Alex in Movieland

my Alex In Movieland awards, 4th edition: Episode 2/4: Original Screenplay & Adapted Screenplay

I continue presenting my choices for 2011, with the two writing categories. 

The films eligible here:

List of eligible/seen films (62):

50/50, The Adventures of Tintin, Albert Nobbs, Anonymous, The Artist, Beginners, A Better Life, Bridesmaids, Carnage, A Cat in Paris, Certified Copy, Chico & Rita, Contagion, Coriolanus, A Dangerous Method, The Descendants, Drive, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hanna, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Help, Hugo, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, J. Edgar, Jane Eyre, Like Crazy, Margaret, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Meek’s Cutoff, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, The Muppets, My Week with Marilyn, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Potiche, Puss in Boots, Rampart, Rango, Real Steel, Rio, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Scream 4, A Separation, Shame, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Skin I Live In, Super 8, Take Shelter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tree of Life, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, W.E., War Horse, Warrior, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Weekend, Young Adult

And these were my choices:

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

This was easily the best of the 2 writing categories, and my number one will definitely surprise/turn-off many people who'll get to read this. I chose it because, as a writer-wannabe, I can clearly confirm that comedy is hard. And funny-funny stuff is even harder to do. So: RESPECT for Kristen Wiig and her co-writer, for writing a flawed, but overall terribly funny screenplay. Number 2 came naturally, even though I'm not a Diablo Cody fan, while number 3 clearly gave us the best drama screenplay of 2011.

1. Bridesmaids (Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo)

2. Young Adult

3. A Separation

4. Weekend

5. Shame

runner-ups:

6. Take Shelter

7. The Tree of Life

8. Rango

9. Margin Call

10. Beginners

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

There was almost nothing to choose from here, as most of these screenplays are disappointing. If you would've told me a year ago that The Help would make my Top 5 in Adapted Screenplay, I would've told you you're crazy. But then the rest of the films came, one more disappointing than the other: plenty of good ideas, but in the end executed in a mediocre way. Still, I'm ok with these 5: no masterpieces, plenty of flaws, but mostly positive elements.

1. Moneyball 

(Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, Stan Chervin, based on a book by Michael Lewis)

2. Drive

3. The Help

4. War Horse

5. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

runner-ups:

6. Jane Eyre

7. Carnage

8. The Skin I Live In

9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

10. Albert Nobbs

Part 3/4 will follow soon.