Following last year's “pandemic Oscars” that wound up nominating and awarding loads of titles that debuted on our TV screens, laptops, and phones, it made all the sense in the world for movie fans to be psyched about this year's return to a “traditional” Academy Awards. Finally! The chance to reward such critically acclaimed, crowd-pleasing box-office behemoths as Spielberg's West Side Story and King Richard's Rocky-esque tale of Venus and Serena Williams and the new Guillermo del Toro and … ! Wait. Where were the crowds?

Oh, Oscars. You just keep finding new and creative ways to screw things up, don't you?

What better way to conclude one of the strangest movie seasons in history – hell, one of the strangest years in history – than with a free-for-all ceremony that will, I venture, see 18 different movies awarded over 23 categories, and the night's only mortal lock a female Chinese-American director winning a category that men, most of them white men, have won 90 times out of 91?

It was a light morning for shockers but a great morning for representation when nominations for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards were announced earlier today – and such a great morning that it's easy to applaud the Oscars' historic showing of diversity without being hugely embarrassed by the Best Picture omissions of the widely predicted One Night in Miami … and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

We're finally approaching an end to the longest gap between nomination announcements in the Oscars' 93-year history. So welcome, friends, to my predictions for the 2021 Academy Awards! Is it 2022 yet?

I want to put 2020 behind us as much as you all likely do. So in lieu of a lengthy intro to my annual Movies of the Year article, this time with downbeat commentary on delayed releases and shuttered cineplexes and the potential demise of the traditional film experience and everything else we don't want to reflect on, what say we just skip to the good stuff?

The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were presented last night in a relatively lively, primarily virtual ceremony featuring riotous highs (you are a national treasure, Mr. Letterman), only a few dismal lows (poor Anthony Anderson), some great surprises (thank you Jennifer, Courtney, and Lisa for the half-reunion of Friends), and, in a wonderful change of pace, loads of truly deserving victors. (My favorite comedy series, drama series, and limited series all won! Who woulda thunk it?!)

I should preface by saying that I'm terrible at predicting Emmy Award winners. Seriously: I'm terrible.

Here are five of my favorite family-themed films released between 1972 and 1997, works boasting relatives you'll love, relatives you'll loathe, and relatives you'll be both saddened and grateful to see go. Trust me: They're cinematic offers you can't refuse.

Some performers wait decades for their first citations, and some hit home runs their first times at bat. The following are examples of the latter: Ten individuals from nine titles released between 1982 to 1996 who all scored Oscar nominations (or, in two cases, wins) for movie debuts made after the performers turned 20. I'm using that age as a starting point because I wrote about Oscar-acknowledged youths Quinn Cummings, Justin Henry, and Tatum O'Neal just last month. And also because if I keep raving about Anna Paquin in The Piano, I'm gonna start looking like a Person of Interest.

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