It sounds heretical to say this, because the pandemic has taken such a toll on the film industry this year, but COVID-19 is the best thing to happen to the Academy Awards broadcast. The virus and its social distancing protocols, which previously sank the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and other awards programs prompted Oscars producer Steven Soderbergh – an Oscar winner … [Read more...]
Hap’s Oscar predictions, 2021 edition: ‘Nomadland’ will take top flick
Following a year of COVID-caused theater closings and postponed blockbusters, the Motion Picture Academy will try to put a positive spin on the industry this Sunday evening when the 93rd annual Oscar winners are announced. Understandably, it will not be the usual ceremony. For starters, the main venue will be Los Angeles’s iconic Union train station – featured in such major … [Read more...]
Oscars, woke: Nominations feature record diversity
It wasn’t that long ago that the Oscar nominations were a blanket of white — #OscarsSoWhite in 2015 and 2016 — an embarrassment to the Motion Picture Academy and a poor reflection on the increasingly diverse array of quality films produced by Hollywood. Well, what a difference a few years make. When the 2021 Oscar nominations were announced Monday morning — much later than … [Read more...]