After 97 years, the Oscars continues to cement itself as one of the most prestigious award events in history. The program is filled with musical guests, risky jokes and the celebration of many different filmmakers, actors and more. Even though this year’s production lacked a little luster (mainly due to the host), the night can still be counted as a big success.
With the filmmaking award season finally coming to an end, the Oscars are the biggest and last chance for actors, directors and other filmmakers to be recognized by their peers. The production for the event was as good as ever, with great performances and clip editing. The show ran smoothly, with only one interruption due to difficulties from the streaming service Hulu.
Throughout the night, celebrities seemed to have enjoyed themselves, but if there was one weak spot of the night, it would be the hosting. Conan O’Brien hosted the Oscars for the first time, and it was a bit lackluster. His jokes were very average. There were a few big laughs for jokes that may have been rooted in touchy or controversial topics. Other than that, he seemed to always have to fill in the silent void after a missed joke with extra ad libs or small movements like finger guns to make up for the awkwardness.
Furthermore, he didn’t have much of a stage presence. With some of the past Oscar hosts like Chris Rock or Jimmy Kimmel, when they took the stage, you could feel their presence and importance during the show. Their jokes landed well and their interaction with the audience was natural and engaging. With O’Brien, it all just seemed like he was cut off from everyone and that there wasn’t a good connection from host to audience.
Regardless, the saving grace of the night were heartfelt moments, performances and the actual awards. Over the past year a countless number of films were created and produced. While all films are celebrated not all of them have the honor of being an Oscar Nominee. This year’s nomination list had a lot of controversy on who did and didn’t make the cut. However, when it came to the winners on the final night, the crowd was pleased.
Actors Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin won the awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. This was the first time either of them had been nominated for an Oscar which led them both to have memorable acceptance speeches. Zoe Saldaña’s speech consisted of heart-felt tears and recognition of her being the first person of Dominican descent to ever win an Oscar.
On the other hand, Kieran’s speech was filled with jokes and laughter as he reflected on a story about his wife owing him a fourth child if he ever won this monumental award. Paul Tazewell also made history by being the first Black man to ever win an Oscar for Costume Design for his work in “Wicked“.
On top of that Adrien Brody made history for the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history. Brody won the award for Best Actor for his work in “The Brutalist“ and spoke for 5 minutes and 40 seconds where at one point he even told The Academy to “please turn the music off” and that he had “done this before”.
Brody’s win certainly doesn’t come without some backlash due to the AI controversy that “The Brutalist” was facing. His work as an actor in the film still shined through to beat other well-known actors in his category. While Brody walked away with the gold-plated statue, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if actors like Colman Domingo or Ralph Fiennes had taken the award home either.
The film “Anora“ took home five Oscars during the event with Director Sean Baker setting the record by taking home four of them in a single night. “Anora“ won for Best Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Best Director, Best Picture and Mikey Madison took home the award for Best Leading Actress in a Feature Film.
Although people questioned why there was a James Bond musical celebration during the show when no bond movies were nominated, the performance by Doja Cat, Raye and LISA was very good. This along with Queen Latifah’s tribute to Quincy Jones and Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s performance to start the show helped the show flow and liven up anytime O’Brien talked for too long.
Overall, the night wasn’t very eventful with any big upsets or slaps but for the Oscars production team I’m sure that’s a good thing. The night wasn’t anything out of this world, but it helped bring joy to people that had worked so tirelessly to create films for the big screen. The night was used to have fun, celebrate and congratulate everyone in the film industry for a great year. And it did just that.
