Lights. Camera. Action.

The best of the Hollywood blockbusters were all recognized at the 90th annual Oscars. This is arguably the most important date for movie stars, makers and lovers. A time for those who help make the final piece can be recognized for their hard work and achievements. With all the amazing films produced in 2017, there were many talented people and films in the running for different awards.

Being a well-known icon in the industry, Jimmy Kimmel was chosen to be the host for the second year in a row. Due to the mess up of last year’s Oscars, the foundation of the jokes were made about the Best Picture being wrongly announced, but luckily that was not the case at this year’s award show.

This years Oscars was more about the women. Having more female nominees and even a woman nominated for best director, Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird, actresses and females in the movie industry are finally receiving the limelight they deserve. Frances McDormand, winning best female actress for Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri, encouraged all the lady nominees to stand with her and celebrate their work in a rousing acceptance speech.

Along with women stood numerous nominees of color. Since it has been argued in years prior that the Oscars have been too white and not extremely diverse, people made a change. John Peele, one of the few black Oscar winners, even won Best Original Screenplay for Get Out; a thriller about a white family trying to hypnotize a black man into being a slave for them.

The Oscars also featured Lupita Nyong’o and Kumail Nanjiani who stood with Dreamers because they were in their footsteps as well.

“We grew up dreaming of one day working in the movies,” Nyong’o said. Dreams are the foundation, and dreams are the foundation of America.”

The romantic film Call Me By Your Name won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Although this was about a romance between two men who differed in age, it was a groundbreaking film. As James Ivory started to speak into the microphone, he points out how this story is a familiar one to many, no matter the sexual orientation.

Winning for best actor was Gary Oldman in The Darkest Hour, a historical film about Winston Churchill dealing with the effects of World War II shortly before becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Although Lady Bird was one of my favorite films nominated for this year, it did not win any of the five awards it was nominated for. Receiving a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and ravishing reviews from many, it still was not victorious in its nominations.

Winning the Best Picture of the 2018 Oscars was the 13 time nominated film, The Shape of Water, which also won four other categories as well. Among those four was best director, original score and production design. Despite some negative reviews, which all movies recieve, this film came out on top.