The 96th Oscars Retrospective

By Jack Schreiber ’26

RAMSEY, NJ – On March 10, 2024, Hollywood celebrated its biggest night with the 96th Academy Awards ceremony. One hour earlier than usual, the heat was on as the Academy certainly had difficult decisions to make.

Jimmy Kimmel toasts the ceremony

Of course, what are the Oscars without a good host? Jimmy Kimmel stepped up to the plate for the fourth time as master of ceremonies. And the consensus on his performance? Meh. While his monologue was certainly passible without destroying the entire night, his comedy was ultimately safe. However, two outlandish and bold choices were made by the Late Night host. One occurred during his monologue, where he claimed that Robert Downey Junior’s attendance at this year’s ceremony was ”the highest point in his career,” before ultimately rescinding his statement. This was a shallow joke at Downey’s former drug issues, a joke that did not seem to amuse the Oppenheimer star. The second standout moment of Kimmel’s stand up came when he arrived on stage and responded to a real tweet made by former President Donald Trump criticizing his performance. The joke’s controversy comes from Kimmel reportedly being told repeatedly to not respond to the tweet. Overall, Kimmel gave a strong enough performance without completely bombing; however, he was ultimately outshone by hilarious presenters.

Ke Huy Quan (phone) poses for a selfie with Best Supporting Actors Mahershala Ali (right), Sam Rockwell (mid-right), Robert Downey Jr. (mid-left), Christopher Waltz (left), and Tim Robbins.

The presenting game was on point at the 94th Oscars. There was range of hilarious reunions, callbacks, and long-running gags that had the crowd in shambles. One example of this was when Twins co-stars Danny Devito and Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped into the shoes of their former Batman villains (the Penguin and Mr. Freeze, respectively) as they challenge Michael Keaton’s Batman to a rematch. The always funny ”Baby J” John Mulaney rambled on for what seemed an eternity about the innate strangeness of the American classic Field of Dreams. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt faced off in a Barbenheimer tussle, where they compare the two box office and awards-dominant films. Speaking of Barbie, costars America Ferrera and Kate McKinnon introduced the documentaries, as McKinnon seemed to be convinced the Jurassic Park films were documentaries themselves. Another interesting addition were the new introductions for the major acting categories, which were helmed by previous winners who each spoke on one of the nominee’s behalf. However, the standout presentation was of course John Cena’s for costumes, where he himself was certainly lacking one. Cena commemorated the famous streaker of 50 years prior while presenting the category nearly stark naked.

John Cena skimpily announces Best Costume Design

Another group of moments that boosted the enjoyment of the viewers were the musical performances. A group of Osage Tribal singers commemorated Killers of the Flower Moon with a performance of “Wahzhazhe” (“A Song for my People”). Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas performed their Grammy winning “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie. The song would go on to win Best Original Song, which made it the tenth in history to win both that award and the Grammy for song of the year. However, the stand out performance came from another Barbie track, this time Ryan Gosling with “I’m Just Ken”. The performance was full of standout moments such as Slash absolutely shredding it on the guitar. Gosling’s prodigious, pink, and perfect performance was certainly kenough to kenergize the audience.

Ryan Gosling and his backup Kens make the Dolby Theater their Mojo Dojo Casa House.

Of course, this show is about the awards, of which there were no small amount to be given out. Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus Oppenheimer had an explosive end to its bombastic awards season run, winning seven Oscars, and the victory meant so much for the actors and their careers as a whole. Robert Downey Junior completed his comeback from addict to Academy Award winner, as he deservedly took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His portrayal of the conniving and snake-like Lewis Strauss finally earned the Iron Man star his first Oscar. Another completion of years of hard work came in the form of the film’s star Cillian Murphy. Murphy had been a supporting role in five of Christopher Nolan’s previous films before finally heading his own as the role of the complicated, cold, and repentant J. Robert Oppenheimer. Murphy gave the performance of a lifetime, and despite being in a film surrounded by countless incredible actors, he managed to take complete control of every scene he was in.

Cillian Murphy delivers his Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actor.

The highlight of Oppenheimer was certainly its creative genius behind the camera. It’s absolutely tense and gripping score won composer Ludwig Göransson his second Oscar for Best Original Score. The film also earned itself Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, for Hoyte van Hoytema and Jennifer Lame, respectively. The nucleus of the film was certainly its directing, Christopher Nolan. Nolan has had many both critically acclaimed and box office hit films in the past, but his time at the Oscars has always seemed to run short. This year, however, Nolan certainly received his well-deserved flowers. Oppenheimer was clearly an epic that without him would not be possible, as his own style is what drives forth this sweeping nuclear narrative. Nolan finally received his Best Directing award. While this is only the second time he has been nominated for this Oscar, the first coming to him for his other World War Two epic Dunkirk, he has been nominated a total of eight times. Christopher Nolan has been a fan favorite director for over two decades, and it is about time that the Academy Awards reflected that.

Christopher Nolan and his two Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director)

Given its mastery over almost all of the big categories, it is no surprise that Oppenheimer took home the Oscar for Best Picture. Nolan’s films have always had an influence on the Oscars. This win felt as though it was for so many that came before it, especially 2008’s The Dark Knight. While The Dark Knight did not win the award itself, its effects on Best Picture are palpable. In 2008, The Dark Knight took the world by storm and had a lot of momentum heading into the awards season. However, the film did not get a nomination for Best Picture, as at the time only five films could be nominated. This lead to outrage, and the next year the number was increased to ten. So it is safe to say that Nolan has had his influence, and now he has his award. Nolan’s partner in life and filmmaking, Emma Thomas, accepted the award on behalf on the hundreds of extremely talented individuals both in front of and behind the cameras that painstakingly crafted the magnum opus that is Oppenheimer.

Emma Thomas and the cast and crew of Oppenheimer win Best Picture.

One film that certainly had a lot of momentum in the front half of the ceremony was Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. Starring Emma Stone, the film tells the story of Bella Baxter, following reanimation by a scientist (Willem Dafoe) and her discovering her true purpose. The film garnered eleven nominations, the second most out of any film, just behind Oppenheimer. The most impressive run for Poor Things was when the film went back-to-back-to-back, winning Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The most prominent win for Poor Things was when Emma Stone snagged Best Actress. Emma Stone portrayed a complicated ”young woman“ discovering her purpose in life, while pushing back society norms. While it was rather unorthodox, Emma Stone delivered an anchoring and strong performance that gave her her second Best Actress Award.

Emma Stone earns her second Best Actress Oscar

There were many other notable wins of the night. Three films took home multiple Oscars, those being Poor Things and Oppenheimer, while the other was the United Kingdom and Poland international film The Zone of Interest, which took the Oscars for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound. The Zone of Interest was about the Commandant of Auschwitz and his wife building a life together, and it starred Sandra Hüller. Hüller also found herself attached to another Oscar winning international film, Anatomy of a Fall (Antomie d’une chute). Anatomy of a Fall took the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The other Screenplay Oscar, this time Adapted, went home with American Fiction. The Best Animated Feature Oscar went to the Studio Ghibli film The Boy and the Heron, which was directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. This was Miyazaki’s second Best Animated Feature win, the first of which was awarded to his 2003 film Spirited Away, considered by many to be one of the greatest animated films of all time. Also notably, everyone’s favorite 164 foot dragon lizard Godzilla took home his very first Oscar, which was for Best Visual Effects. Studio Toho’s win in this category is a true underdog story, as it took home this Oscar on a mere 15 million dollar budget, compared to the likes of the other nominated films Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, and Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One with much larger budgets of 250 million dollars and 291 million dollars, respectively.

Johnathan Glazer (director of The Zone of Interest) delivers acceptance speech for Best International Feature Film.

One more notable win was the first award of the night, Best Supporting Actress. This award was ultimately taken home by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, for her role as Mary in The Holdovers. The Holdovers ultimately came in second place for the overall Awards season, earning its most prominent flowers at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. Da’Vine’s performance was heartwarming in an overall wholesome story of the unlikely friendship between a grumpy History teacher, his student, and the school cook. Da’Vine gave a touching and hilarious speech where she profusely thanked both God and her publicist. The thanking of her publicist became a long running gag throughout the night, with several other winners making nods to it.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins Best Supporting Actress

As for any Oscars ceremony, this one was also filled with snubs and surprises. However, this time around some of the biggest snubs occurred before the night even began. Barbie, the highest grossing film of the year, got snubbed out of a few major categories that some argued were theirs to win. These categories were Best Director, where Greta Gerwig was not nominated, and Best Actress, where Margot Robbie was not nominated. The internet exploded following this news, and fans were outraged at the Oscars. The pastel pink picture was not locked out of other major categories such as Best Picture or Best Supporting Actor, which almost make their snubs in these categories even more egregious. The film lives and breathes Greta Gerwig’s human and hilarious style, and the film could not physical exist without Margot Robbie, delivering an ultimately great performance of the titular toy. The ceremony still insisted on mentioning Barbie as much as possible, allowing it two musical performances, the opening skit, and countless nods and jokes. Ultimately, the Oscars were reliant on Barbie’s popularity to increase viewership, but robbed it of its very much deserved nominations.

Margot Robbie (left) and Greta Gerwig (right).

One of the most astonishing feats of loss was exemplified by the film ironically about loss, Killers of the Flower Moon. Killers was the third most nominated film of the night, garnering 10 total nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. However, the film did not earn a single Oscar. The most surprising loss was its in the category of Best Actress. The film’s star Lily Gladstone gave an incredible and heart-wrenching performance in this 3 and a half hour long movie. Surrounded by many extremely talented actors and actresses, such as Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio, she gave what was easily the strongest performance in the entire film, despite nearly giving up acting altogether just before being cast. Odd makers had her at a 63% chance to take home the Oscar, with Emma Stone, the actual winner, trailing at 38%. Killers’ director Martin Scorsese also lost Best Director, who in other years would be a shoe-in for the award. Di Caprio also did not even earn himself a nomination for his role as Ernest Burkhart. For a film with so much pre-ceremony momentum, Killers of the Flower Moon was ultimately forgotten about by the Academy.

Lily Gladstone on the Oscars red carpet.

I guess winning Oscars is not in the power set of the amazing Spider-Man. This year marked the second loss for a Spider-Verse film in the Best Animated Feature category, the first of which was in 2018. This year seemed like a sure fire redemption arc for these creatively curated Sony Animated films, as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was placed a -225 pre-Oscars betting odds, where The Boy and the Heron, the actual winner, was placed at +162. The star of the film Shameik Moore tweeted out ”robbed” following their loss at the Academy Awards. Spider-Man’s unique animation, writing, and score style certainly deserve some recognition, and yet they have now been defeated twice at the Oscars. The series will have one more chance to thwip itself an Oscar, as Sony is currently hard at work on the third and final film in the trilogy, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Miles Morales, portrayed by Shameik Moore, in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Overall, this year’s Oscars marks a two-year streak on ultimately well-received ceremonies. Despite the snubs and iffy hosting, The Academy celebrated the 96th Oscars in style, sagaciously, and with great success.

The Oscars.