Academy Awards Recap (Happy Leap Day!)
The Oscars have come and gone once again for the 88th time. The controversies surrounding this year's lack of diversity in nominees angered many, including vast boycotts. Despite this, Chris Rock delivered a phenomenal opening monologue and a series of quips at the Academy for this issue. By the end of the night, it was made very clear that this is an issue in Hollywood that needs to be changed.
The 88th Annual Academy Awards also attacked another very vital social issue: Sexual Assault and Abuse. From Lady Gaga's poignant and moving performance of "When It Happens To You" sent viewers everywhere into a deluge of tears, especially when the curtain opened and out came a swarm of sexual abuse survivors stood firmly next to Gaga. This, as well as Joe Biden's speech and the Documentary Short winner 'A Girl In The River: The Price Of Forgiveness' drove home this vital issue.
In regards to other winners, Mad Max came home with SIX Oscar Wins, including best Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Costume Design, Production Design, Film Editing, and Makeup & Hairstyling. Fury Road's fantastic art direction and technical achievements were well rewarded last night, all thanks to the fantastic direction of George Miller. However, the Best Director win went to The Revenant's Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The Revenant also took hom the Best Cinematography award, to no surprise. But most important of all, after 6 nominations, Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his well deserved Academy Award for his portrayal of the vengeful frontiersman in The Revenant. It was a night of excitement.
As for the other actors, Best Supporting Actress went to the talented Alicia Vikander for her captivating performance in The Danish Girl. For Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Bridge of Spies' Mark Rylance was rewarded for his underwhelming and widely unrecognized performance. And lastly, Best Actress went to first time nominee Brie Larsson for her incredible portrayal of a young mother in the widely acclaimed Room. It was a VERY tough night for everyone, but overall, both fans and actors are please with the results.
For writing, Best Original Screenplay went to the one and only Spotlight , which won the coveted Best Picture Academy Award as well. Best Adapted Screenplay went to The Big Short. Best Animated Film unsurprisingly went to Pixar's Inside Out. As for Animated Short, Bear Story took home the gold. Best Live Action went to Stutterer, and Hungary was awarded Best Foreign Language film for the first time for Son of Saul. And finally, best Documentary Feature went to Amy.
Now it's time for my opinions regarded Best Musical Score, Original Song, and Visual Effects. I believed The Hateful Eight's score was a well deserved win, but by a very slim win. As for visual effects, I was sadly underwhelmed by Ex Machina. Our movies are so CGI heavy that when a film with good substance AND style comes around, it comes off (to me at least) as unimpressive. But nonetheless, congrats to the Ex Machina team. However, the biggest no-no goes to the win of "Writings on the Wall" by Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes. Yes, it was a PHENOMENAL song, and a James Bond song nonetheless. But after seeing Gaga's stunning performance with such an emotional song with so much internal pain, it was a little dissapointing to see it go to another James Bond song.
Regardless of my opinions, my congratulations go to all the winners. This year has been my worst in terms of watching these nominated films, so I hope to correct that immediately!
Thanks for reading!
"Oscar Winners 2016." Oscar Go. The Academy Awards, 28 Feb. 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.