Dark Thirty" completes the list on editing. There's not much to be said ... I was expecting to see this movie on the mixing nominations, but well .. there wasn't any place left after "Lincoln". For editing, it's a movie with a lot of noise, which automatically places it as contender for this area. But we had already "The Hurt Locker" not very long ago, with a sort of similar noise, the same sound editor, and I don't really think it will take the same Oscar ...

Oscar 2012 - Sound Editing & Mixing

I wanted to post on Tuesday this entry, but I didn't have the time so I'll get a more "dense" weekend = I'll probably be back on Sunday with what we have for soundtracks this year. But until there, let's get back to the "pure sound". To summarized what is what, "editing" implies pretty much everything related to preprocessing, effects, ADR (dubbing over the initial recording), etc and "mixing" to be short, the merging of everything that's sound related (including the music parte aka "the soundtrack") into a final track that's what you finally hear. Not clear yet ? Check this out : http://www.mpse.org/education/whatis.html .

As usual (I'm actually starting to wonder if it's not something like a written rule somewhere ...) we have six movies here, from which four have a common nomination on both mixing and editing, and two only one on each side. Still as usual (at least I don't remember anything in the last years to contradict this ...) the two less nominated can be basically cut off the list as chances to win. ... But I see that I start forgetting the purpose of these entries which is less speculating Oscar predictions and more discussing the actual movies, so let's get to the point:

I wrote about "Drive" last year when I got four years of blogging. And I guess I said there how good is this movie regarding the sound. For what's strictly related to its nominee - only editing - I can tell that I remember even now after three months that's not only about screeches and engines sound but also Foley (check the link above) + something on which my ear (probably a bit deaf ...) doesn't get impressed very often: the volume fluctuations. But I assume that I already start to bore with what I'm rambling about, so I don't know if it's really the case to get into technical details that are anyway far from me to know them at a sufficient level. The thing is that in the end, strictly speaking between the score, mixing and editing the nominee came for the last. And the last no matter the level of appreciation from my war it's still not as good as the first two (what I was saying above about the volume + what the guy below tells about the elevator scene are more related with the mixing). This is one of the many weird things that I avoided to discuss about the nominees from this year. To conclude (considering also the "statistics" for chances had by movies uniquely nominated), although I'd like to be wrong, I doubt that "Drive" has much chance.



"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" - with a double nominee here - it's the American version of the probably well known Swedish original (at least as a book). What can I say about the movie .. for me is a bit overrated = I prefer the original version. It looks a bit more .. "natural" or different said "less hollywoodish" (and mostly due to Noomi Rapace, who although an actress that lacks the power of expression in my opinion managed to make a role better than what Rooney Mara did). I have to admit though that in the Fincher version the movie is better technically. And this includes the sound, and especially the final mix, where I'll take my risks in saying that I see it positioned first among the favorites (for editing they are clearly other movies which have better effects, and that's what counts a lot in there). To be fair, I have to say that I actually wouldn't bet a dime on the "sound mixing" this year, the opinion above being based on personal taste :) = which sounds better for my ear. If I would have to do a more objective analysis it would be hard to split between three titles, the next of these being just below the next clip ...



"Hugo" has also nominations for both editing and mixing. As above I don't see much chance on the editing. Yes, it may be full of clock ticks + other related effects but for me doesn't look that impressive to get an award. Besides that, if you manage to stay up without falling asleep (in my case it didn't work but just because I was extremely tired) while watching this clip http://soundworkscollection.com/hugo you'll probably conclude (from what I managed to get ..) that the preprocessing part was smaller and the accent was set on the final mix. Where, considering the bunch of nominations "Hugo" has there are chances for an Oscar (that might draw along it also one for Editing ...) but I still have hope that it will postponed for other categories. Off-topic: I preferred the clip below instead of the one longer than half an hour from the previous link, but I have to mention that this entry would be much "lifeless" without the excellent material released by Soundworks Collection, which produces this kind of clips for quite a while and bring a bit of light over the usual obscurity of this area.



If I can say something 100% sure for this entry (well .. 99.99% :P), is that "Moneyball" is clearly at the bottom of the list. The film is a real story from the baseball world, and has also other nominees, that will allow to detail it's subject other time. For sound however id just one - for mixing - and considering the other candidates I wouldn't even discuss it. Besides that, I can't even say that I heard something decent enough for being nominated. I mean ... there are ton of "sports related" movies where you have full stadiums, and the sound effects mixed on top, intersequenced with other stuff, etc, so smth like this won't raise any attention. I didn't even manage to find something relevant .. the only clip, in some sense related, being the one below (for how long it lasts on YouTube ...):



"Transformers" - episode 3 - has a double nomination. Which comes somehow naturally for a movie having the density of shells, explosions and other weaponry related stuff over the recommended limit (or in other terms the noise quantity prodiced by these). No matter the appraise for the sound here - and to be fair with real chances at least for editing considering the amount of work on prerecordings, robotized voices & stuff like that - I refuse to believe that, .. this thing .. can grab an Oscar. Hopefully I won't be disappointed by the results.



The last on the list (alphabetically) - "War Horse" - is in my opinion the first with chances on editing this year, and a serious candidate also for mixing (now, to be honest, if I manage to get right on something considering the rush in seeing the movies, it would be a real wonder :P). The movie is a story, a bit to tear-jerking and over-cliched in how it's told for me, about a horse which gets lost from his owner during WWI. As subject itself I can say that it has some more potential than I was expecting .. but more on this another time. The sound: for editing we have plenty of effects + .. the horse itself (or "the horses" to be more specific) .. I mean, to imagine everything that you here as the sounds it makes as production track (= shooting recorded material) I guess it's naive. The movie is perfect made in the end on this segment, and even if it's not something you'll see .. well hear .. for the first time it's a big plus over the rest of the nominees. And the rest (= the war, sound 7.1, etc) can be put without concerns at the same level with "Transformers". For mixing I'll be short: for me is not something extraordinary, but seems that the complexity which comes from what you hear on the effects side raises the level high enough to get something at least comparable with "Hugo" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" => so "War Horse" gets on the favorites list.



That's all for today .. I've already written probably too much for somebody who's evaluating "by the ear" :P. Stuff that I'll obviously do (very soon I hope) also for the "music" section :)

Oscar 2011 - Sound Categories

Up to last year I was very proud with myself 'cause since I don't know how long ago I was able to predict the winners for at least one of the two sound categories - sound editing & sound mixing (especially since not many people know even the difference between these two). Well .. as I said, up to last year .. when I somehow managed to miss them both. So, this time I'll try to add some more professional description besides my own "unauthorized" thoughts. And this is thanks to a small group of people who have a site dedicated exclusively to the sound design in movies - SoundWorks Collection, and also have produced a series of "behind the scenes" clips on the topic.

But before getting on to the nominations I'll detail a bit about the two - editing & mixing. Sound Editing refers mainly to sound effects. More exactly the recording and processing or finding and getting the right samples from external sources for the film parts which lack the necessary sound (because usually the live recording during the film shooting is not enough). Sound Mixing implies getting the final mix track, meaning the assembling of the live recorded material, the sound editing extra output and the score in a single piece which is the final form you hear. Usually there is a lot of interaction between the two .. "departments" (and sometimes is only one) and therefore you can find movies nominated at both categories quite often. Let's check the situation for this year ...

"Inception" has nominations on both of the categories. For Sound Editing it's pretty hard to try a guess this year for the winner. In case of "Inception" we have various effects added, starting with the producing source diversity up to the sound propagation/reverb in various locations, and even .. "time flow" (so to speak) leaves some marks on the sound. If it would be to go along the common general impression I might say that this is the favorite title for Sound Editing (and probably it actually is), but for me there is another title which .. sounds better :). However on Sound Mixing it's simpler. I'm pretty sure that "Inception" will get the Oscar for this category and it's deserved in case it happens. It might have one serious rival on Sound Mixing, but the final mix track in "Inception" is among the best I've heard during the last years (not at the same level with "Slumdog Millionaire" but quite close). It's built in such a way to sense that the score is there (and the score gives a lot of the general feeling on this movie), to hit you at the right time with effects to keep the tension up, and also manages to emphasize on the voice where this is needed (well, what I'm rambling about here is actually what every final mix track is supposed to do :) but this one actually gets it quite nicely). I'll better leave it to the next clip for more details ( sorry, this one seems it doesn't allow embedding, but from what I've found available is for sure the most detailed regarding the sound here .. so probably it worth an extra click :) ):

"The King's Speech" has one nomination on the Sound Mixing part, and this is the movie which I think it's the closest to "Inception" (but still the 2nd). At a first look, it doesn't seem to be something very noticeable here, but it is a movie which as part of the main idea relies quite much in getting a view on the speaking problems of king George VI. Colin Firth actually does a pretty good job on the stammering part, so I don't think to much editing was required for that. But to get something in the final that is supposed to get well by the viewers ear, that's a whole different matter. And because of this, I personally think that technically speaking the final mix track is the best part of this movie. Even so, it probably won't get over "Inception". Unfortunately I didn't find any clip from SoundWorks to give more details here, but I went by something quite interesting. However it requires distributed hearing :) and it's also quite a big spoiler. It's a comparison between the final speech in the movie and the real one - this is one more criteria which brings some points here = the effort to obtain a close replica to the original (the clip version is the actual track with the score and volume switches according to the filming camera place):

I was planning to write an entry about "Salt" (on my Ro blog version) last summer when I've seen it .. but that was actually before watching the movie = I had it planned as the possible weekly topic. In the end I didn't write the entry and I looked for another subject. The reason is that from my point of view this movie is the worst from the entire filmography of Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American", "The Bone Collector", "Clear and Present Danger", "Patriot Games", "The Saint", etc). At the middle of the movie I actually figured out the final, besides the part that the final isn't actually the final and leaves enough room for another final. Oh well .. more details on the subject in the next clip. It has a certain Cold War spy thriller air, as some older movies had, but it's far from the best titles in this area. Getting back to the Sound Mixing, where it has a nomination, I can't say I see(well .. hear) anything out of common about this title. It's a movie with lots of action and the final mix demands quite some work indeed, but it's not different from the usual case on this genre.

"The Social Network" has a nomination for Sound Mixing, probably as unexpected as "The King's Speech". The difference is that (at least for my ear) the final mix in the Facebook story doesn't sound as convincing as it's British rival. Yes, we have plenty of dialogue, we have several scenes with noisy background, but the result is not extraordinary at all. Besides this, the final mix gains a lot from the score quality here (about which I'll talk more next time) and this doesn't actually count for mixing. On top of all as it's said at some point in the next clip, the sound may actually lose itself at some moments - it's not noticeable anymore (and inherently brings down the score), and I'm not a very big fan of such results .. although it might be a matter of taste.

"Tron: Legacy" is an interesting nomination for Sound Editing, especially considering it didn't get one for VFX. It seems the audio ones were more appreciated. And I can say that it seems quite good here. We have the robotized voices part + a lot of pre-recordings processed for all the kind of effect from vehicles to explosions, etc + ADR Automated Dialog Replacement as mentioned in the next clip = this works as a dubbing/re-recording after shooting the movie on top of the original voice. In this case also the score makes the final track to gain a lot, and I sincerely regret not seeing Daft Punk nominated there. However, the category we talk about here is not Sound Mixing, so the fact the score adds to the impression for the final mix doesn't cut from the Sound Editing value. Maybe I'm a bit subjective, considering I liked the movie (well, forgetting for a while all about my IT background). Anyway, as I've said in the start this year the competition seems to be pretty fierce on Sound Editing, and Tron probably falls somewhere on a middle placement in a potential top.

"Toy Story 3" has a nominee for Sound Editing. "Toy Story 3" is the reason for I'm running a small boycott this year - I'm not going to write about Best Animation. So more (or less..) on the "Toy Story 3" subject on another occasion. Strictly speaking about sound effects, I've always had the opinion that animations are on a totally different class from feature films. Because the percent of the final sound which comes from the sound editing activity is overwhelming. You don't have any live recording here as you have when you shoot a normal scene in a movie. But, anyway, as I said this year I have a small problem with "Toy Story 3" :) and I'm not going to praise it more than it's the case. And if you think at the Oscars given two years ago, when "Wall-E" didn't get it here (which for me was one of the biggest Oscar surprises ever) I don't see how TS3 will grab it now ...

I don't have much to say about "True Grit". It has nominations on both the categories, but I really doubt it has any chances on any of them. For Editing we have the usual western effects ranging from gun shots to horse galloping. A short sequence can be seen/heard in the clip below (unfortunately here also I didn't find any extended entry from SoundWorks). All around it's ok, but that's pretty much of it. As a final track mix it sounds quite nice but again we have the same problem as in "The Social Network". I really think it gains a lot on the impression from the score (which didn't even get nominated), and not from integrating the score but actually from the music.

And I finally got to the last title on this long list - "Unstoppable". It seems that Tony Scott (who IMHO currently is one of the best action movie directors) after pretty much flopped with the "Pelham 123" remake, changed the line but not to far - from the underground to the surface. Another film, other trains, the same Denzel. I never was very attracted by "catastrophe" movies (= volcano eruptions, tunnel explosions, world's end next year, etc). And also not very attracted by movies based on real facts. Well, this one is both = we have the story of a loose speeding train carrying some very unhealthy substances. As a surprise (for me at least) it was quite watchable, even with the whole specific chessy lines present. In two words: adrenaline rush ! (think on "Speed" on rails .. well without any bad guy in command). And one of the things which adds a lot to this sensation I think it's the sound editing. You don't have a lot of variation on the effects range. Pretty much all is train related - wheels, sirens, etc. But these are very well processed = obviously the work is not limited only to live recordings. I would personally give the Oscar here for Sound Editing, but "Inception" is quite strong on this area. So we'll see...

Next time - the soundtrack section ...