Oscar’s Golden Boy…

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) held the Oscars ceremony for the 2024 film year on Sunday, March 02, 2025, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, and it was the 97th year for the Academy Awards! This year saw a new host for the ceremony, with Conan O’Brien emceeing the evening of Oscar! The evening also paid tribute to the heroes and victims of the recent Los Angeles wildfires.

Before Conan took the Oscar stage for the first time, the show opened with a performance by Wicked‘s leading witches and Oscar-nominated stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. In addition to that performance, Doja Cat, Lisa of Blackpink and Raye tributed the music of the James Bond films and producers Barbara Broccolli and Michael G. Wilson, who have stepped down as producers of the franchise now that Amazon has aquired the rights. Queen Latifah, Whoopi Goldberg, and Oprah Winfrey led a tribute to the late Quincy Jones while Morgan Freeman honored his “dear friend” Gene Hackman, who died last month, as part of the In Memoriam tribute.

As for Oscar, he went home with many happy winners, with Anora being named Best Picture at the 97th Oscars. The film was also the top winner of the night, with Anora earning a total of five awards. Star Mikey Madison was named Best Leading Actress, while Sean Baker won a record-breaking four awards for his film: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture.

In the other Oscar acting categories, Adrian Brody was named Best Leading Actor for The Brutalist, Kieran Culkin won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, for his role in A Real Pain. For her performance in Emilia Pérez, Zoe Saldaña was named Best Supporting Actress, nothing that she is the “first American of Dominican orighin to accept the Academy Award.”

Meanwhile, Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design, for his work on Wicked. The musical film from Oz also took home the Oscar for Best Production Design. Flow won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, marking the first-ever win for the country of Latvia, and I’m Still Here was named Best International Feature, marking Brazil’s first Oscar win.

Golden Snubs and Surprises…

As far as the snubs and surprises at the Oscars, the biggest snub and surprise was Demi Moore losing Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Substance, to Mikey Madison for Anora. Emilia Pérez led the nominations with 13, but when the Oscar campaign was thrown off course by resurfaced controversal posts on X from star Karla Sofía Gascón, it was thought the film would underperform. The film actually did better than anticiapted, with Saldaña winning Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the film taking Best Original Song for “El Mal,” which Saldaña performs in the movie.

Aside from Conclave and The Substance seemingly underperforming Sunday night and only going home with one award a piece, A Complete Unknown was completely shut out, despite its eight nominations. 10-time nominee Wicked also underperformed and only went home with two awards, both in production craft categories. Nosferatu aslo went home with no Oscars, despite having four nominations this year.

You can check out my Complete List for the 97th Academy Awards 2025 winners below!

BEST PICTURE:

BEST DIRECTOR:

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

BEST FILM EDITING:

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

BEST SOUND:

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM:

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM: