Christopher Nolan, winner of one of the best directing award and one of the best image award for Oppenheimer poses within the press room in the course of the 96th Annual Academy Awards.

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The 2024 Oscars weren’t lengthy on surprises. Oppenheimer won best picture, a decent race between Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone for greatest actress went to Stone ultimately, and the Billie Eilish Barbie track beat out the Ryan Gosling Barbie song.

Most of the takeaways from the night are modest slightly than revolutionary, suitably reassuring for a 12 months when Hollywood noticed some high-earning motion pictures that had been reviewed nicely, too.

Oppenheimer rolled, however not fairly as a lot because it might need.

It’s laborious to take a look at an evening when Oppenheimer gained a bunch of major awards, together with greatest image, and notice how a lot room was left for different movies. But earlier than it gained its first Oscar, Poor Things beat it in three straight classes: manufacturing design, costumes and make-up/hairstyling. It additionally misplaced the award for greatest tailored screenplay to Cord Jefferson’s script for American Fiction. So whereas it actually had an enormous night time, there was room to share the wealth.

The economics of the trade are inescapable.

In the monologue, which was in any other case fairly unremarkable, Jimmy Kimmel supplied assist and solidarity to the members of IATSE, the union representing many crew members, which is presently in contract negotiations which can be anticipated to be troublesome. IATSE was a key ally to the writers and actors throughout their 2023 strikes, and observers are watching carefully to see whether or not these two unions return that assist when the time comes. Kimmel’s gesture was at the very least some indication that they may.

But maybe extra particularly provocative was Cord Jefferson‘s speech. Accepting his tailored screenplay award for American Fiction, Jefferson mentioned that though he knew Hollywood to be risk-averse, there could be a special method ahead. Instead of creating a $200 million film, he recommended, how about ten $20 million motion pictures? Or even 50 $4 million motion pictures? For a author to be this assertive about trade points in a speech is actually not unprecedented, however between this and the mentions of the strikes which have handed and the one that would nonetheless be coming, it is clear that whereas everyone seems to be relieved to be again at work, profound issues concerning the state of play in Hollywood proceed.

It was a good-spirited good present.

With the exception of the In Memoriam phase, there wasn’t rather a lot to grumble about by way of manufacturing. There weren’t as many awkward bits constructed round Jimmy Kimmel as there generally are. There weren’t a variety of boring montages. And when there was shtick, it wasn’t almost as unhealthy or so long as it generally is. John Cena’s masterful and transient (har har) look to current the award for costumes, during which he was skillfully set as much as look fairly convincingly bare, was a bit that solely he might pull off with such aptitude.

The pacing was good, too. Lots and many glamorous famouses had been on display. The musical performances soared, from the drumming of “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” to the breathy “What Was I Made For?”, peaking with the over-the-top Ryan Gosling tackle “I’m Just Ken.”

As for that In Memoriam phase, nicely … they at all times appear to have a tough time not specializing in the staging within the theater, which on this case included dancers, when all individuals need to be taking a look at is the faces and names of the individuals being remembered. It’s vexing how usually the Academy will get this half incorrect, however I suppose it means there’s at all times one thing to aspire to.

An earlier begin meant extra room to breathe.

The ceremony was moved again from an 8:00 p.m. begin to a 7:00 p.m. begin (Eastern time, that’s), and it ended at 10:30, making the formally deliberate broadcast three-and-a-half hours. In the previous, it is usually been scheduled for 3 hours, and it’ll dribble over that restrict by no matter quantity, however this time, it made its deadline comfortably. Some mixture of ending a bit of earlier and ensuring there was sufficient time made the entire thing breathe a bit of simpler.

Some of the additional time, it appeared, was dedicated to the introductions of nominated actors by friends who’ve been nominated in the identical class. That made for lengthy segments, for certain. But it added considerably to the variety of stars who spoke on stage, which is enjoyable (Rita Moreno! Charlize Theron! Matthew McConaughey! Regina King!), and it meant that no person went unremarked upon. This is a construction this ceremony has used earlier than, and it might probably get uncomfortable when it simply looks like somebody is delivering a bland hagiography. But it might probably additionally infuse the night time with feeling, as when individuals with a longtime tie to one another share a second that’s, for at the very least one among them, enormously vital. Or even, as when Rita Moreno spoke the identify “America” whereas introducing America Ferrera, in instances the place the connection appears to come up serendipitously.

Protest was sporadic, however it was there.

There had been a variety of questions earlier than the ceremony about whether or not political protest, particularly concerning the violence in Gaza, would make an look on the Oscars. For essentially the most half, the ceremony did not convey a lot about what’s within the information in Gaza or elsewhere, however there have been exceptions. Jonathan Glazer’s speech for his win for The Zone of Interest as greatest worldwide function explicitly tied the violence in Israel and Gaza to the occasions of his movie, which is about simply exterior the partitions of Auschwitz. And the lapel pins that bought essentially the most consideration over the course of the night had been pink ones, handed out and worn in assist of a cease-fire. They had been worn by celebrities together with Mark Ruffalo, Billie Eilish and Ramy Youssef.

Director Ava DuVernay wears an “Artists4Ceasefire” pin, calling for de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel, as she attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards.

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Mstyslav Chernov, the Ukranian director of the profitable documentary function 20 Days in Mariupol, began his acceptance by saying he wished he’d by no means made the movie. That’s as a result of it paperwork the early phases of the Russian invasion that ultimately devastated town. Chernov went on to talk of the many individuals who’ve been killed on account of the invasion. “Slava Ukraini,” he mentioned – “Glory to Ukraine.”

Not a flashy night time, however a profitable one

So for an evening with comparatively few surprises however some very pleasing winners (hooray for Robert Downey, Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph!), it was a stable present that honored an terrible lot of excellent motion pictures, and flicks that drew vital audiences, too. And subsequent 12 months, we are going to all be again to do it once more.