There’s a lot of carping today about the low ratings for the Oscars, blaming the films that made the Best Picture category.

But no one seems to remember that a number of films were moved out of 2020 because of the pandemic. That turned 2020 into a slate of mostly independent films. This year was an aberration. Next year we will have been overwhelmed with choices for Best Picture.

Not that these movies were in any way inferior. But if “West Side Story,” “In the Heights,” “The French Dispatch,” “No Time to Die,” and “Death on the Nile” — to name a few big ones– had qualified for the Oscars, the whole game would have been different.

Indeed, just those movies, even the James Bond, would have changed things in many categories and added a buzz to the Oscar season that was sorely lacking. I would even include David Chase’s “The Many Saints of Newark,” his “Soprano’s” prequel, that list.

We don’t yet, even from the most commercial, or seemingly obvious projects. what gems lurk in waiting for awards recognition. Let’s not forget “Dune,” also, and Adrian Lyne’s “Deep Water.”

So 2020 was a great selection of indie films. With studio blockbusters out of the way, a number of titles like “Minari” and “The Father” got more breathing room. I’m grateful for that. And Andra Day was able to be discovered. It was very exciting. The year 2020 gets an asterisk. We should just be glad we got through it. Now, forward.

Leonardo DiCaprio has optioned Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar winning “Another Round” to make in English, and in America.

But the movie will not get made, I fear, because it will not translate.

“Another Round” concerns a group of middle aged men in Denmark, teachers no less, who engage in increasing their blood alcohol level out of boredom. They think it will make them smarter and more interesting. Leo would take the main role played so beautifully by Mads Mikkelsen in the film.

In “Another Round,” there is plenty of reference to the high amount of alcohol consumed by the Danish. It’s a drinking country. Like other Scandinavian countries, Denmark is awash in liquor. While these men in the film are sloshing away for fun, drinking is a pastime for their friends as well.

But there’s no mention of AA or alcoholism or judgements made. And in the US, with AA  a way of life, and political correctness solidly overruling all decisions, it’s hard to imagine a group of teachers doing this in a movie for fun. Even if they are instead made into lawyers, or whatever, insurance agents, I doubt a director or screenwriter will be able to pull it off without an outcry from lots of groups.

According to Deadline, which reported the option, Jake Gyllenhaal also wanted the option. I guess he doesn’t learn from the past. Six years ago, Jake made a movie almost no one saw called “Demolition,” about a man who goes on a self destruction kick after his wife dies. The audience did not want to see this movie. Maybe if it had been in Danish, but not in suburban America. Total worldwide box office was $4.6 million, with just a quarter of that in the U.S. I’m not sure if it even streams or plays on cable.

So, Leo, good luck with this one. If it works, I’ll be the first to toast you.

One could suspect from the way the Oscars were put together at LA’s Union Station, this was an unusual year. How do you dress for well, the imperative to simply show up? Some women took the Hollywood glam route: Amanda Seyfried’s red ball gown seemed from every camera angle to fill the room. Ditto for Angela Bassett’s pouf shoulders. Cleavage was a thing. And others rocked in covered up understatement: Olivia Coleman in demure Dior, Glenn Close dazzled in Armani Prive, even when she was wiggling her butt. The “Nomadland” women from multi-awarded Chloe Zhao to Frances McDormand whose wolf howl was the most musical note of the evening wore dour. Even the real-life nomads, like Swanky, so endearing and colorful in this desert toned movie, made up and coiffed, looked more dressed up.

But, had she attended, what would Ann Roth have said or worn collecting her umpteenth Oscar for costume design? A second-time winner at 89, like Anthony Hopkins at 83, she sat this one out. In 2012, Roth was honored for her work at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Here’s what I learned about her illustrious decades-long career:

Never ever confuse Ann Roth’s work with fashion. From the ensembles put together for Nathan Lane in “The Birdcage,” to the flimsy house dresses worn by Sally Field in “Places in the Heart,” to the spandex, crotch and derriere defining bell-bottoms worn by Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth in “Mamma Mia!,” these are costumes. “Oh, please!” she gasps if you suggest otherwise.

She did attend: Roth, smartly clad with cardigan draped over her shoulders, became straight-man to one of the most entertaining tributes ever, featuring anecdotes galore about Roth’s work, her attention to detail, her invented backstory for each character that defied the imagination of actors playing them. All this, so that the players could feel the parts, bringing award worthy performances.

As the late, beloved Mike Nichols put it, she collaborates on many aspects aside from costuming. She was responsible for Jane Fonda’s Klute haircut, that then became all the rage. For Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours, Roth found a key to her look at a London cobbler’s shop when she was having a pair of shoes made. The craftsman said he had heard Woolf read on the radio as a boy and thought her sound had to do with her nose. Roth then suggested the infamous, transformative shnozz Kidman sported as the author of “Mrs. Dalloway.” Fonda and Kidman won the Best Actress Oscars for these roles.

But the 93rd Academy Awards eschewed the nonsense, and like the pandemic itself, made us all step up to what is necessary. While the academy honored the talent, featuring more inclusivity and diversity, the major change was women got more attention than ever. Accepting her Best Actress award, Frances McDormand noted her work is her sword. Or, as my daughter Jane observed about “Nomadland” director Chloe Zhao, she’s no B.S.

Just by coincidence, Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” is coming from Disney, and they hosted the Oscars on ABC, their company.

And so, last night the trailer for “West Side Story” was shown for the first time. Rita Moreno, Oscar winner from the original 1961 movie, is heard singing “Somewhere (There’s a Place for Us)” as we get a first look at the cast and the setting. And the verdict? It looks great. We want it to be great, so that’s nice. The movie looks like real “West Side Story” as opposed to the horrible version currently not playing on Broadway. Save your money for this one.

As for Disney, the movie is carrying the 20th Century Fox logo maybe for the last time.