Oscars 2021

[mjb52]

I had a feeling Hopkins would take it. The Father was peaking during voting time and there was so much hate for Boseman’s performance online.

Why?

 

[genevieve]

I had a feeling Hopkins would take it. The Father was peaking during voting time and there was so much hate for Boseman’s performance online.

really?

My secret hope was that Riz Ahmed would win, but knew it was verrry unlikely.

Still, with that outcome, why the heck did they end with that award? yikes

 

[VGThuy]

Why?

A lot of younger movie watchers didn’t get his performance and the theatricality of it. They also don’t get August Wilson and his grand theatre almost Shakespearean like language. A lot of anonymous ballots were echoing what the online people were saying and some thought he was bad in the movie. And when Ma Rainey failed to get a best screenplay and best picture nomination, it kind of showed a lack of support. Best Actor winners tend to be in best picture nominated films. Jeff Bridges in 2008 ISh was the last time an actor won Best Actor without his film getting a best picture nod.

 

[Vash01]

After all the talk about diversity at this year's Is ars the Academy did not want to honor a dead black actor by giving him the Best Lead actor award. I am disgusted.

I would have preferred an actress who won her first Oscar instead of McDormand Who keeps winning. I thought Mulligan and Davis had the odds in their favor. I guess the academy didn't want 3/4 or 4/4 go to minorities.

I feel really bad for Chadwick Bozeman. He will never act again.

 

[mjb52]

A lot of younger movie watchers didn’t get his performance and the theatricality of it. They also don’t get August Wilson and his grand theatre almost Shakespearean like language. A lot of anonymous ballots were echoing what the online people were saying and some thought he was bad in the movie. And when Ma Rainey failed to get a best screenplay and best picture nomination, it kind of showed a lack of support.

Thanks! This is my first time in a long time not entering an Oscar Prediction contest. The weird thing is that I tend to do better in them when I don't watch the films, because I just pick based on buzz rather than my own emotional attachment.

 

[VGThuy]

Thanks! This is my first time in a long time not entering an Oscar Prediction contest. The weird thing is that I tend to do better in them when I don't watch the films, because I just pick based on buzz rather than my own emotional attachment.

I wrote a small break down a few days ago:

The Independent Spirit Awards announced their winners last night:

Best Feature
“Nomadland”
“First Cow”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

Best Female Lead
Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)
Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”)
Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)
Julia Garner (“The Assistant”)
Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)

Someone to Watch Award
Ekwa Msangi “( Farewell Amor”)
David Midell (“The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”)
Annie Silverstein (“Bull”)

Best Male Lead
Riz Ahmed (“The Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Rob Morgan (“Bull”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)
Adarsh Gourav (“The White Tiger”)

Piaget Producers Award
Gerry Kim
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin

Best Director
Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
Eliza Hittman (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)
Kelly Reichardt (“First Cow”)

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Immigration Nation”
“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children”
“City So Real”
“Love Fraud”
“We’re Here”

John Cassavetes Award
“Residue”
“The Killing of Two Lovers”
“La Leyenda Negra”
“Lingua Franca”
“Saint Frances”

Best Cinematography
Joshua James Richards (“Nomadland”)
Jay Keitel (“She Dies Tomorrow”)
Shabier Kirchner (“Bull”)
Michael Latham (“The Assistant”)
Hélène Louvart (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)

Best International Film
“Quo Vadis, Aida?”
“Bacurau”
“The Disciple”
“Night of the Kings”
“Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”

Best Editing
“Nomadland”
“I Carry You With Me”
“The Invisible Man”
“Residue”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”

Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series
Amit Rahav (“Unorthodox”)
Conphidance (“Little America”)
Adam Ali (“Little America”)
Nicco Annan (“P-Valley”)
Harold Torre (“Zero, Zero, Zero”)

Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”)
Elle Fanning (“The Great”)
Abby McEnany (“Work in Progress”)
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (“Never Have I Ever”)
Jordan Kristine Seamón (“We Are Who We Are”)

Best New Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”
“Little America”
“Small Axe”
“A Teacher”
“Unorthodox”

Robert Altman Award
“One Night in Miami”

Best Screenplay
“Promising Young Woman”
“Bad Education”
“Minari”
“The Half of It”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”

Best Documentary
“Crip Camp”
“Collective”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Time”
“The Mole Agent”

Best Supporting Male
Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”)
Colman Domingo (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Orion Lee (“First Cow”)
Glynn Turman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Benedict Wong (“Nine Days”)

Truer Than Fiction Award
Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”)
Cecilia Aldarondo (“Landfall”)

Best First Feature
“The Sound of Metal”
“I Carry You With Me”
“The 40-Year-Old Version”
“Miss Juneteenth”
“Nine Days”

Best First Screenplay
Andy Siara (“Palm Springs”)
Kitty Green (“The Assistant”)
Noah Hutton (“Lapsis”)
Channing Godfrey Peoples (“Miss Juneteenth”)
James Sweeney (“Straight Up”)

Best Supporting Female
Yuh-jung Youn (“Minari”)
Alexis Chikaeze (“Miss Juneteenth”)
Yeri Han (“Minari”)
Valerie Mahaffey (“French Exit”)
Talia Ryder (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”)

-------------------------------

Boseman loses his second award in a row. First to Hopkins at BAFTA and now to Riz Ahmed here. I have a feeling he may not win the Oscar despite his heavy favorite status come Sunday. I'm getting a Glenn Close vibe from it, and I think Anthony Hopkins will take it for The Father. Plus, that film is right up Oscar's alley.

Mulligan's win over McDormand here is pretty indicative of her position. This is how I see the Best Actress race:

1. Mulligan - [Broadcast] Film Critics and Spirit Award winner. Some say she could have won BAFTA if the jury didn't snub her for a nomination. I have a feeling this where they'll reward Promising Young Woman. I know people think it'll win Best Screenplay because it won WGA and every other award for it, but I found the screenplay to be the weakest part of that movie and actors LOVE Sorkin and I can see the largest voting branch surprising us by giving it to The Trial of the Chicago 7. So Mulligan, arguably the best part of PYW, will be where they want to reward the movie. I just have a feeling she's in the strongest position to take it in a small plurality where the voters are so split.

2. Davis - SAG winner. Actors are the biggest branch of the Academy but SAG has thousands more members and aren't exclusive the way the Academy is. Usually, when there's a split between BAFTA and SAG, it's about 50/50 on who wins.) Davis has been campaigning very well this season making herself very likable and approachable and has been advocating for all kinds of social justice campaigns for Asian-Americans, spearheading talks with women in film of all ages/roles/races/countries of origins/etc., and the truth is that it's so ridiculous that we haven't had a black actress win Best Actress since Halle Berry in 2001 (2002 ceremony). That said Ma Rainey doesn't seem to be appreciated at all by most of the online film community (they don't get that August Wilson's plays and dialogue is Shakespearean in grandeur, so it's not supposed to be grounded. They also don't seem to respect his works or him as THE African-American playwright), which also hurts Boseman. Also, her character is borderline supporting though I'd argue you can argue either way.

3. McDormand - BAFTA winner. Probably has the most critics awards before the Globes started. Her issue is that people don't usually award a third Oscar so soon after a second and NOT for a low-key subtle grounded performance. However, she's in the Best Pic and Best Director favorite and she carried the film on her two shoulders.

4. Andra Day - Golden Globe - Drama winner. Usually, the drama winner goes on to win multiple awards, but Day, a first-time actress in a movie with bad to middling reviews who says she won't act again, has some things going against her. However, she's in a very tragic/dramatic biopic and has the meatiest most scene chewing performance (thanks to the overwrought direction) and add that to her singing Billie Holiday's songs herself, it's hard to count her out since all of that is Oscar cat nip.

5. Kirby. Venice Film Festival - Volpi Cup for Best Actress winner. Hasn't won any major televised awards but she's the only one other than McDormand (if you don't count the two indie awards) who has been nominated for EVERYTHING. Like Mulligan, she's been making a name for herself among her British peers (and they vote as a bloc sometimes) and she recently had success in The Crown playing Princess Margaret and is known for her theatre work in respected productions. She has a few projects lined up and some may set her up with this award. That said, she hasn't actually won anything since the Venice Film Festival. That said, winning Venice is a big deal as multiple Venice Volpi Cup winners for Best Actress have successfully gone on to win the Oscar this decade.

As for Best Director, I think Chloe Zhao has this in the bag.

Best Picture, Nomadland is still the favorite, but I see a potential upset from The Father since this movie is peaking right during voting time. People seem to be going nuts over it and the subject matter is certainly Oscar bait. Plus, it has a prestigious cast, it's British, has the usual western-style dramaturgical storytelling format while being somewhat new as

Spoiler

the film is told in Hopkins' characters' POV so we don't what we're seeing is accurate or not since he's suffering from dementia

. However, out of all the films nominated, I think Nomadland will be the one we'll most likely be talking about, if at all, because of automation taking over our industries and so many of us will be finding ourselves in the gig economy and needing to be more mobile.

Best Supporting Actor will most likely go to Daniel Kaluuya thought I personally would vote for Paul Raci. This is one of the few times I don't mind category fraud in the case of Lakeith Stanfield because he himself didn't campaign to be put in supporting. The thousands of members in the Actor's branch somehow made that happen.

Best Supporting Actress, this looks like it'll be Youn Yuh-Jung's to lose. Before, this was as open as Best Actress. Non-nominated Jodie Foster won the Globe, Maria Bakalova failed to win her Golden Globe lead Actress in a comedy category but went on to win the critic's choice, and early and small frontrunner Amanda Seyfried failed to get nominated at SAG. Then there was Glenn Close, who although receiving a Razzie nomination for this performance in a film people are hating, always has some support from her fellow actors and the fact that she's on 8 nominations and 0 wins will always make her some sort of threat. But with a SAG, BAFTA, and now Spirits win, I think Youn has it now. Some think Olivia Colman may be spoiler and although she was snubbed at BAFTA (of all places), London critics, Golden Globes, etc. The Father has been hitting its peak. I think the biggest thing about Youn is that Oscar almost NEVER awards Asian actors and don't even nominate them in Best Picture contenders/winners. The tide may be changing here with two East Asian actors nominated in a Best Pic contender and Riz Ahmed being a South Asian nominee.

I thought Mulligan might have taken it but also wrote why Davis and McDormand could have as well.

 

[olympic]

Can someone tell me if Nomadland is a good film and deserved the award? I really don't want to watch it.

McDormand looks like Nathan Chen's costume took on the living embodiment of a woman

ETA - I saw Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Father. I agree w/ the result here: I just thought there was more going on w/ Hopkins' performance, even if Boseman gave a good performance. Hopkins dominated the picture while Boseman was kind of underneath Viola Davis, if that makes sense

 

[VGThuy]

Can someone tell me if Nomadland is a good film and deserved the award? I really don't want to watch it.

McDormand looks like Nathan Chen's costume took on the living embodiment of a woman

ETA - I saw Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Father. I agree w/ the result here: I just thought there was more going on w/ Hopkins' performance, even if Boseman gave a good performance. Hopkins dominated the picture while Boseman was kind of underneath Viola Davis, if that makes sense

I loved it but If you don’t want to watch Nomadland then don’t. It doesn’t help to watch a movie you don’t want to watch already because I don’t think it’ll change your mind about it.

 

[mjb52]

Close should have won for Dangerous Liasons! Wow, Malkovich wasn't even nominated. Ah, I see that was the year Jodie Foster won for The Accused. I haven't seen it, but I can imagine that was tough to beat.

 

[VGThuy]

Speaking of Close:

Glenn Close Da Butt Dance At The Oscars 2021

Glenn Close shows off her dancing skills and her knowledge of "Da Butt" by E.U. from Spike Lee's film "School Daze" at the 2021 Oscars. Lil Rel Howery got Gl...

youtu.be

 

[skatfan]

really?

My secret hope was that Riz Ahmed would win, but knew it was verrry unlikely.

Still, with that outcome, why the heck did they end with that award? yikes

I was SO confused when they didn’t end with best picture. Some producer took a gamble on a posthumous Bozeman win as being a perfect close, and then it all deflated because Hopkins wasn’t there. Stupid...

I hated this Oscars. Nothing was bigger than life, very few movie clips, and yet if still managed to go over time. Very pedestrian.

 

[genevieve]

Can someone tell me if Nomadland is a good film and deserved the award? I really don't want to watch it.

Does it matter if it's a good film or not, then?

I just watched it, and it was beautiful, and also sad. Maybe wistful is more apt. If you need a lot of plot (or, you know, some plot), it may not be for you.

 

[olympic]

I loved it but If you don’t want to watch Nomadland then don’t. It doesn’t help to watch a movie you don’t want to watch already because I don’t think it’ll change your mind about it.

It was a joke.

But honestly, I feel compelled to watch films that are highly regarded and give them a try, but that is hard when I'm not a fan of the plotline or the actors. That's all.

 

[olympic]

Does it matter if it's a good film or not, then?

I just watched it, and it was beautiful, and also sad. Maybe wistful is more apt. If you need a lot of plot (or, you know, some plot), it may not be for you.

See above. When you say 'some plot', does that mean Nomadland has very little or no plot?

 

[Jenny]

Enjoying reading all your comments on the show this morning! I really enjoyed the show, mind you I was half out of my head so anything would have amused me, but overall:

Loved the pace, loved the look of the auditorium (yes I want one of those lamps too) - really vintage, back when the Oscars were a little dinner among friends in Old Hollywood.

Didn't miss the clips of anything. I have seen very few of these movies and many of the nominees were unfamiliar to me anyway, so at this point I don't want to waste time trying to get up to speed with the clips. And this way, the acceptance speeches were longer - none of that desperate spitting out of a long list of names as the winner watches the giant countdown clock.

Loved Regina and Laura and OMG Rita Moreno! To me, she'll always be one of the Electric Company but oh my goodness she looked great and you can certainly see why she's had such a long, varied and successful career - so poised and well spoken, yet natural and engaging.

As for Halle Berry, I do applaud those who choose to go without makeup and celebrate inner beauty and all that, but can we all just remind ourselves for a moment of how fabulous she is capable of looking? Scroll down

Quest Love I think got into it as the show went on - some of those music clips were truly bizarre juxtaposed with whatever movie just won or speech we just heard.

Agree the In Memoriam was WAY too fast, and seemed to be edited for the music rather than the prominence of those who were shown. I did like that they subtitled everyone though - in the past they've only done that with the behind the scenes people, and it's been kinda elitist I think.

Thought it was hilarious to mix up the customary order of the awards - like, don't even think about going to the bathroom because you never know what's coming up next! Some said they thought it was anticlimactic or not enough of an ending, but at the same time, the usual ending of waiting for 30+ people to make their way to the stage for Best Picture while it's already running over time and you just want to get to bed never felt like ending on an exciting note either.

Also, I don't really get the point of post-humus awards. Yes yes there are reasons for it, but I believe in giving people compliments and thanks and honours when they can actually receive them.

 

[genevieve]

See above. When you say 'some plot', does that mean Nomadland has very little or no plot?

very, very little plot

As for Halle Berry, I do applaud those who choose to go without makeup and celebrate inner beauty and all that, but can we all just remind ourselves for a moment of how fabulous she is capable of looking? Scroll down

was she not wearing makeup? I was just wondering who chose the ugly dress and that aggressively weird hairstyle. Her face was flawless, as usual. And yes, her look the year she won her Oscar was astounding.

 

[Jenny]

You might be right - looking at the pictures now, yes there's eye makeup there. Last night under the lighting and compared to the other women, the impression was no makeup, particularly her complexion, but again, looking at recent pictures of her online, it seems to be her look at this point.

Here's another stunner look of hers.

 

[genevieve]

Anthony Hopkins's belated speech:

Anthony Hopkins on Instagram: "Thank you to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sony Pictures Classics, Florian Zeller, UTA, Jeremy Barber, Christine Crais, Mitch Smelkinson, Juan Miguel Arias, Tara Arroyave, my wife, Stella, and family.

598K likes, 26K comments - anthonyhopkins on April 25, 2021: "Thank you to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sony Pictures Classics, Florian Zeller, UTA, Jeremy Barber, Christine Crais, Mitch Smelkinson, Juan Miguel Arias, Tara Arroyave, my wife, Stella, and family.".

www.instagram.com

He clearly expected Chadwick Boseman to win as much as the producers of the Oscars did

 

[screech]

i haven't seen any of the films, and I don't know who should have won best actor, however the comments online about the reason Chadwick didn't win are what bothers me. People are saying things like 'how couldn't they honour a dead man, he has no more chances', which rubs me the wrong way, because if he had won it should have been for his performance, not because he died. And 'we all know the reason he didn't win... if not him, it should have been Steven or Riz' Which also bothers me, because someone should win based on their performance, and not the colour of their skin.

Also, the thing that annoyed me most of all about the show is that they didn't include Adam Schlesinger in the In Memoriam segment. The guy was a previous nominee, for the absolutely brilliant That Thing You Do!. How hard must it be to write a song that is played about 10 times in a 2 hour movie, and NOT have people get sick of it?

In any case, the Oscars this year were missing that spark for me. However, I loved hearing the anecdotes about the nominees, and I loved the lounge look of the event.

 

[skatingfan5]

Q

I'm expecting they want to end the show with Chadwick Boseman

Since I didn’t have a way to watch the Oscars last night, my sister was giving me the pop over the phone (beginning with the red carpet). When I read your post I relayed it to her and said that the producers must have broken the “secret results” because if Chadwick didn’t win ... I was already annoyed with the messing with the order putting best director so early in the show. And while Glenn Close was great, I would have traded out that trivia game for more time spent for the In Memorium reel and having clips and the songs in the actual show, not before (which I missed ).

 

[skatingfan5]

I just watched it, and it was beautiful, and also sad. Maybe wistful is more apt. If you need a lot of plot (or, you know, some plot), it may not be for you.

I really want to see Nomadland — my sister saw it when it first was streaming and really liked it. In my non-streaming life, I was interested enough to check out the book that inspired it which I found engrossing and am now even more eager to see the movie. It would be very hard to have a traditional “plot” for a depiction those living this nomadic and unpredictable life with no neat and tidy end of a “story.”

ETA: Disclaimer: I like character driven films but realize that others may prefer more fast-paced movies. I also love documentaries and am happy that “My Octopus Teacher” won (I watched it with my sister when I was visiting her for several months late last year).

 

[genevieve]

And while Glenn Close was great, I would have traded out that trivia game for more time spent for the In Memorium reel and having clips and the songs in the actual show, not before (which I missed ).

So much this. That whole music trivia was unnecessary, and while it provided a twitter-worthy moment for Glenn Close, there were too many other things that were omitted to give precious minutes to a gag that was just ok.

 

[overedge]

I get wanting to shake things up, but Best Picture is the overall grand award. It really should have been the last one given out.

I missed the orchestra, even though I [heart] Questlove.

I was really happy to see Union Station being shown off. It's such a beautiful building, and the set designers did a fantastic job of capturing its feel and look.

 

[clairecloutier]

China censors news about the Oscars and Chloe Zhao's directing win:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chloe-zhao-oscars-china/2021/04/26/820919fa-a63b-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html

 

[Vash01]

I am very upset that Chadwick was not given the best actor Oscar. It was his last chance. Reeks of racism, IMO. The Academy is racist. It's not new. I have decided not to watch the Oscars in the future. I can watch the movies and make my own decisions.

 

[annie720]

China censors news about the Oscars and Chloe Zhao's directing win:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chloe-zhao-oscars-china/2021/04/26/820919fa-a63b-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html

I had read a while back that China planned to block the awards due to the nomination of the documentary short on the Hong King protests.

 

[Judy]

Wow I had totally forgotten about the Oscars! Anything worth seeing? Our theatres are closed.

 

[allezfred]

I am very upset that Chadwick was not given the best actor Oscar. It was his last chance.

Well he’s dead so it’s not like winning it was going to give him career opportunities.

 

[Parsley Sage]

I get wanting to shake things up, but Best Picture is the overall grand award. It really should have been the last one given out.

I missed the orchestra, even though I [heart] Questlove.

I was really happy to see Union Station being shown off. It's such a beautiful building, and the set designers did a fantastic job of capturing its feel and look.

Yes, Best Picture should be last - the culmination of the night, a bunch of happy people on stage.
Director should have been later to celebrate the 2nd woman and 1st Asian woman to win.

 

[Jenny]

Yes, Best Picture should be last - the culmination of the night, a bunch of happy people on stage.
Director should have been later to celebrate the 2nd woman and 1st Asian woman to win.

In theory though, no one but the accounting firm knows the winners in advance, so had they done that, it would have indicated that the winners were known to the show's producers and production designers well before the ceremony.

That being said, I did think that several of the winners seemed well prepared for their speeches, and it looked like at least some had their speeches pre-loaded into teleprompters, so maybe this year was different. There was also a lot more synchronization required to ensure that people in other locations were in place and ready to go when the camera went to them.