Oscars 2024: A Reflection

Source c/o Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences

By Andrew Martinez Cabrera
Entertainment Editor

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“Last night was a movie fr” is a saying I seldom say, and watching the 96th Academy Awards earlier this month was no different. The Oscars felt like a three-hour-long, bloated movie where you already saw the ending coming a mile away. Most of my excitement stemmed from getting my guesses right (anytime Oppenheimer won) or wrong (a la Poor Things). It was like a more tamed version of sports betting, where I ethically assume the endorphin rush is on par. So let me take you back to Hollywood’s biggest night, where Oppenheimer sweep was the talk of the town and we got “I’m Just Ken” stuck in our heads again. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Kicking off the Oscars was one of my favorite moments of the entire broadcast: Da’Vine Joy Randolph receiving her first Academy Award for Mary Lamb, an elite school’s head chef in The Holdovers. Alongside Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa, her performance stuck out to me because I had seen her in a principally comedic role before on television and here, she perfectly balanced her comedic sensibilities and her dramatic chops. Tearfully accepting her award, already crying earlier when Lupita Nyong’o was introducing her, mentioning that the glasses Randolph’s character wears were the real glasses her grandmother wore, a person in her life who influenced the role. Starting the Oscars was a heartfelt moment where one of my favorite performances of last year was rightfully recognized. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer 

Continuing the winning streak of Oppenheimer, RDJ won his first Academy Award after previously being nominated three times before for Chaplin and Tropic Thunder. Accepting the award with his trademark, almost exaggerated charismatic act expected from him, RDJ started off his speech with this quip, “I'd like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order.” Towards the end, he addressed Christopher Nolan and the producer of the film, Emma Thomas, saying, “Here’s my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me. Chris [Nolan] knew it, Emma [Thomas] made sure she wrapped — surrounded me with one of the greatest cast and crews of all time. Emily [Blunt], Cillian [Murphy], Matt Damon ... it was fantastic and I stand here before you a better man because of it. You know, what we do is meaningful, and the stuff that we decide to make is important."

RYAN GOSLING’S “I’M JUST KEN” PERFORMANCE (Barbie)

One of the most noteworthy/most talked about thing about this year’s Academy Awards wasn’t Best Picture or Best Director but rather a musical event that has already had more of an impact than this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Ryan Gosling, donning a pink suit, sat mysteriously behind Margot Robbie, already giggling as soon as the first lyrics were muttered. Gosling, singing and making his way across the aisles, pointed the mic towards Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, and Greta Gerwig to sing some of the lyrics. Leading towards the stage (and grabbing the hand of one lucky cameraman) and then on the Dolby stage, a spoof on the “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” sequence from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes unfolded, cumulating on a final dance number where multiple background dancers and a variety of different Kens took the stage to deliver the performance of a lifetime that blew the roof. If it wasn’t already stuck in your head during the summer, it sure was recemented. For some extra enjoyment, please do yourself a favor and watch this video taken by Francesca Scorsese of her father, 81-year-old Martin Scorsese just dancing gleefully, as Gosling takes the stage.

BEST LEADING ACTOR - Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Surprising nobody, Cillian Murphy’s momentous performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer took the Oscar home. Having collaborated with Nolan on six different films over twenty years, starting with 2005’s Batman Begins, Murphy had this to say during his speech, “Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas, it’s been the wildest, most exhilarating, most creatively, satisfying journey you’ve taken me on over the last 20 years. I owe you more than I can say, thank you so much.” After shouting how his wonderful cast and crew as well as his family, Murphy concluded his speech, "You know, we made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and for better or for worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere. Go raibh míle maith agaibh." The Irish phrase at the end roughly means “thank you.”

BEST LEADING ACTRESS - Emma Stone, Poor Things

Now, this was my biggest shocker of the night. Just two days prior, I watched Poor Things and Past Lives back-to-back in the theater, and while I thought Emma Stone was good, I was sure that Lily Gladstone had it in the bag for Killers of the Flower Moon for her role as Mollie Burkhart. As I say that, I’m sure Emma Stone thought the same thing when Michelle Yeoh called her name when a look of shock came across her face, which in a way is weird because of how much she campaigned for it during awards season. Trying to take control of her anxiety, stumbling over her words and admitting her anxiety, she said to the audience, “Yorgos [Lanthimos, Poor Things’ director] said to me, ‘Please take yourself out of it,’ and he was right, because it’s not about me,” Stone said. “It’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. And that is the best part about making movies, is all of us together. And I am so deeply honored to share this with every cast member, with every crew member, with every single person who poured their love and their care and their brilliance into the making of this film.” She ended her speech thanking her family, ending with a joke about her broken dress. 

BEST DIRECTOR - Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

If Murphy secured the bag, then Nolan winning his first Oscar was also inevitable. Nolan took home the Academy Award after being nominated for the second time for Best Director, previously for 2017’s Dunkirk. Accepting the award from another award-winning director, Steven Spielberg, Nolan started with a somewhat profound and shocked retrospection, “To the Academy — movies are just a little bit over 100 years old. We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.” 

“What Happened?” – OPPENHEIMER WINS  ‘BEST PICTURE’

Ending the night was the moment that sealed the internet joke that is Oppenheimer Sweep. Introducing the award was none other than the legendary Al Pacino in celebration of the 50 years since The Godfather Part II. Instead of reading all of the nominees, Al Pacino, in that classic raspy voice and seeming very simply disoriented, announced to the world (and please read it in his voice for the fullest effect): “Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award… and I will have to go to the envelope for that,” Pacino said, taking his time to open the envelope. Pacino opens it partially, looks at it for a literal second without building up any tension whatsoever, and matter-of-factly states: “I see Oppenheimer.” No one really reacts at first, then it settles, and a select few begin clapping. It takes a few more seconds for the orchestra to understand what happened, and Ludwig Gorranson’s score begins to swell as a shaky handheld camera rushes towards Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, also a bit confused, but standing up to accept the award. However, my favorite part of all of this is that underneath the hecticness and the crescendoing music, Al Pacino simply goes, “What happened?” before his mic is made quieter. Oppenheimer’s expected win was made special purely because of an old man who seemingly made the job more fun by being informal. My plea for the Oscars is to ask more old people to announce the last award of the night because it seemingly always goes wrong and it is so funnier for it, much more than the written “comedic” bits (*cough* Jimmy Kimmel *cough*).