96th Annual Academy Awards – Our Oscars 2024 Report

Sunday saw the 96th Annual Oscars ceremony broadcast live across the world, and for UK audiences it saw the show broadcast on ITV. There is lots to be said about this year’s Oscars, from winners and losers, to poor broadcasting panels – it is safe to say the award season gave us everything we’re used to.

For the UK the show has found a new home. Previously playing exclusively on Sky, this year it was broadcast by ITV. When the news of this broke it was a welcome change to many viewers across the UK, as for years the exclusivity of Sky has left the award show inaccessible for many film fans. Now, the new home for the awards show has some things it needs to get right, ultimately to provide insight and entertainment, throughout the breaks in between the Oscars broadcast. Unfortunately, many viewers were left unsatisfied and underwhelmed by the panel on display, hosted by Jonathan Ross. This came as somewhat of a surprise, as Jonathan Ross has once hosted a number of film-based shows in the UK. Surprisingly, he and his fellow panellists struggled to remember that this was Robert Downey Jr’s first Oscar win and compared Killers of the Flower Moon to an episode of Emmerdale. Overall it was a poor evening for the ITV coverage, and we can all only hope for more knowledgeable, insightful, and entertaining journalists next year. Perhaps ITV should try their hand at poaching Ali Plumb, who seems made for the job.

After all the build-up and all the excitement the Oscars themselves soon got underway, and compared to the last few years, what we ended up seeing wasn’t too bad – it had jokes that landed, jokes that missed, but nothing as wrong as a wrong envelope, and nothing as bad as a slap in the face. We had great live performances and for the most part, well-deserved winners. It was a year, for what feels like the first in a very long time, that was full of outstanding films. A year where of the films nominated for best picture, eight or nine of them could have won, and no one would have cried robbery. In fact, the year was so good for films that many of the year’s best, missed out on Best Picture nominations. Wes Anderson finally got his first Oscar for the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, but not even a nomination for his best feature in years, Asteroid City. But at the end of all that, how much does it all really matter?

There are of course debates that rage on within the world of film, about what an Oscar really means. After all, movies such as 12 Angry Men, The Shawshank Redemption, Seven Samurai, and Singin’ in the Rain, didn’t win a single award. And films such as Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Goodfellas could only muster up one Oscar each. So with the ever-growing list of great films that haven’t taken home big prizes, many ask how significant an Oscar even is. For true legacy and carving yourself into the history books, perhaps not at all, but as Christopher Nolan said in his acceptance speech for Best Director “Movies are just a little bit over a hundred years old. Imagine being there a hundred years into painting or theatre, 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.” In the end, the winners have put their names into the history books forever, their names are now carved at the bottom of golden statues, and their movies are helping to shape the history of cinema before our very eyes.

Those notable wins and names were of course Oppenheimer. The film ended up winning seven awards. Taking home Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Of all the wins, there were no real surprises here, if anything the surprise is the film didn’t pick up one or two more, most notably in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. The most notable win may end up being Jennifer Lame’s win for Best Film Editing. Lame is perhaps the greatest connection in the Barbenheimer world as her first work of note came in the 2012 film Frances Ha, starring and co-written by Barbie writer and director Greta Gerwig. Lame first began working with Nolan on his last film Tenet, after brilliant work on films such as Manchester by the Sea, Hereditary, and Marriage Story. Perhaps now, after her second collaboration with Nolan, and her first Oscar win, this will be the beginning of a brilliant partnership that where Lame and Nolan can collaborate many more times.

The other film to truly do well at the awards was Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The film took home three early awards in Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Achievement in Production Design, and Best Achievement in Costume Design, all well deserved, and all easily predicted beforehand. The world the artists have managed to craft through these achievements truly brought the world of Poor Things to life and gave it one of the most unique looks of the year. Poor Things’ big win came from Emma Stone, who picked up her second Oscar win for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Stone now joins an impressive list of actresses to win two Oscars for leading roles. Was the award deserved however? Simply put, yes. Her performance was one of the year’s best, and no doubt one of her best, as she continues to prove herself as one of the most interesting and engaging actresses working today. I, however, do believe that Lily Gladstone gave the best performance of the year, in all acting categories. Her performance was quieter and more reserved, yet she held a strength and beauty in her performance that was unmatched. It is hard to call Emma Stone’s win a robbery as it was clear from early in the award season it would come down to Stone, or Gladstone. Lily Gladstone deserved a nomination, but ultimate loss was a theme throughout the night for her film Killers of the Flower Moon, which didn’t pick up any wins from its ten nominations. It has now been over ten years since a Scorsese film won an Academy Award. The director has made four feature films in that time, and all have been nominated. That is now twenty-six nominations over four films, in just over ten years without a single win. Arguably, every one of those films has been their respective year’s best film, and for me none more so than Killers of the Flower Moon, that at least deserved to have Lily Gladstone winning her first Oscar.

Overall, the night had its laughs and good speeches. Highlights were of course Ryan Gosling’s performance of the Oscar-nominated song “I’m Just Ken”, Godzilla getting an Oscar win for Visual effects, and Billie Eilish becoming the youngest person to win two Oscars. Presenting highlights came from John Cena, Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and John Mulaney who is continuing to show he may be the man to host the next Oscars. As for the films and awards, Hollywood showed one thing above all else at this year’s Oscars, that films are in a great place, and hopefully things will only get better. The awards season saw a range of films winning and nominated, and the landscape for film is starting to look slightly more varied. If things continue this way, we are in for a good next twelve months of movie magic.