Ryan McNeil
I’m getting to the point of antsy-ness I feel when forced to watch a romantic comedy I’d rather not be watching. The guy and girl meet…there’s obvious chemistry…there’s an odd love/hate thing happening. Around sixty-five minutes in, I find myself screaming “JUST GET TOGETHER ALREADY!!”. That’s me right now when it comes to the year-end awards.
Just about everyone has announced their nominees except the Oscars, and I’m growing a tad impatient. Hell, by the time Monday rolls around, two groups will have already handed out their hardware. And yet, even though I’m drenched with impatience, I can’t tune out. It’s like a solar eclipse…I can’t look away!
Well the latest group to honour the cinematic delight that was 2007 is the Writers Guild of America. That’s right, our favorite picketters have momentarily set down their signs and unveiled the shortlist of original and adapted screenplays for the last year. Oh, and of course, because nobody wants to cross a pickett line, there will be no ceremony. No, really.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
JUNO, Written by Diablo Cody
MICHAEL CLAYTON, Written by Tony Gilroy
THE SAVAGES, Written by Tamara Jenkins
KNOCKED UP, Written by Judd Apatow
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, Written by Nancy Oliver
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, Screenplay by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, Based on the Novel by Cormac McCarthy
THERE WILL BE BLOOD, Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, Based on the Novel Oil by Upton Sinclair
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, Screenplay by Ronald Harwood, Based on the Book by Jean-Dominique Bauby
INTO THE WILD, Screenplay by Sean Penn, Based on the Book by Jon Krakauer
ZODIAC, Screenplay by James Vanderbilt, Based on the Book by Robert Graysmith
Opening This Week…
PERSEPOLIS (An amazing adaptation of an amazing story – go see it)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (I’m hearing very long…but very good)
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (Time to see what the fuss is about!)
ONE MISSED CALL (Must have come in while I was in the elevator)
IN THE NAME OF THE KING (Welcome to the hell that is winter movies)