The Movies That Won

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King Richard

Will Smith does an incredible job in his starring role as Richard Williams. Even though Smith looks nothing like Williams, nor did he transform himself into him for this role, Smith was able to capture the essence of Williams. He was able to bring to life the love Williams had for his daughters and the tension illustrated in the movie. His ability to do so was similar to the performances of fellow-nominees Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman, who played Desi and Lucille in Being the Ricardos. They look nothing like their characters. They don't talk like their characters, but they were able to bring their souls to life. They captured the love the two individuals had for each other.

West Side Story

Like King Richard, West Side Story is one of the best movies of last year. It's a remake of the 1961 film of the same name. While the 1961 movie is a forgettable filmed stage play, the new one is a memorable musical that the studio made for the screen in a way that no other stage-to-screen adaptation has done before. Ariana DeBose plays Anita and does an incredible job bringing the movie to life. She does this through both her musical and acting abilities. The America song was much more vibrant than the sequence in the original film. The new one took advantage of the medium of film and brought the audience into the action in a way that the stage-play and original movie never could. Her acting performance brought Anita to life in a way that generated sympathy and compassion for her from the audience.

Dune

Though Dune doesn't stand as tall as its Best Picture fellow nominees like King Richard and West Side Story, the movie deserved its many technical awards. Dune earned Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Score. Whether or not they should have gotten the awards for Best Editing and Best Sound is debatable. The Academy could have easily given those awards to A Quiet Place Part II, which they didn't nominate for anything, but really should have.

Encanto

This movie is the Citizen Kane of animated films. No, it wasn't a perfect film, but Citizen Kane didn't tick all the boxes of what makes a masterpiece either, yet it's considered by many to be the most excellent film of all time. Not because of its merit, but because of the film's amount of weight and depth. The same goes for Encanto. This Best Animated Feature win was well-deserved.

No Time to Die

If the Academy wanted to nominate a popcorn film for best picture, No Time to Die is the movie they should have picked instead of Dune. No, it doesn't have the technical prowess that Dune has, but as an all-around film, it stands taller. The studio adapted Dune from an exposition-heavy novel making a perfect adaptation from book to screen impossible. No Time to Die was the most subtle and visually intriguing film in its franchise. If there were a weak link to the movie (which there wasn't), it would be the intro song. The song was good, but going into the film, thinking NDA was the title song made the actual song disappointing. OK, OK, that's a personal bias, but regardless, there's no way that the No Time to Die song beat Dos Oruguitas.

Cruella

The 101 Dalmations villain gets her own Nolanesque superhero origin story. Costume Designer Jenny Beavan brought the style and aesthetics of 1970s England back to life in this film about a Disney Villain trying to break into the fashion industry. It would have been a shame if someone else beat her to the Oscar for Best Costume Design.