WGA Nominations

And the Writers Guild of America have nominated their screenplays. Again, this is a big deal because the WGA are made of members of the Academy, and so the results come Oscar time could look similar to this list. For now though, the nominations are:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Burn After Reading - Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Focus Features
Milk - Written by Dustin Lance Black, Focus Features
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Written by Woody Allen, The Weinstein Company
The Visitor - Written by Tom McCarthy, Overture Films
The Wrestler - Written by Robert Siegel, Fox Searchlight Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen Story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord; Based on the Short Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures

The Dark Knight - Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan; Story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer; Based on Characters Appearing in Comic Books Published by DC Comics; Batman Created by Bob Kane, Warner Bros. Pictures

Doubt - Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley, Based on his Stage Play, Miramax Films

Frost/Nixon - Screenplay by Peter Morgan, Based on his Stage Play, Universal Pictures

Slumdog Millionaire - Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, Based on the Novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup, Fox Searchlight Pictures


A pretty good list I must say (though the absence of "Rachael Getting Married" hurts, and the snub of "Wall-E's" great screenplay is just wrong). It looks like the adapted category is more competitive then the original category, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. Oh, and "The Dark Knight" scores another one, and takes one more step towards Oscar glory.

"Do you wanna know how I got these scars?"

The Good, The Bad, & The Confusing (SAG 2008)

The Good

Richard Jenkins and Robert Downey Jr. scored Best Actor and Supporting Actor nods for their great work in "The Visitor" and "Tropic Thunder." "The Dark Knight" gets more then one nomination. Penelope Cruz is riding her way to a locked Oscar win.

The Bad

"The Dark Knight" is snubbed in the Best Ensemble Cast category (though it did get nominated in the Stunt Ensemble category). Rosemary Dewitt gets snubbed for "Rachael Getting Married." "Doubt" leads the nominations (though the acting is great, the movie is not, so hopefully the Academy will take that into consideration when looking at these noms). Sally Hawkins is robbed of a nomination. What? Don't the members of SAG like to laugh?

The Confusing

Basically, I don't get the whole "Slumdog Millionaire" nominations. For starters, that Best Ensemble nomination is very stupid. There are many films beyond "The Dark Knight" that have better ensembles that that movie ("Burn After Reading," "Tropic Thunder," even the virtually unseen "Mrs. Petigrew Lives For A Day"). Then, to add more confusion to the situation, Dev Patel was nominated in the Best Supporting Category, even though he's pretty much the main character. Look, I know people in Hollywood love this film, but even if they want this film to be godfather to their children they shouldn't be nominating it for things just to nominate it. Frankly, I think 'Slumdog,' good as it was, had no place being nominated here (though I wouldn't rule it out for Oscars).

Pete's Top Ten

Peter Travis, film critic of Rolling Stone (and one of the few legit critics working these days), has posted his top ten best films of 2008 list. They are:

1. Milk
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Dark Knight
4. Frost/Nixon
5. WALL-E
6. Revolutionary Road
7. The Visitor
8. Doubt
9. Rachel Getting Married
10. Man on Wire

Good to see "The Dark Knight" and "Wall•E" up on the list. It's also nice to see someone giving "Rachel Getting Married" some well deserved recognition. And "Milk" gets another number one spot. Is that our next Best Picture winner? I won't be putting my list together until early January, so I'll hold off commenting my opinions for the moment.