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Affleck's deserving of an Oscar nom for Gone Baby Gone's script

Call me kookoo if you want but I am convinced that JESSE JAMES would be nominated for Screenplay if the narration had been dropped.

Really? I liked the movie but (a) I thought the narration was as important as most of the dialogue, and (b) it would have left even more empty gaps in the movie than there already were. Best Screenplay awards don't go to movies with a lot of silence and pure visuals in them.

Jeff - I like narration when it services the film such as the eerily similar WISCONSIN DEASTH TRIP but the narration in JESSE JAMES was pure exposition and could have been cut down or erased completely. It was largely just clunky chunks from the book and while poetic most of the time was incongruous to what we were witnessing onscreen. Several times the narration talks about Pitt's JAMES in ways that we never see hide nor hair of in the film itself - and thats why some have made comment about "if I wanted to see a talking book" etc.

For me the dialogue in the film is simply stunning and shames the narration.

Well, it was no Barry Lyndon narration.

Well, Little Children got a screenplay nomination with it's bizarre narration.

True. I didn't care for that movie but the narration issues were more about the casting of the voiceover actor and not about the writing.

I wouldn't have particularly minded it if it didn't disappear for long stretches and then reappear whenever something needed clarification.

I liked the narration, but at times it was jolting to hear. I'm sure they tried many mixes of when and where to use narration, I'm not sure but I think it was mainly used around Act changes (in the theatre/TV sense where there are more than the silly three acts that is enforced without exception on film).

I thought the narration was really brilliant in the opening of the the film and again in the ending, but in between was hit or miss on how much I liked it.

just took a look at the new charts, what's the over under on when DP gets Sweeney Todd to the one-spot he wants it at? it's been three weeks and increased one spot per week (or so), but I think it'll be about six weeks yet, probably a week (or maybe two) before Sweeney opens until Dave puts it at one and leaves it there for the season. or at least until the nominations.

The true supporting performances from HAIRSPRAY are Walken and Pfeiffer. Travolta and Blonsky have been shoved into the supporting categories to increase their chances.

Glad to see Ruby Dee as a major contender for supproting. For me, she provided the only real emotional connection I got from AMERICAN GANGSTERS.

In past years my tastes and judgments with regards original screenplays have generally been in keeping with the gurus. But this year I find myself completely at odds with them when it comes to Michael Clayton. I thought it a weak film. In part because of the journeyman direction that drained it of potential suspense. But primarily because of a screenplay I found so bad that it seemed like the perfect candidate for a how not to write a script class.

We’re given no plausible motivation for the villain’s reckless and serious criminal behavior – certainly not in psychological terms. If being insecure and career focused, and lacking a balanced lifestyle was a basis for murderous pathology then the streets of financial districts would be running with real blood. And one has to wonder how such an impulsive, indiscipline, and poorly reasoning individual could ever have risen within her profession and career to such dizzy heights.

The anti-hero has virtually no psychological arc for much of the film. He’s running on the spot -> depressed, world-weary, humorless, and confused. The character is mainly irrelevant to the forward momentum in the plot. He’s always a few steps behind. I like George, but no actor is interesting when the camera repeatedly focuses upon the exact same emotionally bruised and pained countenance with nothing different apparently going on behind the eyes.

Tom Wilkinson’s character displays a weird version of bipolar affective mood disorder. Being quite so acutely psychotic doesn’t allow for the consistent thread of cogent and controlled focus he demonstrates. But at least he was an interesting, if slightly over-acted, character. I appreciate that it’s expecting too much of the screenplay to have an accurate depiction of mental illness. The reality just isn’t entertaining enough.

And what’s the film’s big payment? If you asked anyone familiar with films what the most over-used and clichéd device for fooling a villain into self-incrimination they would almost certainly come up with what MC used. And by the way, the Clooney character goes from being 2 steps behind right up to this climactic scene to figuring it all out without us having any basis for seeing how the big lug finally connected the dots. Fixer? He couldn’t fix a leaky faucet.

DP has his inexplicable passions for and against particular films, but the other “experts” are falling in line with regards the original screenplay. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I just don't see great craft in it.

Wellywood, I can't really argue with your criticisms...however, the fact that the story was something different and slightly unpredictable goes a long way towards engendering my goodwill to it. Others too, I suspect.

I do think that it's slightly irrelevant to complain that the movie doesn't analyze its characters motives further -- since they themselves don't, isn't that the point? The whole style of the movie is outside-looking-in, and that kind of emotional restraint is somewhat refreshing in an Oscar-bait drama.

Still, your critique's valid. Just not strong enough to make me hate the movie too.

Gone Baby Gone was surprisingly good, but I'd give Affleck more credit as director than screenwriter. The surprise revelations all on top of each other near the end were just a tad too clunky, but the visual sense and work with the actors were top-notch.

I'd agree with that - the work with actors was fine, and the Boston detail was clearly lived-in and authentic, which was all good. The story structure, with the big semi-climsx halfway through and the rambling series of events from that point on, leading up to the big scene at the climax which felt massively contrived, was all pretty clumsy to me.

"The true supporting performances from HAIRSPRAY are Walken and Pfeiffer. Travolta and Blonsky have been shoved into the supporting categories to increase their chances."

That Blonsky is in supporting is ridiculous, but Travolta is not the lead so what does that make him? Supporting!

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