All in all, it was a good year, a very good year, at the movies in 2021.

Movies were back in the movie theaters and so were the movie-goers, for the most part.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” found a way to get fans of Marvel superheroes off their seats, out of their homes and into movie theater seats. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the third biggest movie ever at the box office, and counting.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown that began in mid-March 2020 in the United States became the biggest special effect ever in the movies, affecting how they’re made, how they’re distributed and how they’re seen.

The Oscars were impacted, too. The 2022 telecast is the first in-person Oscar ceremony open to most all in two years.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the 94th Academy Awards for 2021 outstanding film achievements, 8 p.m. (EST) March 27, Dolby Theatre, Hollywood and Highland Center, Los Angeles, televised live on the ABC-TV.

The Academy changed its rules to allow a movie on a streaming service to qualify rather than requiring a movie to have been shown in a movie theater before year’s end.

Here are my Oscar picks for the 2020 awards ceremony.

Best Picture

“The Power of the Dog,” the disturbing non-western western by director Jane Campion and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is the pick to win a best picture Oscar, and it’s my pick, too.

It’s a strong field of 10 best picture nominees, including “Belfast,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Drive My Car,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley” and “West Side Story.”

Director

Jane Campion, the favorite for “The Power of the Dog,” is my favorite, too.

Campion won an Oscar for adapted screenplay for “The Piano” (1993), for which she was also nominated for an Oscar as director. She is the only woman to have been nominated twice for a director Oscar.

Director nominees include Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”; Ryusuke Haaguchi, “Drive My Car”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza,” and Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story.”

Lead Actor

Here again, the front-runner is from “The Power of the Dog.” Benedict Cumberbatch is far and away the most phenomenal in this category.

Cumberbatch’s commitment to the role as the rough and tough cowpoke in circa 1925 Montana was such that he leaned to castrate livestock. Boy, talk about method acting.

Lead actor nominees include Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”; Andrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick ... Boom!”; Will Smith, “King Richard,” and Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

Lead Actress

Kristen Stewart was amazing as Lady Spencer, aka Princess Diana. Stewart was transformational in the role, conveying the psychological horror that Lady Di apparently lived.

It’s a strong field of lead actress nominees, including Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”; Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”; Penelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers,” and Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos.”

Supporting Actress

Ariana DeBose is favored for “West Side Story” in the role of Anita. I would agree. It’s the role for which Rita Moreno won the supporting actress award in the original 1961 film.

The supporting actress field is very competitive, as it often is, with nominees including Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”; Judi Dench, “Belfast”; Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog,” and Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard.”

Supporting Actor

The supporting actor field is a toss-up, but my choice is Troy Kotsur, the deaf actor for the extraordinary film, “CODA,” an acronym for Children Of Deaf Adults.

Supporting actor nominees include Ciaran Hinds, “Belfast”; Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”; J.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos,” and Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog.”

Animated Feature Film

“Encanto” is a shoo-in for its vibrant, song-filled, Disney world of animation magic.

There could be an upset by “Flee,” the animated docudrama about an Afghanistan refugee. The film is nominated in two other Oscar categories: documentary feature and international feature. “Flee” will fee with an Oscar for one of these.

The animated feature nominees include “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. The Machine” and “Raya and the Last Dragon.”