Countdown to Oscar Night: Writing!

Best Original Screenplay
Green Book
The Favourite
First Reformed
Roma
Vice

I absolutely love seeing First Reformed here (even though Ethan Hawke didn't get a nomination for the performance of a lifetime), but the snubs still overshadow the nominees. Bo Burnham won the Writers Guild award over these films for Eighth Grade and Boots Riley wrote one of the most original and unique screenplays in decades for Sorry to Bother You. Not including either of these on the list (especially considering that Green Book, Roma, and Vice hardly broke any new screenwriting ground) is simply a travesty. The Favourite is a shoo-in for this one because it'll allow the Academy voters to feel "edgy" for a half second...

My Ballot
First Reformed
Roma
The Favourite
Green Book
Vice

My Pick to Win
The Favourite

Shamefully Snubbed
Eighth Grade


Best Adapted Screenplay
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
BlacKkKlansman
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

As opposed to the previous category, I can't really say much bad about these picks. I had to really dig to find a "snub". I'll be rooting hard for Beale Street to win something outside of its all-but-guaranteed supporting actress trophy, but I think this is the category where the voters decide to think with their politics. Too bad they'll be missing out on the brilliant work done by Barry Jenkins translating the words of James Baldwin to celluloid.

My Ballot
If Beale Street Could Talk
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
BlacKkKlansman
A Star Is Born

My Pick to Win
BlacKkKlansman

Shamefully Snubbed
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse