The 2025 annual Academy Awards, aka the Oscars, taking place on March 2 honored the films released in 2024. This year offered an impressive selection of films ranging from animated to live-action and a powerful lineup of both actors and directors. The event was hosted by Conan O’Brien, who did his best to remain uncontroversial in light of the previous host, Jimmy Kimmel.
The most anticipated award of Best Picture went to Anora, a story about a woman from Brooklyn whose marriage with a recently-met Russian son of an oligarch is under threat from his parents who travel to New York to cancel the marriage. Anora beat out several strong films such as A Complete Unknown, The Substance, Dune Part ll, and Wicked. Anora was also tied to two other awards, as it was revealed that the Best Directing award went to Sean Baker and the Best Leading Actress award went to Mikey Madison. It also achieved the Best Original Writing award and Best Editing award. A tremendous amount of awards went to this film, but unlike some other nominations, many people seem to agree with the choices made.
The award of Best Actor went to Adrien Brody who played the lead role in The Brutalist. One of the most notable aspects of the night was Brody’s record-setting speech. Adrien Brody set the world record for the longest Oscars speech ever, clocking in at 5 minutes and 40 seconds. The speech sparked extremely mixed reactions on the internet, with some appreciating his time and considering it humble, while others marking it as insufferable and self-absorbed. The actor recently made a response on Instagram where he joked about the length and told fans to spread love. The Brutalist didn’t just leave with Best Actor, as the director, Lol Crawley, won Best Cinematography. It also obtained Best Music (Original Score).
The Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards went to Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana, respectively. Culkin starred in A Real Pain as Benji Kaplan, a drama/comedy about two brothers reuniting in Poland to take a heritage tour. Saldaña plays Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Perez, a musical that won another award for Best Music (Original Song).
Expectedly, Wicked and Dune ll both won major awards. The composers of Dune ll won Best Sound, a well-deserved win considering the pure talent and hard work put into it. Although Wicked was shot down from Best Music by Emelia Perez, it did manage to take home the award for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
This is one of the more anticipated and controversial award ceremonies of the year, but many deserving movies did indeed take home victory which appeased the public. Conan O’Brien did a great job hosting and had a variety of skits and jokes to keep the audience entertained, one of the more viral being Adam Sandler’s walkout after being called out by O’Brien on the subject of his informal clothing. Whatever your opinion on the night was, it was certainly memorable.
