96th Oscars Recap

Edinboro P.A.-The 96th Academy Awards was on Sunday March 10, 2024, was a night full of surprises and upsets in some of the categories. Oppenheimer led the night with 13 nominations,and it walked away with 7 wins. Poor Things was the second most nominated film with 11 nominations, and it walked away with 4 wins.

The night opened with the award for Actress in a Supporting Role, a category full of very deserving actresses. In the end, Da'Vine Joy Randolph walked away with the Oscar for her role in The Holdovers.I personally agree with this choice and think that it was a well-deserved Oscar for Randolph. Randolph was the best nominee for this category and was one of the best parts of The Holdovers. You can see the hurt in her characters eyes without her needing to say anything.

Animated Feature Film was the next award to be announced and while there was some stiff competition in this category as well, The Boy and The Heron took home the award, upsetting Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse. This is the second Oscar for Hayao Miyazaki. I disagree with this choice of a winner as I believe personally that Namona was the better choice for this award. I am not a fan of the first Spiderverse movie and the sequel felt incomplete due to it being made in 2 parts. Namona also had better animation, a better story, and better voice work. 

American Fiction took home the Oscar for Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and Anatomy of a Fall won the Oscar for Writing (Original Screenplay). I think both awards went to the correct films as they were the best written films out of all the nominees for these categories. 

Poor Things, which was a visual treat to viewers, secured the Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, and Costume Design. 

Robert Downey Jr. claimed the Oscar for Actor in a Supporting role. As much as I love Robert Downey Jr.,especially in Oppenheimer, I think the correct choice for this award was Sterling K.Brown. He is not in American Fiction very often but with the limited screen time he has,he makes sure he takes advantage of it. I believe that Brown was more deserving because of how little screentime he has. Downey Jr had more screen time so it's easier for him to make the most of it and put on a good performance. Brown has a fraction of that time so in order to take advantage of that he has to put on a performance of a lifetime and he steals the show with it. 

Godzilla Minus One’s win for visual effects was the correct choice, as the film blows the other nominees away in this department. Plus, the acceptance speech from the company was adorable. On top of the people who worked on the film being really happy that they won, they all had cute little Godzilla toys with them as well. 

Oppenheimer picked up its third and fourth Oscars of the night with Film Editing and Cinematography. The editing in Oppenheimer was great and it deserved the award, but I thought the editing in Anatomy of a Fall was equally as good and it was my personal pick to win.I think Killers of the Flower Moon should have won cinematography though. Oppenheimer does some great things when it comes to cinematography, that is one of Christopher Nolans specialties. But Killers of the Flower Moon uses the camera to show you things that are important while certain scenes are going on. It makes the camera feel like a character and I did not really get that with Oppenheimer. 

Zone of Interest picked up the Oscar for Sound. This was a category that was weaker in nominees this year in my opinion, but I think the correct movie did win. 

Oppenheimer won Music (Original Score) and Billie Eilish won Music (Original Song) with her song ‘What was I made For?’. I think the correct decision was made for Original Song, but I think Original Score should have gone to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. John Williams is one of the greatest composers for film, and the Indiana Jones theme is so recognizable that I think it is the better song. Plus I listen to the Indiana Jones soundtrack at least once a week. 

Cillian Murphy picked up his first ever Oscar win with Actor in a Leading Role for Oppenheimer. The win did not come easy as his competition was difficult in this category. When your competitors are Bradley Cooper, Coleman Domingo, Paul Giamatti, and Jeffery Wright all ofwhich were very deserving and are great actors in their own right, the win would not come easy. 

Oppenheimer picked up its sixth Oscar of the night with a win in Director, which was also the first Oscar win for director Christopher Nolan. There were a lot of directors nominated this year that deserved it, and there weren’t any that were left out. I personally think that Zone of Interest should have won this award, but I am not upset with Nolan winning.

The first upset of the night came in the Actress in a Leading role category. Lily Gladstone was the favorite to win this award, but Emma Stone caused an upset by winning for Poor Things. I very strongly disagree with this pick. Emma Stone was great in Poor Things and that movie would not be what it is without her, but Lily Gladstone carried Killers of the Flower Moon on her shoulders. Stone may have deserved the Oscar, but I do not think it was the right decision. Emma Stone is the main character in Poor Things but she is also surrounded by a great cast that helps carry that movie. While I love Robert De Niro and Leo Dicaprio Killers of the Flower Moon is not their best performances and Lily Gladstone really does carry that movie on her back. I think that there is no other actor that could play that role and carry that movie the way that she did. 

The biggest award of the night, Best Picture, went to Oppenheimer, causing another upset, at least for me anyway. Nine of the ten films up for this award were deserving of the Oscar. Oppenheimer was not my choice for best picture and while I knew it was coming, my personal pick for Best Picture last year was Anatomy of a Fall. Every film minus Maestro in my opinion was deserving of Best Picture this year. Congratulations to Oppenheimer for taking home the Biggest Award of the season, despite me disagreeing. 

Some notable movies that took home no Oscars were, Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives,and Maestro. Barbie ended up only taking home one Oscar all night.

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