The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the 96th Academy Awards

With the announcement of this year’s Oscar winners, another long awards season has come to a close. While most categories went according to plan, we had a couple of surprises, albeit nothing you’d call a huge shocker. And certainly none you’d call a bad decision.

As is tradition, let’s take a closer look at everything that went down with the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 96th Academy Awards.

THE GOOD

Oppenheimer sweeps. After running a perfect campaign all season, Christopher Nolan’s opus cleaned up with seven wins, equalling the total of Everything Everywhere All at Once last year. After several years of smaller, quirkier titles winning Best Picture, the Academy returned to its roots of awarding a big studio blockbuster. Thankfully, it’s one with more brains than your typical big box office earner. And we now get to add the words “Academy Award winner” to the names of Nolan, Cillian Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr. Ain’t nobody complaining about that.

Two-time Academy Award winner Emma Stone. Look, I wanted the Lily Gladstone win as much as anyone. It was even my final prediction for Best Actress. But it’s hard to deny Stone gave the performance of a lifetime in Poor Things and her win was richly deserved. Stone was gracious and humble. Her speech was equal parts touching and humorous. Gladstone looked completely thrilled for her, as did everyone else in the room. It may have been an “upset” in many people’s eyes, but one that you can’t really be mad at.

The coronation of Robert Downey Jr. After his career was seemingly in the toilet some 15 years ago, it was quite a moment to see Downey Jr. on the Dolby Theatre stage with an Academy Award in his hands. You have to agree it’s an image the people of the early 2000s would have laughed at. The man cleaned up his life, resurrected his lagging status in Hollywood, and now he’s an Oscar winner.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph delivers the speech of the night. After receiving a bit of online snark over her decision to bring notes on-stage for her wins at previous awards shows, Randolph brought the house down with an unscripted speech direct from the heart. In thanking her high school drama teacher, Randolph tearfully said, “When I was the only Black girl in that class. When you saw me and you told me I was enough, and when I told you, ‘I don’t see myself.’ You said, ‘That’s fine. We’re going to forge our own path. You are going to lay a trail for yourself.’” Magic stuff.

That Ryan Gosling performance. We knew he’d bring the Ken-ergy, but, holy moly, were we not prepared for what Gosling had in store for his first (and likely only) rendition of Oscar-nominated track “I’m Just Ken.” The producers rightfully saved it as the last performance of the night and Gosling ate the stage alive with a dazzling display that highlighted why the track probably should have taken the trophy and why Gosling is the kind of bonafide movie star we don’t see all that often these days.

The Zone of Interest upsets in Best Sound. The sound design of Jonathan Glazer’s groundbreaking Holocaust drama is truly some of the most masterful and unforgettable you’ll ever hear inside a cinema. While most of us presumed this category would be part of the Oppenheimer sweep, there’s something so magical about seeing truly unique craftsmanship acknowledged.

The screenplay winners. Gone are the days of the Best Picture winner snatching a screenplay win by default. Much love to Oppenheimer, but we all know Nolan’s writing wasn’t exactly its greatest asset. The screenplays of American Fiction and Anatomy of a Fall are undeniably intrinsically linked to their successes as films as a whole. It was wonderful to see the Academy realise such a notion.

Previous winners introduce the acting nominees. It may have added some extra running time to the ceremony, but, for the first time since 2009, the Academy brought back previous winners to pay tribute to each of the current nominees. While they weren’t all wonderful, they mostly added a personal and sentimental touch to the nominee announcements and you could tell the actors enormously enjoyed it.

Jimmy Kimmel brings the teamsters on stage. After a difficult year for film production where technical crews bravely refused to cross the picket lines of the WGA and SAG, it was a beautiful moment to allow the behind-the-scenes folk to receive their often lacking adulation.

The staging. Speaking of the Oscars stage, the production design was some of the best we’ve seen in years. Bathed in classic gold accents, the huge screens were utilised to great effect, particularly during moments like the previous winners coming on-stage and Poor Things‘ win for Best Costume Design where sketches of Stone’s dazzling outfits were displayed behind winner Hannah Waddington. The ceremony looked lush and decadent, which is precisely how something like the Academy Awards should be crafted.

“P.I.M.P.” used to accompany Justine Triet and Arthur Harari’s win. Was there really any other choice for a musical accompaniment here?

Kate McKinnon and John Mulaney. These two are the perfect choices for future Oscars hosts. Together. Separately. Either way, just make it happen, dammit.

The Godzilla franchise finally has an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Enough said.

THE BAD

No acting nominee clips. Sure, adding the clips to the already-lengthy previous winner introductions would have blown out the running time on those categories, but it just feels bizarre to nominate 20 actors for their acting ability and not showcase their talents to viewers. In my opinion, it’s a huge opportunity to encourage an audience to seek out those films and witness the full performances, especially those that won. Even a quick montage would have sufficed.

Killers of the Flower Moon shut out. For the third time in history, a Martin Scorsese film went 0-10 at the Academy Awards. Killers joins The Irishman and Gangs of New York in this bizarre piece of history that feels rather unexplainable for such an acclaimed filmmaker. Admittedly, outside of Best Actress, it’s hard to say where Killers should have won, but you have to feel for Marty. Maybe his next film will be that year’s version of Oppenheimer.

The 20 Days in Mariupol team played off with “I’m Just Ken.” After an impassioned and incredibly moving speech where Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov paid tribute to the people of his homeland and the importance of showing injustices in the world, the team walked off the stage to the sounds of the campy Barbie ballad. Tone-deaf is an understatement.

The In Memoriam segment. Repeat after me; we do not ever need dancers during a memorial tribute to those we lost in the last 12 months. How and why is this still a thing?

Al Pacino somewhat botches the Best Picture announcement. It wasn’t exactly a Faye Dunaway/Warren Beatty “La La Land!” moment, but Pacino forgetting to announce the nominees and just blurting out, “My eyes see Oppenheimer?” was a hugely anti-climatic way to announce the biggest award of the night. And one that initially created a few awkward moments of confusion. Everyone knew Oppenheimer was winning, so it’s not like Pacino robbed us of anything particularly amazing. But maybe it’s best to pick someone in the future who’s a bit more attuned to how awards shows operate.

THE UGLY

The stunts “salute.” When Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling took to the stage (in what was clearly a subtle promo spot for their upcoming stuntman film The Fall Guy) to introduce a montage paying tribute to stuntmen and stuntwomen of the past and present, there were many online who thought this was the Academy’s way of announcing they were finally adding a category for Best Stunts. What a sublime moment that would have been. And what an ingenious way of introducing it to the world. Nope.

After the clip package was done, the camera returned to Blunt and Gosling to give a “salute” to stunt performers and that was it. What exactly was the point of this? We really love the work you do but not enough to give you an award for it? The Screen Actors Guild has woken up and added stunt categories to both their film and television awards. It’s embarrassing the Academy hasn’t followed suit. This utterly bizarre homage to a group of integral performers they continue to ignore was just absolutely baffling and a huge slap in the face to the men and women who literally put their lives on the line to bring us entertainment.