Countdown to Oscar Night: Writing

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
The Two Popes

All nine best picture films this year also had their screenplays nominated. This is good news for someone like me who values the spoken word in film. I believe we are truly in a golden-age for screenwriting, and Greta Gerwig is emblematic of its arrival. The way she was able to take such a familiar story and make it spark with newness was a stroke of brilliance. It is a travesty that Ms. Gerwig didn't get a best director nomination, but I think the Academy will try to make up for it with a win here.

My Ballot
Little Women
Jojo Rabbit
The Two Popes
The Irishman
Joker

My Pick to Win
Little Women

Shamefully Snubbed
Shazam!

Best Original Screenplay
1917
Knives Out
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

...and here we have the first of many categories where I will be rooting for Marriage Story (my favorite film of 2019) and will almost certainly be disappointed. Noah Baumbach's script is a revelation. Maybe my favorite script of the new millennium. Johansson and Driver deliver his words with such honesty that the film plays more like a stage production than a feature. I wouldn't put it completely out of the running, but I think it is behind both Tarantino and Parasite in likelihood of taking home the trophy. The other puzzling thing about this category is the inclusion of 1917. It certainly bodes well for Mendes' chances at the top prize, but his movie is not a script-driven feature. Uncut Gems or The Last Black Man in San Francisco would have been much more deserving of this slot.

My Ballot
Marriage Story
Knives Out
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite
1917

My Pick to Win
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Shamefully Snubbed
Uncut Gems