Oscar Race Checkpoint returns with our WGA Award Noms deep dive, a Mee-Maw centric breakdown of all the latest frizz from the Make-Up & Hair Stylists Guild, and then we revisit & re-review Sound of Metal, each of us with new takeaways & favorite performances.

What is This Episode? - Top of Show

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WGA NOMINATIONS ANALYSIS:

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Original Screenplay Category:

Noms - 2:24

Palm Springs is Having a Moment - 3:50

Judas and the Strong Showing - 5:28

Where’s Minari, Mank, and Soul? - 7:47

Recent WGA Original History + Stats - 10:07

Snubs - 13:14

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Adapted Screenplay Category:

Ineligible Contender Snubs - 18:28

(And What Nomadland Winning Globes Would Mean)

Noms - 26:18

History and Stats - 31:07

Eligible Snubs - 32:36

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MAKEUP + HAIRSTYLING GUILD/SHORTLIST NOMS - 36:20

(incl AlsoMike’s Hillbilly Elegy Rant Chapter 2 - 37:27)

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RE-VISITING SOUND OF METAL:

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Spoiler-Free Review:

Cast, Crew, + Review Scores - 43:27

Re-watch Experiences/Awards Resume - 47:05

Performances - 51:58

Sound - 56:48

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Where To Find Us/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 58:14

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Spoiler-Filled Review:

More Sound - 58:47

Enthralling + Boring + Formulaic + Good - 1:01:47

The Amazing Paul Raci - 1:05:10

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Words of Wisdom/What’s Coming Next - 1:11:25

It’s a major Writers Guild of America Awards nomination deep dive to start off the show, analyzing all of the potential Oscar crossovers for March 15th and the Original / Adapted Screenplay categories. We reference recent history, crossover nom/nom stats, how many winners have gone from guild to academy, and we put your brain in a pretzel because we love so many of these WGA nominations. There are indeed stats for & against their crossing over to the Oscars. But we also have quite a lot to talk about with all the snubs and more importantly, all the ineligible contenders in these screenplay categories.

The MUAHS awards AKA the Make-Up & Hair Stylists guild awards have higher stakes than usual this year because how they whittle down their shortlist may enable a certain beloved someone to win her first Oscar. So we rant about this for the second time in 3 episodes.

Then we needed to take the last half hour and revisit a contending film that we already reviewed back in the fall in Sound Of Metal. This Amazon Prime Original deserved a further study from us. So we dive into its awards resume and re-review all of its chances. We do about 15 minutes of non-spoilers followed by a breakdown of a few of the big scenes after a spoiler warning, and if you missed the outro, stay tuned for more revisits in future episodes. Nomadland is on our schedule for next week after we dive into our Golden Globes Preview Special, where we’ll discuss all kinds of gambling odds and glorious vices.

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Otherwise, and as always, we want to hear your thoughts on anything or everything we discussed in this episode. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.