The curtains dropped on the 95th Academy Awards just in time to watch the end of the Knicks/Lakers game. And if I had to do it over, I’d still watch the Oscars over the game — and that’s not just because the Knicks won easily. The ceremony, best described by all of those middle-of-the-road adjectives, i.e. “safe,” “tasteful,” moved at a brisk pace, thanks not just to Jimmy Kimmel’s cock-eyed, crowd-pleasing monologues, but because of the sheer joy radiating from the winners who held their majestic gold statues.
And the biggest winner, no surprise, was “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (EEAAO), taking home seven Oscars (it was nominated for eleven), including ‘Best Picture,’ ‘Best Director’ (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) , ‘Best Actress’ (Michelle Yeoh), ‘Best Supporting Actress’ (Jamie Lee Curtis) and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ (Ke Huy Quan). The acting winners provided the most honest tears of joy, with Curtis thanking her parents (Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh), Yeoh encouraging her peers to “never give up,” saying, “ladies, don’t let anybody tell you that you are past your prime.” Quan, perhaps the surest thing in a night that featured some obvious winners, stormed to the stage to accept his award, showing why he’s become an awards-season darling. His speech was, like Yeoh’s and Curtis’s, a heartfelt expression of gratitude and resilience, for sticking with it after multiple decades of a professional fits and starts.
A Good Night for Yeoh, Fraser, and ‘EEAAO’
Brendan Fraser, another Hollywood veteran and first-time nominee, won ‘Best Actor’ for his larger-than-life performance in “The Whale,” and paid tribute to persistence, collaboration, and luck. He choked up when rehashing his professional journey, and thanking the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky “for throwing me a creative lifeline.” Joining the debut acting winners was an industry lifer, the director/writer/actress Sarah Polley, who won Best Adapted Screenplay for “Women Talking.” Polley had previously been nominated once in the same category, for “Away from Her” (2006).
Netflix had a multiple winner in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which notched four prizes, including ‘Best International Feature’ and ‘Best Cinematography’ (James Friend). The streaming behemoth also won for ‘Best Animated Feature’ (“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”) and ‘Best Documentary Short’ (“The Elephant Whisperers”).
Surprises and Upsets — the Full List
Several high-profile nominees went home empty handed, including “The Banshees of Inisherin” (nine nominations, no wins) “Elvis” (eight nominations) and “Tár” (six nominations). Major blockbusters saw some success, with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (‘Best Costume Design’) “Top Gun: Maverick” (‘Best Sound’) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (‘Best Visual Effects’) — each taking home one Oscar.
For a full list of the winners, see below. As for my predictions, my winning percentage is even better than the Knicks’!
Best Picture
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Amusement Park Films)
“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios)
“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures)
“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) — winner
“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures)
“Tár” (Focus Features)
“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)
“Triangle of Sadness” (Neon)
“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Best Director
Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) — winner
Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)
Todd Field (“Tár”)
Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)
Ana de Armas (“Blonde”)
Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)
Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) — winner
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler (“Elvis”)
Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) — winner
Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)
Bill Nighy (“Living”)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
Hong Chau (“The Whale”)
Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) — winner
Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)
Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) — winner
Cinematography
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (James Friend) — winner
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” (Darius Khondji)
“Elvis” (Mandy Walker)
“Empire of Light” (Roger Deakins)
“Tár” (Florian Hoffmeister)
Film Editing
“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Mikkel E.G. Nielsen)
“Elvis”(Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Paul Rogers) — winner
“Tár” (Monika Willi)
“Top Gun: Maverick” (Eddie Hamilton)
Writing — Original Screenplay
“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Martin McDonagh)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) — winner
“The Fabelmans” (Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner)
“Tár” (Todd Field)
“Triangle of Sadness” (Ruben Östlund)
Writing — Adapted Screenplay
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell)
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Rian Johnson)
“Living” (Kazuo Ishiguro)
“Top Gun: Maverick” (Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks)
“Women Talking” (Sarah Polley) — winner
Production Design
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper) — winner
“Avatar: The Way of Water” (Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole)
“Babylon” (Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino)
“Elvis” (Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn)
“The Fabelmans” (Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara)
International Feature Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) — winner
“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina)
“Close” (Belgium)
“EO” (Poland)
“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)
Animated Feature Film
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, and Alex Bulkley) — winner
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan, and Paul Mezey)
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (Joel Crawford and Mark Swift)
“The Sea Beast” (Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger)
“Turning Red” (Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins)
Short Film — Animated
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” (Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud) — winner
“The Flying Sailor” (Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby)
“Ice Merchants” (João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano)
“My Year of Dicks” (Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon)
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” (Lachlan Pendragon)
Documentary Feature Film
“All That Breathes” (Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann, and Teddy Leifer)
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, and Yoni Golijov)
“Fire of Love” (Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, and Ina Fichman)
“A House Made of Splinters” (Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström)
“Navalny” (Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Shane Boris) — winner
Documentary Short Film
“The Elephant Whisperers” (Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga) — winner
“Haulout” (Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev)
“How Do You Measure a Year?” (Jay Rosenblatt)
“The Martha Mitchell Effect” (Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison)
“Stranger at the Gate” (Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones)
Short Film — Live Action
“An Irish Goodbye” (Tom Berkeley and Ross White) — winner
“Ivalu” (Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan)
“Le Pupille” (Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón)
“Night Ride” (Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen)
“The Red Suitcase” (Cyrus Neshvad)
Visual Effects
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar)
“Avatar: The Way of Water” (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett) — winner
“The Batman” (Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick)“Top Gun: Maverick” (Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher)
Music — Original Song
“Applause” (“Tell It Like a Woman”)
“Hold My Hand” (“Top Gun: Maverick”)
“Lift Me Up” (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
“Naatu Naatu” (“RRR”) — winner
“This Is a Life” (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Music — Original Score
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Volker Bertelmann) — winner
“Babylon” (Justin Hurwitz)
“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Carter Burwell)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Son Lux)
“The Fabelmans” (John Williams)
Sound
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte)
“Avatar: The Way of Water” (Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges)
“The Batman” (Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson)
“Elvis” (David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, and Michael Keller)
“Top Gun: Maverick” (Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor) — winner
Makeup and Hairstyling
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová)
“The Batman” (Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, and Mike Fontaine)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Camille Friend and Joel Harlow)
“Elvis” (Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Aldo Signoretti)
“The Whale” (Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Anne Marie Bradley) — winner
Costume Design
“Babylon” (Mary Zophres)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Ruth Carter) — winner
“Elvis” (Catherine Martin)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Shirley Kurata)
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (Jenny Beavan)
