The Highlights, Lowlights, and Surprises from the 97th Academy Awards

Well, I think the dust has now fully settled from Oscar night. I wrote about the immediate aftermath of the 97th Academy Awards here in terms of Anora‘s victory and here about Conan O’Brien‘s hosting, so while it’s not completely hindsight now, we’re pretty close to putting the ceremony in the books. As such, today feels like a good day to look at the highs and lows from the show we got. Then, we can move on to the 2025 cinematic year in full.

Below, you’ll see what I thought the best and worst of Oscar night ended up being. Luckily, the good very much outweighs the bad this year once again. Coming off of last year’s successful show, could the days of me having to complain about the telecast and wonder who it was meant for be over? One certainly hopes so. Thankfully, it makes for another piece today far more centered on positivity than negativity, and I’m all for that.

Here now are some of the highlights, lowlights, and surprises from the 97th Academy Awards ceremony:

The Highs

The winners themselves – First up, like the last year or two, the winners, again, were pretty awesome. Anora led the way, and it’s obviously incredible, but seeing independent visions from not just Sean Baker but the likes of Brady Corbet embraced is beyond cool. The Substance actually won an Oscar, which would have been unbelievable at one point. Your mileage obviously may vary on the winning films and performances, but it’s hard to argue that this isn’t another top tier slate of newfound Academy Award recipients. I’ll always consider that a highlight, so this year is no exception.

Conan O’Brien hosting – You can obviously see my article on O’Brien from yesterday, but it’s rare that we’re praising the Oscar host. Usually, being inoffensive and passable is the win. Instead, we’re actually pleased with Conan and can consider his work here as an actual highlight. Hopefully, he’s invited back again and again.

The Lows

Adrien Brody’s speech – This has nothing to do with Adrien Brody winning Best Actor for The Brutalist. It has everything to do with his long speech, which he refused to end. Truly, it feels like he’s still speaking. It stopped the show dead in its tracks, and worse, Brody had nothing extra to say in taking all of the extra time.

Another misfire of a James Bond tribute – For some reason, the Academy can’t honor James Bond properly. This time, it was the music of 007, which led to some performances that just didn’t make a mark. Considering how it more or less meant no Best Original Song performances, it just felt like another misfire.

The Surprises

Adam Sandler’s cameo – The Sandman made the Academy laugh! His audience bit with Conan was pretty well received, which just never happens. Could this be the first step in seeing Adam Sandler finally become an Oscar nominee? Don’t be surprised if that eventually is what happens, maybe even this season…

We actually had some upsets – It wasn’t shocking, granted, but seeing Mikey Madison win Best Actress, Baker win Best Film Editing, and Flow win Best Animated Feature did count as surprises. Anytime you wind up with unexpected winners, that’s interesting. I don’t love when my predictions are wrong, but each of these surprises were pleasing to see.

What were your highs and lows from the 97th Academy Awards? Let us know!