Dickie
Awards
How it would all look if I selected the nominees and winners each year!
And the Dickie Award goes to...
I wanted to love likely-Adapted-Screenplay-Oscar-winner The Father, and I didn't love The Father. It could have been so much more than it was - it had a whip-smart construction that wasn't executed as delicately as it could have been, leading to story holes and letdown payoffs. Nomadland ALSO wasn't what it could have been, but the things that worked sang more fully than any of these other choices. Ma Rainey and Miami (adapted from plays, as Prom and Father were) were lovely screenplays, but didn't adapt to the screen nearly as innovatively as they could have.
So almost by default, in this weak year: I go for Nomad, as its only Dickie Award...