Last night, the 88th Academy Awards were announced at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. The stars came out in droves to see who would be granted the new moniker, “Oscar winner”. For the first time in several years, the Oscar was unpredictable, which made for a fantastic show.
Chris Rock hosted the second annual “White People’s Choice Awards”. He spent most of the night acknowledging the fact that none of the acting nominees were minorities and that no African-American was nominated. To be perfectly frank, I was a bit worried going into the show. The issue was obviously going to be addressed, but it could have been very heavy-handed making for a difficult show. However, Rock rose to the challenge. He spent equal time both subtly shaming the Academy for its “sorority racism”, and the groups who decided that the best thing to do was boycott the Oscars. It was edgy and funny, mostly because it was very true.
The best part of the night, however, was when Rock showed a segment showing a variety of black actors/actresses inserted into some of the night’s nominees. Whoppi Goldberg showed up as a janitor in Joy, rightfully pissed that Jennifer Lawrence couldn’t seem to mop on live television. Leslie Jones was the bear who mauled Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant. That’s what you get for not calling her back, Leo! Rock was the stranded astronaut in The Martian, but NASA couldn’t justify spending “white dollars” to bring him back from Mars. But the best of the best was when Tracy Morgan showed up in a dress playing the “Danish” girl, because he had a Danish. I fear that my downstairs neighbors thought I was being attacked since I was laughing so hard.
For me, one of the best parts of the evening was that many of the awards were not a foregone conclusion. There were the people who were obviously going to win, like Leo and Brie Larson. However, there were just as many surprises. The biggest of the night was that Spotlight was named Best Picture. During the acceptance speech, the filmmakers made an impassioned plea for the Vatican to stop covering up sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. The Vatican was quick to congratulate the film and stated that the film was “convincing” and “not anti-Catholic”.
Obviously, Leo did take home his first Academy Award last night for his portrayal of a grunting, bear-mauled, frontiersman. He graciously thanked the makers of The Revenant as well as other shapers of his career like Martin Scorsese. The Revenant also won Best Director for Alejandro G. Iñárritu, making him the first director since Joseph L. Mankowicz in 1951 to win back-to-back directing Oscars. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won his third straight Oscar for his work on The Revenant, as well.
Room star Brie Larson went home with an Academy Award for Best Lead Actress. Prior to accepting the award, she hugged 9 year-old costar Jacob Tremblay and thanked him during her acceptance speech. Alicia Vikander won Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl, and in a huge surprise, Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Bridge of Spies.
Oscar spread the love around last night, because the film to win the most awards was Mad Max: Fury Road. The post-apocalyptic action film walked away with awards for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design.
I would be remise if I did not mention one of the most heartfelt speeches of the night, which was given by the maker of the Best Documentary Short film A Girl in the River, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The subject of the documentary was honor killings in Islamic nations, and Obaid-Chinoy stated in her speech that the prime minister of Pakistan said that he will change the Pakistani law on honor killing after watching this film. Bravo.
Well, my little award show junkies, what did you think? Did you enjoy the show? Were you upset that Sly didn’t win? Are you pumped that Ex Machnia won for Visual Effects? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.
-Ariadne Ansbro
The complete list of winners is below:
Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
WINNER: Spotlight
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
WINNER: Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
WINNER: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
WINNER: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Best Director
The Big Short, Adam McKay
Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller
WINNER: The Revenant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Room, Lenny Abrahamson
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy
Best Adapted Screenplay
WINNER: The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
Brooklyn, Nick Hornby
Carol, Phyllis Nagy
The Martian, Drew Goddard
Room, Emma Donoghue
Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies, Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Ex Machina, Alex Garland
Inside Out, Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
WINNER: Spotlight, Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
Straight Outta Compton, Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
WINNER: Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
Best Documentary Feature
WINNER: Amy
Cartel Land
Look of Silence
What Happened Miss Simone
Winter on Fire
Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent, Colombia
Mustang, France
WINNER: Son of Saul, Hungary
Theeb, Jordan
A War, Denmark
Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies, Thomas Newman
Carol, Carter Burwell
WINNER: The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone
Sicario, Jóhann Jóhannsson
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, John Williams
Best Original Song
“Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey (Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio)
“Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction (Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty)
“Simple Song #3,” Youth (Music and Lyric by David Lang)
“Til it Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga)
WINNER: “Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre (Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith)
Best Cinematography
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
WINNER: The Revenant
Sicario
Best Film Editing
The Big Short
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared
The Revenant
Best Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Best Animated Short
WINNER: Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow
Best Visual Effects
WINNER: Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Editing
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Documentary Short
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
WINNER: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom
Best Live Action Short
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
WINNER: Stutterer
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