The rest of BOP's top five in the category are District 9, Up and The Hurt Locker. District 9 is a rare screenwriting accomplishment in that it manages to pay homage to at least a dozen celebrated movies yet somehow makes all of the blended ideas into a singularly original presentation. Up demonstrates a bit of symmetry with last year's winner in the category, WALL-E, in that the key scene that reveals the life of Carl and Ellie is wordless. After that, Dug and Alpha start talking and everything gets lost in a hail of giggles. Stating the obvious, Pixar has mastered the art of storytelling. With regards to The Hurt Locker, this is arguably the most challenging script on our list. The process of writing tense scenes involving bomb defusion is an arduous one as the scribe must anticipate the easiest ways to reveal the crisis situation to the viewer. There are clips floating around online that show Kathryn Bigelow speaking in awed tones about writer Mark Boal's ability to implement touches like fake trigger wires into the detonation sequences in order to maximize drama. Every time Jeremy Renner's character takes off his armor, the viewer sucks in their breath and that's a tribute to Boal.

Our nominations for An Education and (500) Days of Summer not only represent a pair of unheralded but engaging indie films but also the yin and yang of writing accomplishments. The scribe of An Education is Nick Hornby; mayhap you have heard of him. BOP certainly has and named a movie based on a previous novel of his, About a Boy, the best film of the year in the early years of The Calvins. His latest creation, An Education, somehow humanizes a thieving sexual predator in a manner that gives the audience a perfect example of how a teen girl like Jenny could be seduced by his charms. Meanwhile, the writing team of (500) Days of Summer has exactly one other credit to their name...and it is The Pink Panther 2. (500) Days of Summer has a...let's say different tone, and a rather harsh opinion of romantic entanglements. The taglines proudly bill this aspect of the movie with such statements as "This is not a love story." and "Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't." Yes, we have all been there and this is probably why the words of the script resonate so deeply, particularly the cinematic masterpiece that places the lead character, Tom Hansen, at a party where everyone else is celebrating his doomsday scenario. Hansen's pain is identifiable and thereby universal, which makes his character the male equivalent to Jenny in An Education. The symmetry in their pairing on the list is serendipitous in this regard.

Our final trio of selections are for the movies State of Play, Fantastic Mr. Fox and In the Loop. State of Play's complexity creates an impossible amount of moving parts to keep juggling without giving away the overriding puzzle contained within the story. What is particularly notable about this script is that repeat viewings shine a spotlight on how meticulously crafted the political machinations are. Fantastic Mr. Fox is a celebration of family, friends and even character flaws. The titular lead suffers from hubris while also being prone to self-destruction; meanwhile, his wife knows he won't change but she marries him and hopes for the best anyway. Their cub is understandably ambivalent about his place in the world due to this combination of events, exactly the sort of understated character behavior that has made Wes Anderson a BOP fave. Finally, In the Loop is unmistakably British in all the best ways. This film possesses a caustic wit and a politically cynicism that borders on calling out of Mr. Optimistic, Aaron Sorkin, for his fervent belief in the integrity of government officials. It is also quite possibly the movie with the most swears in the history of cinema, which is a clever subversion of expectations in and of itself. In the Loop is also a fitting nominee in combination with State of Play, which was a BBC mini-series before becoming an American film. In the Loop was a BBC series before becoming a British film. Clearly, BOP loves British television, but you knew that already from way back when we used to beg you people to watch Spaced.

This was a banner year for quality screenwriting. Several worthy films fell just short of nomination. Scripts we liked a lot but not quite enough include Where the Wild Things Are, The Hangover, Away We Go, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, Precious, Summer Hours, Zombieland and The Brothers Bloom. (David Mumpower/BOP)

Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Breakthrough Performance
Best Cast
Best Director
Best DVD
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

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