"Get Out" to Be Considered Comedy at Globes

Chris here. Is it time yet to start pondering the Golden Globes comedy field? One quick bit of potentially major news is that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just officially designated Get Out to compete as a comedy. While this is probably music to team Get Out's ears, I'd argue that it's the appropriate choice - the film is sharp satire first, serious scares second to this viewer. But yes, this gives the film a major leg up to win a major trophy this season in a less competitive field.

This could also mean stronger chances for lead actor Daniel Kaluuya and possibly Allison Williams (who is strangely being campaigned as a lead) for Globes consideration as well. The stiffest competition will probably come from Lady Bird, but what other contenders should we be thinking about? Will The Disaster Artist register beyond James Franco's performance? Could hits like Girls Trip or Baby Driver land in the Best Picture Comedy lineup with less competition? Give us your 2017 Comedy thoughts in the comments!

Interview: Dir. Hana Jusic on How a Best Actress Winner Inspired Croatian Oscar Submission 'Quit Staring at My Plate'

By Jose Solís. 

Marijana, the heroine of Quit Staring at My Plate, doesn’t know she’s allowed a life away from her controlling family. Even though she has a full time job, and is of age, she gives her mother all her wages, spends more than half the day working, and dutifully sits at the dinner table as her parents and unemployed brother criticize her lifestyle. Then one day Marijana finds a sidejob that takes her the furthest she’s been from home in a very long time, and her many awakenings begin. Anchored by a breakthrough performance by Mia Petricevic, the film plays like a moral fable seen through an unsentimental lens. In her first feature film, director Hana Jusic proves that not only does she have an eye for talent (the story of how she found Mia is film worthy) but she also has the kind of confidence in her voice that the world craves. I spoke to Husic about creating Marijana and how two Oscar winning performances inspired the world of her film.  

Read the interview after the jump. 

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Happy 50th to Underappreciated Steve Zahn

by Nathaniel R

"Bad Ape" is still one of the best movie characters of 2017. He comes courtesy of the ambitious War for the Planet of the Apes, various visual effects technicians, and Steve Zahn who brilliantly embodies him. On the actor's 50th birthday a quick list of our 5 favorite Zahn performances over the years. He's one of Hollywood's most reliable (and most adorable) character actors and still has never really gotten his due. 

01 "Sammy Gray" in Reality Bites
02 "Glenn Michaels" in Out of Sight
03 "Lenny Hase" in That Thing You Do!
04 "Bad Ape" in War for the Planet of the Apes
05 "Fuller" in Joy Ride

P.S. Also celebrating birthdays today: actors Whoopi Goldberg, Gerard Butler, Xiaoming Huang, Frances Conroy, Chris Noth, Joe Mantegna, and Shawn Yue, cinematographer Conrad W Hall, and director Gary Marshall; And though they are departed they are not forgotten: author Robert Louis Stevenson, and actors Hermione Baddeley, Oskar Werner, Madeleine Sherwood, and Jean Seberg, and 5 time Oscar nominated set decorator Hal Gausman (Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Untouchables, etcetera)

Beauty vs Beast: Hear Her Roar Ragnarok

Jason from MNPP, championing the second weekend of big-time Thor receipts with some "Beauty vs Beast"  love for its ladies - among all the intergalactic biological diversity that Ragnarok director Taika Waititi brought to the Marvel franchise it shouldn't be discounted the prime roles he gave to several actresses, including the villain Hela (some Australian actress, never heard of her) and the drunk Asgardian runaway Valkyrie (Tessa Thomspon).

As with all the best villains Hela's got a solid claim to righteousness as the throne is hers and her father's a hypocrite... although I do wish Taika had gotten her more mixed into the bulk of the action. And Valkyrie is a fascinating, damaged, complicated character, imperfect in ways Female Heroes don't usually get to be. And even better the two of them have their own antagonistic history so I can easily ask you to choose sides...

PREVIOUSLY From Gods to Angels, last week we tackled the Mormon marriage at the heart of Tony Kushner's play turned HBO movie, and even though Patrick Wilson (and his butt) made a good showing it was Mary Louise Parker's Harper who stole 65% of your hearts. Said row-bin:

"The one thing above all others that I remember from watching this when it first aired was Mary Louise Parker screaming, "MR LIES? MR LIES!" with this gut wrenching need to escape. I still get goosebumps when I think about it. Team Harper, if nothing for that searing memory."

111 days 'til Oscar

Can you believe Germany's WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) was not nominated for Best Foreign Film? It won numerous prizes that year but Oscar skipped it.

According to numerologists 111 is a very powerful number, sometimes called an "angel number" for spiritual guidance. It signifies that a gate of opportunity is opening -- your dreams can become manifest with positive thinking. (Or some such. Don't ask me I'm not a numerologist. I'm just trying to find cute ways to count down to Oscar, okay?)

In other words those current long shot Oscar campaigns need to be harnessing all their positive thinking on this very day! So tell us your #1 dream for Oscar night this coming March 4th. What reality shall you will into being, nomination-wise or statue win? You know mine already.