The Annual Academy Awards - General Discussion

[Avabelle]

2 minutes ago, PepSinger said:

Let's be real. No way, no how was the Academy going to allow actors of color to sweep all four acting categories.

Do you mean the voters? Because i felt the producers of the show were relying on him winning for the end of the show.

[Diana Berry]

3 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

I'm glad I got to spend this weird - really weird - evening with everyone here.  Certainly made it more fun. 

Till the next one, whatever it is ... not the Tonys, maybe the Kennedy Center Honors? 

 

 

3 minutes ago, wallflower75 said:

Well, this has definitely been different.  Glad to share it with you guys, and see you back here next time!!

Sam bat time same bat channel.  Take care all. 

[Lady Whistleup]

1 minute ago, Slade347 said:

I know Twitter and what not is going to get really pissed, which is a shame because Hopkins was fucking amazing and deserved this award.

Maybe not more than Bosman, but he deserved it. 

Anthony Hopkins is amazing in so many things though, I mean he probably should have won an Emmy for Westworld. I still think Chadwick deserved the award.

[Eureka]

Just now, Avabelle said:

Do you mean the voters? Because i felt the producers of the show were relying on him winning for the end of the show.

They totally were thinking that was how it was going to go.

[blackwing]

1 minute ago, Artsda said:

The fact Anthony didn't show probed why show should end with best picture.

He was in the UK auditorium earlier when the show started... but that would have been a late night already for him, and now it’s like 4 or 5 am there.

I was really rooting for Viola and Chadwick, I thought they were both amazing in “Ma Rainey”.  I thought they were going to win, especially after SAGs.  Everyone picked Boseman the entire season.  I am sure Hopkins deserved it, just surprised.

[scarynikki12]

4 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

Also why didn't Jaqaoin give a spiel on each nominees life? He could have explained when he was talking but i wasn't listening.

Maybe he peeked and knew it was better to speed it along?

[ShadowHunter]

Twitter is furious. I mean that site is nothing but people being annoyed but they are MAD. Anthony Hopkins is even getting hate.

[ebk57]

Two quotes from the NYT live feed that made me laugh:

There’s a reason why they call it a Hollywood ending. This wasn’t one of those.

That was the “Game of Thrones” of Oscar endings.

Edited April 26, 2021 by ebk57

[Avabelle]

Just now, ShadowHunter said:

Anthony Hopkins is even getting hate.

That's where twitter and "fans" lose me. It's not Hopkins fault this happened. It's also not like his performance didn't deserve it either. 

[galaxygirl76]

2 minutes ago, susannah said:

I'm sorry but Frances' hair looks like she just got out of bed, and that black sack is in no way flattering.

I feel like she rolls out of bed on Award day morning, looks in the mirror, and goes 'that looks alright, let's go'

 

 

1 minute ago, scarynikki12 said:

Well at least this guarantees that Picture will forevermore be the final award. 

As it should be.

[truthaboutluv]

So my shock rendered me incapable of posting. Well, for anyone who thinks the producers clearly know the results already, this proved otherwise. It was clear as day that they left Actor for last with the expectation that Chadwick was winning. 

I...I'm not sure how I feel. I mean it's Anthony Hopkins so of course he was brilliant and I can't say he was underserving. But man, this hurts. It hurts knowing that Chadwick will never have another chance again, that his life was cut so short and he was brilliant in Ma Rainey. 

Edited April 26, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[ShadowHunter]

1 minute ago, Avabelle said:

That's where twitter and "fans" lose me. It's not Hopkins fault this happened. It's also not like his performance didn't deserve it either. 

Exactly. You can't have a logical discussion with some people anymore.

[mtlchick]

6 minutes ago, PepSinger said:

Let's be real. No way, no how was the Academy going to allow actors of color to sweep all four acting categories.

SAG had it right.

Now mind you, I have yet to see either film. But this is my thinking.

 

SAG is voted on all members of the union. Which is what, 35000 +

The Academy is voted by those actors in the academy which is maybe 6000. Which is probably still very old, male and white.

However, I think the topic of dementia hits close to home for Academy members. A few could be experiencing it now. Or they have friends and relatives who went through It and connected to it because it matched the emotions of seeing someone who love slipping away from themselves.

I see this as one big and real reason it went to Hopkins in the end.

it has been a fun night, peeps. On to the next one!

[Avabelle]

3 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

But man, this hurts. It hurts knowing that Chadwick will never have another chance again, that he life was cut so short and he was brilliant in Ma Rainey. 

This! I just keep thinking of his widow who had probably prepared a moving speech in the expectation of him winning. I know at the end of the day this is business. Both performances were exellent and I don't think someone should have the edge for an award because of tragic circumstances... but still....

Edited April 26, 2021 by Avabelle

[Lady Whistleup]

2 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

So my shock rendered me incapable of posting. Well, for anyone who thinks the producers clearly know the results already, this proved otherwise. It was clear as day that they left Actor for last with the expectation that Chadwick was winning. 

I...I'm not sure how I feel. I mean it's Anthony Hopkins so of course he was brilliant and I can't say he was underserving. But man, this hurts. It hurts knowing that Chadwick will never have another chance again, that he life was cut so short and he was brilliant in Ma Rainey. 

I mean if you wanted to give a lifetime achievement I felt like Chadwick Boseman also deserved Best Actor as a lifetime achievement. Because everything in his opus was high quality despite his early demise.

[Artsda]

12 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

Also why didn't Jaqaoin give a spiel on each nominees life? He could have explained when he was talking but i wasn't listening.

He didn't want to. lol

[Quickbeam]

I have a friend who is an academy member. She mentioned that there is a real bias against posthumous awards. Yes it has happened but it’s a tough hill to climb. 

[Avabelle]

Just now, Quickbeam said:

She mentioned that there is a real bias against posthumous awards.

Against? I'm surprised. 

[vb68]

What a very strange Academy Awards. Really rather bizarre in several aspects.

Sir Anthony Hopkins couldn't even get situated in front of a camera in England?  

And now Frances McDormand has four total wins. And all of her performances are in the leading category. Eat your heart out, Meryl.

Meanwhile Glenn Close still has bupkis.  But at least she can do the Da Butt.

Edited April 26, 2021 by vb68

[Cotypubby]

Ha! I LOVE that Anthony Hopkins won! He easily gave what I thought was the best performance of the year, and one of the top of his whole career! It annoyed me so much that it seemed a foregone conclusion that Chadwick deserved the award because he died. I 100% thought Chadwick would win but I would have voted for Hopkins and I’m glad the voters felt the same way.

I also cackled so hard at the failure of the producers plan of moving the awards around for a presumed Chadwick tribute finale. 

[Nordly Beaumont]

3 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

I just keep thinking of his widow who had probably prepared a moving speech in the expectation of him winning.

I'm sure she did, but for all we know she may be relieved to not have to go through that again.

[Dr.OO7]

Just now, Quickbeam said:

I have a friend who is an academy member. She mentioned that there is a real bias against posthumous awards. Yes it has happened but it’s a tough hill to climb. 

It was pretty easy for Heath Ledger. 

Not that his performance wasn't excellent, but I don't think he'd even had been nominated had he not died.

[Avabelle]

1 minute ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

I'm sure she did, but for all we know she may be relieved to not have to go through that again.

Very true. I'm probably just projecting how I'd feel if it was my own hubby.

[Lady Whistleup]

1 minute ago, Dr.OO7 said:

It was pretty easy for Heath Ledger. 

Not that his performance wasn't excellent, but I don't think he'd even had been nominated had he not died.

Heath Ledger was also them righting a wrong because he didn't get it for Brokeback Mountain and that was one of the greatest screen performances of all time.

[Avabelle]

4 minutes ago, Dr.OO7 said:

Not that his performance wasn't excellent, but I don't think he'd even had been nominated had he not died.

I'm not so sure. It's been years since I watched The Dark Knight but I do think he was phenomenal in it. Unrecognisable. I think he would have definitely been on the shortlist and been nominated for the lead up awards ie SAG, Globes. He might not have won though but I can't remember who he was up against that year.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Avabelle

[blackwing]

I don’t doubt that Hopkins is amazing.  But speaking as someone who only knew Boseman as Black Panther, I watched “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and I thought he was a revelation.

Upthread it was suggested that both Davis and Boseman were actually Supporting performances.   I can see that, it was an ensemble piece, although these two were the biggest roles in the ensemble.  I do wonder if they would have been able to beat out Youn and Kaluuya if they had been nominated as Supporting.

[ichbin]

3 minutes ago, vb68 said:

What a very strange Academy Awards. Really rather bizarre in several aspects.

I REALLY wanted Chadwick Boseman to win.

Sir Anthony Hopkins couldn't even get situated in front of a camera in England?  

Considering he is an 83 year old man and it was around 4 am there....

I saw Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.  I thought Boseman was good but that he had a supporting actor role. If he had been nominated for that I would bet he would have won. 

[Cotypubby]

Anthony Hopkins doesn’t go to award shows anymore. He wasn’t at the BAFTAs either, where he also won Best Actor. I don’t think he was at the Oscars the last few times he was nominated either. 

[galaxygirl76]

5 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

I'm not so sure. It's been years since I watched The Dark Knight but I do think he was phenomenal in it. Unrecognisable. I think he would have definitely been on the shortlist and been nominated for the lead up awards ie SAG, Globes. He might not have won though but I can't remember who he was up against that year.

I had to go check because the only other nominee I remembered was RDJ for Tropic Thunder. The others were Michael Shannon(Revolutionary Road), Josh Brolin(Milk), and Philip Seymour Hoffman(Doubt).

[thuganomics85]

8 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

I'm not so sure. It's been years since I watched The Dark Knight but I do think he was phenomenal in it. Unrecognisable. I think he would have definitely been on the shortlist and been nominated for the lead up awards ie SAG, Globes. He might not have won though but I can't remember who he was up against that year.

Dawns on nerd glasses/checks IMDB: Ledger's competition was Josh Brolin (Milk), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), and Roberty Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder.)  So, even if he didn't pass, I could still see Ledger having a shot with that group, unless voters wanted to give PSM another one (I heard he was great in that), or Downey Jr. rode a "He was a former struggling addict, but now he's made" path to victory.  Still think Ledger deserved it.

I do think it was just the competition this year that hurt Boseman's chances.  I thought he was excellent and deserved it.  But Hopkins was honestly just as great in his own way, and I can't blame voters for wanting to recognize it.

In the end, I guess all I can really say for now is screw cancer for taking Boseman away from us already.  Even had he not won for this role, I suspect he had plenty of great roles and performances  ready for us in future projects that will sadly never happen.  Damn that disease hard.

Edited April 26, 2021 by thuganomics85

[Lady Whistleup]

1 minute ago, Cotypubby said:

Anthony Hopkins doesn’t go to award shows anymore. He wasn’t at the BAFTAs either, where he also won Best Actor. I don’t think he was at the Oscars the last few times he was nominated either. 

It's weird because he has a very charming instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/anthonyhopkins/

One of the few actors who posts more than a never-ending series of extremely filtered selfies.

[shoregirl]

I would like to see someone ask the producers about some of their choices this year. Not showing a lot of clips was bizarre. Switching Best Picture and the Acting awards was dumb and came back and bit them in the ads.

[Avabelle]

I’d say whoever made the above decisions won’t be back next year. Also the music Trivia but which wasn’t funny whatsoever and ate into the In Memoriam tribute. 
 

It was all so earnest. The only one who seemed elated to be there was Daniel. The rest were all very morbid.

[Artsda]

 

[LexieLily]

I don't watch awards shows because I inevitably have never heard of or never watched 99% of the movies, but it is all over Twitter that something super-dramatic happened?

[Avabelle]

Variety makes some good points but I disagree that Regina King was any better than the rest of the presenters. I thought she was just as bad as the rest of them. I also think that they were given impossible material to Make interesting. 
 

I also think the show is better with a host. They don’t have to sing and dance but It needs an anchor.

[blackwing]

30 minutes ago, Cotypubby said:

Anthony Hopkins doesn’t go to award shows anymore. He wasn’t at the BAFTAs either, where he also won Best Actor. I don’t think he was at the Oscars the last few times he was nominated either. 

Wasn’t he there in the earlier hours?  I could have sworn there was a shot of the British Film Institute auditorium and he was there.  At least I thought it was him?

[Lady Whistleup]

1 minute ago, blackwing said:

Wasn’t he there in the earlier hours?  I could have sworn there was a shot of the British Film Institute auditorium and he was there.  At least I thought it was him?

Yeah he probably fell asleep. It's like 4 am in London and he's 83.

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Riz Ahmed is presenting for Best Sound, so it's going to get very weird if Sound of Music doesn't actually win.

LOL Sound of music.

[Steph J]

46 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

Heath Ledger was also them righting a wrong because he didn't get it for Brokeback Mountain and that was one of the greatest screen performances of all time.

Ledger also had the advantage of that year's backlash against The Dark Knight not getting a Best Picture nomination, which resulted in the change in the number of BP nominees from 5 to up to 10 starting the following year.

[Ms Blue Jay]

17 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

I don't watch awards shows because I inevitably have never heard of or never watched 99% of the movies, but it is all over Twitter that something super-dramatic happened?

I think a lot of people expected Chadwick to win.  They saved Best Actress and Actor for last, AFTER Best Picture, which is very weird and confusing, and Anthony Hopkins won instead of Chadwick.  Then Questlove said "Good night".

The Oscars ALWAYS ends abruptly after the last category.  So I'm not sure what everyone expected.   Besides Chadwick winning.  If Chadwick won it would still be an abrupt ending.  Anthony not being there means JP accepts the award for him.  Chadwick winning would have a speech by his wife.  (And then the show would still end abruptly.)

[Cotypubby]

7 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Wasn’t he there in the earlier hours?  I could have sworn there was a shot of the British Film Institute auditorium and he was there.  At least I thought it was him?

No I don’t think so. They didn’t show him when Florian Zeller won Screenplay and they showed all the other people from that film who were at the British Film Institute. 

[vb68]

Dear Academy, please get a host next year.

Thank you.

[Sarah 103]

4 hours ago, blackwing said:

I could have sworn that the Oscars had said a week or two ago that there would be no Zooming in to accept an award, there was only an in-person option.  I guess they changed their minds because there are clearly nominees Zooming in.  And winners, like the French guy who looked like he was outside in the dark on a rooftop.

My understanding is that the Oscars established satelite studios around the world, so all of the nominees outside of Hollywood would have professional make-up, lighting, and camera work. 

3 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

Brad Pitt is aging like a fine wine. 

Agreed. I never thought he was cute/good looking until Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

I missed clips or images of the people's work, especially for visual categories like hair/make-up, costumes, and production design. I understand they couldn't have a full orchestra, but why couldn't they give Questlove the music from the nominated movies to play based on who won? 

Is there a reason Questlove wasn't allowed to play people off, because it felt like some of the speeches went on way too long.

I was dissapointed One Night In Miami didn't win anything. I was pleased that Ma Rainey's Black Bottom won some of the awards it was nominated for. 

This was not a great year for the Oscards, but hopefully things will improve next year when they are back in the regular location and return to normal. 

 

 

[Hiyo]

Quote

Maybe not more than Bosman, but he deserved it. 

I'll say it. Hopkins deserved the win more than Boseman.

Quote

And now Frances McDormand has four total wins. And all of her performances are in the leading category. Eat your heart out, Meryl.

I think Frances now has the second most wins for a single acting category among women, after Hepburn.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Hiyo

[dmeets]

So fitting that they bucked tradition and rearranged the big awards to end on a touching Chadwick Bozeman tribute, and instead got to end the night on an Anthony Hopkins no-show. 

Whoever was responsible for putting together the In Memoriam segment should be banned from ever doing it again. Not only was the music wrong, but zooming through and showing some for less than a second is despicable. 

Didn’t like Quest,ove playing dj instead of doing music clips. Didn’t fit the vibe at all and I love hearing classic film scores. Seemed like a lame way to try and be more hip. Give it up, Academy, you’ll never be edgy. I mean, look at your last two award winners of the night, for crying out loud!

Did they have a fan blowing in Isla Fisher's face to make it look like she and her husband were actually on a balcony overlooking the Sydney Opera House rather than in front of a green screen?

Last but not least, shout out to Daniel Kaluuya’s parents’ sex life! 

Edited April 26, 2021 by dmeets

[NUguy514]

I cannot recommend highly enough recording the Oscars and then fast-forwarding through everything but the categories themselves.  It saves so much time.  I did not need the trivia interlude, but unlike seemingly everyone here, I did not miss clips.  At all.  I liked the presenters talking about the nominees, and I much prefer hearing the winners give speeches they want to give, even if the speeches are long (unless you're totally wasted and just ramble incoherently for an unending amount of time, Daniel).  And I LOVED how colorful the set and envelopes were!!

I'm a slut for color.

The only win I'm a bit annoyed with is the Cinematography win; Mank would've been my second choice, but I thought the cinematography for Nomadland was so exquisite.

I kind of love how spectacularly the decision to end with Best Actor backfired on the Academy/producers.  Just end with Best Picture, Jesus.

Also, I am truly sorry Chadwick Boseman was taken from the world in such an insidious way, and I also know he did not give the best performance in his category.  Or the second best.  Or the third best.  He was galactically better than Gary Oldman, though.  Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was just not a very good movie because it's almost impossible to take August Wilson's poetry and translate it from the artifice of the stage to the verisimilitude of screen.  Those operatic monologues Boseman had to deliver just didn't work; frankly, this was Viola Davis's worst performance, too.  I think Fences was much more successful because Denzel has a better sense of film that George C. Wolfe, who is a theater director first and foremost and directed MRBB like a play.  Boseman and Davis both suffered from that; both performances felt overwrought and ungrounded.

Anthony Hopkins absolutely, positively deserved that award.  I adored Riz Ahmed as well, but this is one of those rare instances when the best performance in the Best Actor category was actually rewarded.  Frances McDormand deserved both of her Oscars as well.  I was pulling for Carey Mulligan because I LOVED her in that film, but Frances was basically tied with her on my personal ballot.

Daniel Kaluuya was fantastic, but lord, his speech was awful.  Youn Yuh-jung was the one I was most rooting for tonight, and her speech was the best!  I was just ecstatic that she won.

I loved the screenplay wins; the song win; the Soul wins; the Sound of Metal wins; Thomas Vinterberg's heartbreaking speech; Regina King, who is everything wonderful in the world; and – especially – the wins for Nomadland, which was my favorite movie of 2020.

Honestly, this is the best set of Oscar winners ever.

[ruby24]

I think it's safe to say they'll never NOT end on Best Picture again. As they shouldn't. That was SO dumb. The ratings for this are going to be ugly.

I actually thought Chadwick Boseman did give the best performance and would be a deserving winner...until I saw The Father. Honestly, it really is the greatest performance of Anthony Hopkins's career and one of the greatest performances to ever win Best Actor.

It's just the kind of thing that once you see it, it's undeniable. And I did NOT think he had something like that in him still. Clearly the voters thought the same thing.

[Arcadiasw]

One of the dumbest moves Oscar made is changing the format. They didn't end the Oscars with Supporting Actor when Heath Ledger died and they shouldn't have ended it with Best Actor because Chadwick Boseman died.

[Lady Whistleup]

I saw The Father and FWIW I thought A Hopkins was brilliant BUT it wasn't at the level of Remains of the Day. THAT is his best performance ever and it's a shame he didn't win for that one. That was also the awards where Leo di Caprio didn't win for What's Eating Gilbert Grape.