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The 93rd Annual Academy Awards were always going to look a little different than past years due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In the opening moments, last year's Best Supporting Actress winner, Regina King, grabbed a statue from outside of Los Angeles Union Station and strode inside in full power-walk mode, while the names of all the night's presenters — including Ocean's star Brad Pitt — popped up onscreen like the opening credits of a blockbuster motion picture. It was the producers' way of driving home the message of a PSA that played before the ceremony: "The Big Screen Is...

<p>Zhao won the Oscar for best director for “Nomadland,” becoming just the second woman and the first woman of color to win the award.</p><p>Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win, for “The Hurt Locker,” in 2009.</p><p>This was the only year in Oscar history with two female nominees, Zhao and “Promising Young Woman” director Emerald Fennell. Only seven women have ever been nominated.</p>

Hollywood is full of anti-border wall celebrities. But on Tinseltown’s biggest night, ten-foot security fences have been erected around Union Station in Los Angeles, California, to keep celebrities safe and the public out during Sunday’s 93rd Academy Awards. The perimeter around Union Station is cordoned off by security fences and the entrances to the building are blocked by similar structures. Signs posted to the fences bear a stark warning: “This property is closed to the public. No entry without permission.” The security fence runs completely counter to the anti-border wall mantras which flood out of Hollywood.

An Oscars unlike any before will get underway Sunday night, with history on the line in major categories and a telecast retooled for the pandemic. The 93rd Academy Awards will begin at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. There will be no host, no audience, nor face masks for nominees attending the ceremony at Los Angeles’ Union Station — this year’s hub for a show usually broadcast from the Dolby Theatre. In contrast with the largely virtual Golden Globes, Zoom boxes have been closed out — though numerous international hubs and satellite feeds will connect nominees unable to travel. Show producers...

It still ranks as one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Oscars. But only now, nearly half a century later, has the Native American actress at the heart of it revealed the devastating aftermath. Sacheen Littlefeather says she was 'blacklisted' by Hollywood and abandoned by Marlon Brando after rejecting the Best Actor award on his behalf in 1973 – a political stunt that was beamed across the world. Littlefeather had been chosen by Brando to walk on stage and decline the Oscar he had been awarded in 1973 for his performance in The Godfather. It was...

The Oscars are a day away and are already coming under fire. The city of Los Angeles is being accused of hiding the homeless as Hollywood prepares to toast itself ahead of Sunday’s 93rd Academy Awards ceremony. One man told local news he was told to either move or have his things demolished. The celebrity-studded ceremony is being held at Union Station in Los Angeles, an area bedeviled by homelessness. But on Sunday, the homeless will not be seen anywhere near Union Station, according to a report by Fox 11 Los Angeles. “They came to us about a week ago...

This Sunday, the 93rd Academy Awards will finally be staged, roughly two months later than usual due to Covid protocols, and that viral scourge is leading to an odd decision for an event that usually is known for its oddities. Take that foundation, place it in California, and roll in the pandemic and we are assured of seeing some strange behavior. Last year’s ceremony went off just prior to the outbreak and the shutdown of the country, so the celebrities were not involved in the practice of Covid couture. Sunday, however, we are sure to see many a luminary resplendent...

Many in Hollywood regularly applaud abortion storytelling. So when one of their own – filmmaker and Oscar voter Kieth Merrill – declined to watch a film about a teenager’s abortion journey, his actions challenged their narrative. Merrill especially captured the attention of Eliza Hittman, who wrote and directed the abortion-centric film he refused to see: Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Released last year, the story follows 17-year-old Autumn as she travels to New York City to obtain an abortion without parental consent. Hittman publicized Merrill’s decision when she posted an email from him to social media where he recognized abortion as...

Director Lee Isaac Chung's heartwarming "Minari" is already a Golden Globe-winning film, and it has six chances to become an Oscar-winning one as well. The film, which consists of a small but endearing cast, follows a Korean-American family as they start a new life on an Arkansas farm. The film, Chung recently explained to Townhall, is semi-autobiographical. He grew up in the South and, as a Korean-American, he said that Christianity has always been a major part of his life. As such, he wanted to make sure he included a touch of spirituality in the film. "I still come back...

Oscar winner and multiple Emmy winner Cloris Leachman, best remembered as the delightfully neurotic Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and her own subsequent sitcom, died of natural causes on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 94. “It’s been my privilege to work with Cloris Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of our time,” her longtime manager Juliet Green said. “There was no one like Cloris. With a single look she had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh ’till the tears ran down your face. You never knew what Cloris was going to...

Netflix’s controversial movie Cuties has been shortlisted for the Oscars 2021 nominations despite backlash and accusations of ‘lewd’ content. It’s reported that France’s Oscar selection committee has submitted their choice of five films for the international feature film category at the Oscars next year. According to Deadline, the chosen films are: Cuties, Eté 85 (Summer Of 85), ADN (DNA), Two Of Us and Gagarine. However, Cuties’ entry will no doubt surprise many due to the steaming criticism it received outside of France.

The Academy of Motion Pictures has announced that no film will be allowed to enter the race for an Oscar unless they meet politically correct “diversity quotas.” “This is a disgrace to artists everywhere…can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f***ing paintings,” tweeted Kirstie Alley. “You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought .. OSCAR ORWELL.” Kristie Alley later deleted the above tweet and clarified that she supports diversity and inclusion but opposes the mandating of it. On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) released its new guidelines for...

Curious and terrible things have happened to the Oscars since the turn of the century. We are no longer assured that acting awards are dispensed for the pure art of acting. More often, they are given to actors who’ve taken on specific roles that the Hollywood establishment deems to be appropriate for society. And now, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has levied draconian, hiring-related quotas on which films may be deemed “Oscar-worthy.”  Acting awards today, in particular, are often 'social justice' acting awards. If an actor portrays someone who has victim' status, the probability of that actor...

Sure, that is a hyperbolic and overly dramatized conclusion when looking over the newly released standards set forth by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts And Sciences, the governing body that produces The Oscars. Yet when looking over the new list of requirements the academy will be adopting in 2024 for qualifying films there is no mistaking that their requirement of thresholds to be met for diversity hiring is nothing other than veiled affirmative action. Look, nobody outside the industry itself pretends The Oscars are about true merit and artistic excellence. The years of studios campaigning and bribing to sway...

Ahead of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy’s fifth anniversary, the Academy has announced a new set of inclusion requirements films must meet to be awards-eligible. To be eligible for best picture, films must meet the standards of two out of four categories laid out in a press release on Tuesday: “Onscreen Representation, Themes and Narratives,” “Creative Leadership and Project Team,” “Industry Access and Opportunities” and “Audience Development.” Recent best picture nominees including “1917” and “The Irishman” may have struggled to meet the new onscreen standards that will require at least one of the following criterion to be met: at least one of...

The 92nd Academy Awards show was one of the last big events in 2020 before life stopped for the Wuhan Virus. If people had known about a future of masks and isolation, maybe more Americans would have watched than the record low of 23.6 million viewers. But then again, perhaps not, given that winners cannot seem to stop lecturing Americans for being hate-filled, racist, misogynistic yutzes. The smart thing for the Academy to do in the face of a seemingly unstoppable ratings hemorrhage would be to make the Oscar show more friendly to the viewers. The Academy could nominate...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new set of standards for the Academy Awards's best picture category on Tuesday as part of efforts to improve representation in film for underrepresented racial minorities, women, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities. A statement on the Academy's website detailed four categories of standards for films, at least two of which a film must meet in order to be considered for a best picture nomination. The four standards deal with a variety of issues including on-screen representation for actors and actresses of underrepresented groups in both casting and in the...

As promised when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative in June, new standards of representation and inclusion have been announced by AMPAS today that will gradually be put in place for the 94th (2022) and 95th (2023) Oscars, but in full effect beginning with the 96th Academy Awards in 2024. In its most dramatic swing towards true diversity, Oscar is laying down significant requirements in order to be eligible for Hollywood’s most sought after prize: Best Picture. Having at least one Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, Black/African American, Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native, Middle Eastern/North African, Native...

Now that we’re in the book-burning stage of the revolution, Black Lives Matter has managed to cancel one of the most historically significant films in American history. And in doing so, they have all but erased the film career of the first black Oscar winner. Nice going, idiots! What’s your next trick going to be? Burning down all the grocery stores in black neighborhoods? Oh, wait… During the ongoing streaming wars that have been happening under the radar, entertainment companies are gobbling up the rights to classic films. Each company hopes that its exclusive content will be enough reason for...

Where were you when you learned that drinking cows’ milk is evil? You were in front of the TV watching the 2020 Academy Awards, that’s where. And if you weren’t, you heard about it anyway because it’s the only thing about this year’s Oscars that anybody remembers. The Joker scolded everybody for putting milk in our cereal, and he was totally not kidding. Joaquin Phoenix was also one of the few Oscar winners this year who was in a movie anybody saw, so he should be able to say whatever he wants. I raise a glass of 2% and toast...