The 95th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony, or better known as The Oscars, is an annual event where the film industry gets together to celebrate all of the amazing actors and actresses, writers, costume designers, who made a mark in Hollywood. This was a competitive year with some very tight categories and films such as Elvis, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Whale, and All Quiet On The Western Front. Overall, The Oscars definitely made history this past weekend and has made a huge comeback from past ceremonies. 

At the beginning of the night the iconic red carpet was swapped last minute to a very classy champaign colored carpet. While the main reason for the change is unknown, the main reason has been theorized by the fact that this years ceremony was a night time show instead of a day time show. 

Everything Everywhere All At Once was the true star this past weekend, winning a grand total of seven awards in the following categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. Honestly, this was not a huge surprise considering the movie did an outstanding job at the box office and had an overwhelming score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. This was also a major achievement for Asian-Americans all over Hollywood, since their actors and actresses hardly ever get recognition for their work in the film industry. 

Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor and had audiences tearing up over his acceptance speech. “My mom is 84 years old and is at home watching. Mom, I just won an Oscar,” Quan told the audience. 

     Not only was this Quan’s first Oscar win ever, he was also the first ever Vietnamese actor to win the category for Best Supporting Actor. Michelle Yeoh also had a pretty successful night considering she was the first Asian-American actress to ever win the category for Best Actress. Both Quan and Yeoh had stunning performances in Everything Everywhere All At Once and will continue to make groundbreaking films in Hollywood. 

Another great film that won numerous awards was Netflix’s original movie, All Quiet On The Western Front.It received a total of four Oscars for the following categories: Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design. Another great success for Netflix was their new original film, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, which won the category for Best Animated Feature Film.

 Moreover, Best Actor was awarded to Brendan Fraser for his incredible performance in The Whale. This film also received the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while Best Costume Design was awarded to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. 

Some controversy spiraled over Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis having received eight nominations but no awards. Austin Butler was nominated for the category as Best Actor and the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound. Fans were very upset over the news, but with the intense competition, it ultimately came down to how well the movies did at the box office. 

Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Lenny Kravitz all performed on stage and left the audience shocked.After reportedly not being able to perform due to scheduling conflicts with an upcoming project, Lady Gaga shocked the audience with a surprise performance of “Hold My Hand.” Rihanna performed “Lift Me Up” while Kravitz delivered the “In Memoriam” by singing “Calling All Angels”. 

The 2023 Oscars was a very memorable event and had a lot of well-deserving awards. This ceremony was definitely a major achievement considering the past underwhelming ceremonies. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. This was a highly competitive year, but a huge accomplishment nonetheless.