The 97th Academy Awards took place on Sunday, which crowned the best movie actors and actresses in Hollywood.
To open the night, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo sang “Defying Gravity,” which was the perfect way to start because of their talent and harmony. Following, first-time host Conan O’Brien made his opening speech by making jokes about nominated movies and discussing the issues that Hollywood has faced within the last few months.
However, the night of Hollywood’s biggest stars had some moments that were shocking, surprising or humorous to its viewers.
Leading the night with 13 nominations, “Emilia Pérez” walked away with two awards, including Best Supporting Actress and Best Song. I watched this movie, and I thought that it was not all that people talked about. Zoe Saldana, who won Best Supporting Actress, was amazing in the film; however, I feel as though she shouldn’t have won. She beat out Ariana Grande for the second time, winning at the previous award show, and I feel as though Grande should have gotten recognition for her work in “Wicked.”
“Wicked” was nominated for 10 Oscars, only winning Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. Although I feel like the two Oscars it won were very well deserved, I feel like it should have walked away with more awards. Both Cynthia Erivo, nominated for Best Actress, and Ariana Grande, nominated for Supporting Actress, lost. Erivo deserved the Best Actress award, in my opinion, because she did all of her own stunts, and for anyone who saw the movie, they saw the crazy stunt she did during “Defying Gravity.”
I have never seen “Anora,” and now that it won five awards on Sunday, I am intrigued to see it.
Another moment I thought was funny during the show was when Adam Sandler came in dressed in casual wear. When you think of Sandler, you think of casual wear and comedy. He came dressed in a baby blue zip-up Aviator Nation hoodie with basketball shorts, and he caught the attention of host O’Brien. When O’Brien brought up what he was wearing, Sandler responded with, “Nobody even thought about what I was wearing till you brought it up!” They bantered back-and-forth and as Sandler was leaving, he said, “You are all welcome to join me for a game of five-on-five basketball.” Audience members booed after Sandler said he was leaving.
When the nominees were being announced for Original Screenplay, there was a line of dialogue that was flashed from “September 5” that contained a typo. The typo was regarding the incorrect form of ‘who’s.’ I was very surprised that the academy made this big of a mistake, especially in the screenplay category.
The Oscars, in my opinion, were a letdown due to the talent of some of the actresses and actors that deserved coveted awards but did not receive them. However, there were moments that were very unexpected, and the celebration as a whole was full of talented and creative members of Hollywood that brought their humor.
Even though I wanted both Erivo and Grande to win, I kept on thinking about how unpredictable the awards season is, and every year it gives me new things to watch. Even though I had hoped for different outcomes, watching the Oscars is something that I enjoy watching no matter the outcome.
