Three Cheers for Jordan Peele

Chris here with some quick affection for one of the heroes of the season, Jordan Peele. While some (including yours truly) had predicted a Best Picture win for Get Out and its timely instant classic, it ended up being the other genre mashup to take the top prize. After Saturday's big win at the Indie Spirits and the rapturous standing ovation that greeted Peele's Best Original Screenplay win, it certainly looked like it might go all the way and you'd have to imagine it was a very close miss.

But the prize that Peele did win shouldn't go without its own celebration, triumphing in perhaps the tightest race of the night. As Nathaniel already pointed out, it's the category's first winner for an African American and horror film. Remember this time last year when people questioned if a horror film from a comedy outsider could even stay in the conversation? This win makes those reductive talking points look quite silly and serves as a trailblazer in more ways than one. Whatever Peele has coming next, you'd be a fool to doubt him any more.

WGA Goes For "Get Out" and "CMBYN"

Chris here. One of the final major set of prizes before the Oscar ceremony was handed out over the weekend, the Writers' Guild of America awards. The WGA awarded their screenplay honors to Get Out in original and Call Me By Your Name in adapted. Even though the latter's Oscar competition is now even further in the dust, its safest-bet-of-the-night odds to win the big prize will still be an exciting victory lap for its never-awarded legend screenwriter James Ivory.

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Blueprints: "The Big Sick"

This week Jorge dives into one of the WGA Nominees and looks at how this screenplay gives its supporting characters a chance to shine.

 

At its heart, The Big Sick is the story of Kumail and Emily falling in love, falling out of love, and finding each other again. But it's more than a romantic comedy. It’s also a story about the people around Kumail, once Emily falls into a coma and the main relationship is no longer functional. It’s a movie where the supporting cast do more than merely support the lead’s love story; they actually get the chance to be developed into fully fleshed-out characters.

Let’s take a look at one of the most memorable moments in the movie, where a supporting character (Holly Hunter’s brilliantly defined Beth) takes a step into the spotlight, and grabs it...

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WGA Nominations: Logan, Lady Bird, Mudbound, etc...

by Nathaniel R

The WGA nominations are out as as always they must be taken both seriously and not at all when considering Oscar predictions. Due to the WGA's very strict rules they often deem films ineligible that Oscar has no such aversion to (for instance, the WGA never honors animated films... not that any of them are really in the Oscar running this year).

This year's nominees with commentary are after the jump...

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Writers Guild Nominations

Manuel here bringing you the latest guild awards courtesy of the writers in the industry. As with SAG and DGA, what the writers enjoy and choose worthy of a nomination helps those of us intent on predicting the Oscars see what might be in the running not only for the screenplay categories but also what films are gaining steam enough to see the across-the-board support that nets them a Best Picture citation. 

A few caveats, though. Given the Writer's Guild rules, there are a number of high profile screenplays that weren't even in the running for their award and thus their absence should in no way be taken as a slight on their quality or a notch against their potential come Oscar nomination time. As usual, animated fare and foreign language (and foreign-produced) films are the ones least likely to show up here given the eligibility requirements—one must be a member of the WGA in order to be nominated.

Without further ado, find the nominees below with some quick commentary. Scroll further down still if you want to see the TV and New Media categories which were announced back in December.

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