“The Hurt Locker, “Up in the Air”, “The Cove” win at WGA

As expected, The Hurt Locker took  the WGA prize for best original screenplay in a field lacking the WGA-disqualified close rival/Oscar threat Inglourious Basterds. Suffice to say those waters will remain muddied all the way to March 7, when the Oscars are finally handed out. Up in the Air continues its unhurried march to its solitary Oscar win, while The Cove took out honours on the documentary side.

 It must be noted that for all those keeping score, no film has ever won Best Picture without taking one of the three major guilds (DGA, PGA, SAG) or the ACE along the way. The Hurt Locker has all of them; Avatar none. Whether Avatar can still pull off a Best Picture victory remains to be seen, but this may just be the final nail in the coffin for Cameron’s “Avatanic” blockbuster where Best Picture is concerned.