Every year, television and cinemas biggest stars, rising legends, and steadfast veterans, all return to the Golden Stage to cherish the timeless art of film. It goes without saying that the competition throughout many of the categories this year were tight. There were very few obvious “sweeps”, as this year was a competitive year for groundbreaking, heartwrenching and jaw-dropping cinematic experiences. 

However, The Oscars are nothing without its host, and this year’s included everyone’s favorite esteemed talk show host and outrageously Irish comedian, Conan O’Brian, who returned to take up the mantle his second year in a row. He brought his signature chaotic, cheerful and silly, but still sarcastic demeanor that mimics the Ricky Gervais-esq air of indifference towards the titular award show that still lingers to this very day. Conan led the 98th iteration of the award show, and this year had its usual successes, surprises, and blunders to say the least.

The first award commenced with “Best Visual Effects”, presented by freakily mustache-less Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver. To nobody’s surprise whatsoever, the award went to Avatar: Fire and Ash. The next award up for grabs was “Best Sound Design”, which was met with strong competition, but none of the competitors could quite match up to the movie which was specifically made with gloriously epic sound design in mind: F1 took the award home that night. Followed by this, two “Best Music” category wins commenced, with KPop Demon Hunters reigning in “Best Original Song” and Ludwig Goransson’s talents being recognized for Sinners “Best Original Score.”

For the other awards and nominees, things weren’t so one sided. Esteemed director Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein was met with challenging competition in multiple categories: Production, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Costume Design. Despite fierce opposition and pride from movies such as Sinners, Bugonia, Hamnet, Smashing Machine, and Weapons – Del Toro continues to uphold his constant commitment to creating awe-inspiring spectacles that captivate audiences with a win. 

Meanwhile, the overlooked categories such as “Best Animated Short Film,” “Best Short Film,” “Best International Film,” “Best Documentary Film,” and “Best Documentary Short Film” all had triumphant wins with The Girl Who Cries Pearls, Two People Exchanging Saliva, Sentimental Value, Mr Nobody Against Putin and All The Empty Rooms, respectively. Despite all the big wigs and high production films within The Oscars, it is imperative to show and honor the works of those from all across the world, and all those who can play Hollywood’s own game and do it even better.

Paul Thomas Anderson won big the night of The Oscars, with his film One Battle After Another, pulling all out the stops to earn “Best Film Editing,” “Best Adapted Screenplay,” “Best Casting,” “Best Directing,” and most importantly, “Best Picture.” The glorious Sean Penn earned “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” for his character in the film, but decided he had better things to do, and Keiran Culkan, AKA Kevin Macallister’s brother, accepted it on his behalf. 

Now, to get into the final meat. It was expected that Sinners would claw its way into plenty of categories, which it almost did. While Hailee Steinfeld put on a show in Sinners, the role of “Best Supporting Actress” went to Amy Maddigan for her bizarre role of Aunt Gladys in “Weapons.” And to add to that, Jessie Buckley pulled through in “Best Leading Actress” for her role in Hamnet. But to no one’s surprise at all, Michael B. Jordan rightfully earned his spot as “Best Leading Actor” for his DUAL role in Sinners as both brothers Smoke and Stack, becoming the 6th African American in history to receive an Oscar in the “Best Leading Actor” category. Sinners also easily clutched “Best Cinematography.” It seemed like Sinners was going to steamroll its way to the top, but as previously mentioned – competition was fierce this year, and as shown by Delroy Lindo, you can’t always get what you want. 

But it goes without saying that the movies were great this year, and hopefully this still proves to Netflix and Paramount that we want to continue having these experiences in the theatres. Frankly, just make Ryan Coogler direct everything, that’s the cheat code.