Writers Guild Winners

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker- Mark Boal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

USC Scriptor Award

The Scriptors have spoken and the percipient this year is:

Up in the Air
written by Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner
based on the book by Walter Kirn




Established in 1988, the USC Scriptor Awards are an award given out the Friends of the USC Libraries, an organization that supports funding for the written and digital materials at USC libraries, they honor the adaptation of films, and honor both the screenwriters and the original authors.


USC Scriptor Awards at a Glance:


2008: Slumdog Millionaire
2007: No Country for Old Men
2006: Children of Men
2005: Capote
2004: Million Dollar Baby
2003: (tie) Mystic River; Seabiscuit
2002: The Hours
2001: A Beautiful Mind
2000: Wonder Boys
1999: The Hurricane
1998: A Civil Action
1997: L.A. Confidential
1996: The English Patient
1995: Sense & Sensibility
1994: The Shawshank Redemption
1993: Schindler's List
1992: A River Runs Through It
1991: Fried Green Tomatoes
1990: Awakenings
1989: The Accidential Tourist
1988: Charing Cross Road

In bold are USC Scriptors winners that also won the best adapted screenplay Oscar...so as you can see they aren't exactly the greatest prognisticators, but with Up in the Air's bountiful boon (the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, and a multitude of critics prizes, it's the clear frontrunner.)

Vancouver Film Criitcs

PICTURE: Up in the Air
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
ACTOR: Colin Firth, A Single Man
ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, An Education
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
SCREENPLAY: Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner
FOREIGN FILM: Summer Hours
DOCUMENTARY: Anvil: The Story of Anvil

St. Louis Film Critics Society

PICTURE: Up in the Air
runner-up: The Hurt Locker

DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
runners-up: Jason Reitman, Up in the Air; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

ACTOR: George Clooney, Up in the Air
runner-up: Patton Oswalt, Big Fan

ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, An Education
runner-up: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
runner-up: Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious
runner-up: Marion Cotillard, Nine

SCREENPLAY: (500) Days of Summer- Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
runner-up: Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

FOREIGN FILM: Red Cliff
runner-up: Treeless Mountain

ANIMATED FEATURE: Up
runner-up: Fantastic Mr. Fox

DOCUMENTARY: Capitalism: A Love Story
runner-up: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nine- Dion Beebe
runner-up: A Single Man- Eduard Grau

MUSIC: Nine
runner-up: Crazy Heart

VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar
runner-up: Where the Wild Things Are

COMEDY: The Hangover
runner-up: (500) Days of Summer

MOST ORIGINAL FILM: Avatar
runners-up: Fantastic Mr. Fox; (500) Days of Summer

FAVORITE SCENE: Up- opening montage
runner-up: Inglourious Basterds- opening farmhouse scene

Flordia Film Critics

PICTURE: Up in the Air
DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
ACTOR: George Clooney, Up in the Air
ACTRESS: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious
SCREENPLAY: (500) Days of Summer- Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
FOREIGN FILM: Sin Nombre
ANIMATED FEATURE: Up
DOCUMENTARY: The Cove
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Avatar- Mauro Fiore
BREAKOUT PERFORMER: Gabourey Sibide, Precious

Utah Film Critcs

PICTURE: Up in the Air
DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
ACTOR: Viggo Mortensen, The Road
ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, An Education
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian McKay, Me & Orson Welles
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious
SCREENPLAY: Fantastic Mr. Fox- Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach
ANIMATED FEATURE: Fantastic Mr. Fox
DOCUMENTARY: The Cove
FOREIGN FILM: Thirst

Dallas Ft. Worth Film Critics Association

BEST PICTURE
Up in the Air

Top Ten of 2009

1. Up in the Air
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Precious
4. Up
5. An Education
6. A Serious Man
7. Inglourious Basterds
8. District 9
9. Avatar
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox

DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
ACTOR: George Clooney, Up in the Air
ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, An Education
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious
SCREENPLAY: Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner
ANIMATED FEATURE: Up
DOCUMENTARY: The Cove
FOREIGN FILM: Sin Nombre
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Lovely Bones- Andrew Lesnie

Southeastern Film Critics Association

BEST PICTURE
Up in the Air

Top Ten of 2009

1. Up in the Air
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Up
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. A Serious Man
   
6. (500) Days of Summer
7. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
8. The Messenger
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
10. District 9

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Up in the Air

BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo'Nique, Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
(500) Days of Summer

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Up in the Air

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Up

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Summer Hours

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Food, Inc.

Up in the Air

It's sometimes hard to form a natural true opinion of a film that seems to be radiating buzz and love from film critics, awards organizations, and other movie enthusiasts. Such is a predicament I experienced recently with Precious, which I had heard nothing better rave hyperbole all the way since January, but I loved the film anyway. On the other hand that was the case with An Education too, and I didn't quite love that one. Here's Up in the Air, which since September and its debuts at the Toronto Film Festival, where all the bloggers and critics and their ilk wrote up a storm about Jason Reitman's third film, and then came the early awards, and more reviews. And while the film is still fresh as a daisy in my brain, I think I'm ready to proclaim in the real deal. I've been rooting for Reitman since his debut film Thank You For Smoking, onto pure joy with Juno, and here is his most mature and refined piece of work. There's comedy, a little bit of romance, social commentary at hand, but a sign of a true humanist working in Hollywood. He may be a softie, but his films have resonance, and power.

Up in the Air, I think, packs more a punch. It stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham. Bingham is the go-to-guy for cowardly corporate bosses to fire their employees. So it's a glowing time for Bingham in todays America. He travels across the country, living in a suitcase, free from regular human commitments, just as Bingham prefers. On the side he's also a motivational speaker, extolling the dangers of a life full of personal attachments. "We're sharks," he states, "moving is living." He digs the flying, the airline miles, gold star rental car and hotel treatment (his mission is to get ten million frequent flyer miles, just because he'd only be the seventh person on the planet to do so.) It's probably the perfect role for Clooney, as it plays to his own persona of lone bachelor, and he oozes charm in the rare movie star breed that's lacking so much in today's cinema climate. In other words, Ryan Bingham probably would not be a very a likeable character played by anyone else, but it's also an accomplishment that Clooney, though seemingly never breaking a sweet, makes him not only likeable, but sympathetic.

His world is starting to change however, with the arrival of Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a bright and eager Cornell graduate with innovative ways of changing the rule of things and Bingham's cozey airtime miles. Instead of firing people in person, let's do it over the internet via webcam. She is then opted to be protegue to Bingham. The dynamic of the film changes, but in a revolutory way, and lots of that is based on the rapport between Clooney and Keener-- like oil and vingear mostly. Kendrick (previously of Camp, Rocket Science, and Twilight) proves a more than capable foil, and puts a fresh spin on her line delieveries. Again not the most likeable character in concept, but seeing Kendrick unravel and become more aware of the process of ruining peoples lives deepens the film; making it not always the light hearted comedy that advertising might suggest.

The other woman that challenges Bingham is Alex (Vera Farmiga), a female counterpart whom he meets and flirts while mingling at an airport bar. They are both obsessed and turned on by the casual up-in-the-air lifestyle..."moving is living." Foreplay basically consists of bragging about platinum cards and the best rental car agencies. The game changer is that Bingham slowly starts to fall for Alex. It's the most traditionally genre part of the film, but never falls into cliche, because the chemistry between Clooney and Farmiga is soooooo good. The pitter patter dialouge reminded me of classic screwball comedies of the 1940s.

The great thing about Up in the Air, and the quality that makes me confident that Reitman as forminable director is that the film never loses sight of its entertainment value, of it's lightness or comedy, but that it bounces back up into a higher pantheon of filmmaking because it's set in backdrop all too familiar to contemporary America. People are losing their jobs, and it takes a bold filmmaker to put on display a serious downer issue, and yet still make a very populist, entertaining film about the subject. The context is there and as a narrative Up in the Air feels more than anything else I've seen this a total 2009 time capsule film; this is where we are right now. The scenes where Clooney is firing people (and many of the victims are portrayed by real life laid-off workers) is just a poignant and moving and uncomfortable as the door stop scenes in The Messenger, another 2009 gem of timely subject matter.

So while my natural opinion might sound like hyperbole somewhat, I did naturally dig this film. A-

Washington D.C. Film Critics

PICTURE: Up in the Air
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
ACTOR: George Clooney, Up in the Air
ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, An Education
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inglourious Basterds-- Quentin Tarantino
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Up in the Air-- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner
ENSEMBLE: The Hurt Locker
ANIMATED FEATURE: Up
FOREIGN FILM: Sin Nombre
DOCUMENTARY: Food, Inc.
ART DIRECTION: Nine
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

Up in the Air is two for two with critics-- how far will it go? When will the inevitable backlash begin: Sidenote- the film made $1 million in ticket sales over it's first weekend on only 10 screens-- that's $70,000 per-screen average.

National Board of Review

BEST PICTURE
Up in the Air

Top Eleven of 2009:
An Education
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
Where the Wild Things Are

BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

BEST ACTOR (tie)
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Morgan Freeman, Invictus

BEST ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, An Education

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
A Serious Man-- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Up in the Air-- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Up

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Prophet

Top Six Foreign Films:
The Maid
Revanche
Song of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Cove

Top Six Documentaries:
Burma Vj: Reporting From a Closed Country
Crude
Food, Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg & the Pentagon Papers

BEST ENSEMBLE
It's Complicated

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

SPOTLIGHT AWARD FOR DIRECTORIAL DEBUT (tie)
Duncan Jones, Moon
Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

SPECIAL FILMMAKING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Wes Anderson, Fantastic Mr. Fox

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD
Burma Vj: Reporting From a Closed Country
Invictus
The Most Dangerous Man in the America: Daniel Ellsberg & the Pentagon Papers

Top Ten Independent Films:
Amreeka
District 9
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
In the Loop
Julia
Me & Orson Welles
Moon
Sugar
Two Lovers


And there you have it; the official start of the season. I was for the most part wrong, thinking strangely that Up in the Air wouldn't really come into the picture until the Golden Globes, but clearly it has taken control of the momentum (I plan to see it tomorrow), and surprisingly swept the NBR (picture, actor, supporting actress, screenplay)-- that's a sweep for NBR, which has always been a more share the love critics community. Boosted indefinitely are the profiles of Carey Mulligan, and more significantly Woody Harrelson (I'm really going to have to catch The Messenger; it's quietly becoming a forminable contender.) Again the NBR slobbered over Clint Eastwood (not shocking and frankly a bit boring), but ignored the Weinsteins (nothing for Nine or A Single Man-- both of which I thought had great NBR potential.)

Also snubbed everywhere: The Lovely Bones, The Last Station and Bright Star-- they're profiles are dwindling. Notable that Precious was snubbed everywhere except breakthrough performance, was that a mistake or is it not as strong a contender as believed.

Got to love they're curves that will probably lead nowhere:

-It's Complicated for best ensemble, ok!

-Three best directorial debuts is a bit pushing it, even if the three films in question are worthy.

-District 9 is considered an independent picture, odd seeing as it has a big studio distributor (Sony), a very non-independent producer (Peter Jackson), opened on a begillion screens--a movie with a $30 million budget is considered independent these days-- really?

-Star Trek and Where the Wild Things Are making their top top- I mean eleven- totally cool choices, Oscar won't bite however-- thanks for the few bits of individualism NBR!

Now a word of advice to the onslaught of critics groups taking over my life in the next couple of months: please follow your heart, and don't be swayed by the temptation of Oscar group think-- make your own choices (I don't care if I don't like them-- I love that too); I don't want to a see a list like this when again (not that it's bad), follow your heart, and keep the conversation of film going. Thank You!