My complicated feelings toward Frances McDormand's third win

please welcome new contributor Timothy Lyons

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Frances McDormand’s performance in Nomadland was my favourite of the year. Full stop. Both the film itself and McDormand’s work as Fern blew me away with their deceptive simplicity quietly revealing hidden depths of feeling. Why oh why then did I feel such a crushing sense of disappointment when McDormand took her third Best Actress trophy at this year’s Oscars?

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And the Best Presenter Oscar goes to... Rita Moreno (with a peak at West Side Story)

Nathaniel R

In the matter of one of the "smaller awards" (haha) like Best Picture, the Oscars chose to go very big and noteworthy indeed. Screen star and EGOT legend Rita Moreno (whose classics include The King and I, Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, and Carnal Knowledge... though Hollywood obviously never did right by her denying her the lead roles she clearly would have aced) did the honors. She was a perfect choice both for her all-generations appeal, and her estimable comic gift. In introducing the Best Picture category she memorably joked that the most important award was "Best Supporting Actress" and her winning role came in a movie that won some other 'smaller awards,' too. She remains a reliable energetic funny delight at 89. Sadly, this great great moment didn't come at the end of the broadcast (argh!) but a couple of prizes too early. To understand how big a deal it is that Rita Moreno presented you have to also understand the history a bit...  

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What went right and what went wrong at the 93rd Oscars.

by Nathaniel R

Which Steven Soderbergh film begins with a ton of promise before getting bogged down in the middle due to its relentless seriouness? Which of his films comes chaotically lurching back to messy life near the climax but still can't stick to the landing? I don't have an answer for this question except to say "The 93rd Academy Awards if it counts!"  And should it?

The Soderbergh produced ceremony made good on its intentions to not be like every other Oscar ceremony. Not that that was ever in doubt given the worldwide pandemic that put such a dampening slog on awards season (among other admittedly more serious effects). More satisfying than the arbitrary changes in presentation or category order -- thrilling even -- was the pre-show buzz that this would feel more like a movie which the "opening scene" bore out...

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Some Oscar Night Related Tweets

We were soooo sick yesterday -- WORTH IT TO BE FULLY VACCINATED! -- so we're just catching up now. But if you're not on twitter we wouldn't want you to miss these bon mots. Enjoy.

Anthony Hopkins reacts to his #Oscars win and pays tribute to fellow Best Actor nominee, Chadwick Boseman. pic.twitter.com/z5MkFfR7wi

— Film Updates (@TheFilmUpdates) April 26, 2021

Apparently Olivia Colman was supposed to do the speech for him but Joaquin Phoenix didn't realize or some such. Now we feel doubly cheated...

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93rd Academy Awards. The Winners List.

We'll have a few days of post-mortems here at TFE to discuss everything about the 93rd Oscar ceremony, but due to second vaccine sickness (we barely made it through the ceremony and not finishing it would have been a first since like 1989 so barrelled through in bathrobe with tylenol and a jug of water close by). How'd you fare on your predictions? I've marked what we got wrong and right below. Nomadland was the big winner but it won just 3 Oscars (Picture, Director, Actress). Trial of the Chicago 7 was the only Best Picture nominee to go home emptyhanded so the mistakes you see in the results are mostly due to pessimistic predictions that it would win two Oscars.

REVIEW OF THE SHOW | NEW RECORDS SET

The winners are after the jump...

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