News Of The World Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

by Jack Pooley

1. The Oscar-Worthy Sound Design

News of the World Tom Hanks
Universal

News of the World isn't just one of the sharpest-looking films of the last year - it's also one of the crispest-sounding.

From this year onward, the Academy will combine the Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing categories into a single new field: Best Sound, which should only strengthen the case that Greengrass' film merits a nomination.

Though the aforementioned shootout, with its crunchy gunshots and gorgeous bullet ricochets, does a fantastic job showing off any viewer's surround sound system, the overall soundscape is densely layered, expertly melding the rough environmental sounds with a typically stellar musical score from James Newton Howard.

If sound is surely the most underappreciated filmmaking discipline by casual audiences, News of the World announces its gorgeously dynamic aural design loudly and proudly.

It'll face stiff competition from the likes of The Midnight Sky, Mank, and Sound of Metal, but could very well win the Oscar outright.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.