Movies

Heading into the 2021 Oscars, few narratives were as seemingly clear-cut as the likelihood of Chadwick Boseman winning a posthumous trophy for Best Actor. His dynamic turn in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was made all the more potent by the fact that it was his final film role, completed before his death in August 2020. It wasn’t just fan wishing, either. Some light tweaking of the show’s typical order of awards seemed to point to a Boseman celebration — why else would producers have chosen to end the night by giving out Best Actor and bumping up usual closer Best Picture to third-to-last? Instead, the award went to Anthony Hopkins for his devastating performance in Florian Zeller’s The Father, a temporally disorienting and fragile portrait of an elderly man’s desc...

“Something’s Coming,” and that “something” is Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated big-screen remake of West Side Story — which viewers finally got a sneak peek of during this year’s Academy Awards. Never one to back down from a challenge, Spielberg has chosen to adapt one of the most beloved and popular shows of all time as his first musical in his almost 50 years of directing. While originally scheduled to be released in December 2020, Spielberg’s West Side Story will now hit screens one year later, in December 2021, to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the original film’s release. The remake stars Rachel Zegler as Maria and Ansel Elgort as Tony, along with Brian d’Arcy James as Sergeant Krupke. Rita Moreno won the Oscar fo...

By Deepa Lakshmin At the insistence of Bong Joon-ho — whose Parasite swept the Oscars last year with four wins — the five visionaries nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Directing had one not-so-simple task ahead of the 2021 show Sunday night (April 25) at Los Angeles’s Union Station. They had to answer the question: “If you have to explain to a random kid on the street what directing is in 20 seconds, what would you say?” For Chloé Zhao, it’s about “shedding the skin of who we think we are and walking in another person’s shoes.” Her Nomadland, which landed her the Oscar for Best Director and features real-life nomads, does exactly that. It gives you a look at what it’s like to live a lifestyle on the road where you’re not homeless, exactly, but “houseless,” as the film’s...

By Deepa Lakshmin Yuh-Jung Youn, who plays the incomparably comical grandmother Soon-ja in Minari, started her Oscars winning speech by calling out presenter Brad Pitt (“Where were you when we were filming?!”) and ended it with a tribute to her kids deserving of its own standing ovation: “This is the result, because mommy works so hard.” It was a cheeky and charming way to wrap her off-the-cuff speech accepting the Academy Award for Actress in a Supporting Role, one of several historic wins that went down Sunday night (April 25) at Union Station in Los Angeles. Youn is the first Korean actress to take home an Oscar in an acting category, and though the Academy clearly sees her talent, she credits her win to a splash of good luck. “I don’t believe in competition,” she said, addressing fello...

Last year at the Academy Awards, few could’ve predicted that Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite would take the night’s top honor of Best Picture. It’s the kind of unexpected twist that makes the 2021 Oscars anyone’s game — especially when you add in its rescheduled date due to the pandemic, increased social distancing on the red carpet and during the show, and everything else that’s changed since the last time the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles hosted this ceremony. That said, tonight’s show was uniquely its own. And as the third to last award of the night — purposely switched up from its typical spot at the very end, as co-orchestrated by executive producer Steven Soderbergh for a “surprising” effect — Best Picture was awarded to Nomadland, writer-...

After a night largely lacking twists, the 2021 Oscars switched up the format by announcing Best Picture for Nomadland before the lead acting categories. Then, it ended with a double surprise for the remaining two awards, announcing wins for Anthony Hopkins for Best Actor for his performance in The Father and Frances McDormand for Best Actress in Nomadland. With this win, McDormand joined the elite club of actresses like Meryl Streep and Ingrid Bergman who have won three acting Oscars. She previously won Best Actress for 1996’s Fargo and 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Once McDormand reached the stage to accept her award she made a short speech saying, “I have no words. My voice is in my sword. We know the sword is our work, and I like work...

By Deepa Lakshmin It’s been a busy awards season for H.E.R. After taking home a whopping four Grammys in March — including Song of the Year for “I Can’t Breathe,” a tribute to George Floyd — the singer-songwriter snagged more hardware at the 93rd Oscars ceremony Sunday night (April 25) at Los Angeles’s Union Station. This time around, it’s “Fight For You” that’s in the spotlight, winning the Academy Award for Music (Original Song). The song, a collaboration with Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas, is core to Judas and the Black Messiah, a must-see film about the rise of the Black Panther Party and its chairman, Fred Hampton. “I did not expect to win this award,” H.E.R. said in her acceptance speech, dazzling on stage in a royal jumpsuit calling back to Prince’s 1985 Best Original Score win f...

It’s April, and the Oscars are on? It’s true! While awards season typically wraps by February, the pandemic forced the academies to rejigger its schedule, which meant a later-than-usual springtime air date that allowed the show to take advantage of not only its usual home at the Dolby Theatre, but also Union Station in Los Angeles, for a sprawling event worthy of the impressive crop of nominees. With Mank leading the pack but but also with historic nominations for Nomadland writer-director Chloé Zhao, Promising Young Woman writer-director Emerald Fennell, and Minari stars Steven Yeun and Yuh-Jung Youn, and a posthumous one for Chadwick Boseman, it’s already shaping up to be a night to remember. But who will add a golden Oscar to their mantles? Find the full list of winner...

The Academy voters think Emerald Fennell is a Promising Young Woman. The 93rd annual Academy Awards was held in a different location this year, and started off the ceremony by awarding the British newcomer. The actress-turned-first-time director took home the Oscar tonight (April 25) for Best Original Screenplay for her debut feature, Promising Young Woman. Fennell is the first woman to win the category since Diablo Cody took home the gold in 2008 for Juno. “I’m trying very hard not to cry, which is very difficult as an English person. I don’t cry ever,” Fennell said as she stood on the stage accepting her award. “This film was made by the most incredible people in the world who made it in 23 days and brought their complete genius and love and humor to it. I h...

The Academy Awards mark the end of the traditional awards season, and this year’s gamut went out with a bang. Not only did the stars bring high-fashion escapism to the red carpet, but the ceremony marked a number of historic firsts. Especially powerful was the actor Daniel Kaluuya’s win for best supporting actor for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah, in which he portrayed Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton. “To chairman Fred Hampton,” Kaluuya said when accepting the award. “How blessed we are that we live in a lifetime where he existed.” He continued by tributing the organization Hampton led by saying, “The Black Panther Party, they showed me how to love myself. And with that love, they overflowed it to the Black community and then to other communities. And...