This year's Oscars left it late to bring any genuine surprises to the table. Until, that is, Anthony Hopkins picked up the evening's final award: Best Actor for his role in The Father.
There's no disputing that the British actor delivered an incredible performance as the titular patriarch in the film, which also picked up Best Adapted Screenplay.
Expectations were so high for the late Chadwick Boseman to pick up a posthumous award for his role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, that Hopkins had not only declined to attend the ceremony at Los Angeles's Union Station, he didn't even make it to the Covid-necessitated "international hub" at London's British Film Institute.
Award presenter Joaquin Phoenix collected the prize on his and the Academy's behalf in a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion to an already surreal evening.
Up until then, everything had gone largely as predicted. Chloe Zhao and Nomadland took the Best Director and Best Picture statues, as well as a third Oscar for lead Frances McDormand. Soul picked up Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, Another Round got Best International Feature Film, Daniel Kaluuya won Best Supporting Actor, and Mank and Sound of Metal cleaned up on the craft prizes.
Each won two apiece from the Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing and Sound categories, without actually troubling any of the "major" awards they'd been nominated for.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the way Steven Soderbergh and his production team chose to present the event, which – like every other awards ceremony this year – faced the many challenges posed by a global pandemic.
Soderbergh had promised a "cinematic event" closer to a film than an awards ceremony, but the resulting vibe was more "annual staff awards for a mid-sized construction company".
Kaluuya set the tone on the socially distanced red carpet early on. When asked how this year's nomination compared to his previous nomination for Jordan Peele's Get Out, the actor simply joked "there's less people", and his comment proved prescient.
The lack of guests at the strictly regulated ceremony – each nominee was allowed just a single plus one in LA's repurposed Union Station, rather than the usual host of cast, crew and family – undoubtedly affected the atmosphere.
Even so, some of the decisions the production team made seemed strange, given that evidence from the Golden Globes, Grammys and Baftas had already demonstrated how hard it is to carry these shows off in challenging circumstances.
There were undoubtedly high points. Harrison Ford reading out a bunch of studio executives' dismissive opinions about early versions of the sci-fi classic Blade Runner to demonstrate the importance of good editing; Best Supporting Actress winner Youn Yuh-jung's hilarious banter with Brad Pitt on collecting her award; and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award-winning Tyler Perry's standing-ovation-inspiring diatribe against poverty were all moments of TV gold. Yet they were few and far between in a nearly three-and-a-half-hour screen marathon.
The cavernous surrounds of a train station made for a uniquely empty and atmosphere-free setting for the couple of hundred celebs present. With the highly talented production designers in attendance, you might think the producers could have made it look slightly more impressive than a restaurant at a train station, which, admittedly, is what it essentially was.
Perhaps the most perplexing of this year's production decisions, though, was the overall abandonment of the traditional montage of clips from the nominated films to announce each award.
In a year when cinemas were largely closed, the films were undeniably less familiar to audiences at home. They'd have needed to subscribe to Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple TV, and scan numerous video-on-demand sites, to have seen this year's films, and even that would have depended on where you live.
These montages were surely more essential than ever to offer an insight into films that haven't even been released in some territories?
Instead, producers opted for hosts reading out what appeared to be each nominee's LinkedIn profile. We learnt that The White Tiger writer and director Ramin Bahrani worked in telemarketing prior to finding success in the film industry, and the favourite childhood films of almost every single nominee on the night, but did we need to?
The lack of the traditional orchestra stood out, too – especially earlier in the night, when some of the speeches seemed like they could go on forever without winners being played off the stage. When Thomas Vinterberg revealed on collecting his Best International Feature Film award early in the night that "I have a lot of people to thank, but I'll get there", it looked like we could be in for a very long evening.
Producers did seem to get a hold on elongated speeches as the night went on, but even then some of the musical choices of the evening's musical director, DJ Questlove, were simply bizarre compared to the staid tradition of orchestral overtures.
Zhao was strangely ushered offstage to the tones of Live and Let Die, while Soul directors Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, who had just delivered a heartfelt paean to the power of jazz, were treated to Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 as they departed the stage.
Questlove's impromptu mid-show music quiz, meanwhile, was clearly designed to provide this year's viral "Ellen DeGeneres 2014 selfie" moment, but seemed contrived. It did at least reveal that Glenn Close has an unexpectedly passable knowledge of 1980s funk as she danced to Experience Unlimited's theme from Spike Lee's School Daze.
We shouldn't be too harsh, however. It's been a very strange year all round, not just for struggling awards show producers, and there are at least two major positives to take away from it. Firstly, that any films released at all in the circumstances certainly helped make a year of global lockdowns a little more bearable.
Secondly, with vaccine rollouts ramping up globally, 2022 has all the signs of returning to some degree of normality, allowing us to go back to complaining about all the simple things we used to complain about in every usual awards cycle.
MATCH INFO
BRIGHTON 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 3
McTominay 44'
Mata 73'
Pogba 80'
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
England v South Africa schedule:
- First Test: At Lord's, England won by 219 runs
- Second Test: July 14-18, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 2pm
- Third Test: The Oval, London, July 27-31, 2pm
- Fourth Test: Old Trafford, Manchester, August 4-8
Profile Periscope Media
Founder: Smeetha Ghosh, one co-founder (anonymous)
Launch year: 2020
Employees: four – plans to add another 10 by July 2021
Financing stage: $250,000 bootstrap funding, approaching VC firms this year
Investors: Co-founders
The biog
Profession: Senior sports presenter and producer
Marital status: Single
Favourite book: Al Nabi by Jibran Khalil Jibran
Favourite food: Italian and Lebanese food
Favourite football player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Languages: Arabic, French, English, Portuguese and some Spanish
Website: www.liliane-tannoury.com
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
ARGENTINA SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Franco Armani, Agustin Marchesin, Esteban Andrada
Defenders: Juan Foyth, Nicolas Otamendi, German Pezzella, Nicolas Tagliafico, Ramiro Funes Mori, Renzo Saravia, Marcos Acuna, Milton Casco
Midfielders: Leandro Paredes, Guido Rodriguez, Giovani Lo Celso, Exequiel Palacios, Roberto Pereyra, Rodrigo De Paul, Angel Di Maria
Forwards: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Matias Suarez
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)
Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)
Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
RESULTS
Bantamweight: Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) beat Hamza Bougamza (MAR)
Catchweight 67kg: Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) beat Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) beat Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg: Mosatafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) beat Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Middleweight: Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) beat Badreddine Diani (MAR)
Catchweight 78KG: Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Adnan Bushashy (ALG)
Middleweight: Sallah-Eddine Dekhissi (MAR) beat Abdel Enam (EGY)
Catchweight 65kg: Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG) beat Rachid Hazoume (MAR)
Lightweight: Mohammed Yahya (UAE) beat Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 79kg: Souhil Tahiri (ALG) beat Omar Hussein (PAL)
Middleweight: Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Laid Zerhouni (ALG)
RESULTS
6.30pm Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner Canvassed, Par Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
7.05pm Meydan Cup – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,810m
Winner Dubai Future, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
7.40pm UAE 2000 Guineas – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mouheeb, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
8.15pm Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
9.50pm Meydan Classic – Conditions (TB) $$50,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Topper Bill, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
9.25pm Dubai Sprint – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner Man Of Promise, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
Arsenal's pre-season fixtures
Thursday Beat Sydney 2-0 in Sydney
Saturday v Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney
Wednesday v Bayern Munich in Shanghai
July 22 v Chelsea in Beijing
July 29 v Benfica in London
July 30 v Sevilla in London
Federer's 11 Wimbledon finals
2003 Beat Mark Philippoussis
2004 Beat Andy Roddick
2005 Beat Andy Roddick
2006 Beat Rafael Nadal
2007 Beat Rafael Nadal
2008 Lost to Rafael Nadal
2009 Beat Andy Roddick
2012 Beat Andy Murray
2014 Lost to Novak Djokovic
2015 Lost to Novak Djokovic
2017 Beat Marin Cilic
Jiu-jitsu calendar of events for 2017-2018:
August 5:
Round-1 of the President’s Cup in Al Ain.
August 11-13:
Asian Championship in Vietnam.
September 8-9:
Ajman International.
September 16-17
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Ashgabat.
September 22-24:
IJJF Balkan Junior Open, Montenegro.
September 23-24:
Grand Slam Los Angeles.
September 29:
Round-1 Mother of The Nation Cup.
October 13-14:
Al Ain U18 International.
September 20-21:
Al Ain International.
November 3:
Round-2 Mother of The National Cup.
November 4:
Round-2 President’s Cup.
November 10-12:
Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro.
November 24-26:
World Championship, Columbia.
November 30:
World Beach Championship, Columbia.
December 8-9:
Dubai International.
December 23:
Round-3 President’s Cup, Sharjah.
January 12-13:
Grand Slam Abu Dhabi.
January 26-27:
Fujairah International.
February 3:
Round-4 President’s Cup, Al Dhafra.
February 16-17:
Ras Al Khaimah International.
February 23-24:
The Challenge Championship.
March 10-11:
Grand Slam London.
March 16:
Final Round – Mother of The Nation.
March 17:
Final Round – President’s Cup.
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
Dubai – Call 800243
Sharjah – Call 065632222
Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
Ajman – Call 067401616
Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
