Ryan McNeil
And then there were none…
The final set of award nominees before Oscar was announced today, and it was the Writer’s Guild naming their shortlist of original and adapted screenplays.
Bit of a funny situation this year though. It would seem as though the WGA has become a club more exclusive than The Stonecutters, since the films deemed ineligible this year make for a lengthy list. For one reason or another (mostly because the writers weren’t WGA members), the following films didn’t qualify…
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
AN EDUCATION
A SINGLE MAN
THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX
IN THE LOOP
DISTRICT 9
THE ROAD
UP
Kinda seems like that could have been the full nominee list doesn’t it? Well the WGA named the best of what was left over, and if you have to ask yourself how slim that left the pickins‘…consider the second film down on the list.
Original Screenplay
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER
AVATAR
THE HANGOVER
THE HURT LOCKER
A SERIOUS MAN
Adapted Screenplay
CRAZY HEART
JULIE & JULIA
PRECIOUS
STAR TREK
UP IN THE AIR
I have seen all the original Screenplay contenders and The Hurt Locker is a clear winner for me.
Of the adapted category I have only seen Star Trek (Crazy Heart, Precious and Up in the Air not out yet here and I missed Julie & Julia) I would be surprised if any of them are more deserving than two of the ineligible screenplays: The Road and An Education.
I kinda find it funny that Avatar is up there for Original Screenplay since the story and plot are essentially Pocahontas:
http://failblog.org/2010/01/10/avatar-plot-fail/
hahahaha that is kind of funny. If Avatar is going to get nominated at all (which it shouldn't), it should be in adapted screenplay as a remake of Fern Gully.
@ No. 6… I've seen all the originals too, and I can't really argue with ya. Given how much I loved HURT LOCKER this year, there are precious few categories I wouldn't award it.
Of the adapted, I'd go with UP IN THE AIR since its script did have a lot of snappiness to it…though you're right – I wouldn't choose it over AN EDUCATION.
@ Cheshire… Saw that before. Funny thing though, I wondered the other day if we'd all been blogging thirty years ago, would we have picked on STAR WARS as much for being a glorified western?
@ Alex… No kidding. Again – I think it got nominated because scripts like UP, BASTERDS, and D9 were ineligible.
Mad Hatter I know you were no fan of Nine, but that could easily knock off two even three of the nods in adapted screenplay. So could Bright Star. It's all really silly, but I've tuned out of the awards race this season.
Here's my opinion of this list, as expressed last night on twitter:
*I spit on you and your list WGA*
Thank you, that is all.
(By the way though +1 point for In the Loop – 5000 for making all other films ineligible).
It's really disappointing to hear that District 9 didn't make it in as an original screenplay. One would have assumed that the writing community of the film industry could have easily recognized that the plot of District 9 was far more original than Avatar. Honestly, haven't they seen Pocahontas before?
"The Hangover"? "The Hangover"?! Geez…
The dialog was horrible in that. Really. The situations were good as well as the timeline for the evening (and I realize that's a part of the screenplay), but the dialog had few actual funny lines. I suppose "horrible" might be pushing it, but I was so disappointed because it had so much potential and I thought it wasted many opportunities.
@ Andrew… Adapted is the category that got especially screwed by eligibility. It's a pity AN EDUCATION, A SINGLE MAN, and MR. FOX didn't qualify. They easily would have made the nominee list much more interesting. Thankfully, Oscar isn't as picky as the guild, so those three titles can easily come back into play.
@ Univarn… I've heard of this "Twitter" thing…kinda like blogging for the ADD crowd, isn't it?
@ Wordsmith… Thanks for reading – new followers always make my day! As for D9, I think it had the same problem most of the others did, that being that the writer wasn't a guild member and thus, inelligible.
It's unfortunate that the problem is coming up so often in one year.
@ Bob… I dunno, I enjoyed THE HANGOVER. Over-hyped comedies tend not to make me laugh, but that one had me in stitches. Not sure if it was because of performance or because of writing…so maybe you're on to something…
@Mad ha. well I do have adhd, but you'd be surprised how massive some of our twitter debates get (or how long they go on for).
…The Hangover? I mean, it was funny, but not Best Screenplay Material. To me, it seems like no competition- The Hurt Locker and Precious, hands down. We'll just have to see! The Oscars this year should be pretty good (I'm hoping they're better than last year).
@ Univarn… I've watched people engage in entire arguments via text message. Nothing surprises me anymore.
@ Movie Mistress… The whole list is off-kilter due to the volume of quality work that is inelligible, and also for the fact that this is the year we finally had to deal with the WGA strike fallout. I second you on HURT LOCKER and PRECIOUS.
@Mad Well then join in. I have a new argument for you: Tom Hanks is on twitter now. I think that's the best endorsement any online social networking system can have 🙂
what a horrible, horrible list.
here i was thinking the WGA should have better taste than that, after all, it's the WRITER'S guild.
@ Miss Topanga… The question is, what changes would you make? What would you drop from the list and what would you put in their places?
I've said it before, but I thought Avatar was more Dances With Wolves. I haven't seen Pocahontas, though, so maybe it's more like that. *shrugs*
I dug it, though. It entertained and moved me, which is what a movie should do, occasionally. The biggest thing was that in no way did I notice 3 hours going by (or 2h45, in my case *rolls eyes*), so that's something.
– Bruisie Von Whippit