Genre: Drama/Thriller
Premise: When they find out he’s robbing graves, including their father’s, a brother and sister living in a small town decide to blackmail the local undertaker. But they soon find themselves in way over their head.
About: Chad Feehan, the writer of Beyond The Pale, produced the film “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane,” and wrote/directed “Beneath The Dark,” which came out in 2010. Beyond The Pale is actually an adaptation of the book, “Twilight,” by William Gay. Beyond The Pale finished 10th on 2011’s Black List with 27 votes.
Writer: Chad Feehan
Details: 109 pages – March 2, 2011 draft (This is an early draft of the script. The situations, characters, and plot may change significantly by the time the film is released. This is not a definitive statement about the project, but rather an analysis of this unique draft as it pertains to the craft of screenwriting).

I heard mixed things about this one and had been avoiding it mainly because of the title, which had me imagining a man wandering around the desert, carrying a pail. No, I’m serious. I imagined a Western where a mysterious man strolls into town with nothing but a pail. The big mystery would be, what’s in that pail? Rainwaiter possibly? Toiletries? I didn’t know. But whatever it was, I didn’t want to read it anytime soon. Then again, I thought if this script made the Black List with that title, it may be the best script ever written.

It turned out Beyond The Pale wasn’t a Western at all, but another small-town murder tale, which is like catnip to the Black List. We get 5 of these a year on the list at least, some of them good, some not so good. Where Beyond The Pale ranks is debatable. This is such a strange screenplay. It’s almost like two different movies, the first a small town blackmail tale and the second a chase film. If you can roll with that shift, you’ll like it. If not, prepare to be disappointed.

It’s 1973 and we start with a family getting killed, only to then jump back to, you guessed it, 13 days earlier! Yes, we have yet another screenplay that begins with a flashforward. I think you guys are finally getting an idea of how often I see this device. Multiply every time I highlight it in a review by five and you’re getting close. It wouldn’t be so bad if EVERYBODY didn’t use it. But because they do, it starts your script off on a cliché note. Never good.

Anyway, the flashforward introduces us to Granville Sutter, a local murderer who has somehow evaded every murder he’s been accused of so is now living freely in this town, eager to target his next victim. He’ll get that chance soon enough.

13 days earlier we meet Corrie and Kenneth Tyler, a barely out of high school brother-sister duo. Corrie has really come into her own, and has all the men in town drooling over her every step, which has forced Kenneth into a protector role, something he’s had to get good at due to their family’s lousy reputation.

And then of course, it’s not going well for Corrie. She’s 72 hours away from losing her place and needs money fast. It just so turns out that the siblings lost their father recently, and discover that the local undertaker, Fenton Breece, has been grave robbing everybody he buries, including their pa!

But it gets worse. When they raid his office, they find pictures of Breece engaged in sexual acts with dead female bodies. Uh-oh. Spagettio. Necrophiliaism! Corrie, not the brightest firework in the New Year’s celebration, decides to use this information to bribe Breece. Breece, of course, freaks out, and contacts Mr. Murder himself, Granville Sutter.

Sutter is more than happy to add a couple more bodies to his tally so immediately jumps into action. (Spoiler) While the first encounter ends up in Corrie’s death, Kenneth is able to get away. Because the local cops are corrupt, Kenneth must trudge through an isolated Appalachian trail to the next county over where there’s said to be a clean cop. Unfortunately, Granville will do anything to make sure he doesn’t make it.

I quite liked the first half of Beyond The Pale. I thought the idea of bribing a grave-robbing undertaker was a unique one. The necrophilia reveal was a nice touch, and provided the story with an edge these scripts don’t usually have.

In general, blackmail is a strong story device as it leads to a lot of dramatic irony and subtext. Because of the secrecy that must be maintained on both sides, there are a lot of conversations and situations that must occur on the down low. Fox example, from that point on, every scene with Breece becomes laced with dramatic irony, as he must defend his secret. When his secretary finds out, he must kill her. When the police come looking for the secretary, he must feign ignorance. On the flip side, our bribers can’t go to the police, because what they’re doing is illegal as well. That means also fighting their battles below the radar. This is usually more interesting than fighting your battles out in the open.

Unfortunately, once Granville sets his sights on Kenneth, that’s exactly where we end up, fighting our battles out in the open. All that nuance we built up is kind of thrown out the window. Beyond The Pale becomes a simple chase movie. That’s what bothered me so much. The first half made me think – pulled me into this complicated web of a story. The second is no different from one of those cheap B-Movies Paul Walker always finds himself in.

I did admire some of the structural achievements of the script. You’ll notice that Beyond The Pale has a great example of the “changing goal.” Remember, you always want your main character to have a goal. But in some screenplays, that goal will change along the way. The first goal here is to blackmail Reece. When that plan goes awry, the goal changes to getting to the next county where Kenneth can alert the clean cop to what’s going on. So while I didn’t like this part of the story, I admit it was well-constructed. Had Kenneth simply been running for his life (with no destination), I don’t think it would have been as interesting.

Another thing to note is the “Midpoint Shift.” The midpoint is that place where you want to throw something new at the characters or the story to change things up a little. You do this so that the story doesn’t stagnate or start to feel predictable. So in Titanic, the midpoint is when the ship hits the iceberg, creating a much different second half than the first. The midpoint in Beyond The Pale is obviously (spoiler) when Corrie is killed and Kenneth goes on the run.

The thing is, there’s a risk involved if you go *too* far with this shift. It’s hard enough to create one interesting storyline, so to bet that you can create two in one screenplay is a big risk. Sometimes that risk hits, but if it doesn’t, you leave people wondering, “What happened to the movie we were just watching? Where did that go?” In my opinion, that’s what happened with Beyond The Pale. What happened to that clever small town murder-bribery story I was watching?

Overall, this is one of those scripts that hovered right on the line between a “wasn’t for me” and a “worth the read.” But since the second half left me pining for the original story, I’m afraid I have to give this a “wasn’t for me.”

[ ] Wait for the rewrite.
[x] wasn’t for me
[ ] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: While I didn’t necessarily agree with the choice that Gay and Feehan made with the sharp midpoint twist, I respected the risk. It reminded me that while having a rule set which guides your writing is a good thing, you still have to take chances, you still have to take risks. I’m reading this book “IQ84” and in it, a publisher is giving advice to a writer. This is what he says: “There also has to be that ‘special something,’ an indefinable quality, something I can’t quite put my finger on. That’s the part of fiction I value more highly than anything else. Stuff I understand perfectly doesn’t interest me.” That really stayed with me. “Stuff I understand perfectly doesn’t interest me.” I think that’s the reason a script like “When The Streetlights Go On” is so memorable. You don’t understand perfectly why you like it. You just do. And that only comes from taking risks.

What I learned 2: If you’re worried about cell phones screwing up the believability of your story, set your script in a time before they existed. Beyond The Pale is one of those stories that doesn’t work in the cell phone era. So they set it in 1973. Problem solved.

Genre: Drama/Thriller
Premise: (from the Black List) A man goes on a three state crime spree with his eleven year old daughter.
About: This script famously sold a few months back for half a million bucks. Matt Damon originally tried to buy it himself, then Warners swooped in and tried to outbid him, and then somewhere amidst it all, the two decided to work together, with Warners buying and Damon attaching himself as director. The way I understand it, not everybody likes working with studios to develop a script. You get a lot more notes. You don’t have nearly as much control. If Damon bought it himself, he could develop it at his own pace and do it the way he wanted. That’s why he was sort of pissed that Warners came in, at least according to what Nikki Finke was saying. But anyway, it looks like Damon will make this his first directing project and the rumor is he wants John Krasinski (from The Office) to star. For the love of all that is Holy, let’s hope that’s just a rumor. I’d have more confidence in Hugo from Lost playing the lead. “Dude, just like, go rob the store daughter chick.” (edit: one of the commenters pointed out Matt and John are doing a different project together, not this one). This is Matthew Aldrich’s first spec sale.
Writer: Matthew Aldrich
Details: 107 pages (This is an early draft of the script. The situations, characters, and plot may change significantly by the time the film is released. This is not a definitive statement about the project, but rather an analysis of this unique draft as it pertains to the craft of screenwriting).

First of all, I just want to welcome all of you back. I know it was hard last week not having any reviews. I heard that a few of you actually resorted to going out and, like, doing real world stuff. I am so so sorry you had to experience that. Luckily, we have a mountain of Black List scripts and an entire year to get things back on track. Well, at least until the whole Mayan thing ends the world. That reminds me, what’s the next “End Of The World” date that comes after 2012? Do we have one? I remember the world was going to end in 2000. It was going to end last year with the whole “End Of Days” thing. What happens after 2012 ends? The nutties can’t operate without a doomsday scenario.

Like Charles Barkley, Theo is not a role model. Theo, actually, is the exact opposite of a role model. He’s a deadbeat. A drunk. He’s that pathetic loser you see hanging at the end of the bar at 11:30 on a Sunday morning. But things are starting to change. Theo is climbing out of the bottle so he can be the one and only thing he cares about in this world – a better father.

His daughter, 11 year old Maggie, has desperately been waiting for this moment. She’s stuck with a mother who doesn’t love her, and so even though she’s aware of her father’s problems, she’d rather be with him than her. Problem is, Theo is barely getting by. He works at Jack-In-The-Box of all places, and while their Crispy Chicken sandwich is delish, dead birds can’t pay rent.

Which is why he’s forced to steal tampons when Maggie unexpectedly has her first period. It doesn’t take long for the cops to realize what happened and that means Theo, who’s on parole, is going back to jail. But Maggie will do anything to avoid living with her mom again, so she locates her father, who’s since relapsed, steals his friend’s car and starts driving.

When Theo wakes up, he’s shocked to find that he’s 500 miles away from home with his 11 year old daughter at the wheel. She has a plan – to go back to the cabin they used to stay at when she was younger – when everything was perfect. At first Theo’s not onboard, but then he sees the desperation in her eyes and decides to go with it.

Meanwhile, his ex-wife is raising a shitfest with the cops, and as a result this becomes a Federal kidnapping case. Everybody in the country is looking for Theo and Maggie. The two are forced to rob and steal in order to keep their journey alive, but as you’d expect, it all catches up to them. In the end, Theo will have to decide whether to do the right thing, even though it means leaving the person he loves most in this world, or doing the wrong thing in order to stay with her. What will Theo do?

Father Daughter Time was a good script. I don’t know what the hell the title means but it sounds cool when you say it out loud so I’m down. The biggest thing with a script like this is capturing that father-daughter relationship. If you can make that honest, if you can make us believe in and care about it, you have yourself a screenplay. Aldrich makes us believe.

He actually achieves this in the very first scene, which tells us everything we need to know about the characters. In it, his daughter has just gotten her first period so they go to the convenience store to buy some tampons. Obviously, this is awkward for Theo, who would have trouble with this even in ideal circumstances. But the fact that he hasn’t been around his daughter much makes it more awkward.

After guessing on the right kind, he gets to the counter only to realize he can’t afford the 12 dollar box and must beg a disgusting convenience store clerk (who gave his daughter a slimy smile when he realized the tampons were for her) to let him have them anyway. After the clerk says no, he goes outside, rethinks the situation, then goes back in and robs the store – for tampons.

Let’s take a look at how this scene reveals character. We start off with Theo and Maggie walking in and looking through the tampon section together. Both look confused. But Maggie is looking to her father for answers, a sign that she trusts him. We can also tell that these two don’t know each other well. There’s no shorthand here. They *want* to know each other but they don’t yet.

Next, we go up to the counter and realize Theo can’t afford the box. This tells us that our main character is poor, another important character detail. When the clerk eyes Maggie, connecting her to the tampons, and smiles, we see the fury in Theo’s eyes. We know that even though these two aren’t around each other much, he’s still hugely protective of her. After going outside then and rethinking it, Theo decides to go back in and rob the place, which tells us that this man will do anything for his daughter.

This is what good scenes do. They reveal character by placing the characters in a series of situations that require them to make choices. When those choices are made, we learn about them. Look at all we’ve learned here. This father and daughter haven’t spent a lot of time together. Maggie looks up to her dad. Theo is poor. Theo will do anything for his daughter.

As for the rest of the script, like I said, it was solid. My only real beef is that it wasn’t edgy enough. I guess when I heard about the project, I assumed what made it so popular was this idea of a father and daughter going on this raging crime spree. But it’s more like the two are just trying to survive, trying to get to the next destination on the map. There is one scene where something really bad happens, but for the most part it feels like a very “polite” crime spree. I realize it’s a thin line because if they become too aggressive, we might not root for them. But I still would’ve liked this to feel more “R” and less “PG-13.”

Can’t wait to see what Damon does with this. I just hope Hurley and his daughter don’t end up back on the island with Locke.

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[xx] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: Overall, I think I know why this sold. It has that rare combination of being a character piece (which actors love) as well as a genre piece about fugitives on the run (which producers love). In other words, it meets everybody’s criteria. This is the exact same thing that happened with The Town. At its heart, it was a character piece about a man’s relationship with his best friend and a girl. But the producers were able to market it as a heist film, which is why it was still able to make a bunch of money. Keep that in mind as you’re writing your next spec. If you can check both of those boxes, you probably have something marketable on your hands.

First off, no official post today.  I know, I know.  What’s the deal, Carson?  Hey, a man has to have some fun every once in awhile.  I got myself an Ipad 2 for Christmas and can’t stop playing with it.  Which reminds me, what are the essential screenwriting apps for the Ipad?  I feel like I’m leaving productivity on the table with this thing.  I absolutely love it for books though.  Just downloaded Haruki Murakami’s IQ84 and loving it so far.  Yes, that’s right. I’m the only person in the world who takes time off from reading to, um, read.

Anyway, to the real point of this post.  Many months ago I reviewed a script called, “I Think My Facebook Friend Is Dead” for Amateur Friday.  The script went on to win the monthly prize over at Amazon, and just yesterday, received a big live-action test movie.  For those who don’t know, Amazon is giving a million dollars at the end of the year to whoever can come up with the best test movie for one of its winners.  So these guys (no affiliation with the writers) went out and filmed the entirety of “I Think My Facebook Friend Is Dead,” which is now up on the website.  I’ve only been able to watch 15 minutes so far, but for shooting an entire feature on no budget, I was pretty impressed.  I bring this up because 3 years ago, something like this would never have happened.  But in the strangest way, Clint and Donnie actually got their movie made.  Anyway, check it out if you have some free time.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. I’m sure you’ve been on pins and needles since January 1st waiting with bated breath, mumbling incoherently to yourself, “I can’t wait any longer. I need Carson’s 2011 Top 15 List now!” Well here it is! And looking over it, I can’t believe some of the movies on it either. If you would’ve told me going into 2011 that I’d like a certain high profile cash grab comedy sequel, I’d tell you you were bananas. I mean, this is not the Top 15 I expected. But that’s the great thing about movies. They surprise you when you least expect it. Now just a reminder. Not all of these films came out in 2011. Qualifications for the list are only that I saw the movie in 2011. So let’s stop wasting time and get down to business!

15) Source Code
Writer: Ben Ripley
Director: Duncan Jones
You guys all know how much I loved this script. To me, it’s still one of the best sci-fi screenplays of the last decade. Therefore, it was going to be hard for the film to live up to that love. And right away, I didn’t like some of the changes. My main gripe was changing Christina from an introverted artist into a perky happy semi-girlfriend. The reasoning for this change was that it would make more sense if the two knew each other beforehand because it would be easier for Colter to convince her to help him after every time reset. What they didn’t realize was that that’s the exact reason they shouldn’t have changed it. You WANT things to be difficult for your character. You want it to be hard. And Ben Ripley’s original script handled that perfectly. Despite that, director Duncan Jones managed to craft a pretty entertaining little thriller. Just enough to pull this film by its bootstraps into the Top 15.

14) Chalk
Writers: Chris Mass and Mike Akel
Director: Mike Akel
I think this film originally came out in 2006. Chalk is sort of like a high school version of The Office, but without the production value. What helps you overlook that though is the casting, which is top-notch. Chalk documents (or mockuments) a group of high school teachers that include the “maybe” lesbian gym teacher who takes her job way too seriously. The science teacher desperate to win “Teacher of the Year,” even though his students are smarter than he is. And the history teacher whose utter lack of social skills makes every class a mumbling bumbling journey of awkwardness. Like all micro-budget affairs, Chalk has its share of questionable moments (there’s a dream sequence that any halfway intelligent director would’ve burned off the negative), but the film hits a lot more than it misses. This was one of the funniest films of the year for me.

13) The Descendants
Writers: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Director: Alexander Payne
George Clooney and I have a love-hate relationship. I love to hate him. No, but seriously. I do. No, seriously though. I really do. Having said that, The Descendants is a film that never would’ve been made had Clooney not been involved, so cheers to that. You want to talk about non-commercial? Try a mother who’s in a coma for the entire movie, and who (spoiler) our characters take off life-support at the end. This requires our hero, Matt King (Clooney) to get his two daughters together, the beautiful but angry 16 year old Alexandra, and the hilarious but naïve 10 year old Scottie, and begin telling family members throughout the Hawaiian Islands that she isn’t going to make it. The power of the movie comes from Matt’s disconnect with his daughters. He was never the caretaker in the family, and now must learn on the job. The two subplots include Matt deciding whether to sell a huge chunk of commercial real estate that his descendants purchased as well as confronting the man he learns was sleeping with his wife, who coincidentally stands to make a lot of money if Matt sells. What I liked here was the unexpected humor, the difficult to predict plot, and the exploration of Matt’s broken relationship with his oldest daughter. The Descendants is slow and certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you like character driven films that take their time, this one might be worth checking out.

12) The Hangover II
Writers: Craig Mazin & Scot Armstrong & Todd Phillips (Characters by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore)
Director: Todd Phillips
No. This is not a misprint. I am actually including The Hangover II on my list. Before you think I’ve started drinking early for New Year’s Eve, let me try and explain. When I kept hearing that this film was exactly the same film, beat for beat, as the first Hangover, I rolled my eyes at how lazy Hollywood was. I mean why not try to do *something* different? But after seeing the film, I understand exactly why they did it, and consider them sorta geniuses for the choice. The script is the most unpredictable of all the variables in filmmaking. Yeah, you could nail it in three months. But there’s a chance you might not nail it for a year. You just don’t know. And the problem with Hollywood is, they’re not waiting until you figure it out. They set a date and wherever that date arrives, that’s the script they go with. This is the reason why we have so many bad sequels. The writers try to write an entirely new story and simply don’t have the time to explore it (see the Matrix sequels as examples A & B). So the Hangover team said, “Hey, we already have a formula that works here. We try to write a whole new movie, it’ll be all over the place. Let’s just stick with what works.” So while there was nothing particularly new in The Hangover II, the structure of the film was solid, creating a story that not only made sense, but was pretty tight – rare for a sequel. In addition, outside all of that screenwriting jibber-jabber, I just thought this film was funnier than the first one. I mean when Ed Helms learned that he had had sex with a tranny, I honestly lost it. And that may say more about me than it does about the film, but I loved that they took chances like that. This was easily the biggest shocker of the year for me because I expected to hate this film. Bring on Hangover III baby!

11) Super 8
Writer: J.J. Abrams
Director: J.J. Abrams
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I loved Super 8. But I certainly did like it. If there’s any director I’d trust to take me back to the Steven Spielberg era, it’s JJ Abrams, who kicks ass in every direction. What really impressed me in Super 8 was the casting and the perfect chemistry between the kids. I was reminded of what it felt like to be back with my own little bike gang as a kid going off on some daily adventure. I was a little disappointed that the monster was so independent from the main plot, but Elle Fanning more than made up for it. This girl is going to be a force in the future. That scene where she gives her first zombie performance while Joe puts make-up on her would’ve had me falling in love if I were 14 again. And a special mention goes out to Riley Griffiths, who gave a great performance as the director of the group. Super 8 had its faults, but it was a monster/sci-fi movie with some heart, which is rare to come by these days.

10) Troll Hunter
Writer: Andre Overdal and Havard S. Johansen
Director: Andre Overdal
I remember when I first saw this trailer I screamed, “I have to see this now!” I unfortunately had to wait seven months before I finally got my hands on it but it was well worth the wait. Over here in America, we’re getting bored with all the horror, alien, and ghost found footage films. Seeing a found footage film, then, that revolved around… TROLLS??? Giant trolls at that?? In a movie where the visual effects were pretty darn good? That’s fresh. What I think got me more than anything though, was the detail that went into the mythology. For example, if there’s a guy who hunts trolls, then aren’t there a bunch of dead trolls lying around? These guys developed not one, but two methods of disposing of troll bodies that were actually believable inside the universe they created. It does get a little repetitive near the end but you’ll be surprised at who you’re rooting for in that final battle. These are the films that inspire me – where people just go out and do something different and it ends up catching a wave. A unique and fun movie.

9) Warrior
Writers: Gavin O’Connor & Anthony Tambakis & Cliff Dorfman
Director: Gavin O’Connor
I’m kinda surprised this movie didn’t do better. I think one of the variables that screws up box office prediction is Middle America. As you rise up in the screenwriting ranks, you become focused on creating smart character driven fare that will impress Hollywood folks. In the meantime, the movies that play well in Middle America are Paul Blart and the latest Adam Sandler abortion. I thought Warrior was going to be the perfect hybrid. It had a couple of respected up-and-coming actors. It was a feel-good underdog story. And it featured ultimate fighting, which plays well in Middle America. So I don’t know if they didn’t sell it well. I don’t know if the stars weren’t big enough. I don’t know if not being able to use UFC’s name had anything to do with it. But the movie didn’t do well. And yet it’s one of the better sports movies I’ve seen in a while. Tom Hardy plays one of the biggest bad asses you’ll ever meet. Joel Edgerton plays the underdog role to perfection. And the final match up in the film is more than emotionally satisfying. I wish this film would’ve done better because it deserved it.

8) Friends With Benefits
Writers: Keith Merryman & David A. Newman and Will Gluck (story by Harley Peyton and Keith Merryman & David A. Newman)
Director: Will Gluck
Yesterday, I highlighted one of the worst films of the year, No Strings Attached. So why am I now celebrating its doppelgänger? Because Will Gluck is one of the few young comedy directors with a unique voice. There’s something different about his films that stir up the butterflies at the bottom of your stomach. I didn’t love Easy A, but I recognized its originality. And this film has that same kind of unique charm. But what really sets it apart is the killer chemistry between Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. I mean these two are perfect together. Every scene between them sparked. It was the exact opposite of No Brains Attached. As I was watching “Benefits,” I actually wondered, in a science experiment way, what these two movies would’ve played like had they switched actors. Would “Strings” be the good one and “Friends” the bad one? I’m not sure. But I do know that any movie with Kutcher is probably going to be terrible so thank God this experiment never happened.

7) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Writers: Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (spun off the novel “La Planete Des Singes”)
Director: Rupert Wyatt
I don’t know who Rupert Wyatt is and what he directed before this, but he and the writers of “Rise” deserve a filmmaking medal. They took a franchise known for putting style over substance and rebuilt it to highlight substance over style. Not only that, but they turned a major franchise into a character-driven silent film! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mainstream release take that big of a chance before. Because that’s what this is – a silent film. And to couple that with two acts that don’t feature a single major set-piece, instead focusing on a conflicted ape who’s trying to come to terms with his emerging intelligence? – I mean, I still can’t believe they did this. And even more impressive – THEY PULLED IT OFF! I loved “Rise.”

6) Midnight In Paris
Writer: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Let’s be honest. Woody Allen isn’t trying to make good movies anymore. He’s just trying to keep busy. That was confirmed for me a few years back when he cast Jason Biggs and Christina Ritchie in a movie. Lucky for him, actors still believe it’s an honor to work with Woody for some reason, and that means sooner or later he’s going to hit. Well, that moment’s finally come. Midnight In Paris is a wonderful little film, particularly if you have any interest in the famed city, which I’ve held a fascination with for much of my life. But what really grabbed me here was the time-jumping! You know I’m a sucker for time-travel, and who would’ve thought Allen would be writing a time-travel film at this stage of his career? Watching Owen Wilson stumble through 1925 Paris, bumping into Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald among others, all while trying to figure out what was going on, was hilarious. I also have a renewed appreciation for Allen’s dialogue. This is a man who has written dialogue-driven films for 30 years, and seeing how he crafts his scenes to maximize the character exchanges was enlightening. The only thing that would’ve made this movie better was a Nutella crepe from the sacre couer court!

5) The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Writer: J Blakeson
Director: J Blakeson
One of the challenges of low-character-count contained thrillers is the limited amount of choices. I read so many of these things that peter out in the second act, and that’s due exclusively to writers running out of ideas. Every once in a while, though, someone figures out how to make it to the finish line. The Disappearance Of Alice Creed follows two men who kidnap the daughter of a wealthy man and demand a ransom. 97% of the film takes place in two rooms and not once does it get boring. There are all these little twists and turns that come right at the moment these films usually start grasping for life support. In combination with a disarmingly confident directing style (watch the opening scene where they construct the room to see what I mean), you get the feeling you’re watching something special. We talk about subtext and dramatic irony a lot on the site. If you want to learn how to utilize these tools effectively, clear 90 minutes out of your schedule and watch this film. It’s pretty awesome.

T-4) Bridesmaids
Writers: Kristin Wiig & Annie Mumolo
Director: Paul Feig
Bridesmaids easily wins the underdog film of the year award. Some people didn’t think it would make a hundred bucks, much less a hundred million. But the character work in this female Hangover elevated it beyond your standard bodily function comedy, which it did, ironically, have plenty of. I just thought Kristin Wiig was perfect as this misguided naïve woman on the wrong side of thirty who was about to lose her best friend to marriage. Despite all of the juvenile desperate stunts she pulls to win her friend back, you still root for her. You still want her to succeed. And that’s the mark of a great character. Even the cliché inappropriate friend role was nailed by Melissa McCarthy, who had me rolling on the ground when she stole all the puppies. In a year with a lot of lame comedies, it was nice to watch one that actually made you give a shit.

T-4) X-Men: First Class
Writers: Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz and Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn (story by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
It’s confession time here on Scriptshadow. I’m not a big fan of the X-Men movies. So I was hardly looking forward to X-Men: First class. Sure, director Vaughn was trumpeting to anyone who would listen that he was doing something “different” with his super-hero film, but those claims are almost always lip service. So I ignored the film until a bored Tuesday evening, when I reluctantly clicked “Rent” on my Itunes. The next thing I knew, my whole world had changed. Okay, that may be overstating it, but what a kick ass movie (no pun intended)! The character development in this film puts all other super hero movies to shame. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are mesmerizing as friends Charles Xavier and Magneto. Magneto’s inner battle between good and evil was pitch perfect. The training sequences, because they were anchored in that friendship (and not just about special effects), were the best I’ve ever seen in a super-hero film. It almost didn’t seem like a super hero movie. It was more about people. I can’t NOT celebrate that on a screenwriting site. Thank you Vaughn and Goldman for this totally unexpected treat!

3) Hanna
Writers: Seth Lochhead and David Farr
Director: Joe Wright
So everybody asks me, are there any examples of bad scripts that became good movies? Take a look at my old script review of Hanna. I thought that script kinda blew. At the heart of the problem was a plot that didn’t make sense. A father trains his daughter to become a perfect warrior then sends her out into the world to meet him later on? Ummmmm, why not just go there together???? On top of this, the script was boring. Hanna was stuck in these weird caves for like 30 pages doing nothing. The only reason I watched this is because I like Joe Wright as a director. And about 15 minutes in, I was ready to turn it off. But then something happened. There was this unexpected kookiness to the story that was never hinted at in the script. A fairytale quality began to emerge. The world was exaggerated in the most unexpected and intriguing ways. But the key change was eliminating all those damn lags in the story. Instead of locking our heroine down in those caves for an eternity, writers Lochhead and Farr kept Hanna on the move throughout, which gave the movie a momentum the script lacked. Wright and his writers actually made a bunch of interesting choices, the most surprising of which may have been the 14-year-old lesbian friendship/relationship that they managed to somehow not make sleazy. Then of course Saoirse Ronan is fucking amazing. She’s right up there with Elle Fanning in that league of dynamite young actresses. This movie was just so much wilder than I expected it to be. What a surprise.

2) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Writer: Steve Zallian
Director: David Fincher
I read the book, which I thought was amazing. I saw the Swedish film, which I thought was underwhelming. So I didn’t know what to expect from this. And that bizarre opening title sequence didn’t help. What the hell drug was Fincher on when he made that? I suppose it wasn’t as bad as the Mission Impossible title sequence, which inexplicably gave the entire movie away before it even started. Worst choice ever? Anyway, back to Dragon Tattoo. This film was fucking AWESOME! Rooney Mara kicked posterior as the girl. If the make-up and costume directors of this film don’t win Oscars for what they did to her, it will be a crime. Every frame of this movie was perfect. Fincher’s unflinching directing was as good as it’s ever been. It seems like his entire career was merely a set of practice drills preparing for this franchise. The big feat for Fincher here, though, was capturing the relationship between Lisbeth and Blomkvist. It’s no secret that Fincher sucks with male-female relationships in his films, but he nailed this one. I felt Lisbeth’s pain in the end when (spoiler) she saw Blomkvist walk off with Erika. Young Fincher couldn’t have handled that. And thank you Steve Zallian for changing that way-too-drawn-out ending!

1) Drive
Writer: Hossein Amini (book by James Sallis)
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Any surprises here? I not only loved the original script, but I loved the pared down 30 pages less version they used for the movie. I can’t think of any situation where they cut out that much of an already great screenplay and didn’t lose anything. But while the writing here is awesome, the real star is the director, Nicholas Winding Refn. He’s able to capture a mood up on screen that so few directors can. All you need to watch is the opening getaway sequence to know what I’m talking about. Instead of the typical back-and-forth jokey exchanges you see from antsy directors who fear even the slightest hint of silence onscreen, Refn plays it quiet, allowing the heart thumping soundtrack along with your own heart thumping to do the work for him. Ryan Gosling was amazing as Driver. The cinematography was outstanding. The soundtrack was an instant classic. The directing was first rate. This movie left the biggest impression on me all year so it’s no shock it’s number 1. I still bust out the soundtrack when I’m driving around in the city, pretending I’m Driver, preparing for a getaway. That may make me dorky but that’s what a great film will do to you!

I generally like to bust out the optimism here on Scriptshadow. There are too many people bringing others down in this business. “You can’t do this.” “You can’t do that.” Everything, according to these folks, is terrible. The truth is, the people who make it in this business are the people who ignore the naysayers – who don’t get caught up in the negativity. That being said, I’m a moviegoer just like everyone else. And while I respect the fact that thousands of man-hours were put into these pieces of entertainment, I’m just as mad as anyone when the product I paid for is junk. So I’ve reserved one day of the year to air out my frustrations. I should note that I haven’t seen “In Time” or “My Sister’s Retarded” (or whatever that Adam Sandler movie is called), both of which I hear are beyond terrible. And of course any year with a Transformers movie means that movie is automatically number 1 – so I won’t even bother putting it on the list. As for the rest of these films, each of them took my breath away. As in, I almost died of boredom watching them. Beware of what follows. It gets ugly.

10) Win-Win – Maybe Win-Win shouldn’t be on this list. It’s a competently made film with some okay moments. But I’m including it because it was the most average film I saw all year. And “average” can sometimes be worse than “bad.” I’ve had a problem with McCarthy’s films for awhile now, never quite understanding all the love they got, but going along with it because they were independent and Rotten Tomatoes always seemed to give them high scores. I figured it was my fault I didn’t like them. But after this movie, I’m not falling for it anymore. The narrative in Win-Win is all over the place. The central relationship between the boy and the coach is uninspired. I’m not even sure what the motivation of our protagonist is. To win a wrestling championship? I don’t get the sense that’d change his life in any way. So where are the stakes? The kid is boring. The grandfather scam is okay but ultimately unsatisfying. The mom stuff is cliché. There’s just nothing to grab onto here. It feels like one giant exploratory first draft.

9) Everything Must Go – I can’t tell you how much it pains me to put this on my list. For those readers new to the site, Everything Must Go was my favorite script a couple of years ago. I thought it was such a clever story – the idea of this guy being kicked out of his house, forced to live on his lawn with all his “stuff,” then realizing that stuff was a symbol of his past and that in order to move on, he would have to get rid of it all, which he does in a yard sale. Unfortunately, I can’t remember a movie where the performances were as dead as this one. The kid was boring. Will Ferrell was boring. Even the captivating Rebecca Hall seemed confused. Like “Am I supposed to like you or just be a helpful pregnant neighbor?” It was as if the entire cast was sleepwalking through the movie. And when your entire movie takes place in one location, the performances need to be amazing. I learned a lot from this film. Unless you’re writing a thriller or a horror film, be wary of placing your movie in a single location.

8) Cowboys And Aliens – Here’s a question for you. Who wins in a fight? Cowboys? Or Aliens? No wait, let me be more specific. Who wins in a fight? People 140 years less advanced than us? Or aliens 1 million years more advanced than us? Hmmm, let me think about that for a second. I don’t know. It’s a tough call. I mean the cowboys do have horses. Oh yeah, wait. THE ALIENS DO! But apparently the producers of this movie thought this was some sort of even battle, not realizing that any rational person would realize that if the Cowboys won, it would only be because the writers cheated. But that wasn’t this script’s only problem. The writers decided to write a movie where nothing happens for 60 minutes. I mean seriously. What happens in the first hour of this movie? The highlight for me in this film was realizing that one of the actors was Captain Hadley from The Shawshank Redemption.

7) No Strings Attached – Look, Ashton Kutcher seems like a nice guy. No, really, he does. And I’m not even mad at him for cheating on Demi Moore. But come on. This guy cannot act to save his Twitter Account. When you then combine his talents with Natalie Portman, who is to rom-coms what Snooki is to book clubs, you get the abomination that is No Strings Attached. Not only do these two look uncomfortable in their own skin, but they have zero chemistry together. No. They have negative chemistry together. Is it possible to have negative chemistry? I’m going to look that up because if not, we may have just made a major scientific discovery. Which would mean at least something good came of this film. It didn’t help that Liz Merriwether’s original script was sanitized down to a faux-edgy piece of fluff. Natalie, I love you. But stay away from anything resembling comedy. Ashton, I love you, but stay away from anything resembling movies.

6) The Dilemma – I just…I just don’t know what to say about this terrible film. Actually, I do. How is it that you can overlook a story flaw so big, it eclipsed the sun the day the final draft was turned in? A movie about whether a guy should tell his best friend that his wife is cheating on him? That’s not a movie. That’s a subplot. That’s a scene. But if you think you’re going to keep an audience’s interest for an entire film with that sort of secondary conflict, you need to be sent to screenwriter jail. No chance of parole. This is a movie! The conflict has to be bigger!! Our main character’s girlfriend is the one who has to be cheating. But even if you don’t take that into account, it still doesn’t make sense. Should you tell your best friend that his girlfriend is cheating on him or not? Hmmmmmm…um YEAH! You should. Movie over. And on top of all this we have to endure Vince Vaughn and Kevin James bumping into things for 90 minutes. Here’s a dilemma for you. Do you tell an established producer that the movie he’s about to make is going to be terrible?

5) Happythankyoumoreplease– Oh Josh Radnor. I still remember the day I read your script. I still remember thinking how beautiful the writing was, how amazing the characters were, how original the story was. Yeah, it was a bit self-congratulatory in places. But overall, I was amazed by your talent as a screenwriter. And then you had to go and direct the film even though you’d apparently never picked up a camera before. Long shot, close up, close up. Long shot, close up, close up. All that was missing was a wind-up bolex and 3 reels of 8mm black and white film. I can’t remember a single moment where a character was actually moving. Everybody always seemed to be sitting down in small rooms. And then of course there was the…..duh duh DUHHHHH…. COUPLE OF DEATH! I will never forget that couple, the way they argued over and over again about the same thing. About how depressed they looked. About how depressing they were. Those scenes were so torturous that I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from them. R.I.P. The Couple Of Death. R.I.P. Happythankyoumoreplease.

4) Somewhere – Look, I’m all for experimental film…WHEN YOU’RE A FILM STUDENT. But when you’re asking people to pay ten bucks for your movie, a cohesive storyline is required. Or a goal. Or a purpose. Or a point. “Somewhere” is a film that feels cobbled together from random dailies and rehearsal takes. Isn’t one of the first things you learn as a writer to cut out all the boring parts? When you start putting theme and symbolism and experimentation ahead of entertainment, you’re playing with fire in a fireworks factory. People will only travel down that path for so long before they start asking where you’re going. Coppola better be careful. She’s quietly directing herself out of the business. The title to this film is appropriate: “Somewhere.” Unfortunately, neither the director nor the audience knew where.

3) Sanctum – James Cameron should be ashamed of himself for producing and supporting this crap. What disappoints me so much is that Cameron understands the value of story. He made his living as a screenwriter before he became a filmmaker, and while it’s not his biggest strength, he’s pretty darn good at it. So why, then, does NOTHING HAPPEN IN THE FIRST 50 MINUTES OF THIS MOVIE??? I remember a 7 minute helicopter landing scene. I remember 20 minutes of people radioing each other back and forth in a cave about NOTHING. There was no main character as far as I could tell. No point to any of the action. It’s never good when nearly a full hour into the film you’re still asking the question, “What is this movie *about*?” I mean I could’ve improved this script by 1000% had you just given me 30 minutes. If your movie revolves around a mysterious and fascinating cave, then DON’T ALREADY START in the cave. We have to go in there together. Discover it together. Build some actual suspense. Where’s the fun in everybody already being inside? And you know what? I actually would’ve been okay with this IF the reason for it was so we could jump right into the story. Except we get there, then listen to people radio each other back and forth for 50 MINUTES! So the whole point to starting late isn’t even taken advantage of. I wish somebody would’ve pushed me into this cave also.

2) Beginners – No no no. Make it end. The memories of this film still burn inside of my brain. Pretentious. So pretentious. Have not seen a movie this pretentious since film school. Subtitles whenever the dog talks. Make it stop. Entire movie told out of order for no other reason than the writer wanting to be weird and different. 83 year old father coming out and going to clubs that play house music so he can pick up 30 year old men. Non-stop voice over telling us insignificant things or stuff we already know. 83 year old newly gay father is also dying of cancer. Of course he is! We must make this indie and different and as pretentious as possible! No story here. Just a writer trying to be “deep” and different for different’s sake. Sometimes random images would flash across the screen. Because of the pretentiousness. They hadn’t hit the quota yet so they had to keep going. This movie was a cinematic fatwa. The only reason it isn’t number one on my list is because of Melanie Laurent who was as cute as a jelly bean. Thank you Melanie for saving me from a boredom coma.

1) Skyline – Sometimes Redbox sends me codes for free movies. I used one to get Skyline. I still want a refund. Apparently a couple of visual effects wizards figured they’d skimp on screenplay costs and, what the hell, WRITE THIS MOVIE THEMSELVES. As a result, we get 47 scenes in a hotel room that I’m pretty sure were the same scene from 47 different angles. Oh, and 5 scenes where they peek outside and see aliens. I couldn’t begin to tell you what the plot was here. Some guy is staying at a hotel. Maybe he’s an actor. His friends come by. I think one of them just won a Ferrari in a game show or something. Game Show Ferrari Guy gets mad at our hero because, um, well because it’s a movie and people get mad at each other in movies. People’s faces turn blue sometimes because, um, room service sucks? I have no idea. Note to aspiring filmmakers out there. Not anyone can write a script. Find some money and pay someone who knows what they’re doing. At the very least your movie will be coherent.

Oh man. I really needed that. Those were some pretty awful movies. But stay tuned for tomorrow when Happy Carson returns. My 15 favorite movies of the year, which I promise will contain some surprises. See you then. :)