The Kent Stater hopes to encourage lively debate about today’s issues in our Opinion section. To submit an opinion piece for potential publication, email your article to [email protected].
On March 4, the 97th annual Academy Awards were held. The Oscars gave audiences a lot of great memorable moments and some bad moments. With that being said, here’s what happened during the academy’s biggest night.
The Good:
Let’s start off with the best part of the entire ceremony: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s opening performance. Grande started off by singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” from the infamous “The Wizard Of Oz.” Soon after, her “Wicked” co-star Erivo sang “Home” from “The Wiz.” The performance ended with the two coming together and singing “Defying Gravity.”
Their performance alone was so beautiful and the two sang phenomenally together. Showing that their friendship is indeed unlimited, I have a feeling they will be back performing together with the release of the upcoming sequel “Wicked: For Good.”
As for the host, Conan O’Brien brought a different humor and flair to the show than Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the last two Oscar ceremonies.
One of the actor wins that I was most excited about was Kieran Culkin winning Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain.” Culkin was so good in his role and it was amazing to watch him get recognized for his emotional vulnerability and humor in the film.
Another victor was “Dune: Part Two,” which was recognized for Best Special Effects and Best Sound. Although I believe that “Dune: Part Two” was robbed from winning cinematography, I am happy that the film took home some awards
“Wicked” won Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, allowing the film’s costume designer, Paul Tazewell, to become the first Black man to take home the award. Much to my enjoyment, “Flow” won Best Animated Feature Film.
The Bad:
Adrien Brody’s speech after he won Best Actor for “The Brutalist” ended up being one of the most awkward moments from the night. Despite the fact that I have not seen the film yet, I do know that they used artificial intelligence for Brody’s accent in the film, leading to frustration from audiences.
This fact is weird on its own, but the worst part about his win was his speech. Brody talked at the audience for about five minutes and 31 seconds until finishing what would become the longest speech in Oscars history.
I understand that he was happy about his win, but the show needed to move on, and it was arrogant and rude of him to tell the orchestra to stop playing the “wrap-up” music.
Another win that I was not happy about was Zoe Saldaña winning Best Supporting Actress for “Emilia Perez.” Don’t get me wrong, Saldaña is a phenomenal actress and she does deserve an Oscar, just not for her performance in “Emilia Perez.”
Ariana Grande was slighted because I believe she was absolutely phenomenal as Glinda. Not to mention that “Emilia Perez” won Best Original Song for “El Mal” when the film used AI to enhance the actors’ voices. This is crazy to me, and when one of the song writers randomly started singing after accepting the award, it was an annoying waste of time.
The Shocking:
The most shocking part about the Oscars this year was the amount of awards “Anora” won. The film not only won Best Picture but also Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Director.
Out of all the wins, Mikey Madison winning Best Actress was the most shocking to me. I thought that Demi Moore would win for “The Substance” since the Academy loves a good comeback for an actor/actress. I was also sure “Wicked” would win best picture because the film was such a huge phenomenon.
The Oscars will always be popular and I will continue to look forward to the good and bad moments the award show holds each year.
Peter Caram is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].