'Oppenheimer's' wins, 'Barbie's' losses, naked John Cena: Oscar's highs and lows

"Oppenheimer" brought home seven awards, including Best Picture, at Sunday's Academy Awards, and what the show lacked in big surprises it made up for in highlighting the things Hollywood does well.

It was a warm celebration that thankfully avoided the trainwreck moments of recent Oscar ceremonies. Host Jimmy Kimmel steered the ship in a positive direction, and helped bring it in at a reasonable hour: The show ran under three and-a-half hours, and its start time was bumped up to 7 p.m., which meant that Best Picture was handed out before 10:30 p.m. for the first time in ages.

The show was indicative of a strong year for movies, even in the face of a months-long work stoppage, where several big movies captured the public's imaginations and moved the needle back in Hollywood's favor.

Here's a look at the highs and lows of Sunday's Oscars show.

High: A big night for 'Oppenheimer'

Christopher Nolan's exacting biopic about the creator of the atomic bomb took home seven awards and led all winners, earning gold statues for stars Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey, Jr., as well as director Nolan, firsts for each. It also earned wins for editing, cinematography and score. The movie was the favorite heading into the night and was the film to beat since its release in July, when it and "Barbie" became the oddball moviegoing event of the year. A three-hour biopic about a scientist becoming a global box office sensation was prize enough, but those Oscar wins were the cherries on top of an already impressive sundae.

Low: A tough night for 'Barbie'

"Barbie" didn't go home empty-handed — Billie Eilish won Best Song for her "Barbie" ballad "What Was I Made For?" making the 22-year-old the youngest-ever double Oscar winner in history (she also won for her James Bond theme song from "No Time to Die") — but the movie was blanked in its other categories, in addition to its notable snubs for director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie leading into the show. But if it ended up being the Oscar bridesmaid to "Oppenheimer," it always has a box office crown it can cling to, which certainly helps to soften that blow.

High: A 'Poor Things' surprise for Emma Stone

The cracked, darkly comic sci-fi sex romp "Poor Things" won four awards, including Best Actress for Emma Stone, in what registered as the closest thing the show produced to an actual surprise. Stone was heavily thought to be in the mix for the prize, having picked up awards at several shows leading up to the Oscars, but "Killers of the Flower Moon's" Lily Gladstone was the odds-on favorite to win come showtime. Stone, previously a winner for "La La Land," was genuinely in shock when she took the stage, and she honored her fellow nominees, including Gladstone, with whom she said she shared the award. It was a welcome jolt in a show that had too few of them, in which the whole evening seemed to be unfolding according to plan. Speaking of which...

Low: An overly predictable slate of winners

Oscar season, with its months of campaigning and slew of precursor awards shows, has made Oscar night way too predictable to anyone who's paying attention. Oh, you won your Oscar pool? Congratulations, what was your first indicator that "Oppenheimer" was going to win Best Picture? It's not that the show is incapable of producing an upset win here or there, but as these things are gamed out months in advance, the Academy Awards has more and more become a final confirmation of what we already expect to happen. Was there ever a scenario where Colman Domingo or Jodie Foster were going to win? Probably not. But whether its a shorter awards season, or an Oscars that takes place earlier in the year, something needs to change to bring some excitement back to the handing out of the awards themselves. "Oppenheimer's" road to Best Picture was paved back in January when it rolled through the Golden Globes, and the night's other big winners became relative inevitabilities as well. It doesn't take anything away from the winners, but it does make the show a little less exciting to watch at home when 20 of the 23 categories seem like pre-ordained slam dunks.

Low: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' gets blanked

The Oscars love Martin Scorsese. Right? Well, "Killers of the Flower Moon" went 0-for-10 on Sunday, and Scorsese's last movie, "The Irishman," also went 0-for-10. "Silence" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" went home empty handed as well, and you have to go back to 2011's "Hugo" to find a win for a Scorsese movie at the Oscars. (That movie was nominated for 11 awards, and won five.) "The Departed," in 2006, was Marty's big Academy Awards triumph, winning Best Picture and Best Director Oscars, which was Scorsese's first award in both categories. Ever since, they love inviting him to the dance but they refuse to play his tune once he gets there. And at 81, well, let's just say he's got more movies behind him than he has ahead of him. Give him some (more) love!

High: John Cena goes for it

Say this much for John Cena: He's committed. That's what I said in my review of "Ricky Stanicky" a few days ago, and Cena proved his commitment to the bit, to any bit, when he hit the Academy Awards stage stark raving naked, with nothing but an envelope covering his Ricky Stanicky, to present the Best Costume Design award. The au naturel moment (OK, he was wearing sandals, and photos released after the show revealed he may have been covered by an ever-so-tiny flesh-colored piece of material) was a comedic nod to an Oscar streaker 50 years earlier, but more than anything it showed Cena's continued willingness to do anything for a laugh. And it's certainly working in his favor.

Low: Al Pacino nearly blows it

It was great to see the legendary Al Pacino take the stage at the end of the night to present the Best Picture prize, but he nearly blew the announcement of the big award. After teasing a recital of "Hamlet's" to be or not to be speech, Pacino, 83, fumbled through a few introductory words and dug right to the Best Picture envelope, announcing "and my eyes see 'Oppenheimer,'" rather than the traditional "and the winner is" set-up. An off-the-cuff riff? Sure, we'll allow it, but it led to an odd pregnant pause, and it was a moment or two before the orchestra cued up and the crowd reacted to the announcement of the win. And my eyes see? Everything ended up working out fine, but the memory of Warren Beatty's "La La Land" Best Picture flub is still fresh, and it made for an odd moment at the highest high point of the evening.

High: Ryan Gosling, rock star

"Barbie's" Ken lit up the ceremony with an outrageous (and outrageously entertaining) performance of his nominated song, "I'm Just Ken," decked out in an all-pink suit and black shades, looking like the coolest dude in the room or any other room. The performance had flash, pizazz, a sense of humor about itself and a cameo from Slash, all things the nominated song from the Flamin' Hot Cheetos movie did not. (Maybe next year, Diane Warren.) Of course Gosling was never going to win the category, it was always Billie Eilish's award to lose. But the Baby Goose brought home the ceremony's most fun and most lighthearted moment, and once again made the case that his Ken marked a career high for the 43-year-old star. Greta Gerwig's overwhelmed reaction at the end of the performance said it all, and she was all of us in that moment. We'll never overlook Ken again.

High: John Mulaney eyes the future

Jimmy Kimmel, hosting his fourth Oscars ceremony, was deft on his feet, and his opening monologue did a good job of lightly skewering the audience while also celebrating the year's movies. He's as nimble a host as you could hope for in 2024. But down the line, maybe there's room for John Mulaney in that hosting role. The stand-up comedian and former "SNL" writer presented the award for Best Sound and worked in a great bit about "Field of Dreams" that managed to be both insightful and completely random, while also proving what a huge fan he is of the movie. Mulaney hosted this year's Governors Awards, and he's still several rungs away from scoring the Oscar gig. But consider his hat in the ring if and when Kimmel decides it's time to move on.

Low: Lack of acting clips

The four acting categories — Best Actor and Best Actress, and the two Supporting categories — were presented by groups of five previous winners, who addressed the nominees personally and told the crowd stories about how great they are. That's cool, but wouldn't we rather see how great they are? The speeches took the place of actual clips from the nominated performances, so viewers didn't get to see any clips of Da'Vine Joy Randolph's performance in "The Holdovers," they just got to hear about it. Bring back clips! We know it's a long show and producers made a lot of concessions to make the show run smoothly and efficiently. But the Best Picture clips were shortened too, and were used as commercial bumpers, without proper set-up or introduction. It's a movie show, show us clips of the movies, we can handle them!

High: Gratitude of winners

Yes, but how were the speeches? They were solid throughout the night, with "American Fiction's" Cord Jefferson pleading for more small films to be made, "The Zone of Interest's" Jonathan Glazer speaking about the dehumanization of war, Robert Downey Jr. thanking his "terrible childhood, and the Academy, in that order," and "20 Days in Mariupol" director Mstyslav Chernov saying he wished he had never made his film, being that it covers the current war in Ukraine. Cillian Murphy dedicated his win to "peacemakers everywhere," which was indicative of the speeches throughout the show: thoughtful, meaningful, and from the heart.

High: Messi makes an appearance

Messi, the scene-stealing border collie who played Snoop in "Anatomy of a Fall," was seen on screen several times, and whether or not the bits were pre-taped doesn't really matter. Dogs at awards shows are a win and there should be more of them. Good boy!

agraham@detroitnews.com