Oscar watchers not happy about lack of film clips

Early on during Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, Laura Dern noted that some things would be different about this year’s pandemic-changed show. Audiences do often seem hungry for the motion picture academy to change things up. But not too much, apparently.

One of the things the show did differently was forgo the typical use of clips from most nominated films and performances, instead sharing various facts about the nominees — such as early jobs or movies they loved — and making time for speeches to run longer than usual. (Some clips for animated, international and other films were shown.)

The clips are one of those pro forma parts of the show presumably no one would miss. But watchers online nevertheless seemed genuinely upset not to be getting them, pointing out that in a difficult year for moviegoing, this year’s nominees may be less familiar to Oscar watchers than usual. And yet, the show’s producers seemed to be asking, if you are already watching the Oscars, shouldn’t you have some idea of what nominated films such as “Minari,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Nomadland” and “Mank” look like?

Late in the show, clips were shown from each of the best picture nominees, featuring extended moments from the films. And then, there was much dismay online over the clip chosen from “Promising Young Woman,” which featured a meet-cute moment between Carey Mulligan and Bo Burnham that did not quite capture the rage and sadness of the movie’s overall tone. Even when you give the people what they want, they may not want what you give them.