Another year, another Oscars come and gone. On the whole, I’m pretty happy. While it lacked the runaway wish fulfillment of last year’s Everything Everywhere All at Once domination, there were so many strong films nominated that I couldn’t really complain about any of the wins, even when my personal picks didn’t take home the prize.
It was another Jimmy Kimmel-hosted ceremony, which is a little meh, but he did fine and no one announced the wrong winner. There were some good jokes in the monologue, and Kimmel did an amusing bit arguing with John Cena over recreating the infamous “Oscar streaker” moment—on its own, the bit was entertaining, but it became hilarious when it culminated in a naked Cena edging onstage while nervously holding an Oscar envelope over his junk to present Best Costume Design. Oh, and Kimmel got a nice piece of unexpected 11th-hour comedy when Trump bashed his hosting performance on Truth Social. After reading the rest of the insulting “review” he’d received, the final line of “Make America Great Again” was one of the best punch lines of the night.
The awards themselves were spread out enough that the majority of the Best Picture Nominees took home something (though I had to pour one out for Past Lives in particular.) Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers, Best Original and Adapted Screenplay went to Anatomy of a Fall and American Fiction respectively, while Barbie nabbed Best Original Song (for “What Was I Made For?”, not “I’m Just Ken,” which I think was the right choice.) The Zone of Interest took home Best International Feature and Best Sound—not an award I’m often invested in, but it was a clear winner this year!
Poor Things, in addition to winning all three design awards, also brought home Best Lead Actress—Emma Stone seemed as surprised about that as anyone! And Best Picture winner Oppenheimer cleaned up most of the remaining awards. They won seven altogether, including Best Cinematography, Best Score, and Best Editing. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. were awarded Best Lead and Supporting Actor, and Christopher Nolan won Best Director.
I was admittedly bummed not to see Nimona win Best Animated Feature, but 1) to be fair, I haven’t seen The Boy and the Heron, and 2) I was fully prepared for that movie to win anyway. But I was delighted that, not only did The Last Repair Shop win Best Documentary Short, the winners also brought along one of the students from the short, who was dressed in her fairytale princess best and got to hold one of the Oscars while they gave their speech.
Lots of good speeches here. I especially liked Randolph talking about her efforts to “see herself” throughout her acting journey, American Fiction’s Cord Jefferson making a plea to Hollywood to talk a chance on more small films, Stone celebrating the collaborative nature of filmmaking, and Downey alluding to how far he’s rebounded by thanking the entertainment lawyer who worked so hard to get him ensured after his struggles with substance abuse. Jonathan Glazer used his win for The Zone of Interest to speak eloquently against the war in Gaza, while Murphy dedicated his speech to “the peacemakers.”
For the ceremony as a whole, I really liked the practice of bringing out five former winners to present each of the acting awards, with each presenter delivering a personal dedication to one of the nominees. Lupita Nyong’o and Ke Huy Quan were especially bringing on the waterworks, while Nicolas Cage made me laugh out loud! I loved starting the ceremony an hour early and hope they continue that in the future. The In Memorium segment featured lovely singing and dancing but was presented very poorly—it was hard to see the screen with the montage of people being honored! And while all the Best Original Song performances did really well, Ryan Gosling and co. brought the house down with “I’m Just Ken.” Every detail about it, from his sparkly pink suit to his interaction with the crowd, was utterly fantastic. I especially loved the other main Kens from the movie popping in to join the number—aww, Kingsley Ben-Adir Ken! Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa is onstage at the Oscars! Absolutely iconic.
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