Which one of this season's Oscar nominees will return soonest?

by Nathaniel R

We just recorded the Oscar post-mortem podcast and we ended by asking the participants which of the 20 acting nominees from the 95th Academy Awards would be back shortly. Everyone picked someone different. This Oscar season was record-breaking in terms of first-time nominees for acting -- 16 of 20 is insane (and wonderful)! We can't expect it will happen again at the 96th Oscars since it's so unusual. So which one of the nominees Hollywood just celebrated will be back next season... or the season after that if none of them repeat in a year's time. Who comes back first? Would love to hear your theories on this in the comments!

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Were there even any upsets on Oscar night?

by Danny Cox

Part of the fun of the Oscars are when the winner of the award is not the odds on favorite that  had been predicted. Olivia Colman winning over Glenn Close, Parasite taking Picture and  Director from 1917, and Anthony Hopkins over Chadwick Boseman all added a sense of surprise  and shock to each of their ceremonies. With the uprise of precursor award shows, internet communities dedicated to predicting the awards, and even gambling sites taking odds and  providing bets the outcome of the awards tend to be more predictable. Last night’s awards were  no exception, with Everything Everywhere All at Once winning 7 of its 11 nominations as pretty much predicted from the outset even though sweeps hadn't yet happened in the Best Picture era. But was everything as predictable as it seems? Were there any  moments of surprise and shock? The answer is tricky. 

While some of the categories seemed set in stone (Supporting Actor, Animated Film, Visual  Effects) there were others with uncertain outcomes...

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All hail the glorious Ruth E. Carter!

by Cláudio Alves

With her latest victory, costume designer Ruth E. Carter became the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards. Breaking barriers and setting Oscar records isn't new to Carter, mind you. In 1992, she became the first African-American nominated in the category, and later was its first Black winner, thanks to 2018's Black Panther. Having won again for the sequel, Wakanda Forever, she's also the only person to earn multiple Costume Design Oscars for the same franchise. Considering she's dedicated so much of her career to the representation of Black history on screen, it feels correct that Carter's name should forever have a place in the history books… 

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The Beauty of Sarah Polley's Oscar Speech

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Women Talking has had a pretty rocky road to the Oscars. From being anointed as one of the early frontrunners to possibly win Best Picture to barely squeaking into the actual nominations - only getting nods for Picture and Adapted Screenplay, the film struggled to find footing during the awards race as more vocal support went towards other films. Believe me, as someone who loves the film dearly, it was hard to watch this film be up in the air for majority of the season.

Coming into the Oscar night, its only real shot at winning was for Adapted Screenplay as Everything Everywhere All at Once's victory lap at Picture seemed secure. The only problem was Adapted Screenplay also contained what was arguably the Best Picture runner-up: All Quiet on the Western Front...

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Oscar Ceremony in Review: 10 Moments To Cheer or Jeer At...

by Nathaniel R

"L Ron Hubba Hubba"

Like, Eric, who felt joyfully optimistic about the Oscars after the 95th Academy Awards, wrapped, I also had a good night. Did you? Overall it was a well produced, well paced, quite entertaining, and often moving night with good speeches and the requisite history being made. Now, in point of fact, history is always made at the Oscars. Each year of an institutional annual event that is super consistent in its approach (far more so than say the Grammys, BAFTAs, and Emmys which all change rules and category names so often that records and stats end up feeling blurry and mostly meaningless), will necessarily alter at least a few nooks and crannies of statistics and records. But we got a few true biggies last night: First Asian Best Actress winner, first film in half a century to take 75% of the acting prizes, first sci-fi action comedy to win the big prize.

But "it was a good time!" isn't much of a rundown of a three and a half hour glamorous event so herewith 8 things that stuck out for me, for better and worse, in no particular order...

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