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Scriptshadow's Relevant Oscar Categories

BEST PICTURE

My pick: Avatar

While the idea to alter the "Best Picture" category to include 10 nominees was never met with universal praise, it was thought by some that it would at least make the race for the top Academy prize more interesting. That hope appears to have died now that we close in on the famous awards show. As the awards circuit receives more attention every year, the result is a well-publicized race that weeds the contenders down to a praised pair (in this case, Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker). In a field of five, this isn't that big of an issue, as everyone can sort of pretend that the others have an "outside shot." But when you expand the field to ten, it becomes glaringly obvious that 5 of the films have no shot at all. If you put films into a category where everyone knows they don't even have a 1% chance of winning, then why include them in the first place? I guess the answer is that getting nominated *is* the Oscar for these films. And that we should celebrate them for their achievement today, but forget about them on Awards Night. As for my pick, I'm going with Avatar. It wasn't my favorite movie of the year (that goes to District 9), but I think when you talk about the best FILM, you gotta go with the James Cameron goliath. It excels in so many areas of the filmmaking medium. So that's where my money's going. Which about you? Here are all the nominees.

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
The Blind Side
District 9
A Serious Man
Precious
Up In The Air
Inglorious Basterds
An Education
Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

My pick: Jason Rietman's "Up In The Air."

In the adapted screenplay category, I think this one's pretty clear cut. Up In The Air has been getting a lot of publicity out of the Reitman/Turner credit-gate, and in a category that plays 8th fiddle to the brawnier Oscar categories, sometimes a little publicity is all you need to get people to vote for you. It's a fine screenplay so I'm down with the choice, but I wish there was something with a little more oomph leading the way. Out of the nominees, the only other screenplay I read was "An Education," and I didn't like it. I loved the randomness and unpredictability of District 9, but I get the feeling the script is a bunch of incomprehensible notes scribbled in a notebook. I haven't read or seen In The Loop so I can't comment on it. And I think Precious is a little too heavy-handed to win the award. Here are the nominees...

Up In The Air by Jason Reitman
An Education by Nick Hornby
Precious by Geoffrey Fletcher
District 9 by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
In The Loop by Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Ian Martin and Tony Roache

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

My pick: Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds."

Finally, the big cajomma, or at least as far as the writing world is concerned. Best screenplay for a completely original work. To me, this is as done a deal as going to In and Out at least once a week. Quentin's got the thing wrapped up. I still haven't read or seen The Messenger, so I'm coming at this with a bit of ignorance, by I feel pretty confident about my choice. The reason you gotta give it to Quentin is that he takes so many chances in his work where no one else would even try. He's the only writer I'm comfortable with writing a ten minute dialogue scene. His characters are always bursting with originality. I don't always like his movies, but I'm always impressed with what he brings to the table. Inglorious Basterds may be the best script he's ever written, so you have to give it the Oscar. As for the others, I couldn't make it past 30 pages of A Serious Man. It's just too scattershot and, quite honestly, wasn't my thing. Up starts off wonderfully but becomes increasingly predictable as it goes on. And The Hurt Locker likewise starts off great, but gets lost for awhile in the second act in my opinion. But I mean, this category isn't even a race, is it? The nominees...

The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal
Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger by Oren Moverman and Allesandro Camon
A Serious Man by The Coen Brothers
Up by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Thomas McCarthy

What about you? What are your picks?

Is Lost The Best Written TV Show Ever?

I remember when I watched the pilot for this show. Someone slipped me an early screener. The promos hadn't even started yet. It was before all the hype, before all the buzz. All I knew was that it sounded like a cool concept. A plane crashes on an island and there are survivors. In no way was I prepared for what I watched. It was easily the best pilot episode for any show I had ever seen.

Michael Eisner, then calling the shots for Disney/ABC, famously said about Lost, a show he viciously opposed greenlighting, "Who's going to care? A bunch of people crash land on an island. Then what?" I'll tell you what, Michael: Flashbacks. The risky structure of flashing back to the character's previous lives, while simultaneously making every character on the island the protagonist, just wasn't done. And if you're going to put a show up against the best TV shows of all time, it has to have changed the game somehow. And there's no question that Lost changed the game. I will never forget watching the third episode in the series, Walkabout, in which John Locke's character was higlighted. To me, that's the best hour of television I've ever seen.

Now I won't pretend like the show didn't get "lost" at times. The third season was...err...umm...interesting? But just when you thought the show didn't have any more rabbits to pull out of its hat, it found its rhthym again and gave us some superb television. I don't know if I'd call Lost the best show ever written. But everything considering, I'd say it's somewhere in the conversation. Here we are on the eve of the final season, so I pose this question to you: Is Lost the best written TV show ever?

Script Link: Pilot episode

Tuesday Talkback: Good movies from bad talent

I'm sure every moviegoer has had the experience of being let down by one of their favorite filmmakers, but how many times has a director or writer you dismissed as a hack totally surprised you? Can you recall ever seeing a good movie by someone you thought was a bad filmmaker?

The first film like this that comes to mind for me is Red Dragon, directed by Brett Ratner. I haven't liked a Ratner movie prior to this or since it, but Red Dragon was incredibly well-done. I know this is probably sacrilege, but I liked it a lot better than the previous adaptation of that novel, Michael Mann's Manhunter. Not only was it more faithful to the book (save for the expansion of Hannibal Lector's role), but it felt more intense, the film was paced better, and as much as it pains me to say this - it was more visually interesting.

Yeah, I can't believe I actually gave Ratner a "win" over Mann, either - especially since Collateral is one of my favorite movies and Heat was pretty cool too.

So how about you? When have your favorite whipping boys impressed you?