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Even if the sound was bad, let's not speak about it. Tell us what the plus points were.

Last movie I watched was The Fighter.

Wonderful punch sounds and crowd editing. The best part was the scene at the end before the last round of the last fight - the sound pulled you in and put you on the edge of your seat for what was going to happen next. Some of it was created with delays, some of it with EQ on the announcer's voice. Some of it just fading out to zero. And then focusing on the dialogue between Mark and Christian - and then BAM you're right back into the fight again. Seamless. Great sounding movie.

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  • @Utopia, the coolest part imo in this movie was how wonderfully the audio tracks merged and crossfaded with the movie, especially in the final win. Mar 19, 2011 at 10:30

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I loved 127 Hours. The authenticity of the landscapes were both geographically accurate and underplayed which allowed me to get sucked into the world of the story. The way Boyle uses the world around Ralston as he is stuck and Ralstons dementia setting he beautifully balanced. You really do get a sense of Ralston coming to terms with his decision to cut off his arm (the nerve cutting was amazing) and his mental degradation.

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  • I loved it also, I thought the landscapes were extremely minimal which just added to it. Freemantle and co did a great job on it. I was surprised it didn't win any awards this year. Mar 22, 2011 at 20:46
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I watched Up. The plus points were the talking dogs and the one talking alpha dog with the faulty collar. There was a lot of interesting panning going on, perhaps using an underdeveloped 3d sound algorithm. I noticed there tended to be quite a bit of reverb on any dialogue. The first third of the movie had the most sound design/work done on it and then after that it tapered off and picked up at the end (IMHO). Good non-diegetic sound when the boy is lured into the old house. Was suprised when the balloons popped out of his house and all in all it was a pretty good movie. During the initial encounter with the dog's rustling the bushes and with the red eyes, that was really well done because I thought that there were monsters or aliens or robots or something in the bushes. The mother's call to her children and their return call was nice. Music fit pretty well and the waterfall's ominous rumble played an important part and it changed throughout the few times that it was represented (few?). I also love the soft processing that hollywood/animation/pixar whatever, is done on everything to "cut any sharp edges that might be sticking out."

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  • I love how much attention they paid to the tennis balls on his cane. Mar 21, 2011 at 16:57
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No Country For Old Men...beautifully done, the way sound in a movie should be IMHO!

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  • @Andre YES! I love the sounds in this film! :) Mar 22, 2011 at 20:33
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I got back from watching Rango about 20 minutes ago... that movie is great, by the way (but I wonder if it would be so awesome if you didn't love westerns).

Sound wise, this movie is solid, though I'm not particularly fond of the sounds of biplanes for bats (I understand WHY they did it, but I almost feel like they would have been more menacing with leathery flaps and squeaks and screeches). My absolutely favorite sound design moment in the film was where Rango was running in the glass bottle -- the difference in sound from inside and outside the bottle, and the hum as it moved in and out through the neck of the bottle.

Also, I remember thinking in the beginning of the movie that the atmos in the desert were too lively -- too many cars and the general hum that's generally present around humanity -- but given the revelation near the end it makes perfect sense.

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    I'm still waiting for the Rango Soundworks collection insider scoop
    – Chris
    Mar 20, 2011 at 23:51
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    What I loved about Rango was that the cliche red-tailed hawk sound effect seemed to be actually used for a red-tailed hawk! Mar 24, 2011 at 21:29
  • I loved that part as well. And Jake the Snake's rattle, but that was a sweet design all around. Mar 24, 2011 at 21:40
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Just watched "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait" and thought the whole sound and feel of the film was mesmeric. Randy Thom was appointed sound designer and the score was composed by Mogwai.

It follows a full 90min of Zinedine Zidane, a French footballer, in a match he played for Real Madrid. The way the crowd swoon in and out of the soundtrack, the close sounds of him dragging his boots along the grass and the quietness and assuredness of his breathing really do draw you into the beautifully crafted soundscape. It is more of an arty kind of film, rather than a story film, but I found it very engaging nonetheless.

The score complements the video footage perfectly, and mixes in with the other sounds really well. I would thoroughly recommend watching this film, even if you're not a football fan, as it really does give you a totally different perspective of how a film can be shot/edited/scored without the necessity of a story! Here's the imdb.

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The last movie I watched was 2010, and I remember being struck by the reverb on Roy Scheider's narration voiceover. I didn't recall there being reverb (the last time I watched the movie was a couple of years after it came out), and I haven't heard that too often on narration. Don't know if that was the "best" thing about the sound; I have always been a fan of the varying treatments on Keir Dullea's voice as the "Not Quite Dave Bowman" character appears in his/its different guises. I suppose the best thing for me would be the treatment of the HAL and SAL voices. There's a strange compression happening as well as the EQ etc. that just sounds amazing.

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Dead snow - for the sound of a zombies head being mangled by the tracks of a snow mobile. The best visual aspect is the expression on the zombies faces as their guts fall out - it's been a long time since I have laughed so much - brilliantly done film :)

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The last movie i watched was 127 Hours and i really loved the parts where the protagonist heard music from his headphones but the ambient sound and his footsteps and the other sounds he made where also heard.

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  • So they made the foley sound as if it were in his ears covered with headphones? Sort of like "hearing yourself from the inside" when you chew food. Awesome concept! I'm gonna have to catch this movie just to check out how they did that. Mar 19, 2011 at 19:22
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I "experienced (watch+listened)" Kick Ass recently. It was an awkward movie that seemed awkward unless I reminded myself that it was based off a comic book and that is what made it awkward. The score was recycled from 28 days later (epic zombie music) for some parts and I feel like they could have used sound a little more to pump up the comic book based action.

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"The Proposition".

The desert wind was so effective I could taste the dirt and grit in my mouth. I so badly wanted a drink of water but couldn't pause the movie for the life of me. The ambiences were beautifully dark, and most of the soundtrack (not musical soundtrack) perfectly complemented the awesome wide shots of the Australian Outback. The revolvers had a certain wear-and-tear element to them, like sand and dust coated the inside mechanics.

It was less that certain sounds or layers stood out to me, and more that the lines between sonic and aural experiences were blurred. I was there in the film, not an observer.

I'm not big on Westerns. I just happened upon this film by chance. Was in theaters for a very short time, but kind of disappeared I guess.

Directed by John Hillcoat. He also directed "The Road", another one of my faves.

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  • great film, love the opening gun shoot out too. hits you really hard. Jul 16, 2011 at 14:02

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