On Sunday, March 12th, The 95th annual Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, were held. In this article I will be going over some of the most positive moments, touching moments, awards, disappointments, and big wins. 

Let us begin with positive moments of the night. Jamie Lee Curtis gave a heart warming speech after winning her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in a movie for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Though she has been known for decades for her famous portrayal of Laurie Strode in Halloween, she has never taken home an Oscar for any of her performances. Her appreciation was shown during her speech: “We just won an Oscar”, was her chilling line as she thanked the “hundreds of people” that got her there.

Another touching moment was Lady Gaga’s raw performance of her Top Gun song: “Hold My Hand”. Gaga decided to ditch the extravagance of what a typical Oscars performance would be, and ended up wearing converse, jeans, a t-shirt, and no makeup. The audience could feel the emotion and rawness penetrating through her voice. While this song didn’t win in the Best Song category, the performance spoke for itself of who the true winner should have been. That being said, Top Gun did win Best Sound later in the night. 

Some other notable moments were Key Huy Quan winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Michelle Yeoh for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Michelle’s performance in the film got a lot of attention so it was no surprise she took home one of the most prestigious awards of the night. Everything Everywhere All At Once seemed to breed the most award-winning actors, and the movie even won the award for Best Picture.

The adored and trending Elvis Film was nominated for a lot of awards on Sunday but left empty handed. Elivs was nominated for Best Sound, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and most importantly Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Picture. In my opinion, I thought Austin Butler should have won Best Actor in a Leading Role, but he was in a tough category with amazing actors. I also felt that Elvis had fabulous costume design and should have left with the Best Picture Oscar. I felt the Elvis movie as a whole should not have been left empty handed, and the movie itself was better than the ones winning these categories.

Brendan Fraser took home the remnant Best Actor award for his performance in The Whale, beating out Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy, and Paul Mescal. The Whale also beat Elvis in Best Makeup and Hairstyling. 

While there was a lot of agonism in the Oscars night, there were many lighthearted moments as well. We all know what happened last year at the Oscars with the infamous encounter between Will Smith and Chris Rock. Jimmy Kimmel was brave enough to make a slick joke referring to the slap of Chris Rock. Kimmel said, “If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show you will be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor, and permitted to give a 19-minute long speech.” The crowd seemed to like this joke as the applause was prevalent. 

Unfortunately, the night wasn’t all jokes and laughter. John Travolta introduced the tribute to all passed actors including a special moment to his co-star and friend Olivia Newton John. This touched everyone’s hearts and brought back the deep emotion to the night. 

Overall, the Oscars seemed to take a step back from the politics, and drama this year and returned to its original pristine status, which is exactly how it should be.