To quote one of this year’s biggest contenders: “Oh, what a day?! Oh, what a lovely day?!”. Yes, the biggest night in the movie awards calendar went down last night, as the 88th Annual Academy Awards for Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (or just the 2016 Oscars, if you don’t prefer that mouthful) was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, in the early hours of this morning, hosted by funnyman Chris Rock who also led the 2005 Oscars.
Much like last year, this year’s nominees have been marred in controversy due to the lack of racial and cultural diversity on display in a field that was mostly dominated by white males. Of course Rock was not going to let that slide. Calling it the “White People’s Choice Awards”, the standup comedian opened the show with a scathing but even handed and utterly hilarious opening monologue that has to go down as one of the best in recent years.
But enough about black and white, let’s talk about gold. Specifically, that one question you all probably have on your lips: Did Leonard DiCaprio finally win that elusive Best Actor golden Oscar statue or will the longest running gag in Hollywood continue for at least one more year?
Yes, he’s done it! He’s finally freaking done it! And he only had to eat raw bison liver and go through freezing hell to do it! There’s a huge argument about whether the grueling physical torture DiCaprio put himself through for The Revenant is worth of an Oscar, as it could be said that it’s not so much acting acumen as it is physical endurance and a high pain threshold, but who cares? The record books show Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar in 2016 and that’s all that matters right now!
Besides for DiCaprio the other major acting talking point of the evening was Sylvester Stallone and unfortunately for him wasn’t good news. Although he won the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for his performance in Creed, Stallone was not able to convert that momentum into an Oscar. Instead, the Academy decided that it was Mark Rylance who was more deserving of Best Supporting Actor gold for his turn in Bridge of Spies. Some are calling this an upset, but really while my heart wanted Stallone to win (because who doesn’t love a comeback fairytale story?), my head is saying that Rylance’s magnificently understated performance deserves it more.
Luckily for Stallone, old friend and fellow action hero dinosaur Arnold Schwarzenegger has his back though.
.@TheSlyStallone To me, you’re the best, no matter what they say. pic.twitter.com/zs4ZLl1nhY
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 29, 2016
But Stallone’s snub wasn’t the biggest upset on the cards though, as Spotlight ended up winning Best Picture instead of Alejandro Inarritu’s The Revenant, which just about nobody saw coming. On top of DiCaprio’s gold, The Revenant had already nabbed Best Director for Inarritu and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki, so it looked like it was going to take the top prize as well – just as everybody predicted – before the Academy decided that Tom McCarthy’s true-life drama was more deserving. I think Spotlight’s Michael Keaton described the win best.
‘FUCK YEAH’ #Oscars pic.twitter.com/pWw6Sihmk0
— Mashable GIF (@mashablegif) February 29, 2016
Other “upsets” (if you want to call them that), saw the Amy Winhouse doc Amy pulling off the win for Best Documentary instead of Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, while Ex Machina beat out Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Best Visual Effects.
But other than those though, the awards pretty much went according to script as Mad Max: Fury Road ran roughshod over the competition like Imperator Furiosa’s war-rig when it came to the technical Oscars, with George Miller’s action magnus opus notching up 6 wins from 10 nominations. Alicia Vikander claimed the Best Supporting Actress statue for her breakout turn in Ex Machina, and Brie Larson deservedly took home the Best Actress award for her devastating performance in Room.
Let’s see what the full list of winners (in bold red) look like:
- Best Picture
The Big Short – Producers Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
Bridge of Spies – Producers Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger
Brooklyn – Producers Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
Mad Max: Fury Road – Producers Doug Mitchell and George Miller
The Martian – Producers Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam
The Revenant – Producers Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon
Room – Producer Ed Guiney
Spotlight – ProducersMichael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust
- Best Actor
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Micheal Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
- Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Charlotte Rampling- 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
- Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge Of Spies
Sylvester Stallone – Creed
- Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
- Best Director
Adam McKay – The Big Short
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson – Room
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
- Best Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
Mustang (France)
Son of Saul (Hungary)
Theeb (Jordan)
A War (Denmark)
- Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies – Thomas Newman
Carol – Carter Burwell
The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
Sicario – Jóhann Jóhannsson
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams
- Best Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
- Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short – Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
Brooklyn – Nick Hornby
Carol – Phyllis Nagy
Martian – Drew Goddard
Room – Emma Donoghue
- Best Original Screenplay
Bridge Of Spies – Matt Charman, Joel Coen, and Ethan Coen
Ex Machina – Alex Garland
Inside Out – Pete Docter, Megg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley
Spotlight – Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Straight Outta Compton – Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff
- Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Boy And The World
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
- Best Cinematography
Carol – Ed Lachman
The Hateful Eight – Robert Richardson
Mad Mad: Fury Road – John Seale
The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario – Roger Deakins
- Best Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
- Best Documentary Feature
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone
Winter On Fire: Ukraine
- Best Documentary Short Subject
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant
- Best Original Song
50 Shades Of Gray – “Earned It”, Music and Lyrics by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
Racing Extinction – “Manta Ray”, Music by J. Ralph; Lyrics by Antony Hegarty
Youth – “Simple Song #3”, Music and Lyrics by David Lang
The Hunting Ground – “Til It Happens To You”, Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
Spectre – “Writing’s On the Wall”, Music and Lyrics by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
- Best Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow
- Best Live Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be OK
Shock
Stutterer
- Best Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Best Sound Mixing
Bridge Of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
So are you happy with year’s picks, or do you think some other movies were more deserving? Or maybe you don’t even care about the Oscars at all, in which case I have to ask: What are you even doing here?!
Last Updated: February 29, 2016
Alien Emperor Trevor
February 29, 2016 at 08:51
Disney’s cockblocked the monologue video.
Lardus-For the Chimichangas!
February 29, 2016 at 09:11
Ag nee man!
Kervyn Cloete
February 29, 2016 at 10:50
Will try to get a new source.
Hargrim
February 29, 2016 at 09:20
Mad Max wins the most Oscars, that makes it the best movie of the year, right?
Kromas untamed
February 29, 2016 at 09:20
Leo won an oscar. Finally social media can go back to bigotry and cat videos.
The Sten
February 29, 2016 at 10:40
Here’s my list of upsets…
Best Picture: Deadpool
Best Director: Deadpool
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Deadpool
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Deadpool
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Deadpool
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Deadpool
Best Animated Feature: Deadpool
Best Animated Short Film: Deadpool
Best Cinematography: Deadpool
Best Costume Design: Deadpool
Best Documentary Feature: Deadpool
Best Documentary Short Subject: Deadpool
Best Film Editing: Deadpool
Best Foreign Language Film: Deadpool
Best Live Action Short Film: Deadpool
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Deadpool
Best Original Score: Deadpool
Best Original Song: Deadpool
Best Production Design: Deadpool
Best Sound Editing: Deadpool
Best Sound Mixing: Deadpool
Best Visual Effects: Deadpool
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Deadpool
Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Deadpool