My Reaction to the 2025 Oscars

Mikey Madison in Anora

Well, here we are. The Oscars happened last night, and these are my reactions to (almost) all of the awards. They’re not live, but they’re a day later so I can actually publish them at the best quality I can. Let’s go.


Bolded text = Winner


Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

Immediate Reaction: Not surprised at all. Culkin swept all season and he ended up going all the way to the Oscar. I’ve gotta watch A Real Pain now, I’m not entirely sure why I’ve put it off.


Best Animated Feature Film
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

Immediate Reaction: Really nice!! I really thought that The Wild Robot would win, but seeing that the first independent animated movie to win an Oscar is Flow is pretty great. I can’t wait to see more videos of people’s pets reacting to this movie.


Best Costume Design
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Gladiator II
Nosferatu
Wicked

Immediate Reaction: Even before watching Wicked, I figured that this had a big chance of winning Costume Design. After watching Wicked, I knew that it’d win. One of the easiest of the night, and it’s absolutely deserved.


Best Original Screenplay
Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold – The Brutalist
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain
Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum & Alex David – September 5
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance

Immediate Reaction: Ah, man. I was really hoping for The Substance. I really don’t think Anora’s screenplay was that great, arguably the weakest part of the movie. I wonder if that means it’ll win more…


Best Adapted Screenplay
James Mangold & Jay Cocks – A Complete Unknown
Peter Straughan – Conclave
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes – Nickel Boys
Greg Kwedar & Clint Bentley – Sing Sing

Immediate Reaction: Far and away the winner for me. While I do prefer the other movies over it (outside of Emilia Pérez), the script for Conclave is electric. Great pick.


Best Makeup & Hairstyling
A Different Man
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

Immediate Reaction: YES!!! This is absolutely the right choice. No question about it. This is the winner. No notes.


Best Film Editing
Sean Baker – Anora
David Jancso – The Brutalist
Nick Emerson – Conclave
Juliette Welfling – Emilia Pérez
Myron Kerstein – Wicked

Immediate Reaction: I picked The Brutalist for this one. I honestly didn’t have any idea with this one. Anora winning is cool, I guess? The editing for Conclave was good too.


Best Supporting Actress
Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

Immediate Reaction: Ariana Grande should’ve taken this. Hell, if we’re being serious, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor should’ve taken this for Nickel Boys. And if we’re being camp, Margaret Qualley should’ve won for The Substance. If you’re the best part of a bad movie, what does that say? When it comes to Saldaña, it means that you’re good enough to overcome it. I’ll just think she won an Oscar for something else.


Best Production Design
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked

Immediate Reaction: Great, great pick. These are pretty much all fantastic nominees, so I wouldn’t have been mad at any of these winning. Wicked is such a great pick.


Best Original Song
“El Mal” (Zoe Saldaña & Karla Sofia Gascón) – Emilia Pérez
“The Journey” (H.E.R.) – The Six Triple Eight
“Like A Bird” (Abraham Alexander) – Sing Sing
“MI Camino” (Selena Gomez) – Emilia Pérez
“Never Too Late” (Elton John) – Elton John: Never Too Late

Immediate Reaction: Let’s just hope it stops there for Emilia Pérez, but this is probably the best song in the movie. Sure? Should’ve been “Like a Bird.”


Best Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane

Immediate Reaction: Apparently Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler were going to present this award. When I noticed it wasn’t them, that was when I knew No Other Land (a documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) was winning. I’d like to see this when it becomes available, but Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat looks pretty interesting too.


Best Sound
A Complete Unknown
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot

Immediate Reaction: The Dune award!! Definitely the right choice here, even though the blending of live singing in Wicked was very well done.


Best Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked

Immediate Reaction: Again, the Dune award! Once again, so sad that Villeneuve isn’t in Director. Still not sure why Villeneuve isn’t in Director.


Best Cinematography
Lol Crawley – The Brutalist
Greig Fraser – Dune: Part Two
Paul Guilhaume – Emilia Pérez
Edward Lachman – Maria
Jarin Blaschke – Nosferatu

Immediate Reaction: Even though I didn’t love this movie, Crawley’s cinematography is the absolute standout for The Brutalist. As much as I love Greig Fraser and Dune, it kind of had to be Crawley.


Best International Feature Film
Emilia Pérez – France
Flow – Latvia
The Girl with the Needle – Denmark
I’m Still Here – Brazil
The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Germany

Immediate Reaction: YES!!! As much as I love Flow, I would’ve been really upset if this didn’t win. Actually, the only way I would’ve been upset is if Emilia Pérez won. Great to see this take the win here.


Best Original Score
Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
Volker Bertelmann – Conclave
Clément Ducol & Camille – Emilia Pérez
John Powell & Stephen Schwartz – Wicked
Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot

Immediate Reaction: Absolutely the right pick. It feels like it overpowers the movie at all times, and even if you see that opening, I knew that Daniel Blumberg won this award within the first 10 minutes. It’s that good.


Best Actor
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

Immediate Reaction: Man, I like the guy. I did like his performance, but any performance that uses AI to enhance an accent should be disqualified. I don’t think it feels right, especially since Hollywood just went on strike for AI regulation. I’m sure the win could age well, but the use of AI for this just doesn’t sit well with me. I wanted Chalamet to win, but he’ll probably win later in his career. Not too broken up about it.


Best Director
Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
James Mangold – A Complete Unknown
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance

Immediate Reaction: Oh, Baker’s sweeping. I’ve also really admired him talking about movie theaters too, so I like the guy in that regard. Not entirely surprised he won here, but yeah, Anora’s locked up Best Picture now.


Best Actress
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here

Immediate Reaction: So the Hulu broadcast cut out. Maaaan, I am torn. If you don’t know me already, I really was rooting for Demi Moore here. I’m not mad with Mikey Madison winning, but Moore was right there. Maybe the horror bias kicked in? If so, that sucks. Excited for Mikey’s career, though.


Best Picture
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked

Immediate Reaction: Holy shit, Anora sweep. I’m so tired. Not of the movies, just tired of this awards season. So glad I don’t have to think about Emilia Pérez anymore. I’m going to bed.


Final Thoughts
Okay, it’s Monday morning now. I think this was a fine Oscars. While Anora wasn’t exactly my favorite movie of the bunch, I think Sean Baker winning four awards is a pretty big deal. He’s been a big champion of indie movies and seeing movies in the theater, and he doesn't seem like the filmmaker that would go on to make a blockbuster or something like that after winning all of these Oscars. I do need to watch more of his movies, though. I’ll try to make Red Rocket one of the next movies I watch, especially since I already own it. Obviously, I’ve made clear what I wanted to win, but I really am glad that this awards season is over. It’s felt like a whirlwind, and while I do appreciate such a chaotic awards season, I’m also glad that I can focus on movies that are coming out during the rest of the year now (aside from some catch-up on some of these winners). Bong Joon-ho literally has a movie coming out this week, and I’ll be reviewing Mickey 17 as soon as I can. Can’t wait to see how the next awards season shapes up.