Safely in the rambunctious jazz hands of first-time host Conan O’Brien, the 97th Academy Awards broke with tradition to offer up bits that were actually funny, speeches that actually seemed to appreciate the art form they were about, and winners that were actually good. Well, mostly good. Emilia Pérez still snuck a few in there. But on the whole, the 2025 Oscars highlighted a good year for cinema—and a good year for this writer, whose Oscar predictions were completely respectable as far as hit-and-miss ratios go.
Streaming for the first time on Hulu, as the long arm of Disney extended to (most of) the ceremony, this well-hosted affair saw Anora as the big winner with five statues. It also reached a massive international audience, many of whom were happy to see I’m Still Here break ground for Brazil…but that doesn’t mean everyone caught it.
So, if you missed the 2025 Oscars, here’s our breakdown of the best moments, the worst foibles, and the head-slapping dramas that always color Hollywood’s main event.
The Good
Conan needs to host every year
As a self-deprecator, a tasteful enjoyer of his collaborators, and a curator of bits, it’s hard to beat Conan O’Brien. Conan brought much of his oddball late-night energy to the ceremony, which took the various forms of a basketball-shorted Adam Sandler, a musical moment reminiscent of “The Monorail Song” (which introduced a multi-instrumentalist Shai-Hulud, perhaps the best part of the night), and jokes roasting Jeff Bezos and Drake. The pro-movie theater sketch was a nice highlight with its heart in the right place, a message echoed earnestly in speeches by Best Director winner Sean Baker. Conan might not have followed through on his promise to make sure the Oscars weren’t going to waste our time, but his presence is always a welcome one.
No Other Land getting the spotlight as Israel cuts off humanitarian aid to Gaza
The best documentary of 2024 has more Oscars than distribution offers in the United States. The Palestinian-Israeli co-production that takes a years-long, ground-level look at the destructive enforcement of Israel’s apartheid state is as confrontational and harrowing as any film made this year, and its lack of availability to the American viewing public reflects not only the cowardice of the industry but the dire assumptions made about its audience. With the recognition of the Academy, No Other Land secures its place in history. With filmmakers Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham’s powerful speech, No Other Land’s “call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people” has reached more people than ever. The timing couldn’t be more relevant, as Israel has once again begun using “starvation as a method of warfare,” as the International Criminal Court described it.
Flow’s Best Animated Feature win
As far as little movies that could go, Flow is about as scrappy and charming as its central black kitty. Facing a crop of heavy-hitters from established artists and studios alike, Gints Zilbalodis’ Latvian, dialogue-free film—made for $4 million, with a core team of around five folks, working with software free for anyone to use—came out on top. It’s a big win for an indie, and a nice signal that the section of the industry so often reduced to “Disney” and “Everyone Else” is changing.
Colman Domingo thriving in the front row during “Ease On Down The Road”
Sure, the Oscars ran long. Sure, there were elaborate earnest musical performances (the year Wicked landed tons of nominations, duh). But as part of the Quincy Jones tribute, The Wiz’s “Ease On Down The Road” got folks out of their seats. Specifically, it got the overtly theatrical stars of Wicked and Sing Sing star Colman Domingo—wearing bright red, front and center—moving and grooving out in the crowd. Jones is a legend whose memory deserves celebration with a lavish performance (though it would’ve made more sense to pick a song actually written by him and not Charlie Smalls), and it was nice to see some unabashed enthusiasm from some A-listers unafraid to let loose.
Anora says “long live independent film”
Filmmaker Sean Baker spent his multiple speeches over his record-tying Oscars night to advocate for the theatrical experience and making indie movies, righteous causes that always need a champion on the big stage. The wins go down extra sweet because, unlike some Best Picture nominees, Anora is a great movie filled with real emotions, exciting style, plenty of humor, and one hell of a performance from Oscar winner Mikey Madison. Madison’s win over Demi Moore might have been the upset of the night, but it was deserving nonetheless. Creating a complex character to ground this raucous film—one that takes part in one of the year’s best fight scenes AND sex scenes—is a collaboration between script, direction, and acting. Impressively, the Academy recognized every source for Madison’s Anora.
The Bad
Emilia Pérez winning anything
I can’t bring myself to dislike Supporting Actress winner Zoe Saldaña, but I can easily bring myself to dislike the songwriters of this terrible movie’s random noises. And that’s before the Original Song winners made everyone cringe through their speech, and then, as if asking for a cartoon hook to come drag them away, sang some of their bad music in front of the Oscars crowd, presenter Mick Jagger, and god. Read the room!
RIP James Bond
Last week, Amazon took over the James Bond franchise. This weekend, the Oscars put on a plodding musical in memoriam for 007, featuring a bunch of cheesy dance numbers and twentysomething pop stars representing the cynical side of a series that Amazon is sure to lean into in the future. Margaret Qualley sure can dance, though!
Presenters going long
I’m not against the idea of having one presenter for each nominee, giving heartfelt speeches speaking to their craft. Highlighting each nominee could be done well in theory, but not just by having the camera stare at the nominees and presenters. These artisans deserve their laurels, certainly, but for the viewing public, actually seeing the work they were nominated for would go a long way. Roll out the costumes. Pan across the sets. Play those VFX reels. Just show us what they did! It’s a visual medium! This ceremony already dragged (despite Conan’s musical bargain), so please, just show some clips. Actors aren’t the only things that appear in movies. This longwinded and dissatisfying approach, coupled with a few out-of-control speeches, led to one of the night’s most embarrassing issues.
The Ugly
Hulu had enough
The first time with a streamer was bound to have issues, especially since the Oscars notoriously run long…and that’s the case even when Adrien Brody isn’t shouting down the orchestra playing him off. But after a stream that, though it had its hiccups, mostly went off without a hitch, Hulu cut its stream off before the night’s two final awards, Best Actress and Best Picture. Whoops! Hope nobody wanted to see those.
Oscars not so woke
Though taking place while America is actively being dismantled from the inside and the country is turning on allies left and right, the Oscars—which typically take plenty of political potshots—didn’t comment much on what’s going on outside of the Oscars. Part of this could be because much of that topical time was spent earnestly addressing the response to the devastating Southern California wildfires that burned through countless homes in January. But it took almost two hours for anyone to say anything about Ukraine and the only glancing mention of unprecedented governmental turmoil took the form of a half-hearted joke thrown away as Mark Hamill was introduced. Nobody said anything about the ever-increasing plight of trans people…conspicuously after Emilia Pérez fell out of fashion. We don’t need to go back to full Jimmy Kimmel mode, but it’s a little embarrassing that this was all that the ceremony had to offer, especially since it was the same ceremony where the No Other Land filmmakers left it all on the court with their speech.
