8. Chronicle
Nomination deserved: Best Original Screenplay Chronicle was released way back in January of 2012 and as we all know, especially with looking at the recent releases in theaters this year, January is a garbage month for studios to dump films. After a lengthy stretch of campaigning for the Academy Awards and even producing a would-be Oscar contender, studio's usually take the next month and half to two months off (January and February) to regroup a little bit and hope to make a little money in the process. But Chronicle proved to be a rare gem last year in January and withstood the strong year in films to stay relevant in my mind. Chronicle follows three high school friends (Dan DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan) who acquire telekinetic powers when they stumble upon a crater in the earth. What follows is a brilliant, humane, and honest examination of the effect of having immense "power" can do to a fractured human psyche. Equal parts found footage and superhero film, Chronicle brings an extremely fresh take to two tired genres and inevitably inspiring a new sub-genre in the process, unfortunately. The screenplay does a great job of establishing the characters and their different personalities, and does a great job of hinting and teasing at what's in store for them; and we are just going along for the ride. Everything that happens is believable based on what we've been shown throughout the film and nothing ever seems thrown in just to move the story along, everything that happens is a reaction to an action, which is the mark of a good screenplay.