The 95th Academy Awards (a.k.a the Oscars) were held March 12. This year’s Oscars were hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel who started the night by parachuting onto the stage as an homage to Top Gun: Maverick and by joking about the now infamous Will Smith/Chris Rock slap during last year’s Oscars.
Every year Oscars are awarded for film excellence in 23 categories ranging from Makeup and Hairstyling to Best Picture. Of all the categories, 54 movies (some short films, some international, some animated, etc.) were nominated. This year’s Oscars also had 16 first-time nominees in the acting categories.
Everything Everywhere All at Once led the pack with a total of 11 nominations in 10 categories (two actresses from the film, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, were nominated in the same category: Best Supporting Actress).
This year, without much surprise based on their nominations, the real standout film was Everything Everywhere All at Once which took home seven awards: Best Picture, Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Directing, Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.
Everything Everywhere All at Once has become the most-awarded movie in history with 264 awards. Everything Everywhere All at Once beat the previous record of 258 awards held by Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
The next biggest winner of this Oscars season was All Quiet on the Western Front, which took home four awards: Cinematography, International Feature Film, Music (Original Score), and Production Design.
Aside from the massive successes of these two films, there were some other significant wins this year. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian American woman to win the Oscar for Actress in a Lead Role for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Jamie Lee Curtis won her first Academy Award (Actress in a Supporting Role - Everything Everywhere All at Once) after 46 years of acting. Additionally, Ke Huy Quan won his first Academy Award (Actor in a Supporting Role - Everything Everywhere All at Once) after 39 years of acting.
Brendan Fraser won his first Academy Award for Actor in a Lead Role for his performance as Charlie in The Whale. Fraser has been dominating the awards circuit with his performance in The Whale. Winning the Oscar for his role continues his extraordinary resurgence after over a decade out of the spotlight.
Along with the awards, this year’s Oscars featured performances from some big artists such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Lenny Kravitz.
The night ended with final celebrations for Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Best Picture win as well as, not surprisingly, one final joke from Jimmy Kimmel about last year’s slapping incident.