[WriteNow]

The Oscars are coming up and of course everyone here has seen ALL the nominees, right? Remember it's important to keep up with the latest films if you're trying to sell a treatment, which will then become the latest film. Film school taught me that if you want to MAKE movies you have to KNOW movies. We watched everything from "Citizen Kane" and "The Great Train Robbery" to "Electrocuting an Elephant" and "Un Chien Andalou".

So the academy gets their shot soon but what you do you guys think is the most deserving screenplay this year? And why?

I chose to do just the original screenplay category since most aspiring writers don't try and tackle pre-existing material (like a book).

Remember, pick YOUR favorite, not who you think will win. Then tell us why it was the best.

I'll start. My choice is Up. Though I admit I have not seen The Hurt Locker yet, and its been getting raves. Up gets my vote because of the first twenty or so minutes of the movie in which (minor spoiler) a lifetime-long relationship between two people is shown with hardly any words, and it manages to be more affecting and real than entire films covering the same subject. And that's just the first act of Up. Besides that we have a fairly standard script (structurally) with nasty villians, comic relief and a noble (if grumpy) hero. And its all exceptionally solid. The visual gags work, the one-liners work, the plot is simple but gives us a twist or two.

Most importantly, I think, is that Up is truly an age-free film. A five year old and a fifty-five year old will love this movie equally, if for different reasons. Proof that kids movies don't have to be mindless and adults films don't have to vulgar to entertain. They just have to be good-

P.S. Sorry, Inglourious Basterds just wasn't great, in my opinion. I feel like Tarantino is just wedging his little trademarks in here and there when they break the flow of the story or otherwise stand out in an annoying way. Used to love him, but he really hasn't grown much since Jackie Brown.