Review and Analysis of the 97th Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 97th Academy Awards

The 97^th Academy Awards were pretty much terrific. This ranks among the best ceremonies in quite a while. Not only was the host much better than usual, but most of the winners were actually deserved with a couple of reservations. This was the first year in more than a decade where one of my favorite movies ended up winning the big awards, so I was thrilled.

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THE CEREMONY

This was the year when Conan O’Brien hosted the ceremony and he was an excellent choice for the job. Unlike that insufferable Kimmel, Conan did not do any political commentary whatsoever. He was also not edgy or over-the-top at anything that he did, but more mainstream and all-ages appropriate, which actually fits the Academy, so this is the path forward for them. I did not love the bits that he did with others. The Amazon one was solid, but that Adam Sandler bit went on for too long and was simply unfunny. But his musical number was quite fun, some of his lines were genuinely clever and a couple of his jokes did make me laugh. Overall, he was a successful host.

The speeches were mostly short. Baker ended up winning four Oscars for himself, which was a truly monumental achievement unparalleled by anyone else in the history of these awards, so he got to have four different speeches about different subjects and I particularly admired his speech about the importance of theaters. Other speeches were fine. Zoe Saldana’s speech was quite emotional for sure. I just wished that Brody did not win and he didn’t make that win easier for me for giving the longest and most insufferably egotistical speech of the bunch.

I hated that they brought back that choice with the actors talking about their colleagues. Showing their performances on screen is the only way to go with these awards as this is how we best see their work. I liked the idea of doing this for the lesser categories where for instance the actors from their respective movies would sing praises for the costume designers nominated for that category, but for the big awards I prefer the clips.

This year they cut the nominated songs from getting live performances, which was a great choice as the numbers this year were quite weak. But the unfortunate caveat to this is that they included some other numbers, most notably celebrating the songs from James Bond movies. Why in the hell would they once again celebrate this franchise instead of celebrating the anniversaries for numerous Best Picture winners from the past is beyond me. They really need to bring back some history appreciation to these awards and to cut music as much as possible. The ceremony went on for too long once again and it dragged toward the end, but the lack of political speeches and a strong host made it more palatable for me at the end of the day.

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BEST PICTURE

This slate of nominees isn’t the best as only two of the ten movies on this list ended up on my top ten list for the year. I love Wicked, but this is the type of movie that could never win at the Oscars as it’s too big and populist for them. Numerous movies on this list had no chance to win whatsoever with Emilia Perez, Dune: Part Two and Nickel Boys just being happy to be there. The Brutalist lost a lot of steam toward the end of the season and I am glad for that as I am quite tired of these period pieces getting awards when they are all so similar. Conclave was the only movie that could challenge Anora due to the preferential ballot, but I am so glad that did not happen as that film lacked taste and was very questionable in its ending. Anora did end up winning the big award, which I honestly have been skeptical throughout this season. It’s quite a comedic movie that is also about sex work and it seems to be too indie and risqué for the Academy. But this is the proof that they have changed and these types of sophisticated films can now win, which is a fantastic development. This is my second best movie of the year and the first time when one of my favorite movies of the year ended up winning big at the Oscars. It’s a strange feeling to align with the Academy so strongly.

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BEST DIRECTOR

Sean Baker was at one time entirely ignored by the Academy. He didn’t even get the deserved attention for his incredible Florida Project. This is why it came as a surprise that they ended up overwhelmingly supporting his work through numerous categories. But this is the big one and I am so happy that one of the best American directors working today finally got an Oscar for himself. He entirely deserved it and this is the first time that my choice for best director perfectly aligned with the Academy. None of the other nominees could ever compare with his work on Anora and thankfully they knew that and recognized him.

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BEST ACTOR

Now we arrive to the only award that I was genuinely upset with. Stan and Domingo had no chance of winning this while Fiennes was somehow not running away with the award when the overdue narrative was there all the time. I hated A Complete Unknown and I would personally give the Oscar to Timothee Chalamet for any other movie, but he doesn’t have an Oscar and Adrien Brody already got one before, which is why this choice was by far the worst possible one. Giving this man two Oscars for basically the same performance just seems unreasonable to me and this will undoubtedly rank him among the least deserving winners in the history of the award both times. It was an infuriating moment that almost soured the whole ceremony for me.

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BEST ACTRESS

This wasn’t the greatest year for American actresses, which is why this slate was quite weak. This is why I am so glad that Mikey Madison did manage to squeak her much deserved win for playing the titular Anora character so incredibly well. Her performance was by far the best and most complex one of the year where she got to do the dramatic and the comedic work and did it so well. She is one of the youngest winners in this category and deservedly so. Any other choice would have been very wrong in comparison, particularly Demi Moore, who never should have been such a strong competitor.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The two supporting actor categories are always the most predictable ones for some reason and sure enough Kieran Culkin won for his typecast performance in A Real Pain, a film where he was actually the lead. He was pretty much playing himself or a very similar version to his ‘Succession’ character, and although I really liked him in that movie, I would have personally given this one to Yura Borisov, who was just wonderful as the heart of Anora.

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Zoe Saldana won this one, which was also a lock from the beginning. This means that all four acting awards this year were given to lead actors, which is very troubling. The Academy really needs to stop with this category fraud nonsense. With that being said, I liked Saldana quite a bit and she was actually the best part of that movie, so I had no qualms with her winning here even though I would have personally voted for Ariana Grande, who delivered an effortlessly great comedic performance in Wicked.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

I genuinely thought that this one would go to Eisenberg for A Real Pain, but Baker took this one as well on his road to four Oscars and deservedly so as this was by far the best written movie of the year with a script that is sophisticated and dialogue that is very funny and grounded. Such a great win.

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BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

I would have probably given this one to Nosferatu myself, but that movie was not even nominated here, which is sad. In such a weak slate of nominees Conclave took this one, which was actually the best choice for this inferior list. That movie had its issues, but those problems stem from the source material and not from the movie’s writing at all.

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BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

This slate is among the best in the history of this award, there is no doubt about it. Only Inside Out 2 wasn’t worthy of being nominated, but every other nominee was terrific. The new Wallace and Gromit was an absolute delight while Memoir of a Snail finally brought Adam Elliott to the awards table. But this was always going to come between Flow and The Wild Robot and the fact that a smaller Latvian movie won over the big-budget DreamWorks flick speaks volumes to the greatness of Flow, which is my absolute favorite film of the entire year. I loved the other movie too, but Flow is something special and I was just ecstatic that it won. This is a huge win that finally signals that the Academy grew up and that they now recognize the truly artistic and best achievements in animation.

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BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

This was a solid slate with The Girl with the Needle sadly not standing any chance, but being one of the best foreign films of the year. Flow would be my pick of course, but an animated movie just being on the list here is an achievement in and of itself. Emilia Perez ended up losing to I’m Still Here, which was the right choice as that movie was very messy and it had no business winning here.

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BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

I was so glad that No Other Land actually won. This was an important moment to bring awareness to the atrocities going on in Gaza right now, so the Academy making it political in this instance was justifiable. I would have been fine with Sugarcane winning too.

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BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

I’m Not a Robot winning this award was an unexpected, but fabulous development as I absolutely love that science fiction flick. This was a wonderful surprise for me, but I have to say that a part of me is sad that The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent lost as that movie was also excellent.

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

This was an odd win that nobody saw coming. In The Shadow of the Cypress is certainly an artistic endeavor, but it was overly depressing and cold for me, so I wasn’t thrilled that it won. This was not a strong slate this year unfortunately.

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Brutalist took it for score, which was a deserved win out of these nominees. This was by far the best aspect in that slog. But the fact that the delightful Hundreds of Beavers music and the cool and contemporary Challengers score weren’t even nominated is baffling to me.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

This was a terrible list of nominees with El Mal taking it in an expected turn of events. None of these songs appealed to me in the slightest and I would personally give it to Mufasa’s I Always Wanted a Brother. That is a true banger unlike all of these snoozefest songs.

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BEST SOUND

Dune: Part Two took this one deservedly so as the sound is always terrific in these movies. It’s a shame that this film was so disrespected in numerous other categories, especially the technical ones that it easily could have taken.

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BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Wicked clearly had incredible sets, so its win here is quite welcome. I love this choice, but I have to say that the production design in Nosferatu was just sublime, so it would be a coin toss-up for me personally.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Nosferatu easily should have taken this one as it was by far the prettiest and most artistic movie of these nominees. The Brutalist won, which was a fine choice, but not the best one.

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BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

The Substance taking this award is obviously a no-brainer. That movie had incredible practical make-up effects that are the movie itself, so it was among the most deserved winners of the night.

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BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Wicked taking costumes was also the only legitimate choice as it clearly had the best and most sumptuous costumes of any movie released this year. I am so glad that Wicked at least got two technical awards.

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BEST FILM EDITING

I knew that Anora would end up winning everything or that at least it had the potential to do so when it got the editing award. This was a huge win for Baker that signaled something great coming. And he entirely deserved it as it’s very hard cutting comedic movies, which he did effortlessly in Anora.

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BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

I do not have any problems with Dune winning here, but this franchise already had one Oscar in this category, so I would have personally spread the love a bit. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes looked insanely good and it is high time that that franchise got the love that it deserves.

Overall, I loved this year’s Oscars. The ceremony was pretty good and the winners were mostly deserved with a few exceptions. Anora taking home five out of six Oscars was a glorious development that nobody saw coming, but it made me so happy. This was the rare time when the Academy actually honored one of the best movies of the year and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer movie. Baker’s four-win feat is unprecedented and it happened to one of the best directors working today.

Review and Analysis of the 97th Academy Awards