The 94th Academy Awards aired on March 27 on ABC.
Marking the post-pandemic return to the Dolby Theatre, this year’s Oscars felt like everything was finally coming back to normal.
For the first time since 2018, the Oscars actually had set hosts with this year’s awards having female comedians Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall as co-hosts.
In contrast to last year’s dry and mundane ceremony due to the lack of films releasing during the pandemic, the 2022 Oscars proved to be an exciting and suspenseful ceremony with so many incredible films from the past year having equal opportunity to reign victorious throughout the awards.
The central theme of the 94th Academy Awards was “Movie Lovers Unite” and much of the ceremony stressed the importance of acceptance and love towards one another as artists from the Black, Latino, LGBTQ+ and even disabled communities were represented and commemorated for their hard work and performances.
The ceremony hit the ground running with Beyonce performing her Best Original Song-nominated “Be Alive” on a completely lime green tennis court set, complimenting her impressive vocals and the dynamic vibe of the performance in general.
The first and most predictable win of the night was Broadway star Ariana DeBose winning Best Supporting Actress for her role as ‘Anita’ in Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story,” just as Rito Moreno won the same award for playing ‘Anita’ in the 1961 version of the film.
In her heartwarming acceptance speech, DeBose expressed feelings of achievement and optimism in the film industry saying: “You know what, now I see why that Anita says ‘I want to be in America’ because even in this weary world that we live in, dreams do come true. And that’s really a heartening thing right now.” She even referenced the song “Somewhere” from the film in her touching conclusion: “I promise you this: there is indeed a place for us.”
Throughout the night, music artists like Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Reba and Sebastian Yatra performed their nominated songs. Although it wasn’t nominated, the cast of the hit-Disney movie “Encanto” sang the first live performance of the popular song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” that also included a surprise rap verse from Megan Thee Stallion.
Billie Eilish and Finneas later on won the award for Best Original Song with their James Bond track “No Time to Die.”
The sci-fi spectacle “Dune” led with the most Oscar wins and received 6/10 of the awards they were nominated for including Best Sound, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Original Score, Film Editing and Production Design.
Many fans were disappointed that Denis Villenueve was snubbed for Best Director after producing such a delicately-crafted film like “Dune,” and after each win, crew members took special care to thank Villenueve for his work even though he wasn’t recognized for it.
Unfortunately, although the suspenseful drama “The Power of the Dog” led with 12 nominations when they were announced, it ended up only winning Best Director.

Best Picture nominees “Belfast” and “King Richard” each won a single award; “Belfast” winning Best Original Screenplay and “King Richard” winning Best Actor for Will Smith’s performance as the title character.
On the subject of Smith, many will remember this year’s ceremony for the bizarre moment when Chris Rock, who was presenting the award for Best Documentary at the time, made a joke towards Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from a hair loss condition called alopecia, saying he couldn’t wait to see her in “G.I. Jane 2.” In response to this controversial joke and in defense of his wife, Smith proceeded to walk onto the stage and slap Rock in the face, followed by Smith yelling “Keep my wife’s name out your ****ing mouth” offstage.
This event has already become a meme on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, while the Academy promises to take “appropriate action” for his unruly behavior.
In Smith’s emotional acceptance speech, he somewhat apologized for the incident, stating “I want to apologize to the Academy,” while also giving reason for it, saying “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family” and “Love will make you do crazy things.”
Other awards included Troy Kotsur winning Best Support Actor for his role as ‘Frank Rossi’ in “CODA” and becoming the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar, “Encanto” getting Best Animated Feature and Jessica Chastain receiving Best Actress for playing ‘Tammy Faye Messner’ in the biopic “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”

At the end of the night, the captivating pair of Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland and legendary EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards) winner, announced that the award for Best Picture went to none other than “CODA.”
Originally a small and unknown film, “CODA” beat the odds and became the true underdog story of the Oscars this year and was able to win all three awards for which it was nominated.
This year’s ceremony proved that anything was possible for aspiring filmmakers to find success and share their stories, but hopefully next year’s will not include any onstage feuds to overshadow the night’s more triumphant moments.