Well the big night came and went.  I’ll admit I’m increasingly disinterested in awards ceremonies these days, be it movies or music or any kind as usually it’s more about money and big companies backing certain nominees and much less about actual deserving talent.  The Oscars is no different.  However, it was good to see that finally after years of being snubbed, Leonardo DiCaprio got his gong.  Did The Revenant  give him that role that finally deserved an Oscar?  Not necessarily in my opinion as his turns in such movies as The Departed, The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can and even Wolf of Wall Street have all been superior I’d say especially from an acting point of view.  The Revenant was more a physical performance and less showy or obvious, but maybe that’s what it takes – or like many Oscar winner who have been widely snubbed in the past … it was simply DiCaprio’s turn.

Surprised to see Spotlight get Best Picture considering the controversial subject matter, but glad it did and with a strong cast it’s one for my must see list.

Sam Smith’s The Writings On The Wall got Best Original Song?  My only theory is it must have been a limp list of nominees, because although I enjoyed Spectre quite a bit, that was one of the most cringe-worthy Bond themes I’ve ever heard.  But it’s Sam Smith and it’s Bond so we all know the movie studio and the record label paid big bucks to get it on every Academy judge’s list.

Again Alejandro González Iñárritu’s direction for The Revenant was probably the real star of that movie however and he is much deserving of Best Director.  Is that two years in a row now?  Impressive.

For once I agree with Inside Out getting the Oscar.  Too many years have Pixar been the go-to studio for the awards, an easy and honestly lazy nod whilst movies from less prominent, less famed studios get ignored (Studio Ghibli especially deserve more recognition).  But at least this time it was a particularly good Pixar effort.

Not surprised to see Mad Max: Fury Road sweep up in the technical and make-up/costume stakes…if it was for the look alone I’d have awarded that movie a 5, but it didn’t impress me as much as other reviewers beyond it’s incredible visuals.

Full details of who won what can be found HERE.