2023 brought us a lot of incredible movies so when the Oscars came rolling around, people were excited to see who would be taking the Oscars home when there were so many worthy nominees. With that, no one could have expected how eventful this night would be while they were announcing these new Oscar winners.
To start the night off, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars for the fourth time. The Oscars opened with a beautiful montage of the top watched movies of this year. Then, it cut to Barbie and Jimmy sitting on the bench in the park, when Barbie turns to Kimmel and says, “you’re beautiful” and he said, “I know it, I haven’t eaten in three weeks.” This was kind of a let down. They could have used a different joke that could’ve really shown how impactful that scene was instead of playing off of people’s insecurities about their body. This joke received him a partial standing ovation when he came out, which shows exactly how Kimmel’s hosting went the entire night.
Something interesting that the Oscars did this year was let the past nominees of the categories talk about how wonderful all of these nominees are instead of showing clips from their movies. Many liked this new take on showing the nominees as people not just as characters, but others didn’t because it doesn’t tie an actor to their nomination.
To get the night started right, Best Supporting Actress was presented. The award went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers. Although many were upset to see America Ferrera lose in this category, many were happy to see Randolph take it home instead after her heartwarming speech.
Next was Best Animated film, and this category had a lot of great contenders. The top three contenders for this category were The Boy and The Heron, Elemental, and Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse. The Boy and The Heron, being made by two of the most accomplished animators of all time, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki, was a tough competitor. Elemental was one of Pixar’s best movies since Disney’s downfall. Finally, Spiderman: Across the SpiderVerse was a fan favorite that broke the bounds of what an animated movie can be with incredible storytelling as well. The win went to The Boy and The Heron and while their directors were not there to accept the award, many were still extremely happy to see this film recognized in this way.
This award was followed by a performance of “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilsh and Finneas O’Connell. “What Was I Made For?” was nominated for Best Song along with I’m Just Ken also from The Barbie Movie. Many people who watched the Oscars said the performance of “I’m Just Ken” was the best part of the night. “What Was I Made For?” actually went to win the award for Best Song. Billie, immediately when giving her speech, got choked up and broke down laughing, but luckily her brother was by her side to support her. It was wonderful to see this song finally being recognized. This was the only award Barbie took home the entire night, which was shocking to fans because it was the top grossing movie of the year.
Poor Things took home many of the design awards of the night including Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, and Costume Design. Its leading lady, Emma Stone, took home the biggest award of the night for the movie, Best Actress. Many were upset with this because this is Stone’s second time winning best supporting actress. Most believed Lily Gladstone should’ve received this award for her acting in Killers of the Flower Moon, not to mention she would have been the first Native American Woman to win this category.
Finally the movie that won the most Oscars overall was Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer won 12 Oscars all night including Best Picture. Some standouts were Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr which most suspected this award would go to Ryan Gosling for his portrayal of Ken. Cillian Murphy for his portrayal of Oppenheimer won Best Actor against big names such as Bradley Cooper and Jeffery Wright. Opinions on whether or not Oppenheimer deserved all of those awards are mixed.
2023 was a huge year for movies as a whole. It reworked what a movie can be. With everything from a blind boy trying to testify against his mother for killing his dad to a movie about the impact of our childhood toys, every movie this year, winner or loser, made an impact on the film industry as a whole.
