Oscars 2021 Review: 8 Ups & 8 Downs

3. The Rushed In Memoriam Segment

One of the heart-wrenching highlights of any Oscar ceremony is the annual In Memoriam segment, which touchingly honours those members of the film community who passed away since the previous ceremony.

Yet this year's montage was widely criticised for how speedily it rushed through the names, flashing most names and images on the screen for scarcely a second each, such that viewers struggled to even read their names and make sense of who they were.

Though this past year saw an above-the-odds number of deaths around the world, rushing through the list was clearly the wrong solution, when it's never before been a complaint that the In Memoriam segment of all things is too long.

Increasing the feeling of ick is the fact that some of the bigger names, such as Sean Connery and Chadwick Boseman, were lingered on for far longer than lesser-known talents, which at best feels mildly gross and at worst flat-out disrespectful.

This is without even getting into the fact that a number of talents were conspicuously snubbed from the montage entirely: Arrested Development's Jessica Walter, Glee star Naya Rivera, broadway actor Nick Cordero, and Oscar-nominated songwriter Adam Schlesinger.