HLS Movie Awards Nominees: Best Screenplay and Dialogue
Welcome back to HLS Entertainment! Today we are going over the nominees for the Best Screenplay for the HLS Movie Awards!
Here is how I am grading them. I am not some high school English teacher going through these scripts with a red pen marking them up, I am going through each movie and grading them off the writing and dialogue within the movie. This is especially dealing with logic and coherency. This does not mean a movie that is deep is thrown out for having confusing concepts, it means I graded them on how well they executed them and if they ultimately made sense. For example, I love Tenet but it is specifically did not make this list because it does spin too far of a web where the confusion is no longer easy to explain. Or Vivarium is wild and wacky plays with deep concepts of reality but ultimately is not coherently done within the movie. Movies that fall under this category are generally a safe bet to find their way to the very tops of my movie rankings because having a sound script and tight dialogue is what elevates normal movies to great movies.
As always these are not in ranking form but in alphabetical order, now on to the movies!
Another Round - IMDb Score: 7.8
Here is the first of a couple sneak previews into the best picture nominees for HLS Movie Awards. As the top 10 has been withheld so far for the official nominees list that comes out on April 9th, the week before the HLS Movie Awards. Another Round is a movie primarily spoken in Danish / Swedish which I beg you to not let that turn you off to the movie. This story is about a group of teachers who begin to test the hypothesis that the human body was born with just slightly not enough alcohol in our blood system as having just the right amount opens you up, improves creativeness and opens the mind to the world.
The Gentlemen - IMDb Score: 7.8
This movie barely missed the cut for the top ten movies of 2020 coming in at number eleven. The quick witted dialogue delivered by the characters is a Guy Ritchie classic, interweaving multiple view points is what made this movie sing though. The story is not overtly complex, a drug lord living in London is thinking about retiring and the wolves come for the crown, but the dialogue really sells it and is brilliant. Coming out so early into 2020 let it actually get seen in theaters but sadly even then not enough people have seen this movie. If you think you would a enjoy fun quick witted mob movie this is a must watch.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things - IMDb Score: 6.6
This dialogue HEAVY film is dense and filled with nuance and artistic choices that will definitely turn off a lot of people to the movie. But, this being another preview for my top ten, I absolutely adored it. With long monologues and soliloquies that will have your head spinning if you are not paying attention, Charlie Kaufman really out did himself with this one. I just have to applaud Jessie Buckley specifically but Jesse Plemons as well as they just put on a clinic as this movie sucks you in with such confusion but keeps you enthralled as to what is happening. If you go through the IMDb scores this is where their system "fails", so many people gave it a bad score simply because they did not understand it. This confusing as hell story works so perfectly because I can explain it in its' entirety in one sentence. Watch the movie and come back for the HLS Movie Awards Best Picture nominees list and I will put it their, no spoilers here. (or just follow and dm me on twitter .
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - IMDb Score: 7.1
This movie is an adaption of a stage play and it feels like it, in the cramped settings where it does not feel like a real world. That is why it did not make top ten as some awards list have given it the honor. Where this movie shines is in the story and dialogue. Chadwick Boseman's performance is breathtaking and deserves all the awards love he is receiving for this movie. It is not a posthumous honor, he deserves it. But his performance would not be near as powerful if this dialogue did not cut like a knife. The veracity of the word's and story paint a gruesome story that Chadwick brought to life.
Palm Springs - IMDb Score: 7.4
We all know Bill Murray's Groundhog Day (1993) if not from multiple viewings on a loop then from just simply hearing the time loop story line referenced in pop culture. Many, MANY, times studios have tried to recapture this concept in movies and television, but none have done as well as Palm Springs. Palm Springs takes a concept we have seen dozens of times and reinvented it in a story that I think is superior to the 1993 classic. This movie did what most failed to do, turned the "victim" into their own hero, not some meaning of life "I have to fix my relationship with my parents.." yada yada, a story about people stuck in a time loop who take ownership of it and try to escape. This top ten movie was EASILY, no debate, the best comedy of 2020.
Sound of Metal - IMDb Score: 7.8
Go watch this movie. Trust me. Another top ten preview that everyone needs to see. Quick synopsis without spoilers, a man who is the drummer for a heavy metal band begins to very quickly lose his hearing and begins a new journey down a path of life most of us are unaware of. It is on Amazon go watch.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 - IMDb Score: 7.8
Top 10 preview, huh who would have thought the movies with best screenplays and dialogue would find themselves being great movies worth of being top ten films. Based on the true story involving seven people who were put on trial together for various crimes surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Another movie that I recommend you go watch immediately, anyone can watch and love this impeccable ensemble cast as they all just do an amazing job elevating the already amazing script.
The Vast of Night - IMDb Score: 6.7
Okay, this is the most unique movie on this list because it also fell the lowest on my rankings to nineteenth. But that has nothing to do with the script, that has more to do with this being an indy movie without the money behind it to truly elevate this sci-fi flick. This movie is about one night in 1950's New Mexico a radio DJ and a switchboard operator discover a mysterious sound frequency that is getting picked up by their equipment and they dive into investigating it but might regret ever hearing it in the first place. I really want to give props to Jake Horowitz for his amazing performance going off on long streams of dialogue.
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