2024 Oscars: A Night to Remember

Right: Image sourced from usanetwork.com, Left: Image sourced from npr.org

The 2024 Academy Awards show – aka The Oscars – had some of the best presentation and performance I’ve seen in years.

The 96th edition of the event opened with Jimmy Kimmel, marking his fourth appearance as the host for this event. The movie “Oppenheimer,” based on the original story of the inventor of the atomic bomb, won seven of the 13 awards it had been nominated for and took the crown jewel award of “Best Picture.”

Best Picture is the most sought-after award of the night, truly showcasing the popularity and impact the winning movie had in the last year. 

A producer of Oppenheimer, Emma Thomas, said during her onstage acceptance speech, “I have been dreaming about this moment for so long, but it seemed so unlikely that it would ever actually happen – and now I’m standing here and everything’s kind of gone out of my head.” She credited her husband, Christopher Nolan, for his work as the film’s director.

Other nominees for Best Picture included “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Poor Things,” and several others.

Emma Stone, known for her roles as Olivia in “Easy A” and as Gwen Stacey in “The Amazing Spider Man” (from 2012), took home her second Oscar for Best Actress for her work as Bella Baxter in Poor Things.

That movie has stirred up much talk around its themes of misogyny and playing God, while still holding a satirical tone that makes fun of itself. Stone’s acceptance speech was filled with praise for the team she worked with, and ended with a heartfelt word to her daughter.

Other actresses nominated in the category were Lily Gladstone, Annette Benning, Sandra Hüller, and Carey Mulligan.

Some lingering controversy centered on the exclusion of Margot Robbie, who starred as the titular Barbie in the highest-grossing film of the year. The movie itself won one of the eight awards it had been nominated for, that being “Best Original Song” which was featured with a massive song-and-dance performance starring Ryan Gosling, who played the lead Ken.

In my eyes, his performance, the costuming, and the inclusion of his co-stars truly made for the highlight of the night.

Gosling emerged from the audience in a dazzling pink suit to meet his backup dancers on stage. During the number he pulled into a cluster of giant Barbie head cutouts, joined by Slash, the lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, playing his electric guitar. He then shifted back into the theater audience, offering his mic to co-stars Robbie and America Ferrera so they could join in the performance. He walked along the front row of the crowd offering his mic to other Oscar nominees, giving the performance a very karaoke type of feel. As he moved back to the stage again, he grasped the hand of one of the videographers and pulled them along for the final moments of the song.

Several astounding musical performances took place over the several hours of the awards show. Becky G performed “The Fire Inside” along with a choir of young girls. Backdropped by the powerful instrumentals and fiery visuals, the message of emotional strength and belief in oneself truly popped off and made for a wonderful, heartwarming (pun intended) experience.

Another performance of note was the short and beautiful rendition of “It Never Went Away” by Jon Batiste. The song was for the documentary film of his own life, “American Symphony,” and chronicles his journey with his wife during her battle with cancer. Its long piano piece was highlighted with intimate scenes of love from movies such as “Brokeback Mountain”, “The Notebook,” and “Shakespeare in Love,” and was simply amazing.

Once again in an award show, someone showed up in just their birthday suit. In this instance it was pro wrestler-turned-actor John Cena, holding nothing but a piece of paper with the words “Costume Design” over his crotch as he came to present that category’s award at the insistence of Kimmel. His choice of attire was a chosen homage to the 1974 Oscars, exactly 50 years prior, where a streaker who looked like the definition of the 1970s ran out from backstage completely naked giving a peace sign to the audience and camera.

During the bit from Kimmel and Cena, the latter vehemently protested that he doesn’t wrestle naked – he wrestles in jorts. Kimmel countered by saying that wearing jorts is worse than being naked, before handing Cena the award that would replace said jorts. The winner of the category was Poor Things, which features a mesh of futuristic and classic garments, coupled with 1980s shoulders.

This year’s Oscars were entertaining, to say the least, and I’m excited to see the hijinks of the 97th Award ceremony next year. While there has been talk of movie industry feuds and behind-the-scenes snubbing, the effort and passion put into this year’s projects shone brightly through any murky rumors and lifted the ceremony with a lingering sense of passion and decorum.