Oscars 2023: Oppenheimer Wins, Show Delivers Decent Kenergy

Jeremy BeckOscars
Ryan Gosling performing "I'm Just Ken" at the Oscars

This year’s Oscars were great, except for the bits that were terrible. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, such dissonance is the norm; Hollywood’s annual self-congratulatory gala has never equaled the sum of its parts. Speeches are wonderful and terrible, presentations are inspired and insipid, jokes are cutting and groaning, songs are riotous and wretched. It all adds up less to a unified ceremony than a collection of impressionable moments.

And this year’s Oscars, the 96th in the Academy’s history, delivered plenty of those. John Mulaney turned the rudimentary presentation of Best Sound (featuring a surprise winner!) into a majestic detour about Field of Dreams. Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling reminded everyone what natural star power looks like. A powerful speech from 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov (about the atrocities in Ukraine) brought the typically tittering crowd into reverent silence, only for it to later explode with euphoria following Gosling’s rendition of Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken.” John Cena got naked. Read More

Read more

Oscars 2023: Full List of Predictions

Jeremy BeckOscars
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie

Over the past week, we’ve scoured the 20 different feature categories in competition at the 96th Academy Awards. Here, you can find our predictions (and preferences) for all of them, alphabetized by category. (To access the detailed piece discussing any particular category, click on the header link.)

Best Actor
Will win: Cillian Murphy—Oppenheimer (confidence: 3/5)
Should win: Paul Giamatti—The Holdovers
Worst omission: Joaquin Phoenix—Beau Is Afraid

Best Actress
Will win: Lily Gladstone—Killers of the Flower Moon (confidence: 1/5)
Should win: Emma Stone—Poor Things
Worst omission: Park Ji-min—Return to Seoul Read More

Read more

Oscars 2023: Best Picture and Best Director

Jeremy BeckOscars
Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer

In ideal circumstances, the Oscar would crescendo to its biggest awards, concluding an eventful and surprising night with a final announcement that’s legitimately suspenseful. That ain’t happening this year. The Best Actress race is a corker, and both screenplay categories are coming down to the wire. But when it comes to the big prize, there isn’t a whole lot of mystery remaining.

To quote one of the best movies of 2023 (albeit not one nominated for Best Picture): such is life. Besides, just because the Academy has already made up its mind doesn’t prevent me from announcing my own preferences. I’m sure you’re excited.

BEST DIRECTOR

NOMINEES
Jonathan Glazer—The Zone of Interest
Yorgos Lanthimos—Poor Things
Christopher Nolan—Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese—Killers of the Flower Moon
Justine Triet—Anatomy of a Fall Read More

Read more

Oscars 2023: Best Actor and Best Actress

Jeremy BeckOscars
Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon; Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

If you’ll permit me a small confession: These are my two favorite Oscar categories, and also my least favorite. There are just so many good actors these days, the annual task of whittling down the best performances of the year to five names is always a colossal challenge—both tantalizing and torturous. Even more so than the supporting fields, finalizing your selections in the lead categories requires making impossible choices that you’re destined to regret years later. I mean, did I really not include Marion Cotillard on my Best Actress ballot in 2014 for The Immigrant??

The good news is that the Academy makes plenty of its own mistakes, making the pick of a preferred winner from the given slate of nominees much easier. Small mercies, and all that.

BEST ACTOR

NOMINEES
Bradley Cooper—Maestro
Colman Domingo—Rustin
Paul Giamatti—The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy—Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright—American Fiction Read More

Read more

Oscars 2023: The Screenplays

Jeremy BeckOscars
Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction; Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall

Look out, we’ve got some races! Most of the high-profile categories at this year’s Oscars are open and shut, draining any suspense from the announcement of the winners. But the screenplay fields are (har har) a different story. Both races are legitimately competitive, requiring a delicate combination of mathematical analysis and historical intuition. Or you can just guess.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

NOMINEES
American Fiction—Cord Jefferson
Barbie—Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
Oppenheimer—Christopher Nolan
Poor Things—Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest—Jonathan Glazer Read More

Read more