Oscars 2025 Review

As we wrap another award season, it has been the most chaotic and unpredictable, with some of the biggest awards still up for grabs going into Hollywood's biggest night. There was a sombre atmosphere with this one as the industry is still reeling from the devastating death of Gene Hackman and the ongoing wildfires spreading through Los Angeles, both of which were acknowledged last night with the host Conan O'Brien keeping the laughs flowing throughout but also including some controversial remarks about Karla Sofia Gascon and her offensive tweets. 

The main winner of the night was Sean Baker's Anora, which, going into the ceremony, was the front runner to win best picture and ultimately won this and much more with Baker being the first person in Oscar history to win four awards for one film - he took home Best Director, editing, orignal screenplay and he was a producer on the film which was recognised in Best Picture. However, Anora is nothing without its main character played exceptionally by Mikey Madison and she was awarded best actress beating the presumed front runner Demi Moore. Madison is a relative newcomer to the industry and this is her first starring role at the age of 25, adhering to an Oscar favourite of awarding an upcoming star in this category in similar vain to Jennifer Lawrence's win back in 2013. 

Following behind Anora was The Brutalist, which won three awards, most notably Adrien Brody for Best Actor, which was predicted but still a close race between him and Timothee Chalamet, who took home the SAG for Best Actor only last weekend, but unfortunately, the Oscar voting ended before the SAG awards so it didn't add to the race. However, it did underperform with Brady Corbet not being awarded best director, which was predicted given the immeasurable feat he did to pull off this film at a low budget of 10 million dollars and film it all on VistaVision. 

However, it was not the night that was predicted for films such as Wicked and Conclave, which were firm favourites of the award season, but Conclave sadly only took one award for Best Adapted Screenplay which was predicted going in and it's chances of winning best picture were fading as the night went more and more for Anora. Also, as predicted, Wicked was recognised for its crafts rather than its acting and won two awards for best costume and production design, and with its win it made Oscar history with Paul Tazewell being the first black man to win for costume design. Although, unlike the other films in the Best Picture, Wicked has a second chance to receive more awards with the sequel coming out later this year, and if the love of the first film was much to go off, the second film should be as acknowledged by the academy. 

Overall, the ceremony promised surprises and it sure delivered with the wins and even the presenters with legends such as Mick Jagger and Meg Ryan gracing the Oscars stage to present some of the biggest awards of the night. The host Conan delivered a funny and at times controversial monologue, which started the night off right, and that continued throughout the show and made for a satisfying end to a crazy award season.