Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Young Adult.
Diablo Cody struck back against her Juno naysayers with a script that drops the intentionally-cheeky dialogue in favor of a biting lead character and a series of I-can't-believe-this-is-really-happening scenarios. The script is the perfect summation of suburbia, a playground for Cody's characters to run amok. Young Adult feels like a chance and one that pays off brilliantly.
Runners-Up: Will Reiser, 50/50, Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy, Andrew Haigh, Weekend.
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Best Adapted Screenplay: Steven Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball
After last year's The Social Network it should be no surprise that Aaron Sorkin and Schindler's List/Mission: Impossible screenwriter Steven Zaillian were able to mine an emotion out of a story driven by baseball statistics. They're main character Billy Beane (Pitt), strives to leave "feelings" at the door, sticking to number crunching and analysis. But through this exploration, the writers discover what a love for baseball is really about, making for a journey that's riveting, heartwarming and a lot of fun.
Runners-Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants, Christopher Hampton, A Dangerous Method, John Logan, Hugo.
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Best Documentary: The Arbor
Clio Barnard's staged/documentary hybrid, a look in to the life of playwright Andrea Dunbar, uniquely takes the audio from friend and family interviews and couples it with lip-syncing actors. The result is a harrowing tale, the life of a young woman, her tragic death and the children she left behind to live equally difficult lives. The subject alone is intense and fascinating. With actors "performing" those words, it's even more of a punch to the gut. You can currently watch The Arbor on Netflix Instant.
Runners-Up: Page One: Inside the New York Times, Project Nim, How to Die in Oregon.
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Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life jumps from grand depictions of the Big Bang to ten-year-olds running around a 1950's neighborhood to dinosaurs roaming the planet to a butterfly gracefully flying in the sky—and it does so with ease. Director Terrance Malick's poetic cinema experience wouldn't have the emotional impact it does without Emmanuel Lubezki's wondrous cinematography, a flowing picture book of an entire planet's history. Discovery Channel documentaries better step it up in 2012.
Runners-Up: Robert Richardson, Manuel Alberto Claro, Hugo, Melancholia, Eduardo Serra, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.
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Best Foreign Language Film: The Skin I Live In
With so many movies coming out of every country on the globe, it's hard to settle on one Foreign Language movie in a given year (even Angelina Jolie managed to make a great one), but for top honors it's hard to deny the terrifying adrenaline rush of master Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In. A body horror, a character drama, a disturbing look into today's obsession with beauty, the film is an haunting, operatic experience, and features two of the best performances of the year: Elena Anaya as a kidnapped beauty, and Antonio Banderas, who has never been better.
Runners-Up: Miss Bala, In the Land of Blood and Honey, Poetry.
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Best Original Score: Howard Shore, Hugo
Considering individual parts, Scorsese's Hugo may fall to the wayside in 2011, but as a whole film, it's perfection. If there's one cog that truly stands out, it's Howard Shore's delightful French soundtrack. Whimsical and rousing, it's the composers best work since The Lord of the Rings and easily the most inventive of the year. A portal to a classic era of cinema.
Runners-Up: Alexandre Desplat, The Tree of Life, Ludovic Bource, The Artist, Alberto Iglesias, The Skin I Live In.
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Best Original Song: "Star Spangled Man," Captain America: The First Avenger
This category is generally dedicated to animated or kid-centric films, and once again, that's where many of the top tunes of 2011 (The Muppets may have 7 or 8). But the real winner of the year came out of nowhere: a Marvel comic book movie. "Star Spangled Man" was penned by Alan Menken, the showtune wizard behind The Little Mermaid and Newsies. The song's a hilarious interlude in the action—and one that doesn't settle for being a joke. It's not just good, it's toe-tapping good.
Runners-Up: "Life's a Happy Song," The Muppets, "Coeur Volant," Hugo, "Let Me Take You to Rio," Rio;
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