Al Seib/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images

2023 was the year movies were finally back — and Sunday’s Oscars reflected what a good time at the cinema we all had.

Not only was this year’s crop of Best Picture nominees one of the best we’ve had in eons, the often self-serious award show’s ceremony was warm-hearted, hilarious, and enjoyable enough to melt even the most cynical award-show hater.

Buoyed by a killer opening monologue from Jimmy Kimmel and a communal ethos that started strong and then kept on going, the 96th Academy Awards last night felt like not just a return to form, but a sincere embrace of the reason we’re all here: to make wonderful art together, have lots of fun, and maybe even remember what’s great about humanity while we’re at it. (Hint: It’s the cute Godzilla toys.)

There were some victors:

• Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer walked away with six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and acting awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
• Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things pulled off the night’s only upset, delivering Emma Stone the Oscar for Best Actress, in defiance of overwhelming awards season momentum for Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon. It also garnered a coup in the aesthetic categories, waltzing off with awards for production design, makeup, and costuming. 

In general, it was truly that rarest of awards shows — a fun, uplifting time. In fact, we might even say that the ultimate winner of this year’s Oscars was … everyone.

Despite all the jokes Jimmy Kimmel made about the Oscars being long throughout the show, this year’s ceremony felt shockingly and impressively tight.

It certainly helped that the show kicked off an hour earlier than usual, but it was also genuinely engaging throughout its three-and-a-half-hour runtime and hardly lagged — save an overly theatrical in memoriam segment, which is always drawn out.

Overall, the ceremony provided enough entertainment to stave off the Sunday Scaries and allow viewers a good night’s rest.

— Kyndall Cunningham

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars for the fourth time this year, and somehow, when we weren’t looking, he’s turned into the ideal host for the job.

From his satirical but not nasty opening monologue through a surprisingly funny bit with nude John Cena, Kimmel threaded a tricky needle. He somehow managed to avoid being either the kind of host who is cruel for the sake of it, à la Ricky Gervais, or the kind who is far too nice to his audience full of beautiful rich people (Hugh Jackman). 

“This night is full of enormous talent and untold potential,” Kimmel said at the top of the evening, “but so was Madame Web.”

For the rest of the night, he showed himself prepared to do the most important thing an Oscars host can do: give the right people shit.

Sure, Kimmel’s targets included old groaners like how movies are too long these days and how the Germans love sad films. But he also took a swipe at Sen. Katie Britt for her terrible State of the Union response (like Poor Things’ Bella Baxter, she’s “an adult woman with the brain of a child”); Donald Trump, who weighed in with some notes on Kimmel’s performance on Truth Social; and the “bunch of heavily botoxed, Hailey-Bieber-smoothie-drinking nepo babies with perpetually shivering Chihuahuas” who make up his “very strange town.”

Only a hometown boy can get away with that kind of talk.

— Constance Grady

For the four acting awards this year, the Oscars brought back its “Fab Five” actors on actors format. Five previous winners of each category — Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress — were brought on stage. In lieu of the usual highlight clip, each of those previous winners spoke about one of the nominees, talking about what made their performance so special.

Some highlights: Lupita Nyong’o talking about how her friend Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s performance in The Holdovers shows resilience, Christoph Waltz joking with Ryan Gosling about Ken’s male fragility, and Nicolas Cage talking about how rad it was that Paul Giamatti wore a single contact lens that almost made him go blind while creating The Holdovers. 

This way of presenting, which the Oscars first used in 2009, added more levity and humanity to what’s generally a largely forgettable component to these awards shows.

It’s nice to hear people say touching, inspirational, and moving things about art they love! It’s fun to see actors hug and thank so many other actors! And to be honest, having Rita Moreno talk lovingly about you on national television is arguably better than an Oscar itself.

— Alex Abad-Santos

Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

After a devastating pandemic, a sluggish return for the industry, and despite multiple protracted Hollywood strikes throughout the year, 2023 saw a return to form at the box office.

Not only did the unintended Barbie/Oppenheimer double feature propel both blockbusters to the forefront of the cultural conversation, but it was a banner year for midsized films as well, from Cannes sensation Anatomy of a Fall to Lanthimos’s darling Poor Things.  

This year was so good for films that Martin Scorsese directed what may well be his crowning masterpiece with Killers of the Flower Moon, and somehow it was a complete shut-out at the Oscars. (Sorry, Lily Gladstone!)

Hats off to the moviemakers — we needed you, and you came through.

— Aja Romano

Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images

Are you enjoying the Today, Explained newsletter? Forward it to a friend; they can sign up for it right here. 

And as always, we want to know what you think. We recently changed the format of this newsletter. Any questions, comments, or ideas? We're all ears.  Specifically: If there is a topic you want us to explain or a story you’re curious to learn more about, let us know by filling out this form or just replying to this email.

Today's edition was produced and edited by Caroline Houck. We'll see you tomorrow!

This email was sent to you. Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution.

View our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service.

Vox Media, 1701 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.