Oscar Best Actresses

And I just saw Shirley Booth in "Come Back Little Sheba"--a revelation for those of us who only knew her from the sitcom "Hazel."

I was sad when I did not see Emma Watson.

True that.

Is that Ridley Scott? Why?

It makes you someone who's spent way too much time memorizing useless trivia. I'm one of those too, but not for this particular list. I got nearly every one going back to 1965 (which predates my birth by nearly a decade) and a scattered few recognizable names in the right hand column, but I don't really care who won best actress for a movie made in the 1930's that I don't even want to see. I've tried watching really old movies, but if I'm watching something made prior to 1950, chances are I'll be asleep before the end of the first act.

What's not to get? McDormand's a great actress, one of the best of her generation. Maybe not as good as Meryl Streep, but she's definitely up there.

McDormand is great, but remember the Oscars are an annual affair, so not all of them are created equal. For example, Pacino and Nicholson were nominated for Best Actor in the same year for Godfather 2 and Chinatown, respectively. Those are both towering performances worthy of Oscars, but they can't both win. (And to make it even more insane, neither of them won that year.) You need to be great to get three Oscars, no doubt, but it doesn't make you a better actress than someone who only has one, or even none. Pacino only has one, and he's much better than people with several. I'd only add the exception that Daniel-Day Lewis is the best screen actor of all-time, and he deserves more than the three he has. He absolutely should have won for Gangs of New York, and maybe for Phantom Thread as well.

So glad she won and her acceptance speech was memorable.