The 96th Academy Awards, like always, was a night for the history books (and the red carpet was back!).  Lily came over to Shannon’s house to have a nice steak dinner while they geeked out over the Oscars and we got to work right away; taking notes every step of the way.  Since we have a lot to talk about, we have limited this article to the ceremony only.

But the night will be remembered for more than its winners.  Its presenters, performances, and the celebrities in attendance made history of their own.  Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars for the fourth time and opened the ceremony with ease.  The host was quick to hit the Academy with their decision to put Barbie director Greta Gerwig as a nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay, rather than Best Original.  Kimmel announced to his audience that the Academy will be adding a new award that will be first presented at the 2026 Oscars Ceremony, Achievement in Casting.  This will add a 24th Oscar to the list of awards.  The award will finally shed light on the people who choose who we see on the big screen.  A new category hasn’t been added since 2001, which was the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.  The Achievement in Casting award has been pushed to be an award since the 1990s.  In 2026, we will see the movies released in 2025 be nominated for this new award.

The Oscars’ first winner was The Holdovers supporting actress, Da’Vine Joy Randolph.  For her moving performance as Mary Lamb, Randolph rightfully earned herself the award.  She was one of the four first-time nominees: Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, and America Ferrera got recognized by the Academy for their performances at last.  Jodie Foster earned her fifth nomination this year.  We learned earlier in the night that Randolph wore her grandmother’s glasses as the glasses that Mary Lamb would wear in the Oscar-nominated film. 

One of the highlights of the night was when Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling entered the stage to discuss stunt performers and express Hollywood’s gratitude for them. This could’ve been a nod to their upcoming movie The Fall Guy, which they both star in. Throughout the speech they both “roast” each other’s respective movies, Barbie and Oppenheimer, which was entertaining, to say the least. The best part was later on, when John Cena entered the stage completely naked, barring the winning nominee card for Best Costume Design. It paid homage to the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Oscars streaker. He presented the award, saying, “Costumes, they are so important. Maybe the most important thing there is.” Later in the night, upon winning the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, the writer, director, and special effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki, and his famed crew enter the stage with mini Godzillas in hand. This was the first out of many Godzilla films to win an Oscar, and Godzilla, the star of every movie deserved to be there.

20 Days in Maripol director Mstyslav Chernov gave an emotional speech after receiving the Oscar for Best Documentary. The documentary featured a first-person account of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was the first Oscar won by any Ukrainian film. During Chernov’s speech, he shed light on the war, stating “I wish I never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking.” He went on to say that cinema helps make history and spread the truth. This award will help Ukraine’s military effort in its ongoing fight with Russia.

We firmly believe that Ryan Gosling’s groundbreaking performance of “I’m Just Ken” stole the show.  Forget Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (of course, congratulations on their Best Original Song award), John Baptiste, and Becky G (Andrea Bocelli and Scott George and The Osage Singers were phenomenal acts as well).  The Barbie actor emerged from the audience, studded in what can only be described as a Barbie-pink, Michael Jackson-esque, Gucci suit with matching gloves.  For the record, La La Land does NOT do his singing voice justice.  Gosling was joined onstage by Slash from Guns N’ Roses!  We’ve included the video below – Margot Robbie’s face says it all (please watch it and comment your thoughts).

Shannon was wrong, in fact, about who was going to win Best Actress (lesson learned: listen to Lily when it comes to predictions).  Much to our shock, Emma Stone won.  I mean, good for her, but Lily Gladstone was historic and powerful.  Stone and Gladstone both won for their respective categories at the Golden Globes.  The Poor Things actress did beat Gladstone at the BAFTAs.  While accepting her award, Emma Stone realized that her custom-made Louis Vuitton dress had ripped in the back.  She blamed it on the little La La Land reunion during “I’m Just Ken.”

Lastly, we come to the final award of the night, Best Picture.  The legendary Al Pacino came out to present the final award of the night.  The 83-year-old acting legend walked onto the stage and received a standing ovation from everyone in the room.  Not wasting any time, Pacino just opened the Best Picture envelope and said, “My eyes see Oppenheimer,” without even announcing the other nine nominees or even saying the iconic “And the Oscar goes to…”.  This was answered by a confused and uneasy silence.  A few claps sounded and the theater congratulated the newest winner.  Christopher Nolan, Emma Thompson, and the rest of the Oppenheimer crew joined Al Pacino to accept their award.  A few days ago, we discovered Al Pacino’s skip over the other nominations was intentional.  He was told by the teleprompter producers that the Academy was running low on times, needing to still fit in Kimmel’s closing monologue and Oppenheimer’s acceptance speech.  Nonetheless, the favored Oppenheimer dominated the night, winning seven of its 13 nominations, including the ever-famous Best Picture.  Surprisingly, Poor Things also dominated the night, winning four of their 11 nominations, leaving Killers of the Flower Moon in the dust with zero, and Barbie, leaving the night with one award out of their nominated nine.

Staying true it its form, Hollywood’s biggest night of the year never fails to impress, and thank you for reading this far!  We cannot wait to see what the 97th Academy Awards has in store, this time next year.

Author’s note: Thank you, Nana, for checking in on me as the ceremony started!  That made my night!  <3

Below is a list of all of the night’s winners:

• Best Picture: Oppenheimer
• Best Directing: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
• Best Actor in a Leading Role: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
• Best Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone – Poor Things
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
• Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Cord Jefferson – American Fiction
• Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Justine Triet and Arthur Harari – Anatomy of a Fall
• Best Animated Feature: The Boy and the Heron
• Best Documentary Feature Film: 20 Days in Mariupol
• Best International Film Feature: The Zone of Interest – United Kingdom
• Best Animated Short Film: War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko 
• Best Live-Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
• Best Documentary Short: The Last Repair Shop
• Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer
• Best Costume Design: Poor Things
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Poor Things
• Best Original Song: “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie – Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
• Best Original Score: Oppenheimer
• Best Production Design: Poor Things
• Best Film Editing: Oppenheimer
• Best Sound: The Zone of Interest
• Best Visual Effects: Godzilla: Minus One