One Category at a Time: Original Screenplay

I'm having a really tough time deciding how to feel about the slate of Best Original Screenplay nominees this year. On the one hand, there's nothing more gratifying than to see the two legitimately best screenplays of the year mentioned alongside each other. On the other hand, there's nothing more irritating than to see two uninspired screenplays squeeze out underrated gems like 50/50 and Young Adult in the one category where they could have earned some recognition. And then there's the Best Picture winner's token nomination for Writing. No strong feelings either which way about that one.

One Category at a Time: Supporting Actress

What is it with this category? For four consecutive years now it's housed two nominees from the same film. Is the actors branch really so stretched for options? This year it's two from The Help (accounting for 50% of the film's nomination tally), and they still couldn't include the best supporting female from the movie, Bryce Dallas Howard. At any rate, having costar nominees is always an interesting question mark as to how that will affect the overall outcome.

WGA nominees announced

We have to remember not to put too much stock into these nominees. Many screenplays in the hunt for Oscar recognition were not signatories of the WGA, thus were not eligible. Anyway, here they are:

Original Screenplay
50/50
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris Being the only viable Best Picture contender, I imagine this is the winner
Win Win
Young Adult

Obviously, The Artist, which was ineligible, is likely to replace one of these on the Oscar ballot. I say Bridesmaids is the weak link. The Academy and I may not always agree but they usually try to keep it classy. However, Young Adult may be a bit too acerbic and sour to win them over, but if any branch is willing to give Diablo her fair shake, it's the writers.

Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants Here's your winner... (sigh)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
Moneyball

The Adapted Screenplay situation looks fairly close to my predicted Oscar five. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy wasn't eligible, but I'd expect the Academy to prefer it to Dragon Tattoo. War Horse never was a writer's showcase, so it's still strong for a Best Picture nomination. But for the win? I don't know. A Screenplay nomination is uber important.

Documentary Screenplay
Better This World
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Nostalgia for the Light
Pina
Position Among the Stars
Senna Winner?

Disappointing that Project Nim didn't show up here. I thought it was quite well written. At any rate, Pina and If a Tree Falls are the only two nominees on the documentary branch's shortlist, and I seriously doubt Pina's chances anyway, so this doesn't help us much in predicting Best Documentary.

PGA nominees

All seven of my predicted Best Picture nominees showed up on the PGA's longlist, so that doesn't give us much to chew on. The three remaining PGA nominees are somewhat surprising. I'd have thought the populist nominee would be either Potter or Apes, but they opted for Bridesmaids instead. I'm tickled pink to see that The Ides of March got some love. Maybe its Oscar chances aren't dead in the water after all? As for Dragon Tattoo, it obviously survived its late opening, but I still doubt the Academy will go for it.

Best Picture
THE ARTIST, Producer: Thomas Langmann
BRIDESMAIDS, Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
THE DESCENDANTS, Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin
THE HELP, Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green
HUGO, Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese
THE IDES OF MARCH, Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
MONEYBALL, Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
WAR HORSE, Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

In animation, they opted for five instead of the expected three. I say Tintin is in the most vulnerable position, if only because its mo-cap format might sour traditional animators.

Best Animated Feature
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg
CARS 2, Producer: Denise Ream
KUNG FU PANDA 2, Producer: Melissa Cobb
PUSS IN BOOTS, Producers: Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou
RANGO, Producers: John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski

Reviews

As usually is the case for me this time of year, I need a space to catch up with capsule reviews I've neglected to post upon seeing the film in question. I'll update this post throughout the season as I see more films.