Screenwriting Over An Open Flame Dos Forum Favorite Movies

Now that members can actually join, lets get things restarted. What are your favorite movies and tell us about the writer that made it possible.

28 Days Later- For some reason I really admire Alex Garland, I guess because he drifted around a bit wrote a killer novel, got writers block, and then turned his hand to screenplays. Nice life eh? I am also impressed by the way he is not afraid to switch around genres and move from horror to sci-fi. But this film is my favourite of his. It hasn't aged too well, but back when it came out it was very fresh.

It's all the more impressive given it was shot on DV camcorders for a low budget. Some of the scenes are wonderfully shot and there are some genuine scare moments in there.

Graham Yost, writer of Speed, Broken Arrow, and Hard Rain as well as a few other film screenplays and several scripts for TV movies, series, miniseries.

Mostly just because we share a surname, but also because he took Die-Hard-on-a-bus and made it his b***h!  Hearty and motivated characters and conflicts drive each of his screenplays from maverick LAPD cops, intelligent and tough Air Force stealth-fighter pilots, to lowly security guards in a small town and the criminal minds they each encounter are done pretty well, within the limits of genre and what qualifies as passable--if not entirely plausible-- in Amercian movie-making efforts these days.

 

but, ya, mostly because we share a last name, because who can't churn out a summertime blockbuster popcorn flick these days?

David Mamet, writer of many stories and plays that have been made into movies, and screenwriter to classics like "The Untouchables", "The Verdict", and "Glengarry Glen Ross" has some spark that draws me to any project in which he is involved.  He brings real life language to his scripts, remembering that in real life, people don't always speak in complete sentences, nor do they always use words to communicate.  Others of my favorites are "Heist", "Things Change", and "Hoffa". 

Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont did an awesome job w/ Stephen King's novel
Shane Black is known for Lethal Weapon, but to be honest I think by far his best work was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang where he both wrote and directed. if you haven't seen it, its AWESOME
However you feel about Crash feel it's crazy difficult to wrap in so many different storylines and characters, all while making sure that everyone is both a protagonist and an antagonist. Paul Haggis really tore apart every narrative convention and that alone was crazy powerful.
Everything by the Coen brothers is always hilarious but Raising Arizona takes the cake.

They're not movies but for TV: gotta say the Scifi Channel remake of Battlestar Galactica was incredible (i don't know who wrote it), and George R.R. Martin (who moved from screenwriting to novels and then back again) is kicking a*s w/ Game of Thrones