There were a few departures from tradition at the 2021 Oscars but this was another Academy Awards where the voters decided to spread the love.
For the first and hopefully last Oscar ceremony of the Covid era, the biggest departure was the holding of the ceremony in a railway station.
However it was a night of only a few surprises.
Viewers may have been taken aback that Best Picture was not the final award of the night.
That honour went to the Best Actor award and that did not go according to the form book.
Coming off the back of his recent BAFTA win, Anthony Hopkins won for his hugely respected performance as a man suffering from dementia in Florian Zeller's relationship drama 'The Father'.
The Welshman had seen some sentiment swing towards him in recent days following his BAFTA success.
However the general consensus was that the Best Actor category was a lock for the late Chadwick Boseman for his final movie role in 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'.
After all, Boseman had won everything else during awards season.
The fact that Hopkins was not there to receive his Best Actor Oscar in person gave the last award of the night presented by Joaquin Phoenix a bit of an anti-climactic feeling.
Viewers had anticipated a huge celebration of Boseman's career but they did not even get the chance to hear an acceptance speech from the 83 year old Hopkins who has become the oldest winner of an acting category.
What audiences did get was a very brief Best Actress acceptance speech from Frances McDormand during the penultimate award of the night, as she picked up an impressive third win in the category for her performance in 'Nomadland'.
It was a subdued acceptance speech, with her talking about how her voice and acting were her sword and then thanking Academy voters for recognising it.
Earlier, McDormand was a bit more unconventional, letting out a wolf howl while accepting the Best Picture statuette alongside Chloe Zhao for the film in a tribute to their sound mixer Stephen Wolf Snider who committed suicide this year.
As expected, Zhao also picked up the award for Best Director in a category announced by last year's winner Bong Joon-Ho from Seoul and she became the second woman ever to do so.
The director recalled a poem she and her dad used to memorise when she was growing up in China which noted: 'People at birth are inherently good'.
"I have always found goodness in the people I met," she observed.
"This is for anyone who has the faith and courage to hold onto the goodness in themselves."
In the other acting categories, the perpetually laid back Daniel Kaluuya completed a full set of awards season honours with a Best Supporting Actor victory for his superb performance as the Black Panther Party icon Fred Hampton in 'Judas and the Black Messiah'.
In one of the biggest talking points of the evening, the screen cut to the English actor's mum and sister reacting in consternation to his strange, rambling comment: "My mum and dad.. they had sex - and now I'm here!"
There was no doubt Kaluuya's win was one of the most popular of the evening, as was 73-year-old Yuh-Jung Youn's triumph in a hotly contested Best Supporting Actress category for her delightful performance as a mischievous Korean grandma in Lee Isaac Chung's 'Minari'.
The first Korean to capture an acting Oscar began her speech by gushing over meeting Brad Pitt, asking him where he was when they were filming 'Minari'.
In an amusing speech, she explained: "As you know, I’m from Korea and my name is Yuh-jung Youn.
"Most European people call me Yuh-youn, and some of them call me Yuh-jung. But tonight, you are all forgiven.”
Her win meant Glenn Close again went home empty handed for the eighth time after her nod for 'Hillbilly Elegy' and now has the distinction of tying with Peter O'Toole as the person with the most Academy Award acting nominations and no wins.
As usual, the screenplay categories enabled the Academy to honour movies that were never going to win Best Picture.
Emerald Fennell walked away with the first prize of the night, the Best Original Screenplay statuette for 'Promising Young Woman,' while Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller won the Adapted Screenplay gong for 'The Father'.
Thomas Vinterberg's Danish film 'Another Round' captured Best Foreign Language Feature, as expected.
Pete Docter's charming 'Soul' also walked away with two awards for Best Animated Feature and for Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste's musical score.
D'Mile, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas' 'Fight for You' picked up Best Original Song for 'Judas and the Black Messiah'.
In the Best Documentary Feature category, James Reed and Pippa Erhlich's charming marine tale 'My Octopus Teacher' repeated its BAFTA win, while it was good to see Darius Marder's 'Sound of Metal' getting recognised with awards for its innovative use of sound and for film editing.
Erik Messerschmitt pulled off a bit of a surprise by winning the Best Cinematography award for his work on David Fincher's 'Mank' which many had assumed would go to 'Nomadland'.
'Mank' also captured the award for production design, while 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' took home statuettes for costume design and hair.
The only major contender that seemed to come away with nothing was Aaron Sorkin's Netflix film 'The Trial of the Chicago Seven'.
This year's ceremony was produced by Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and the director Steven Soderbergh.
It began with a tracking shot of Regina King walking through Los Angeles' Union Station with the Best Original Screenplay statuette in a stylish title sequence.
Filmed like a movie, credits of the nominees and the awards presenters appeared onscreen like they would if they were the cast in the opening credits of a film.
But then the 2019 Supporting Actress winner walked onstage, clutching the first statuette of the night.
"Think of this as a movie set - an Oscars movie with over 200 nominees," she explained as she arrived onstage in the specially adapted train station.
However the shadow of the Coronavirus loomed, with King explaining in her introduction that all those taking part had been vaccinated, tested, re-tested, socially distanced and following all protocols to enable them to appear maskless.
The week that was in it, King understandably referenced the conviction of Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis for the murder of George Floyd - admitting had the verdict gone differently she would have "traded in my heels for marching boots".
After a bit of Hollywood glitz, the ceremony quickly settled down and was conducted in a business like fashion.
If this year's Oscars ceremony had been a movie, many critics would have complained that after a strong opening, it failed to live up to its premise and was a mixed bag.
Harrison Ford did provide a moment of levity as he read out some scathing reviews he received for his work on the science fiction classic 'Blade Runner'.
Working within a Covid restricted world, Soderbergh and his producers bravely played around with the format but their gamble of not having Best Picture as the last award of the night misfired.
They did not get the crescendo that many had anticipated in the Best Actor category and in hindsight they will probably have to admit that it was a gamble not worth taking.
Here's hoping we get a more traditional ceremony next year.
Nominees: The Father; Judas and the Black Messiah; Mank; Minari; Nomadland; Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal; The Trial of the Chicago Seven
Winner: Nomadland
Nominees: Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round); David Fincher (Mank); Lee Isaac Chung (Minari); Chloe Zhao (Nomadland); Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Winner: Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
Nominees: Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom): Andra Day (The United States versus Billie Holiday); Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman): Frances McDormand (Nomadland); Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
Winner: Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Nominees: Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal); Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom); Anthony Hopkins (The Father); Gary Oldman (Mank); Steve Yeun (Minari).
Winner: Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Nominees: Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm); Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy); Olivia Colman (The Father); Amanda Seyfried (Mank); Yuh-jung Youn (Minari)
Winner: Yuh-jung Youn (Minari)
Nominees: Sacha Baron Cohen ('The Trial of the Chicago Seven'); Daniel Kaluuya ('Judas and the Black Messiah'); Leslie Odom Jr ('One Night in Miami'); Paul Raci ('Sound of Metal'): Lakeith Stanfield ('Judas and the Black Messiah')
Winner: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE
Nominees: Another Round (Denmark); Better Days (Hong Kong); Collective (Romania); The Man Who Sold His Skin (Bulgaria); Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia Herzegovina)
Winner: Another Round
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Nominees: Onward; Over the Moon; A Shaun the Sheep Movie Farmageddon; Soul; Wolfwalkers.
Winner: Soul
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Nominees: Collective; Crip Camp; The Mole Agent; My Octopus Teacher; Time
Winner: My Octopus Teacher
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Nominees: Sean Bobbitt (Judas and the Black Messiah); Erik Messerschmitt (Mank); Dariusz Wolski (News of the World); Joshua James Richards (Nomadland); Phedon Papamichael (The Trial of the Chicago Seven)
Winner: Erik Messerschmitt (Mank)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Nominees: Judas and the Black Messiah; Minari; Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal; The Trial of the Chicago Seven
Winner: Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Nominees: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; The Father; Nomadland; One Night in Miami; The White Tiger
Winner: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (The Father)
BEST FILM EDITING
Nominees: The Father; Nomadland; Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal; The Trial of the Chicago Seven
Winner: Sound of Metal
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
Nominees: Terence Blanchard (Da 5 Bloods); Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Mank); Emile Mosseri (Minari); James Newton Howard (News of the World); Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (Soul)
Winner: Trent Teznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (Soul)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Nominees: Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah); Hear My Voice (The Trial of the Chicago Seven); Húsavík (Eurovision Song Contest); Io Si - Seen (The Life Ahead); Speak Now (One Night in Miami)
Winner: Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah)
BEST SOUND
Nominees: Greyhound; Mank; News of the World; Soul; Sound of Metal
Winner: Sound of Metal
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Nominees: The Father; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Mank; News of the World; Tenet
Winner: Mank
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Nominees: Love and Monsters; The Midnight Sky; Mulan; The One and Only Ivan; Tenet
Winner: Tenet
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Nominees: Emma; Mank; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Mulan; PinnochioW
Winner: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING
Nominees: Emma; Hillbilly Elegy; Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Mank; Pinocchio
Winner: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Nominees: Feeling Through; The Letter Room; The Present; Two Distant Strangers; White Eye
Winner: Two Distant Strangers
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Nominees: Burrow; Genius Loci; If Anything Happens I Love You; Opera; Yes-People
Winner: If Anything Happens I Love You'
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Nominees: Colette; A Concerto Is A Conversation; Do Not Split; Hunger Ward; A Love Song for Latasha
Winner: Colette
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