Oscars Spotlight the Newest Best Picture

What an unexpected night! I don't remember ever feeling so unsure what would win once the final award was given out. Mad Max took the most awards, and The Revenant took the biggest awards, but it was Spotlight, with only one other Oscar, that took Best Picture. It was a wonderful surprise ending to a night filled with a lot of surprises and memorable moments.

I did pretty well for myself in my predictions, going 18 for 24 this year, about average for me. The biggest shocks were Ex Machina for Visual FX (the cheapest film of the bunch, and the first non-Best Picture nominee to win against a Picture nominee), and Mark Rylance over Stallone for Supporting Actor. The biggest surprise, though, was how good the show itself was. After booting the producers of the last 3 shows, we finally got a memorable, funny, and powerful show. Chris Rock was funny and caustic, the exact right answer to this year's #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Here's hoping he comes back again in the future.

In the un-surprising category, DiCaprio finally won his long pursued Oscar. Good for him, even if it isn't for a performance that he necessarily deserved it for. And Alejandro Inarritu won his second straight Directing Oscar, the first time this has happened since the early 1950's. It seemed after those two wins that The Revenant had Picture locked up, but Spotlight snuck in with the widest support and took Picture. It will be interesting to see how history treats this Oscar season, but for me it was a fun one filled with twists and turns, and a truly unexpected Best Picture (haven't had one of those since Crash!). Hopefully next year can compare to it for unpredictability.

Random Thoughts

• Chris Rock really was excellent. He spared no one in his attach on the whitewashing of the awards. From his interviews with Compton movie goers to the bit about Jack Black finally getting the attention he deserves in Black History Month, Rock was perfect. Best host in a long time.
• Loved the return of the format for the show following the process of a film being made. While it was less well explained than in 2009, it was still elegant and fun.
• Ennio Morricone finally got an Oscar, and in doing so became the oldest person to win a competitive Oscar. Glad the orchestra respected him too much to play him off.
• 2 years in a row: I got all 3 shorts correct. I'm doing something right!
•  What a joke it was giving the Song Oscar to Spectre after that incredible performance by Lady Gaga for "Til It Happens to You." I'm not a fan of hers, but that performance was extraordinary.

So next year has to go back to business as usual, right? We've had too many unpredictable seasons in a row not to have a boring season next year. If they can keep the show's quality to this standard, though, I may be fine with that.