We breakdown the Independent Spirit Awards & Grammy Nominations and what they might mean to the Oscar Race. The Banker is pulled from the AFI Fest, The Irishman & Weathering With You dazzle us with new trailers, we review Honeyland, & Joker gets a sequel? INDY SPIRIT FILM NOMS: Rules and Regulations/Altman Award Exclusion - :30 Quick Stats and Trends - 1:38 Specialty Awards - 4:24 Main Card Nominations + Analysis- 6:40 People’s Choice Award Winners Recap - 15:28 OTHER AWARDS NEWS: Grammy Noms Movie Categories - 23:25 CONTENDER NEWS: Apple Pulls The Banker From AFI Debut - 30:10 Joker Wins Golden Frog (Cinematog Award) - 33:40 Joker 2 Is Happening…Unless It Isn’t - 35:22 The Irishman Will Win @ Capri FF - 43:30 CONTENDER TRAILER REACTIONS: The Irishman Trailer 3 - 44:14 Weathering With You Trailer 1 - 47:23 MAKE THE CASE: Honeyland - 51:52 Your Homework/PLEASE LEAVE US 5*’S - 56:24 What’s Next From MMO/Words of Wisdom - 57:25 Oscar Race Checkpoint covers the Independent Spirit Award & Grammy nominations up top. Which independent films fared the best? What movie music could get a boost in its Oscar chances? Who was snubbed and who might get one of many moments this awards season? We have substantial noms to break down and review for the first third of the episode. Then as we love to do, we report on the film festivals and all the awards season news that could impact red carpets to come. Joker wins the Golden Frog at the Cameraimage Film Fest, & there are conflicting stories on whether or not Joker will get a sequel and what that might mean for the DCEU and/or the DC’s Dark Universe. The Favourite continues to win awards a year after it’s Oscar campaigns. Meanwhile, The Banker gets pulled from the AFI Film Festival, and we wonder if it was a smart play by Apple to do so. The Irishman also wins a screenplay award at the Capri Festival and debuts one more trailer. Then one of us works through his emotions after the new Weathering With You trailer, becoming obsessed with a new song, and we hope Toy Story 4 and Frozen II gain some competition in Best Animated Feature. Finally, we finish with a Make The Case segment reviewing Honeyland. It’s another crowded Oscar Race Checkpoint for your weekend listening. If you’re enjoying our show, please take a few moments to leave us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts. Just click on our icon, scroll down a few seconds, and do click that 5th star. We’ll have another MMO Interviews, OSP’s on A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood & Frozen II, and we’ll certainly continue our weekly MMOW’s and ORC’s in the coming week plus. Do let us know your thoughts on the Indie Spirit & Grammy noms, or anything we covered in this Oscar Race Checkpoint. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & listen to us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you listen to podcasts. When reality sucks, keep watching movies with us. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar!