7. Looper
Nomination deserved: Best Original Screenplay Looper is one of the best sci-fi films to come out in the last few years, along with District 9. It was smart and thought provoking, and featured a barely recognizable Joseph Gordon Levitt playing a believably younger version of Bruce Willis, who is tasked with killing his older self once his "loop is closed" by the mob. What follows is an ingenious entry into the time travel canon of films whose screenplay was severely overlooked by the Academy. One of the things that make the screenplay for Looper so great is its refusal to explain and hand the audience answers. It forces you to answer the questions you have by watching and (gasp!) paying attention to little details. Couple that with interesting, complex characters, some moral ambiguity, and you have one of the better sci-fi films of the last 10 years. At least the Writers Guild of America (WGA) recognized the screenplay by nominating it for Best Original Screenplay for their upcoming WGA Awards.