Entertainment

The Academy Awards have been on an impressive run. After the 2022 ceremony was criticized for disrespectful hosts, questionable wins, and other controversies, it seems The Academy and management have gone out of their way to make the Oscars of the last 4 years correct. This year’s ceremony was full of wins that changed the status quo of prestige award shows going forward, while also having a few surprising snubs that feel awkward in the greater context.

The ceremony opened with second-time host Conan O’Brien dressing up as Aunt Gladys, the villain of 2025’s Weapons, and the performance Amy Madigan was nominated for Actress in a Supporting Role over. He was then chased through scenes from nominated movies by an army of children, as a nod to the brutal ending of last year’s horror hit. Throughout the ceremony, O’Brien was able to inject clever comedic bits, like a Casablanca parody critiquing Netflix’s apparent mandate to overexplain things for audiences. Similar to last year, Conan proved to be arguably the best host the show has had this decade.

All of the production Oscars, being Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, and Costume Design, went to Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein. Unsurprisingly, considering all of those elements of the film were arguably its highlight, making it feel fantastical and otherworldly.

On the technical side, all the awards were easy to predict. The Oscar for Sound went to F1, the only award the sports movie was likely to win amid the sea of prestige. Visual Effects went to Avatar: Fire and Ash, an obvious choice, considering the Avatar series has consistently won that category. Sinners’ Autumn Durald Arkapaw took home Cinematography, making her the first woman to win in the category. The Oscar for Film Editing went to One Battle After Another’s Andy Jurgensen.

Other film element categories include those for Screenplays and music. Adapted Screenplay went to Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another, for his script adapting the 1990 novel Vineland. The Original Screenplay award went to Ryan Coogler for Sinners, which he wrote in dedication to his uncle and his stories of the Delta. On the topic of Sinners, it was well deserved that a film so deeply carried by music won Original Score. This makes it the third Oscar win for composer Ludwig Goransson, his previous being for Black Panther and Oppenheimer. Original Song went to Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters, a win well deserved to some, but devastating to those annoyed by its constant spamming on radio stations.

Minor picture wins are as significant as Best Picture. K-Pop Demon Hunters took home Best Animated Feature, an obvious choice for the most discussed animated movie of the year. Animated Short Film went to The Girl Who Cried Pearls, a sweet short about a poor boy who supported his neighbor with her pearl tears. Live Action Short Film had a tie: the award went to both The Singers, a bottle story about men in a bar, and to Two People Exchanging Saliva, a French short about a dystopia where affection is criminal. Documentary Short Film went to All The Empty Rooms, a short about the preserved bedrooms of victims of school shootings. Documentary Feature Film went to Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a feature about a teacher documenting Putin’s administration and their attempt to control public perception of the Russia-Ukraine War.

On the acting side, it should have been no surprise then that Amy Madigan took home the award for Actress in a Supporting Role for the performance the opening was an homage to, but it was still shocking in regards to the first time a performer has won for a horror feature since Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster for Silence Of The Lambs in the 1992 ceremony. Michael B Jordan took home Actor In A Leading Role for his portrayal of twins Smoke and Stack in Sinners, making him the second actor to win for a horror movie this year. This will hopefully be a sign that the Academy will appreciate horror more consistently from now on. Actress in a Leading Role went to Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, a fantastic performance where she played an emotionally complex mother. Sean Penn took home Actor In A Supporting Role for his intense performance as Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another. Considering the Academy has excused their award decisions for being that a certain nominee has “won before,” they could have easily given the award to a performance by an actor who has not received an Oscar, like Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein or Delroy Lindo for Sinners. It was still a deserved win, even though Sean Penn has won twice before and has consistently had little care for this ceremony, which is so well known that the award presenter Kieran Culkin even remarked, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here tonight, or didn’t want to…”

Consistently, whoever wins best directing wins. It happened two years ago with Christopher Nolan and Oppenheimer, and with Sean Baker and Anora. So, it was no surprise that after Paul Thomas Anderson won the Directing category for One Battle After Another, the film won Best Picture. It was a close campaign between it and Sinners, since they were the most critically acclaimed films of 2025. This win was no short of predictable, but not undeserved.

In conclusion, the Academy continues to turn in respectful and fair ceremonies, and this is arguably the fairest in a while. After admitting they did not watch every film nominated for the ceremony last year, they have now mandated that they will. That has allowed for proper judgment, and hopefully, this rightful acknowledgement of the true quality of film will continue past this year’s Academy Awards.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have had an insanely successful run in the film industry. After their successful 21 Jump Street duology, they dived into animation. They directed both Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie, and wrote and produced the Spider-Verse films. This year, they have finally made their return to live action, with a film that could not be more different than their previous filmography, Project Hail Mary.

This science fiction feature follows schoolteacher Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, waking up in a space station without his memories. He slowly remembers his identity and his mission to find a weakness for an intergalactic substance that is killing our sun. Along the way, Grace encounters Rocky, an alien on the same mission to save their Sun, and the two work together to find a solution.

The flashbacks can become a bit of an inconvenience, and are probably the only fault in the film. They are placed throughout Ryland Grace’s mission, and in later parts of the movie, they feel tedious to still be cutting back to things that do not matter anymore. It helps make them more digestible and interesting that Lord and Miller chose to make the flashbacks have darker cinematography and a smaller format, compared to the widescreen, colorful space expedition. Truly, this movie is beautiful to see in theaters, and would likely be even better in IMAX.

On the topic of the performances,  the lead, Ryan Gosling, is arguably one of the most beloved actors working right now. On top of his dramatic performances in some of the most acclaimed films of the last decade, like La La Land and Blade Runner: 2049, he has strong comedic roles in lighter films like The Nice Guys, The Fall Guy, and, of course, as Ken in Barbie. His performance as Ryland Grace is most likely the only time a role has come close to combining the two archetypes he usually plays, being hilarious and witty in one scene while switching to devastatingly broken in another. His raw charisma is so strong that he is capable of having fantastic chemistry with the faceless Rocky. The alien himself is fantastically performed by puppeteers, and is written to be instantly lovable.

The story of the movie is possibly the strongest element of the film. Despite the serious stakes normally set by a premise like going into unknown elements of space to save the sun, and the frankly eerie concept of our main character dealing with a faceless entity, there is not an ounce of grit or bleakness on display. It plays most of the story with this extremely positive vibe, and that is the core message of the story. The movie is so positive that the term “Hopecore” has been used to describe its vibe and theme, and that is likely the most appropriate way to describe it. If hopecore is what you need, it would be a great choice to check out Project Hail Mary.

Hope is important now more than ever. Oppression, hate, and despair are plaguing us all in one way or another. Hope is something we all need, and if we need media to help remind us of the power of optimism and positivity, then we might as well embrace it.