I love today's three categories because they can often feature the most interesting films of the year. Even when a movie doesn't have a chance at Best Picture, its originality may be rewarded in the screenplay category, or in the case of this year, Best Animated Feature. And this year, if my calculations are correct, my favorite film of the year may take home two of the following awards. Believe it!
Best Animated Feature
Bolt
Bolt and Kung Fu Panda are both worthy contenders, but the momentum in this category has belonged to Wall-E all year. It's too much to hope that the Academy will figure out their mistake and give Best Picture to Wall-E anyway, so this will have to stand as a consolation prize.
And the winner is: Wall-E
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
This is the weakest screenplay category imaginable, given that most are merely passable and the good ones-- Doubt and Frost/Nixon-- are basically their original plays, word for word. So yeah, the default winner of the year takes it-- and if you need me to tell you what that is, you haven't been paying attention.
And the winner is: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Screenplay
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E
Most pundits have this category boiled down to two candidates-- the lovable gay rights hero, and the lovable trash compactor. So while Milk's screenplay really is a marvel of compacted information and delicate character study, I'm giving it to the Academy to be more original this time, and give Wall-E more of the attention it really deserves.
And the winner is: Wall-E
