Each year, the Academy Awards honor some of the movie industry’s greatest stars. As the most prominent movie awards, the decision of who wins an Oscar should be highly scrutinized. But despite the prestige of the awards, they’re arguably not always right.
While many deserved their awards, it’s always fun to argue who else could’ve won. Here’s my take on who I believe should have won the major awards.
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Who should have won: Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Culkin defeated Strong, his co-star from ‘Succession’, but Culkin’s role in ‘A Real Pain’ as Benji Kaplan was very similar to his famous Roman Roy character from that beloved HBO show. While Strong’s best known as ‘Succession’ protagonist Kendall Roy, his acting catalog spans a wide array of personalities. In ‘The Apprentice’, he portrays Donald Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn, a power-hungry prosecutor who knows how to bend the law. Compared to Culkin, watching Strong transform so flawlessly from protagonist to antagonist deserved an award.
Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Who should have won: Ariana Grande, Wicked
Ariana Grande has cemented herself as one of the top performers in entertainment. As Glinda in ‘Wicked’, Grande was able to use both her singing and acting chops to reimagine the ‘Wizard of Oz’ for a new generation. While Saldaña is a talented actress, ‘Emilia Pérez’ wasn’t her best performance. Playing Gamora in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and Neytiri in ‘Avatar’ cements her legacy in some of the biggest films of all time. Emilia Pérez is simply not one of them; only grossing $15 million dollars on a $30 million budget, it was panned by critics and audiences alike. Saldaña’s first Academy Award nomination ever shouldn’t have been for Emilia Pérez.
Best Actor and who should have won: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Brody has had an unusual career: two incredible performances that landed him an Oscar more than 20 years apart, with little other success to show for it. Brody’s role in ‘The Pianist’ was phenomenal, playing a Jewish pianist who survived the Holocaust. Similarly, in his current film, ‘The Brutalist’, he portrays a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States, achieving success as an architect. In both roles, Brody was able to encapsulate the heartbreaking tragedy coupled with the triumph of overcoming the horrors of the Holocaust.
Best Actress: Mikey Madison, Anora
Who should have won: Demi Moore, The Substance
Just like in the movie ‘The Substance’, Demi Moore had her career-defining moment ripped away by a younger actress. In a life-imitates-art scenario, Moore has had a storied career over the past 40 years in Hollywood, but somehow has never won an Oscar. In contrast, Madison is a young actor with a few screen credits. As Elizabeth Sparkle, an older actress who fell from grace, Moore skewers the Hollywood narrative and proves age is just a number.
Best Picture: Anora
Who should have won: Dune: Part Two
From its intense, sci-fi visuals to its complex relationships, Dune: Part Two literally takes place in space, yet does such a great job at symbolizing many real-world problems. While it won both the Best Sound and Best Visual Effects category, the movie’s much more than that. Timothee Chalamet, as main character Paul Atreides, starts as an underdog who uses his wit and bravery to help save the world. Anora, while entertaining, is basically Pretty Women with a sad ending. It’s a simple story with poor character development. If Dune: Part Two had come out closer to the Academy Awards, or if Timothee Chalamet hadn’t starred in two of the nominees, maybe it would have won Best Picture. Sadly, voters appear to have been recently swayed by the new hot thing. It’s certainly an unusual choice for Best Picture, only making $40 million compared to the $700 million made worldwide by Dune: Part Two, the highest-grossing movie of 2024.
The 97th Academy Awards featured a varied mix of surprises, laughs, and serious moments. Time will only tell if all of those movies will still hold up.
