By As a hopeful screenwriter, Best Screenplay is the one award I pay the most attention to in every awards. Our kind isn’t so often publicly recognized, no matter how handsome we all are. Screenplays are important though because they can either give or take away a whole film’s ‘life’. Best Screenplay is given to the one film that had just the most delicious words that kept us hooked and hungry throughout.
Our nominees dip around from an instant cult classic, a police drama, a mind-bending exploration of the horror genre, a descent into the creation of a religion and a fun-size Western full of crunchy words. Tarantino said it himself at the Oscars that this was the “year of the writer” and I completely concur. The winner of Best Screenplay 2012 is…
Cabin in the Woods could be described as the Northanger Abbey of the horror movie genre, but with 100% less Jane Austen and 10% more Chris Hemsworth. Quite frankly it’s full of intelligent, thrilling spelunking into the depths of the horror genre. It to a lesser extent also explores audience expectations and the nature of cultural reflections within horror movies. Cabin also contains some of the heartiest laughs of the year and the trademark Joss Whedon flair rushes throughout the punchy dialogue. The script was penned by Whedon and director Drew Goddard, absolute cult veterans, and their insights into the horror genre just about make your brain pop.
Personally, Django Unchained held the most bite for me this year. I’m a Tarantino die-hard so my vote is null to begin with anyway. Cabin taking the cake does make sense however given it brilliantly sort of ‘bookends’ the past few decades of horror movies and both celebrates, parodies and reflects on what makes them tick. Moonrise Kingdom and End of Watch also garnered some voting buzz from the Flixist crew too. Paul Thomas Anderson’s psychological dig The Master also got some loving but Cabin took the cake cleanly and smoothly. A well deserved award for such a deep and surprisingly thoughtful film.
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master
David Ayer – End of Watch