The 97th Academy Awards are now in the history books, with the winners revealed, and the glittering confetti now settling.
Our Oscars 2025 winners list can guide you through who won (and by extension, who unfortunately lost), but if you’re wondering about the night’s biggest talking poins, you’ve come to the right place. ‘Anora’ won Best Picture but that wasn’t the only story.
Overall, this year’s show was a pretty darn solid effort. It had the expected sag in the middle, and some of the speeches were questionable (French singer Camille attempting to sing part of her Oscar-winning song on stage was a choice).
Still, overall there were more highs than lows, and the film community appeared to agree with the majority of the winners.
But if you missed watching the show live, these were the biggest moments at the 2025 Oscars.
Conan O’Brien kills the opening monologue
When Conan O’Brien was announced as the Oscar host, it seemed like a natural fit for the late-night TV legend and so it proved straight off the bat. Conan’s opening monologue was the perfect level of playfulness — poking fun without being too mean — and his gag about Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversial tweets was the funniest of the night.
The extended “I Won’t Waste Time” musical number perhaps went on a little longer than necessary, but what would the Oscars be without an overly lengthy musical number?
Overall, Conan did a great job, and it’s nice to see the Academy committed to a dedicated host again after some failed experimentation with a hostless format in the early 2020s. Hopefully, Conan’s emceeing isn’t a one-and-done.
Paul Tazewell makes Oscar history
It’s not typically the craft awards that leave the biggest impression at the Oscars, but this year my favorite award win came in the Best Costume Design category.
Not only did we get a great lead in bit that saw Bowen Yang walk out on stage wearing his Shiz University costume from “Wicked,” but the eventual Oscar winner, Paul Tazewell, made history as the first Black man to win in this category.
It felt like a significant moment and rightfully brought much of the audience to their feet. Tazewell’s speech was delivered with real class, and overall, it was a feel-good win that served to remind viewers of the equal importance of the less high-profile awards.
Zoe Saldaña does too
“Emilia Pérez” has had a tumultuous awards season following a wave of controversy and social media backlash. The Netflix musical crime drama went from a Best Picture frontrunner to failing to even win Best International Feature, a category it had previously looked to have on lockdown.
With so many viewers rallying against “Emilia Pérez,” it shouldn’t go unnoticed that Zoe Saldaña’s win for Best Supporting Actress was the first by an American of Dominican origin, a moment in Oscar history.
Perhaps some pundits would have preferred Saldaña to win for a different movie, but there’s no denying the actress earned her moment on the center stage. Her emotional speech was heartfelt (if a little too teary), and yes, her husband really does have great hair.
James Bond tribute falls flat
The Academy choosing to pay tribute to James Bond in a year without any new entries in the franchise, and following the recent news that longtime franchise stewards Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have passed over control of the series to Amazon, felt like particularly bad optics.
The ill-timed tribute to cinema’s most suave superspy was further blunted by awkward choreography, and a trio of singers (Lisa from Blackpink, Doja Cat and Raye) who all have impressive pipes but failed to capture the magic of the original Bond themes they were performing.
I’d have much preferred this out-of-place musical medley to have been nixed in favor of a more substantial tribute to iconic filmmaker David Lynch, who passed away earlier this year.
‘No Other Land’s’ win felt significant
“No Other Land” scooped Best Documentary Feature Film despite the fact it currently doesn’t have a U.S. distributor making watching the movie pretty darn hard for millions.
There had been concerns pre-show that this could impact its chances of winning, but they proved unfounded. Instead, the doc about forced displacement in the West Bank got its deserved moment in the sun.
Director Basel Adra used his precious few minutes on stage to deliver a powerful message and to criticize American foreign policy for “helping to block” the path forward toward peace.
When awards shows get political it’s always a divisive subject, but this speech felt like a necessary inclusion on this list as it was a much-needed rallying cry.
Adrien Brody won’t stop talking
Critics of awards season will often point to the self-indulgent speeches as a major turn-off, and in the case of Adrien Brody, I have no defense. Winning his second Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for “The Brutalist,” (he won previously for "The Pianist" in 2002) Brody took to the stage and rambled on for several minutes.
The infamous play-off music began but Brody snapped back requesting it be turned off and that he wouldn’t be “egregious” with the rest of his speech before returning to his rambling
In an evening with some really engaging speeches, Brody’s was very much one of the few duds.
‘Anora’ and Sean Baker win big
The 97th Academy Awards belonged to “Anora.” Sean Baker’s biting comedy-drama about a sex worker named Ani who marries the son of a Russian oligarch took home five awards in total.
This was the most at the Oscars, including big wins in Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Mikey Madison. The critically acclaimed flick also claimed Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Because Baker’s fingerprints are all over the movie, from writing, directing and producing, he walked away with four of those awards to his name, making him the most decorated individual winner in one Oscar night since Walt Disney also won four gold statues in 1954.
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