Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 5 nominations

Film Editing, Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey
Music (Original Score), John Williams
Sound Mixing, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects, Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
Sound Editing, Matthew Wood and David Acord

If you have not seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens yet, allow me to encourage you to keep your browser open to this review, pause, go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and then return to your normal routine and to reading this review.  Don't worry, I'll wait here.

Ok?  Now you've seen it?  Great, and you're welcome.

So just in case you're having trouble remembering what happened while you were out, let me remind you of the plot.  The film begins 30 years after Return of the Jedi (Episode 6) and a new tyrranical organization attempting the domination of the galaxy.  Finn, a stormtrooper with a conscience escapes the space station with a rebel fighter Poe and lands on Jakku where he meets Rey, a scavenger who has been abandoned by her family.  Together they discover the world of the resistance.  I don't want to give too much detail about whom they meet and where, but suffice it to say that the original film, Star Wars: A New Hope has some very similar plot points, including once again having to overcome an evil master powered by the dark side of the force and they have to blow up a space station by depositing a blast into a very small space. 

I loved it.  I love love loved it. Now, full disclosure, I watched all six films in order (as in, episode 1-6, not the order of their original release dates) over the weekend and capped it off with this episode 7. I'm a fan.  I suspect that there would have been few versions of this film I wouldn't have liked, and I openly admit to liking episodes 1-3, which most fans in the Star Wars nerd-verse revile.

But that iconic John Williams music right at the beginning of the film gave me chills and even choked me up a little bit.  All of the Star Wars nominations were locked before the first screening began - the innovation, the visual and sound effects, the battles and the music and the dialogue; they were all so superb that I wouldn't be surprised if the film sweeps all of its categories with wins.  This is John Williams (Original Score) 50th Oscar nomination.  That is not a typo.  If anything prevents him from winning this time, it's only that the music is so familiar, he may be eliminated because voters will fail to appreciate all of the new beautiful music he created for this film. 

Nerd fan girl, out.