One of the biggest nights for Hollywood was held this past February 9th. The Academy Awards – better known as the Oscars – is a ceremony whose purpose is to decorate, honor, and reward the film-making community for its dedication and prowess to its craft.

In the Academy Awards’ long history, dozens of films have won Oscars for Best Actor and Actress, Best Motion Picture, Best Cinematography, and much more. This year saw the first foreign film to win the coveted award for Best Picture as well as newcomers and veterans taking home statuettes.

This issue of POVwinona features reviews of four films nominated for Academy Awards. Dakota Maertz reviews the one-take World War I drama 1917, which was nominated for eight Oscars and won three. Harrison McCormick reviews the surprise hit Joker, which re-envisioned the creation of a classic DC villain: it was nominated for eleven Oscars and won two. Noah Mruz reviews the live-action/CGI-animated update of the classic Disney film, The Lion King, which was nominated for Best Visual Effects. And last, Hailey Torborg reviews the Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which earned ten nominations and won two.