By John Corrado

The 95th Oscars have officially wrapped up, with Everything Everywhere All At Once (which went into the night with a leading eleven nominations), absolutely sweeping the show with seven wins, including Picture, Director, and a trio of acting trophies for Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan, and Michelle Yeoh (becoming the first film to pull off that feat since Network in 1976). It was a truly impressive haul for A24’s multiverse-jumping action dramedy, which has been slowly but surely gaining steam since it first came out a year ago.

The remaining acting category, Best Actor, went to Brendan Fraser for The Whale (hinted at earlier in the night when the film won Makeup & Hairstyling over Elvis, suggesting Fraser’s main competition Austin Butler wasn’t likely to win). Fraser’s win is probably the award that I’m most happy with; I’ve been rooting for him to win since seeing the film at TIFF and witnessing the standing ovation that he received, and seeing him actually accept the Oscar was as satisfying as I had hoped.

Elsewhere, Germany’s International Feature winner All Quiet on the Western Front (a remake of the 1930 Best Picture winner) swept the tech categories, including Cinematography, Production Design and Score. Unlike some years, this wasn’t really a share the love sort of night; most surprisingly, Elvis went home empty-handed, as did The Fabelmans, The Banshees of Inisherin and TÁR (though Top Gun: Maverick thankfully managed to still win one for Sound).

As a whole, the ceremony itself was well produced, and Jimmy Kimmel was a solid host. Sure, there were a few corny jokes (like a dig at the short film categories making the show run longer), but he got things started with a solid opening monologue that did a fine job highlighting some of the films and nominees, while making a few obligatory references to the handling of last year’s infamous slap incident. The monologue was preceded by a nicely done montage of last year’s movies, that ended with Kimmel parachuting into the theatre à la Top Gun: Maverick.

Overall, the show itself was surprisingly good, especially compared to last year and the year before. It felt celebratory. The sets were nice, they had film clips, and all 23 categories were presented live. It felt like they actually listened to what dedicated Oscar viewers – those who actually care about the Oscars – wanted. I liked the way they presented the categories, with film clips and explanations for some of the technical aspects of filmmaking, including the use of props (such as some of the nominated costumes being onstage for Costume Design).

The performances of the nominated songs were admittedly a bit hit-and-miss. Diane Warren and Sofia Carson’s performance of “Applause” from barely seen Tell It Like a Woman was an unironic cheesefest, and Lady Gaga delivered a surprisingly minor rendition of Top Gun: Maverick power ballad “Hold My Hand” (Gaga initially announced that she would not be able to perform due to filming Joker: Folie à Deux, and was a last minute addition). But they went all out for a big production number of eventual winner “Naatu Naatu” from the Indian action epic RRR, and Rihanna gave a very good performance of her powerful Black Panther: Wakanda Forever track “Lift Me Up.”

While there were still a few frustrating instances of winners being played off the stage, the acceptance speeches were largely satisfying. Watching Ke Huy Quan accept award after award was one of the most satisfying parts of this awards season, and his incredibly gracious acceptance early in the night already feels like an all-timer Oscar moment, and Jamie Lee Curtis’s rousing “we won an Oscar” speech feels destined to live on through highlight reels.

The night began with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio winning Animated Feature, and the filmmaker delivering a passionate, and short but sweet “animation IS cinema” speech. The live presentation of Live Action Short also allowed for a sweet moment when the filmmakers behind winner An Irish Goodbye led the crowd in singing happy birthday to star James Martin.

I didn’t do that well on my predictions (only getting 15/23 correct), but I didn’t necessarily expect to, either. I took some risks in my predictions, and it was fun to have a few surprises here and there, even if several of the big categories went to the expected frontrunners. And Everything Everywhere All At Once is certainly a very unique addition to the pantheon of Best Picture winners (to my knowledge, it’s the first to feature butt plugs), even if it still feels somewhat surreal that directing duo The Daniels actually managed to beat Steven Spielberg in Best Director.

Overall, I have to say that I enjoyed watching the show and how things went down. Below is the full list of nominees and winners, in the order that they were presented.

Best Animated Feature

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

The Sea Beast

Turning Red

Best Supporting Actor

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

​Best Supporting Actress

​​​​Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Hong Chau – The Whale

Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Documentary Feature

All That Breathes

All the Beauty And the Bloodshed

Fire of Love

A House Made Of Splinters

​​​Navalny

Best Live Action Short

An Irish Goodbye

Ivalu

Le Pupille

Night Ride

The Red Suitcase

Best Cinematography

​All Quiet on the Western Front

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

Elvis

Empire of Light

TÁR

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

​​​​​All Quiet on the Western Front

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Elvis

The Whale

Best Costume Design

Babylon

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Best International Feature

All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)

Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)

Close (Belgium)

EO (Poland)

The Quiet Girl (Ireland)

Best Documentary Short

The Elephant Whisperers

Haulout

How Do You Measure a Year?

The Martha Mitchell Effect

Stranger at the Gate

Best Animated Short

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse

The Flying Sailor

Ice Merchants

My Year of Dicks

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Best Production Design

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

Babylon

Elvis

The Fabelmans

Best Original Score

All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann

Babylon – Justin Hurwitz

The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell

Everything Everywhere All At Once – Son Lux

The Fabelmans – John Williams

Best Visual Effects

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Original Screenplay

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Fabelmans

TÁR

Triangle of Sadness

Best Adapted Screenplay

All Quiet on the Western Front

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Living

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

Best Sound

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Elvis

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Original Song

“Applause” – Tell It Like a Woman

“Hold My Hand” – Top Gun: Maverick

“Lift Me Up” – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

“Naatu Naatu” – RRR

“This Is A Life” – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Film Editing

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

TÁR

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Director

Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Todd Field – TÁR

Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans

Ruben Östlund – Triangle of Sadness

Best Actor

Austin Butler – Elvis

Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser – The Whale

Paul Mescal – Aftersun

Bill Nighy – Living

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett – TÁR

Ana de Armas – Blonde

Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie

Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans

Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Fabelmans

TÁR

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking