Best Adapted Screenplay: 1997

A primer on great screenwriting: using characters as they existed in the book but doing what you have to do to compress the story and get it to come out right on scene. In other words, there is no scene like this in the book.

My Top 10

1. L.A. Confidential
2. The Sweet Hereafter
3. The Ice Storm
4. Jackie Brown
5. Oscar and Lucinda
6. The Wings of the Dove
7. Wag the Dog
8. Donnie Brasco
9. Absolute Power
10. The Winter Guest

note:  A great Top 5 and very good Top 10.  My list continues down at the bottom.

 

Great Read: His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials

1. The Golden Compass (Northern Lights)
2. The Subtle Knife
3. The Amber Spyglass

• Author:  Philip Pullman
• Published:  1995  /  1997  /  2000
• Publisher:  Scholastic
• Pages:  300  /  400  /  518
• First Line:  “Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen.”
• Last Lines:  “’The Republic of Heaven,’ said Lyra.”
• Acclaim:  Carnegie Medal (Northern Lights), Whitbread Book of the Year (Amber Spyglass); Big Read #3
• Film Version:  2007 (The Golden Compass – ***.5); 2019 (tv series)
• First Read:  mid 2007

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1996

“Then Renton was hit by a wave of shock which threatened to knock him incoherent.  A girl came into the room.  As he watched her, a coldness came over him.  She was the double of Dianne, but this girl looked barely secondary school age.  It took him a few seconds to realize that it was Dianne.”  (p 145)

My Top 10

1. Trainspotting
2. The English Patient
3. The Crucible
4. Cold Comfort Farm
5. Emma
6. Hamlet
7. The Birdcage
8. Romeo + Juliet
9. Mother Night
10. Star Trek: First Contact

note:  A fantastic Top 5 and a strong Top 10 with a few more listed down at the bottom.  A rare year in that it’s also fantastic for Original Screenplay.  This year has the highest average score for the two Screenplay awards in history.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1995

“His words were echoed with unspeakable astonishment by all but Elinor, who sat with her head leaning over her work, in a state of such agitation as made her hardly know where she was.”  (p 335

My Top 10

1. Sense and Sensibility
2. Les Miserables
3. To Die For
4. Leaving Las Vegas
5. 12 Monkeys
6. Get Shorty
7. Richard III
8. Clockers
9. An Awfully Big Adventure
10. Il Postino

note:  It’s a decent (but not great) Top 5 and a more solid Top 10.  My own list is much longer and continues down at the bottom though Dead Man Walking (my #12), Apollo 13 (#15) and Babe (my #24) are reviewed because of award nominations.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1994

This didn’t come straight from the book but neither did anything else in the film.

My Top 10

1. Ed Wood
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Quiz Show
4. Nobody’s Fool
5. Grave of the Fireflies
6. The Madness of King George
7. Little Women
8. Death and the Maiden
9. Vanya on 42nd Street
10. To Live

note:  There will be more to say about this in the Awards post which comes next.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1993

One of the most disturbing scenes in film history and it’s not in the book at all.

My Top 10

1. Schindler’s List
2. The Age of Innocence
3. The Remains of the Day
4. In the Name of the Father
5. Shadowlands
6. The Snapper
7. Much Ado About Nothing
8. Short Cuts
9. Like Water for Chocolate
10. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

note:  A very strong Top 5 and Top 10.  There are several more movies on my list at the bottom though The Fugitive (#13) and Strictly Ballroom (#17) aren’t included because they’re reviewed below as award nominees.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1992

“The air was white, and when they alighted it tasted like cold pennies.  At times they passed through a clot of grey.  Mrs. Wilcox’s vitality was low that morning, and it was Margaret who decided on a horse for this little girl, a golliwog for that, for the rector’s wife a copper warming-tray.”  (p 60, Norton Critical Edition)

My Top 10

1. Howards End
2. The Player
3. The Last of the Mohicans
4. A Few Good Men
5. Flirting
6. Glengarry Glen Ross
7. Raise the Red Lantern
8. Enchanted April
9. Aladdin
10. A River Runs Through It

note:  The list goes well past 10 as listed below though none of the other films on my list earned nominations (so they’re all in the top list at the bottom) and the rest of the list is all fairly weak.