The 96th Academy Awards have concluded, celebrating the best films of 2023. Overall, it was a remarkable year for cinema, marked by unexpected successes like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Poor Things,” as well as surprising disappointments such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Flash,” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” These outcomes underscored a shifting landscape in audience tastes, as reflected by Bob Dylan’s iconic lyrics, “the times, they are a changing.”

The awards ceremony itself provided a fitting reflection of the diverse offerings of the year. Without further delay, let’s delve into the major winners of the evening.

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AND THE OSCAR GOES TO

“BARBIE”

On paper, it doesn’t exactly look like Greta Gerwig’s pop-cultural sensation “Barbie” had a great night out at the Academy Awards. For its nine nominations, the film only won one actual Oscar, Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’

But the reality is a little bit more complicated than that. From Eilish’s own transcendent live performance of her now Oscar-winning song to Ryan Gosling bringing down the house with a live performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’ to the outpouring of love from nearly every nominee in Greta Gerwig and co.’s direction, it was abundantly clear that “Barbie” was anything but a loser.

“POOR THINGS”

Yorgos Lanthimos’ mesmerizing, existential  and phantasmagorical science-fiction film was nominated for a whopping total of eleven awards. And while many had the film pegged as a winner for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling (all of which it did deservedly win), many expected the film to be largely shut out in the headlining categories.

However, in a surprise move, the film’s fourth Oscar win was for Emma Stone herself in the Best Actress category. Stone’s performance as Bella Baxter is absolutely incredible to witness, so this is a very hard-earned second Oscar win for Emma Stone, and one that ultimately cements the lasting legacy of “Poor Things” as a film. Fantastic stuff, the only downside of which is that Lily Gladstone couldn’t also win Best Actress for her earthshaking performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” But Emma deliberately spoke to Gladstone during her acceptance speech and said she shares the award with her, which is nice.

“KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON” I STILL LOVE YOU

Speaking of Martin Scorsese’s late-career masterpiece, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” it was entirely shut out at the Academy Awards, not taking a single Oscar home. This is undoubtedly a shame, as the film is far and away one of the best films of not just 2023 but of the last decade as a whole.

This is also sadly very much in keeping with tradition, as Scorsese has only ever actually won Best Director or Best Picture once each, both for “The Departed.” The Academy has a long history of sleeping on Scorsese’s masterworks in the present tense, only to deify them once they’re in the past tense.

But don’t worry “Killers of the Flower Moon,” for I will always love you, you unabashed masterpiece of cinema. You are a winner in my heart.

“OPPENHEIMER”

Lastly, we need to talk about the big winner of the night: Christopher Nolan’s cultural juggernaut, “Oppenheimer.” Nominated in thirteen different categories, Nolan’s latest won a gobsmacking seven of those Oscars, including Best Film Editing for Jennifer Lame’s sublime work, Best Cinematography for Hoyte van Hoytema’s monolithic photography, Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson’s phenomenal musical work, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Director for Christopher Nolan, and Best Picture for the film.

The honest truth is this is just an insanely stacked lineup of collaborators, many of whom have become predominant voices in their respective fields. And for the majority of them, this is their first Oscar win after a long tenure cutting their teeth on similarly remarkable work.

Chief among these folks is Nolan himself, who had never won an Oscar before despite having become one of the dominant voices of the cinematic landscape of the past two decades. “Oppenheimer” is an exquisitely well-crafted film made by a truly inspired team of artists, and it’s very nice that they all got such recognition. Bravo to Nolan and co.