Ten Best Written Films of 2019

It’s time once again for my selection of the ten best-written films of the year. I was shocked that 2019 turned out to be an exceptionally good year for movies. I had no shortage of films in contention for the list. More surprisingly, only one of the films on my list could be described as part of a franchise, and then only tangentially. This year bucked the trends of recent years. Of course, not all of the movies on my list were big hits, but many of them were. Is this just a blip, or is it a good sign for the industry? Time will tell.

Before I get to the list, a reminder of my usual caveats: I see a lot of movies, but I haven’t seen everything. For example, I still haven’t seen The Irishman, which is a significant awards contender. Also, this is a list of the best-written movies, not necessarily the best movies or my favorite movies. For example, I thought 1917 was an excellent film, but the script was fairly straightforward. Nothing wrong with the writing, certainly, and it laid the foundation for the excellence of the film, but the real success of the film derived more from the directing and cinematography than the screenplay.

One more thing: I, like much of the industry, have had to wrestle with what qualifies as a “movie” in this age of streaming. I’ve been limiting my annual lists to theatrical releases, but this year I considered any standalone, self-contained, continuous film story (i.e. no episodes) no matter how it was released. The downside is there are many, many, many movies on streaming and cable I will not have seen. In the end, every movie on my list got at least a token theatrical release.

So, without further ado, here are my picks for best written movies of 2019:

1. Jojo Rabbit (screenplay by Taika Watiti) – Hands down the best movie I saw this year – the best movie I’ve seen in a few years, really – was Jojo Rabbit. Every piece of this movie was exceptional, but none more than the screenplay. It’s hilarious and heartbreaking, a movie that will truly make you laugh and make you cry, and one that contains a powerful, relevant message about the insidious nature of propaganda. Not to mention, with its delicate subject matter, there was a high degree of difficulty to pull this story off. Taika Watiti succeeded and then some.

2. Knives Out (written by Rian Johnson) – This is the kind of quality cinema entertainment that almost everyone will enjoy. It has a tricky, twisty, mystery at its core, fantastic characters, a good dollop of humor, and a subtle satirical punch. This kind of movie absolutely depends on the screenplay (and the performances), and Rian Johnson nailed it.

3. Booksmart (written by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins and Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman) – This film got a lot of attention for making two female characters the leads of a raunchy teen comedy and presenting a lesbian lead without making a big deal about it. That’s all worthy of commendation, but don’t miss how funny the writing was and how complex the characters were. This was an excellent screenplay.

4. Luce (screenplay by J.C. Lee) – A star-studded but small independent film, this was a thought-provoking, complex story of race and issues of trust between parents and teenagers in America. It is also a powerful domestic drama with some of the most complicated characters on screen this year.

5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (written by Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue) – This one surprised me. It is ostensibly a story about Mr. Rogers, but it’s really about a reporter and how his assignment to interview Mr. Rogers changes his life. So many things could have gone wrong here, but the deft screenplay keeps it on track, and the result is a touching, thoughtful movie.

6. Parasite (story by Bong Joon Ho, screenplay by Bong Joon Ho and Jin Won Han) – The buzzy international film is a smart comedic satire and twisty gruesome thriller rolled up in one. The characters are well developed, although the plot goes borderline over-the-top by the end. Still, it’s a unique and thought-provoking film.

7. Joker (written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver) – I’ve gotta be honest, I was prepared to dislike this film. Turns out, it’s an excellent dark drama and character study that fits nicely into the more sophisticated versions of the Batman world. It may be a little derivative of King of Comedy, but I was won over by the smart screenplay nonetheless.

8. Ford vs. Ferrari (written by Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller) – This may be the most conventional film on my list, but it deserves credit for a tightly crafted screenplay and well-developed characters.

9. Little Women (screenplay by Greta Gerwig) – It can be difficult to determine how much credit to give to an adaptation of strong source material. Gerwig’s screenplay teases out the most modern elements of the book – making a few changes and then justifying those changes within the narrative – while not losing the emotional melodrama that has made this a beloved novel for generations.

10. Dolemite is My Name (written by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewki) – This is a worthy true story about a groundbreaking and often ridiculous Black artist striving to achieve fame in a world that doesn’t understand his culture. It’s a story that ought to be told and is told well here. It’s also very funny.

There were plenty of other enjoyable films with well-written screenplays this year, some of which could easily have found their way onto this list. My “honorable mentions” include strong genre entertainments like Captain Marvell, Toy Story 4, Spider Man: Far From Home, and Doctor Sleep, as well as excellent art house fare like Marriage Story, The Two Popes, The Farewell, Hustlers, and Richard Jewell. As I said, it was a surprisingly good year for movies!

I try not to denigrate movies on my list, but I do feel obligated to mention Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, particularly because it just won a Golden Globe for screenplay. I’m a Tarantino fan, but I did not like it very much, and I think the screenplay was one of the weakest aspects. So yes, I did see it, and no, it does not make my list. Still, even when Tarantino fails, his movies are more interesting than half of what’s in theaters.

That’s my list. If you don’t like it, make your own!

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The 10 Best Written Movies of 2018

We’re already into February and I’m only now posting my list of the ten best-written movies of last year. I’ve been spending the last week bingeing a lot of the awards season movies. I’ve managed to see a lot, but I haven’t seen everything. For example, I still haven’t seen The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which was nominated for a best screenplay Oscars! So keep that in mind.

Also keep in mind that this is a list of the best-written movies, not necessarily the best movies or my favorite movies. For example, I really enjoyed Mission Impossible: Fallout and A Star is Born, and their scripts were certainly solid, but the joys of those movies mostly came from things other than the writing.

Overall, 2018 feels like a year with many solid, well-scripted movies, but few that really feel fresh and vital, at least in terms of the writing. Still, any year with a wealth of good movies to choose from is a good year. So without further ado, here are my top 10 best written movies:

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (story by Phil Lord, screenplay by Phil Lord & Rodney Rothman) – This movie was fresh and fun and reinvented the superhero movie while still delivering everything we want from the genre. Characters were complex, dialogue was funny, and the set pieces were great.

2. BlacKKKlansman (written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee) – This is one of the movies that does feel fresh and vital. There’s a strong, relevant message that is intellectually challenging, but also great characters, tension, and humor that make it extremely watchable. I think we’ll be talking about this movie for a long time.

3. Roma (written by Alfonso Cuaron) – This is not a flawless screenplay. It starts way too slow for my taste. But once the drama gets going, it’s a powerful story about a compelling, multi-dimensional character, told with subtlety and nuance. And, it is one of the few this year that is intensely personal and original.

4. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty) – This is an excellently constructed black character comedy that pulls off the feat of keeping us engaged with willfully unlikeable characters. Both entertaining and emotionally deep.

5. A Quiet Place (story by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck, screenplay by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski) – A well-constructed and original thriller that doesn’t rely on dialogue (although despite some reports, it’s not technically dialogue free – there is a fair amount of dialogue done in subtitled sign language). It works as both a horror movie and a compelling family drama by giving us complex, well-rounded characters.

6. Leave No Trace (screenplay by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini) – This was an emotionally complicated story of the relationship between a father and a daughter that also forces us to examine our attitudes toward those who choose to disengage from society... and with our views of society itself. And this is another movie with sparse dialogue, which shows how much of screenwriting is not just writing lines for actors to speak.

7. Sorry to Bother You (written by Boots Riley) – This screenplay has a few flaws, but it’s also wildly clever and interesting, with complex characters and thematic ideas. In a year that most movies felt kind of traditional, this one breaks the mold.

8. Black Panther (written by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole) – I debated where this movie fits into this list. It definitely had an impact on the industry and the culture, but a lot of that came from its conception rather than from a particularly revolutionary screenplay. If there were a lot of superhero movies with largely Black casts, would this one stand out? But it was well constructed, entertaining, and it has one of the most interesting villains in a superhero movie, so I ultimately decided it deserved eighth place.

9. Eighth Grade (written by Bo Burnham) – This screenplay deserves a lot of credit for capturing the voice of kids at this age and particularly at this time in history. I found some of the supporting characters a little underdeveloped, but the central character is one of the most complicated of the year, right up there with the lead in Roma.

10. Deadpool 2 (written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds) – It would be too much to expect this sequel to be as fresh and revolutionary as the first one, and it isn’t. But it does capture the same irreverent spirit and humor. Plus, it adds the amazing character of Domino, who is worth the price of admission herself.

There were several other excellent movies that could easily have made the list. I’ll give honorable mention to: The Incredibles 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Green Book, Annihilation, First Reformed, and Private Life. I also want to highlight The Rider – it was a fantastic movie, though it seems to be unclear when it was released – even IMDB lists it as both a 2017 and 2018 movie. I saw it in 2017, so didn’t include it on my list, but if you count it as a 2018 movie, it would be.

One more observation: this list is for movies, which I have traditionally defined as having theatrical releases. I’ve kept it that way this year, though the line is blurring. Roma, for example, only got a token release to qualify it for awards. But since it was in theaters, I accepted it. On the other hand, the HBO movie The Tale would have definitely made this list, but it only played theatrically at festivals, so I left it off. It will be interesting to see how the line continues to blur in the years ahead.




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The Ten Best-Written Movies of 2017

It’s time for my list of the ten best-written movies of last year! Keep in mind, this is a list of the best written movies, not necessarily the best movies or my favorite movies. The best example of this distinction this year is The Shape of Water – it has a lot that I liked in performance, production design, and tone, but the screenplay was the weakest component, so it doesn't make the list.

My usual disclaimers apply: I see a lot of movies, but I haven’t seen everything. This year I haven’t yet seen Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Call Me by Your Name; Molly’s Game; or Coco – all of which look to have the potential to bump something off this list.

Also, some movies age better than others, and because most of these are awards season movies, I’ve seen many of them pretty recently. My opinions could cool over time – though looking back at last year’s list, everything holds up pretty well. And though I’m happy to hear your opinions in the comments, this is my list. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to make your own!

Looking at 2017 as a whole is encouraging. There are a lot of really great movies on the list. I could shuffle the order of the top four at random and be perfectly happy with the results. I’m also encouraged at how many of these are original stories, and how many have performed well at the box office. So without further ado, here is my list of the best-written movies of 2017:

1. Get Out (written by Jordan Peele) – If you want to deliver a message, wrap it in entertainment. Get Out is billed as a horror movie (though it’s more accurately a suspense thriller) and it delivers the genre goods. But it also delivers thought-provoking perspective on modern race relations that goes a lot deeper than the typical, “racism is bad,” message. On top of that, it has a clockwork plot and provides a master class in using planting and payoff to build twists and tension.

2. I, Tonya (written by Steven Rogers) – Some of the press materials suggested this movie was an attempt to correct the historical record. It’s not really. It’s about class and celebrity, and what happens when the American dream runs into the American mythmaking machine. But more than that, it’s wildly entertaining, salacious and funnier than I expected, populated with crazy, complex, flawed characters that you both love and hate – sometimes within the same scene.

3. The Big Sick (written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani) – Like Get Out, The Big Sick used a traditional genre structure (this time romantic comedy) to explore deeper themes. It delivered in both regards: the characters are warm and funny, the romance tugs at the heart, and the culture clashes are thought provoking. Particularly noteworthy are the excellent minor characters – Emily’s parents, Kamail’s family, and the poor women with whom Kamail’s mother tries to arrange a marriage. Each is dimensional and real with legitimate personal reasons for their point of view.

4. Lady Bird (written by Greta Gerwig) – This was a hilarious crowd-pleaser of a coming-of-age story. While it doesn’t exactly break new ground, the specificity and complexity of the characters really illuminated the challenges of mother-daughter relationships. (And what a great character was Lady Bird’s mother!) It feels entirely real and entirely entertaining at the same time.

EDITED TO ADD: I totally forgot about The Post! Definitely a top-10 screenplay, so I'm adding it here at 4.5. I won't cut anything out... so this is now the 11 best movies of 2017.

4.5 The Post (written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer) - Combines an important story about the press's role in democracy with an important story about a woman finding her voice in a man's world. Tense and thrilling, Ben Bagdikian's subplot carries the audience through some of the slower parts of the main plot.

5. Logan (story by James Mangold, screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green) – This is an excellent character-driven action script with deep (and dark) themes for a superhero movie. You really feel for these characters, the set pieces are fresh and compelling, and the structure is tight as a drum.

6. The Disaster Artist (screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber) – Some of the humor may be a little “inside baseball,” but this is a wonderful, nutty, hilarious screenplay with a lot of heart – based on a wonderful, nutty, hilarious true story.

7. Battle of the Sexes (written by Simon Beaufoy) – By digging deep into the complicated characters and relating their personal struggles to the social context of the time, Beaufoy achieves a powerful, complex, emotionally moving story with what could have been a simplistic, straightforward morality fable.

8. Wonder Woman (screenplay by Allan Heinberg, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs) – As the last few years have amply demonstrated, it is not so easy to craft a fun, adventurous superhero movie. Despite an overly long ending and some muddy thematic elements, Wonder Woman delivers a good time with humor and heart – and strikes a blow for the viability of female-lead action movies.

9. Blade Runner 2049 (story by Hampton Fancher, screenplay by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green) – Though it wasn’t commercially successful, this is a worthy sequel to the original that captures much of the same thematic and emotional complexity and elaborates on it in new and interesting ways.

10. Good Time (written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie) – This script is tragic and thrilling and funny, and manages to be both over-the-top and grounded in gritty reality. We buy every bad choice the characters make even while cringing at their foolishness.

Close on the heels of these ten are Detroit, Baby Driver, and Dunkirk, all very good screenplays that might have made the list in other years.

In the past, I’ve picked a “worst written” movie of the year. Though there were lots of candidates for that slot this year, I’m giving up the tradition. I’d rather celebrate the successes, and the failures have mostly had enough scorn piled on them.

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The 10 Best Written Movies of 2016

It’s time for my annual list of the ten best-written movies of the last year! Keep in mind, this is a list of the best written movies, not necessarily the best movies or my favorite movies.

My usual disclaimers apply: I see a lot of movies, but I haven’t seen everything. For example, I haven’t yet seen Moana or Jackie, though I’m anxious to correct those oversights. I may in the future discover other movies from 2016 that would bump some of my selections off the list. Last year, Room probably would have made the list if I’d seen it earlier.

Also, some movies age better than others, and because many of the films on my list are awards season movies, I’ve seen most of them pretty recently. My opinions could cool over time. Looking back at last year’s list, all the movies hold up pretty well, though the order would change – Sicario would be lower and The Martian higher today, for example. And though I’m happy to hear your opinions in the comments, this is my list. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to make your own!

So without further ado, here is my list of the 10 Best Written Movies of 2016:

1. Arrival (screenplay by Eric Heisserer) – This was a smart, absorbing, and emotional screenplay with a high degree of difficulty. Heisserer did a great job making linguistic analysis edge-of-your-seat tense. Less heralded, he played with audience expectations to deliver some clever twists that gave the story wrenching thematic depth. Both entertaining and thought provoking, this was a movie unlike anything I've seen before. (Full disclosure: I know Eric socially.)

2. Deadpool (written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick) – This screenplay deserves a lot of credit simply for bringing a fresh spin to the saturated superhero market. But on top of that, it is witty and clever, and delivers raunchy humor that is smart rather than degrading. The action and suspense are also good, and the characters are more complex than in most movies of this genre.

3. 10 Cloverfield Lane (story by Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken, screenplay by Josh Campbell & Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle) – This is an intense suspense thriller with great characters, tight plotting, and well-designed set pieces. It builds its twists and turns well to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Plus, it felt fresh and original for the genre.

4. Hidden Figures (screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi) – The story is fairly straightforward – you know what you’re going to get going in. But it stays engaging by putting three well-drawn characters at the center of things – characters not just defined by their race or their job. Those characters each have distinct voices and enough personal stakes to engage the viewer emotionally. This carries us through the predictability and makes this the best feel good movie of the year.

5. Manchester by the Sea (written by Kenneth Lonergan) – This was a hard movie to watch at times, but it is undeniably well crafted and affecting. It has incredibly complex and believable characters and a good sense of place. The dialogue is naturalistic and distinctive for each character. The flashback scenes are well placed to unveil the story without seeming manipulative. And though it is extremely sad, it has enough hope, humor, and human connection to keep from drowning in its subject matter.

6. Hell or High Water (written by Taylor Sheridan) – This is another well-crafted screenplay with distinctive characters and a strong sense of place, plus it had a lot on its mind thematically, yet is never heavy-handed.

7. Moonlight (story by Tarell McCraney, screenplay by Barry Jenkins) – And yet another screenplay that takes us into a very specific world through well defined characters. This one has the added benefit of a fresh point of view. There are strong tensions within the scenes, but the story meanders at times and I did think it was a touch predictable. But there are characters here that defy expectations in glorious ways.

8. La La Land (written by Damien Chazelle) – This is the second-best feel good movie of the year. As a movie, it would be ranked higher on this list, but many of its better qualities (charming performances, wondrous visuals) do not come from the writing. It’s a bit uneven – it drags in the second half of act two, and it could use more original songs considering it’s a musical – but it gains points for reinventing a classic genre in a fresh way.

9. Captain America: Civil War (screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely) – It’s easy to write off these big popcorn movies, but they are not easy to execute well, and this one was especially difficult given the huge number of characters that needed to be serviced. The movie is tight and enjoyable (with enough momentum to paper over a few logic holes) and each character is given a distinctive personality and voice. As a result, this is hands-down the best tentpole movie of the year (I’m not counting Deadpool as it was more of a lower budget B-movie than a tentpole).

10. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta, screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy) – Again, these movies are more difficult to pull off than they appear (witness Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones). This one was a lot of fun with well-drawn characters and some unexpectedly deep thematic elements. It gave good fan service without becoming weighted down with the franchise mythology. It did drag a bit at points, but overall this was an excellent script.

Looking at my list as a whole, this was a year with a lot of competent screenwriting but only Arrival, Deadpool, and La La Land felt necessary and memorable. The other films on my list are all well written, with a mix of intensely personal stories and well-executed entertainment. That actually made it rather hard to order them, so after one and two, I would almost call it an eight-way tie.

I also typically pick a “worst written” movie of the year – though I actually mean a movie that had no business being as badly written as it was. I’m less inclined to do that these days, but for tradition’s sake I’ll call out Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer). The movie was just a mess, with vague characterization, confusing motivation, wild coincidences, and plot holes you could drive a batmobile through. And I realize I’m hardly the first to point any of this out.

And now I’m off to the theater to see what 2017 has to offer!


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Best Written Movies of 2015

It’s time for my list of the twelve best-written movies of last year! Yes, normally I do ten, but I was having a really hard time narrowing down my top twelve, so I decided to just include them all.

Keep in mind, this is a list of the best written movies, not necessarily the best movies or my favorite movies. This year provides a great example of this principle: Mad Max: Fury Road (written by George Miller and Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris), which was one of my top three favorite movies of the year but didn’t make this list.

It’s not that Mad Max: Fury Road wasn’t “written” as some of the press has suggested. It may not have had a traditionally formatted screenplay, but there was a plot, dialogue, and distinct scenes that were written down in some form. And those elements were all competently done. However, they were not the reason the movie was such a wonderful experience. This was not a movie driven by the screenplay.

My other usual disclaimers apply: I see a lot of movies, but I haven’t seen everything. I haven’t yet seen The Revenant or Room, though I very much want to and expect them to be good. And I may in the future discover other movies from 2015 that would bump some of my selections off the list.

Also, some movies age better than others, and because many of these are awards season movies, I’ve seen most of them pretty recently. My opinions could cool over time. Looking back at last year’s list, all the movies hold up pretty well, though I would probably move Whiplash higher on the list. And though I’m happy to hear your opinions in the comments, this is my list. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to make your own!

So without further ado, here is my list of the 12 Best Written Movies of 2015:

1. Ex Machina (written by Alex Garland) – This is an amazing achievement. A tense, entertaining and thought provoking thriller with only four characters and a single house as a location. The writing is incredibly smart with great twists. The characters are particularly complex and interesting. This is easily the best-written movie of the year in my opinion.

2. Sicario (written by Taylor Sheridan) – Impressive on several fronts. First, the plot is genuinely unpredictable, creating tremendous tension. The characters are interesting and dimensional. The dialogue crackles with voice and subtext. There’s great scene work and masterful suspense. And it’s all elevated by the thematic depth and complexity of the story.

3. Spotlight (written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy) – The movie and the screenplay aren’t flashy, but they’re so absorbing I felt like I didn’t want the film to end. The characters and characterizations are particularly strong. And parts of the story were challenging to dramatize – much of the investigation involved research in books and files. Kudos to the writers for finding ways to keep things tense and compelling.

4. The Hateful Eight (written by Quentin Tarantino) – He may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s hard to argue that Tarantino isn’t one of the most original writers working today. This film has his usual vivid dialogue and interesting characters, and also avoids some of the traps he tends to fall into by sticking with a fairly straightforward plot. And it feels like a movie event, something you don’t get to see every day, something worth leaving the house to go to the theater.

5. Bridge of Spies (written by Matt Charman and Ethan & Joel Coen) – This is an excellently crafted screenplay. The characters are well drawn; the scenes are interesting; the plot is tense. The writers find great opportunities for humor and thematic pondering without slowing down the action. Plus, the bifurcated nature of the story made this screenplay a challenge – one the writers overcame quite nicely. My only quibble is that it felt just a bit too long.


6. Shaun the Sheep Movie (written by Mark Burton & Richard Starzak from characters created by Nick Park) – This movie is a pure delight. There’s so much warmth and clever humor here, and with very little dialogue. They make it look easy… it’s not.

7. Trainwreck (written by Amy Schumer) – I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone use the tropes and clichés of a genre so effectively to tell a specific, personal story. It achieves a difficult balance between humor (sometimes to the point of silliness) and grief, loss and love. The characters feel like real people and that makes all the clichés emotionally effective.

8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (written by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt based on character created by George Lucas) – This is a tough one for me to rank because Star Wars has such an outsized importance in my life and the franchise carries such enormous baggage for the writers to deal with. I think they did an admirable job capturing the spirit of Star Wars and managed to tell an entertaining story with some new great characters. Yes, it may be a little derivative of earlier Star Wars movies, but that was probably the only way to successfully restart the film series. Could it have been better? Probably. Was it a great time at the theater? Absolutely.

9. Steve Jobs (screenplay by Aaron Sorkin) – I will admit I didn’t expect to like the film. Not only had I heard negative reviews, I had ethical qualms about the liberties taken with the facts of Steve Jobs’ life. But as it turned out, this screenplay is pretty great. Sorkin writes excellent dialogue for smart people, and all of these characters are very smart. He also managed to give all the characters in this screenplay unique voices, something Sorkin is not usually known for. And he does a fantastic job here, as always, finding ways to dramatize internal thought processes and character perspectives. The movie packs surprising tension and a solid emotional punch.

10. The Big Short (screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay) – I didn’t love this movie quite as much as the critics, but it is a surprisingly entertaining film about a pretty boring (but important) subject. The writers achieved this by creating interesting and unusual characters and with some clever breaking of the fourth wall. An impressive achievement considering the degree of difficulty.

11. The Martian (screenplay by Drew Goddard) – This is an excellent screenplay from challenging material. Not only is much of the story about a single character by himself, the conflict is of a scientific/intellectual nature. Goddard found a way to make this all visual, and also managed to capture much of the humor from the book. My complaints were mostly related to the ending, which strained the hard-won scientific credibility of the rest of the movie.

12. Straight Outta Compton (story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff, screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff) – There were probably three movies worth of material in this screenplay, which is an impressive feat but also resulted in a film that felt a little overstuffed and overlong. Still, it was very entertaining with well-drawn characters and an interesting and well-dramatized social commentary aspect. Not your typical music biopic – and that's a good thing.

I also want to give honorable mentions to Spy (written by Paul Feig) and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (story by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce, screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie) as two movies that were much better than expected thanks to some excellent scripting. Both were strong candidates for this list.

I also typically pick a movie as worst-written every year. I don't actually mean the worst screenplay, but rather a movie that should have been much better written than it was. This year the (dis)honor goes to San Andreas (story by Andre Fabrizio & Jeremy Passmore, screenplay by Carlton Cuse). The movie is rife with implausible, cardboard characters, ridiculously clichéd dialogue, and wildly unbelievable plotting. There is some enjoyment to be had from the visual effects spectacle and attractive casting, but none of that comes from the screenplay.


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10 Best Written Movies of 2014

It’s time for my list of the ten best written movies of 2014! This year feels like a bit of a down year. There were plenty of fine movies, but nothing that really seems like it’s going to become a classic. It was not hard to come up with ten well-written movies, but it was difficult to order them. In other words, the distance between #1 and #10 was not great.

Keep in mind, this is a list of the best written movies, not necessarily the best movies or my favorite movies. Sometimes a film with a mediocre script will achieve greatness through the contributions of other artists. For example, Whiplash, though it made my list at #10 for the writing, was probably higher over all because of the amazing performance of J.K. Simons and the excellent music. And I probably enjoyed Lucy more than some of these movies on the list, though there were some script problems that kept it out of the top 10.

My usual disclaimers apply: I see a lot of movies, but I haven’t seen everything. I haven’t yet seen Birdman, though I’m anxious to correct that oversight. I also haven’t yet watched American Sniper, which was nominated for a Writers Guild Award so there’s a fair chance it has a good screenplay. I may in the future discover other movies from 2014 that would bump some of my selections off the list.

Also, some movies age better than others, and because many of these are awards season movies, I’ve seen most of them pretty recently. My opinions could cool over time (though looking back at last year’s selections, they all held up pretty well.) And though I’m happy to hear your opinions in the comments, this is my list. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to make your own!

So without further ado, the 10 Best Written Movies of 2014:

1. The Theory of Everything (screenplay by Anthony McCarten) – This was an excellent, moving screenplay about a compelling subject that was tricky for several reasons: we know what happens, it would be easy to wallow in the tragedy of Hawking’s disease, and it would have been easy to lose the audience with the complexity of Hawking’s scientific ideas. The screenplay avoided all these traps. Neither character was overly idealized, I was caught up in the emotion and challenges of the relationship, and Hawking’s brilliance was portrayed in a way that made it accessible without reducing his ideas.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guiness, screenplay by Wes Anderson) – I am not really a fan of Wes Anderson’s writing, but he nailed it here. His characters, as always, were original and indelible. But unlike most of his movies, this one also has a solid plot and real stakes. And the emotions were complex, the happy mixing with the sad in a way that ends up being truly profound – while at the same time ample humor and romance make the film very entertaining to watch.

3. Of Horses and Men (written by Benedikt Erlingsson) – You probably haven’t seen this movie. It’s from Iceland and I only saw it because it was in the LA Film Festival. Arguably it’s not even a 2014 movie – it was released in 2013 in Iceland and hasn’t yet been commercially released in the U.S. But I want to include it because it’s a wonderful movie, full of charm and rich drama, which gives us an insight into a very specific community. It also achieves most of its storytelling visually, with little dialogue. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t tightly scripted. It’s just that this script makes masterful use of the visual aspects of film.

4. The Imitation Game (screenplay by Graham Moore) – This is an excellent story and the writer does a great job drawing these characters and, like with Theory of Everything, dramatizing what is largely a mental process. Kudos, too, for not softening Turing’s rough edges yet making us care about him. The stakes here are huge, both on a personal and global level, and several scenes pack powerful emotional punches. It is only marred by a few clichéd moments.

5. Nightcrawler (written by Dan Gilroy) – This screenplay impresses on many levels. The characters are original and have distinctive voices. The plot is tense with several fantastic twists. And it explores cultural themes in a powerful way without being heavy handed.

6. Edge of Tomorrow (screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth) – Though it’s hard not to think of it as a science fiction Groundhog Day, this is really an excellent movie. It’s tight and taught, and has rich, dimensional, flawed characters. At the beginning of the story Tom Cruise’s character is a coward and Emily Blunt’s character is mean and heartless. And both change believably due to the events of the story. This and the brisk, clever storytelling leavened with just enough humor elevate it way above the average summer blockbuster – and makes it all the more tragic that it didn’t do well at the box office.

7. The Lego Movie (story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, screenplay by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller) – Pure fun. This is a great example of making the most out of a movie designed to entertain. It felt fresh and original, contained just enough emotional heft, and was thoroughly enjoyable. Oh, and it was very funny.

8. Inherent Vice (screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson) – I’ll admit I couldn’t follow the mystery, but that doesn’t really matter. This feels like Chinatown mixed with The Big Sleep and then filtered through Quentin Tarantino and the seventies hippie culture. The world of the story and the characters are fascinating and richly drawn. Dialogue is snappy and poetic if not exactly realistic. The plot is twisty and suspenseful. And it happens to contain one of the most erotic scenes ever put on film.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy (written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman) – Some people think big summer popcorn movies don’t require skilled scripting, but writing these things is incredibly challenging (just compare this movie to the ponderous Amazing Spider-Man 2). Guardians is fun, fast paced, charming and heartfelt – everything you could want out of a movie like this.

10. Whiplash (written by Damien Chazelle) – This is an intense, well-observed movie with two great characters and lots to say about excellence and mentorship. The scenes and dialogue crackle with tension. And it brings us into a fascinating world most of us are unlikely to be familiar with.

(Edited to Add:)

10B. A Most Violent Year (written by J.C. Chandor) – I had forgotten about this one when I made this list, so I'm adding it in a tie for tenth place. (As I said, the distinction between the 10 films - now 11 – is slim.) This is an excellent thriller set in a very grounded world with regular people. The characters are three dimensional, and it's interesting how the story explores the dangers and temptations of violence as a way to solve problems. It is set in 1981, and oddly it feels like it could have been made then. It may not be exactly groundbreaking, but J.C. Chandor is quickly becoming one of our best screenwriters.

There were also some honorable mentions, candidates I considered for this list: Big Hero 6, Snowpiercer, Lucy, and X-Men Days of Future Past all had writing worth noting for one reason or another. (I also thought my former student Rebecca Cremona did an excellent job with Simshar, though I’ll recuse myself from that one since I helped her develop it!)

Normally I also include a worst written movie of the year here, but I can’t really think of one I want to single out. Not that I liked everything I saw in 2014, but I try to reserve this slot for a movie with a truly misguided screenplay that could have been easily fixed, a film that makes you wonder how they ever green lit it. B-movies with low ambitions don’t really count, nor do merely pedestrian screenplays. And there were plenty of ambitious but flawed screenplays (Gone Girl, Interstellar, Foxcatcher), but it feels wrong to harp on someone who took a big swing and missed their target.

So that’s it for 2014… I’m looking forward to more great writing in 2015!

Best Written Movies of 2013

It’s time for my best-written movies of the year list. Once again, it’s been a surprisingly good year. There was a time when I’d only have two or three locks to make my list, and I would have to fill out the other spots with decent-but-flawed choices. In 2012 things were different. Looking back, at least seven of the movies that made my 2012 list were really excellent screenplays. This year, I’m having a hard time limiting myself to only ten films! (I don’t know that I’ll feel the same way about these movies a year from now… we’ll see.)

One interesting thing I notice is that this year original screenplays were by far the strongest, with only a few quality adapted screenplays. And as usual, the director of many of these was involved in the writing – indicating, I believe, less the literary skills of directors than the value of having the writer in a position of power on set.

Now for my usual disclaimers: This is the list of what I think are the best written movies, which is not the same as the movies I liked the best. Also, though I watch a lot of movies, I haven’t seen everything. So obviously if I didn’t see something it’s not on this list (the movie I haven’t seen yet that's most likely to have made this list this year is 12 Years a Slave). And remember, this is my list… if you don’t like it you can make your own!

1. Her (written by Spike Jonze) – Funny, moving and thought provoking. This is a great example of a film that entertains and says something interesting and important about our culture in the moment. It’s a romantic comedy and a sci-fi drama and a character study and a meditation on both the nature of love and the nature of personhood. And it is full of surprises. Stunning.

2. Before Midnight (written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke based on characters created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan) – If you haven’t seen the “Before” trilogy, do yourself a favor and watch them all. This third one is the best of the bunch. The characters are so fully realized you almost can’t believe Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke aren’t a couple in real life. This is a film that lives completely on dialogue (there are literally only about six scenes) but is still very filmic. All by itself this is a great script, but in context of the trilogy it is an amazing examination of a complicated romantic relationship over two decades.

3. Enough Said (written by Nicole Holofcener) – Another winner from Holofcener. These characters feel like people you could know, assuming you know witty and interesting people. Funny, romantic, charming. The conflicts are the kind of real conflicts people have in relationships. Even the one slightly contrived plot point goes down easy with these characters.

4. Mud (written by Jeff Nichols) – This is a wonderfully entertaining movie with great characters and a strong narrative. Essentially a coming-of-age story wrapped in a small town adventure, it tells of a boy’s disillusionment about the purity of love. I really liked how they (mostly) kept it from the kids' perspective, so the conflicts between the adults are confusing and incomplete in a way that really captured the experience of childhood. Might have been number one, except I was annoyed at the few times they “cheated” by breaking away from the kids' point of view, and the ending gets just a bit over-the-top.

5. Frozen (story by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and Shane Morris, screenplay by Jennifer Lee) – This movie is pure entertainment. The screenplay is full of heart, the characters are as loveable as can be, and it’s packed with humor and emotion. And unlike many movies in this genre, "good guys" and "bad guys" are more shades of grey. It makes it look easy, but movies this enjoyable are never easy.

6. Saving Mr. Banks (written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith) – I like this movie because it’s such a unique story – which makes it hard to categorize. It’s a drama, but one with lots of humor and music to go along with the heart. Great character work, too.

7. American Hustle (written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell) – I will admit to being a little disappointed when I watched this, but only because I was expecting so much. The characters are enormous fun and the story a wild snowball of craziness. It has a strong style and point-of-view. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

8. Gravity (written by Alfonso Cuaron & Jonas Cuaron) – This was actually my favorite movie of the year, but it comes in at number eight because a lot of what made it so great was the beautiful imagery and the filmic suspense created through editing and sound. Still, that all starts with the screenplay – particularly in a case like this where everything had to be so meticulously planned. The plotting and character development are very well done. Occasionally, though, particularly early on, the dialogue becomes overly expository.

9. Dallas Buyers Club (screenplay by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack) – Just because a screenplay is based on real people doesn’t mean it’s easy to bring characters to such multi-dimensional life as this one does. Perhaps a little past social relevance because of the long struggle to get it made, this is still a very entertaining and touching film.

10. Labor Day (screenplay by Jason Reitman) – Relatable, flawed characters in an intensely dramatic situation. It has heart and is full of surprises.

As I mentioned, there were many other candidates for inclusion. I could give honorable mentions to the excellent craftsmanship of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, World War Z and 42. Blue Jasmine and Inside Llewyn Davis both feature really good characters and dialogue in stories that are perhaps a bit too slight. Captain Phillips was slow to get started but finished with a bang. And This Is the End was wildly inventive and hilarious – it deserves credit for doing dumb comedy exceedingly well.

I had a fair number of candidates for worst screenplay – and I didn’t even see The Lone Ranger or After Earth. But for 2013’s Worst Screenplay of the Year, I will pick Man of Steel. The movie tried to reinvent Superman in a darker, grittier vein. I question that decision, but that’s not why the screenplay was so bad. The real flaws were the inconsistent characters, complete lack of any sense of humor, some cringe-worthy dialogue, and the soul-killing casualness toward death and destruction. And it all culminated in one of the most ill advised kisses in movie history between Superman and Lois Lane.

But there was so much good in theaters this year, I'd rather focus on the positive.

Best Written Movies of 2012

It’s time for my best written movies of the year list. Sorting through the choices, a couple of things stand out. First of all, this was really a pretty strong year for screenwriting – particularly when compared to last year. I think only The Descendents (screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash) from last year would definitely have made my top ten this year.

Second, there don’t appear to be any movies that are candidates for classic status – films that will be lauded and referenced in years to come (possibly excepting The Avengers, but that would be because of its unique role in tying together Marvell’s multi-franchise film world approach. On it’s own terms it’s just an above-average team adventure movie).

However, the bench on quality is deep this year. Normally there’s a big drop from my number five to my number ten film, but this year the gap between five and fifteen is minimal. So lots of worthy entertainment for your ticket dollar, but not much that was genuinely life changing.

Anyway, on with the list! I have to give my usual disclaimers: This is the list of what I think are the best written movies, which is not the same as the movies I liked the best. Also, though I watch a lot of movies, I haven’t seen everything. So obviously if I didn’t see something it’s not on this list. And remember, this is my list… if you don’t like it you can make your own (also feel free to comment but please be polite)!

1. Argo (written by Chris Terrio) – Tense, edge-of-your-seat suspense plus a healthy dose of humor and rich, efficiently drawn characters. A great ride that also feels moderately important.

2. Django Unchained (written by Quentin Tarantino) – Tarantino’s best film since Pulp Fiction is also one of his most straightforward stories. It has a lot of the best of Tarantino – rich characters, witty dialogue, tense scenes, fun action and style – with very little of the worst – pointless digression and pacing problems. Its terrific fun from a filmmaker with a real voice.

3. Robot & Frank (written by Christopher D. Ford) – Great because of a complex, lovable main character and his complex, lovable robot. Also has some genuine twists and a powerful emotional message… not to mention quite a few laughs!

4. Looper (written by Rian Johnson) – Both a tight sci-fi thriller and thought provoking meditation on good and evil, aging, and the need for human connection. Plus some mind-bending ideas about time and time travel. Engages on the intellectual, emotional and visceral level.

5. Wreck It Ralph (story by Rich Moore & Phil Johnston & Jim Reardon, screenplay by Phil Johnston & Jennifer Lee) – Two of the most charming and tragic characters of the year in Ralph and Vanellope. Plus, tons of humor and sly nostalgic beats for the video game generation.

6. Life of Pi (screenplay by David Magee) – Thoroughly engaging despite a high degree of difficulty (the character is alone in a small space through most of the story). Probably the most spiritually thought provoking movie this year. A little difficult to rank because so much of its power comes from the visuals rather than the script, but there are no big flaws I can see in the writing.

7. Silver Linings Playbook (screenplay by David O. Russell) – A fairly standard romantic comedy structure enlivened by complex and original characters and a powerful thematic undercurrent about mental illness. Takes a little longer than it should to get going, but delivers a great, emotionally satisfying ending. And, it’s pretty funny.

8. Lincoln (screenplay by Tony Kushner) – Another thought provoking film with enough emotional content to keep us engaged. I love the intimate look we’re given of Lincoln the man. Bonus points for high degree of difficulty given the relatively dry nature of how the conflict unfolds.

9. Cloud Atlas (written for the screen by Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski) – This one may surprise some people. I would remind you this is a list of best written movies. The film stumbled from some unfortunate make-up and an unconvincing delivery of the pidgin language, but that was not the screenplay’s fault. The writing craft here is rock solid and thematically ambitious. Characters are well drawn and the action is tense and engaging. An interesting, flawed film, but a really good script.

10. Beasts of the Southern Wild (screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Behn Zeitlin) – This choice is also a little problematic as I felt the story was stretched a bit to fit a feature running time. But it’s also one of the most distinctive and original films in a year that didn’t have enough that was distinctive and original. Makes the list for its voice and for capturing the specific world of a little girl in an unusual society.

As I mentioned, there were a lot of other very well written films this year that might make this list were I in a different mood when compiling it, so I’m going to list eight Honorable Mentions in no particular order: The Avengers (story by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon, screenplay by Joss Whedon), Ted (story by Seth MacFarlane, screenplay by Seth MacFarlane & Alec Sulkin & Wellesley Wild), Zero Dark Thirty (written by Mark Boal), The Hunger Games (written by Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray), Skyfall (written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (screenplay by Stephen Chbosky), Celeste and Jesse Forever (screenplay by Rashida Jones & Will McCormack), and Flight (written by John Gatins)

And for my Worst Written Film of the Year: Prometheus (written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof) – A bunch of logic holes, one-dimensional characters and pseudo-intellectual claptrap trying to pass itself off as profound.

Dishonorable mention: The Bourne Legacy (story by Tony Gilroy, screenplay by Tony Gilroy & Dan Gilroy) – elevated exposition above action and character in one of the least thrilling thrillers ever.

Best Written Films of 2010

In my opinion, this turned out to be a pretty good year for movies.  I can easily fill my top-10 list with films I enjoyed thoroughly.  Oddly, there’s not a lot of comedy, at least in the live action movies.

I have to give my usual disclaimers:  This is the list of what I think are the best written movies, which is not the same as the movies I liked the best (though this year they line up pretty closely).  Also, though I watch a lot of movies, I haven’t seen everything.  So obviously if I didn’t see something it’s not on this list.  And remember, this is my list… if you don’t like it you can make your own!

10.  RED (screenplay by Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber) – Very enjoyable, tightly plotted, a few good laughs, and reasonably good character work.  Balances a variety of elements perfectly.  Writing good popcorn movies is not as easy as many people think, as evidenced by how few of them were in competition for this list.  So kudos to the Hoebers for a fine piece of entertainment.

9.  True Grit (screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) – This one might have been a little higher if my list were favorite movies of the year.  The performances and cinematography elevate the script immensely.  But it is an above average adaptation, well paced, with great dialogue and characterizations.

8.  How to Train Your Dragon (screenplay by William Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders) – I felt like I should have enjoyed it a little more than I did, but I blame some of that on a shaky 3D projection at the theater I was in.  It’s got a strong heart and a fun story, with a goodly dose of character driven humor.  It’s really the many clever little touches and the way the writing sets up exciting visuals that makes it stand above most of the other fine animated candidates this year.

7.  The Kids Are All Right (written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg) – Amazing depth of character and great dialogue with a couple of surprising plot twists.  The hook of the premise gives it a strong narrative thrust that is sometimes lacking in these kinds of films.  And the family dynamic, though not “mainstream,” was thoroughly relatable.  This and Please Give were the movies that felt most like real life to me.  Not that movies have to feel like real life, but it’s impressive when they do.

6.  Toy Story 3 (story by John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich, screenplay by Michael Arndt) – I didn’t think it was quite up to the level of the first two but those are pretty high standards!  Hilariously funny, emotionally moving, clever, exciting…it’s everything we’ve come to expect from Pixar that is so uncommon in other movies these days.  And to do all that on the third flick in the franchise is especially impressive.

5.  The King’s Speech (screenplay by David Seidler) – What a delightful, absolutely original story.  Though I thought the therapist’s character was a tad cliché, every other character was so fresh and dimensional that it’s a minor quibble.  It’s also an authentic look into a fascinating world we don’t get to see often, which I love in movies.  Plus, it’s just a real crowd pleaser.

4.  The Fighter (story by Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson & Keith Dorrington, screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson) – I have to admit, I wasn’t that enthused to see what sounded like a Rocky knock off.  But man, the interrelations of the family were so well drawn and so dramatic that it absolutely grabbed me.  And even if you can guess the ending, the path to get there is continually surprising.

3.  The Town (screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard) – All genre movies should be this good.  The story isn’t all that original, but the characters are unique and complex, and the tension is intense.  Add in the richly detailed, authentic portrayal of the robberies and the investigation, combined with the powerful sense of place, and you get one of the best scripts of the year.

2.  Inception (written by Christopher Nolan) – Yes, the characters other than Cobb were a little thin.  But there’s more going on here thematically than practically any other movie this year, and the plot is delightfully twisty and inventive.  And what movie generated more intense discussions afterward?  Bonus points for degree of difficulty – a tough story to pull off coherently.

1.  The Social Network (screenplay by Aaron Sorkin) – Who cares if it’s 100% accurate?  This movie works on every level.  Great characters, fascinating plot, amazing dialogue, tense and moving scenes.  Nobody can make wonky banter crackle like Sorkin.  And though the acting, directing and especially the score are all top notch, this really does feel like A Film By Aaron Sorkin.

It’s a lot easier to pick movies I like than to rank them.  When making these lists I am constantly reordering movies and switching other ones in and out.  Ask me next week and my rankings may be different.  So I wanted to mention the movies that almost made this list:  Get Low, Please Give, and Megamind.  All well written and very enjoyable.

There were also several close candidates for worst written movie of 2010.  Dishonorable Mention goes to The Wolfman, Dinner for Schmucks and Sorcerers’ Apprentice.  But the winner (loser?) by a nose was the truly awful Robin Hood.

Some statistics that are not really useful to anyone:  On five of my ten best written films one writer or a single writing team got credit.  On six, the director had a hand in the screenplay.  So there's that.

Best Written Films of 2009

I’m going to take a quick break from my ongoing analysis of E.T. to give my picks for best-written films from 2009. This turned out to be a pretty good movie year. There maybe weren't any more great movies than in recent years, but it seemed like there were a lot more pretty good movies.

Of course I must make my usual disclaimers. First, these are not necessarily my favorite films, although there is a lot of overlap. Sometimes the final film doesn’t quite live up to the screenplay and sometimes bravura filmmaking can overcome a flawed script.

This year has the biggest example of that in a long time: Avatar (written by James Cameron). I think it may be the most important movie of the year and one of the top five most enjoyable. And the script isn’t actually that bad, it’s just kind of mediocre. But it’s the visuals and spectacle that make the film great, not the writing. Thus it doesn’t make this list.

Also keep in mind that although I see a lot of movies I’m not a professional critic so I don’t see every major release. The candidates are obviously limited to what I’ve seen (some notable 2009 films still on my “to see” list are Precious, Fantastic Mr. Fox and A Serious Man). Anyway, with all that said, here are my top ten:

1) Up – (story by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson & Thomas McCarthy, screenplay by Docter and Peterson) Pixar does it again. I think this is their most emotionally sophisticated and honest movie yet…and the most emotionally sophisticated and honest movie of the year. Plus it’s funny. The characters are complex and original, the story is perfect, the world of the movie is delightful, the twists and turns are unpredictable, and it’s moving and thematically deep. A wonderful script and wonderful movie.

2) Zombieland – (written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick) A hilarious and original genre spoof, well structured with sharp characters and dialogue. Don’t go expecting a zombie movie. This is much more about the relationships among a quirky band of survivors. If you want to get deep, there’s actually some rich thematic material about the risks of connecting with other human beings. But don’t get deep. This one’s just a lot of fun.

3) (500) Days of Summer – (written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber) Takes all the clichés of romantic comedies and makes them fresh, while reminding us why they became clichés in the first place: because they have a basis in the dynamics of real relationships. The characters are wonderfully flawed, real and relatable. Plus, it made me giggle repeatedly.

4) The Hurt Locker – (written by Mark Boal) The directing and performances make this movie absolutely rock, but the script is pretty great, too. Tense from beginning to end, it’s more laudable for its construction of suspense scenes than for the rather thin overall story. Also don’t ignore the excellent character development. If we didn’t care about these guys so much we wouldn’t feel the tension as sharply. This is as pure a visceral experience as movies get.

5) Moon – (story by Duncan Jones, screenplay by Nathan Parker) I really liked this movie, though I think it’s somewhat carried by Sam Rockwell’s amazing performance. The story develops in a tense, interesting way and the concept definitely has a high degree of difficulty. It could have ended up a cheesy, cliché-filled B-movie but they really managed to turn it into something special…starting with the script.

6) Julie and Julia – (screenplay by Nora Ephron) I think this movie was underrated. It was charming, the characters were very rich and I found it continually compelling. The Julie part of the story took some lumps from critics, but I don’t think the Julia part would be that interesting without the modern everywoman counterpoint. And combining the two stories (which come from two different books) must have been a real writing challenge. I think Ms. Ephron found the perfect balance.

7) Up in the Air – (screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner) This is a charming movie with some nice unexpected twists. The real strength, though, is the complexity of its characters. The light tone and humor help sell some tough thematic ideas. A well-built piece of entertainment with intelligence and heft…all too rare in Hollywood today.

8) District 9 – (screenplay by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatcthell) This is a smart, unexpected sci-fi film with some real thought provoking elements. I did have a little problem with the main character. I loved that he wasn’t the typical sci-fi hero, but he was such an uncompromising loser and jerk that I had a hard time rooting for him. Plus, his refusal to seek help for his obvious illness was just one of several implausible character moments. But still one of the freshest and more interesting films of 2009.

9) The Hangover – (written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore) Not the most profound movie of the year by any stretch but let’s give some love to excellent comedy writing. The set pieces are deftly constructed and it’s chock full of great jokes. Plus, the characters are all nicely distinctive, a must for an ensemble film.

10) Star Trek – (written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman) A great update of a beloved franchise that was really starting to feel archaic. I loved how the characters stayed true to their origins but were given added depth and dimension. The story is rock solid and action packed. A fine script for a big popcorn movie, another rarity in Hollywood.

There were half a dozen movies that were in contention for the number ten spot, and I want to mention just one of them that didn’t make the cut: Paranormal Activity. It’s a clever script with some surprisingly good character work that used production limitations as an advantage. But I have a sneaking suspicion it won't age well.

That’s the trouble with top 10 lists. Sometimes my opinions change with time and perspective. I noticed this list leans heavily toward movies I’ve seen recently. Is that because a lot of the best movies are released at the end of the year? Or is it because my excitement for them is just fresher? As I look back at my best for 2008, I’m surprised to see The Reader made the list (though it is at number 10). At this point I don’t remember it as being a very good movie at all.

So what does that mean? I guess it means these are, after all, just opinions.

Some meaningless stats about my top ten: Two were written by one credited screenwriter, four by a single team, and four by more than one writing “unit.” On four of the films the director also got some kind of writing credit.

And finally, worst written movie I saw this year: Public Enemies. Strange, it wasn’t an out and out screamer. Either Hollywood didn’t make many really bad movies this year or I did better than usual avoiding them (I did steer clear of Transformers 2). But Public Enemies was pretty bad. One dimensional, tedious, unbelievable (despite being based on a true story), completely unsympathetic characters and just generally pointless. It's pretensions push it to the winner's circle for my worst of the year.