Oscar Night Shockeroos
Monday, February 29, 2016 at 9:00PM Oscar night never fails to deliver on surprises, but the 88th ceremony, which kicked off just 25 hours ago was among the most shocking. The Revenant's take was left to its three star players in favor of a film (Mad Max Fury Road) once hought too weird to be taken seriously by the stuffy Academy. Let's run down the unexpected moments of the night!
First, the winner surprises:
Spotlight wins Best Picture
The nominee that most pundits had all but given up on became the newest example in recent years to defy those "can't happen" statistics. The festival staple was the season's first front-runner, but kept getting underestimated next to the big dollar heavyweights like The Revenant and the emergence of similarly politicized, but higher pedigreed The Big Short. But there is power in the preferential ballot and you can bet that Spotlight's win was solidified by number of second and third place votes. Given the broad admiration for the film, its somewhat surprising that the film's chances to win were so doubted.
"The Writing's On The Wall" wins Best Original Song
After Lady Gaga's performance brought the unusually standing ovation averse audience to their teary feet, even Sam Smith seemed gobsmacked that she lost. The combination of political fire, an agressive campaign, and Diane Warren's nomination history were thought to be unstoppable. Damn, Academy, you guys really like "Skyfall."
Ex Machina wins Best Visual Effects
Manuel gave us a fun bit of trivia on the win earlier, but this is a win we'll likely be celebrating around these parts for some time. Like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Best Editing win, this was a gasp-inducer that no one expected. It's also the rare craft win (and nomination) for a supporting design element - hooray for BEST, not MOST! Dance party at A24 headquarters!
The Mad Max Hour
It really did feel like the steampunk actioner could go all the way towards the middle of the show. While its six wins weren't quite so surprising in themselves, the rapid succession of statues felt for a minute like dominoes falling into place. One more commercial break and its winning streak came to a dead hault, but the love in the room for Mad Max was more palpable than for any other film. WITNESS!
Losers, oddities, and more after the jump...
Going Halfsies on Star Wars Love
The Force Awakens had kind of a odd night. An expected moment of reverence for the series' recent success never materialized beyond an appearance by our favorite droids. JJ Abrams presenting Best Director was received enthusiastically, but with an odd air just on the verge of a standing ovation the crowd seemed uncomfortable granting. I mean, if you're not going to nominate Jacob Tremblay, can you at least throw his favorite film a bone?
Jennifer Jason Leigh's Hateful Oscar Clip
Granted, she doesn't have much to work with in regards to non-NSFW material in the film, but the blood and membrane-drenched clip that was chosen (I'll spare you the screencap) is apparently network TV appropriate. Did The Hateful Eight's syndication rights go to ABC Family or something?
World of Tomorrow Loses Best Animated Short
Predictions were spread on this category, with Nathaniel correcting choosing Bear Story. However, it's rare to have a short receive the kind of notoriety and press the way Don Herzfeldt's film has in the past year. Bye, Emily.
No Movie Commercials??
Anyone want to go see Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Or Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? How about Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Only One Kate Cutaway During Leo's Speech
Of course, we got to see her response, the producers aren't sadists. But the briefest of cutaways to DiCaprio's eternal bestie feels like a meager farthing thrown to an audience hungry for more. You're really going to discard potential awards ceremony TV gold on showing us what Bryan Cranston thinks of DiCaprio's win? The control room rules should have been "Cut to Kate!" at any Leo name drop.
What suprises from this year's cermony did you love most?
Reader Comments (22)
Has to be Mark Rylance's triumph in Supporting Actor. I feared a sentimental Stallone win but he doesn't have the career history to justify a win like that and Rylance's work was wonderful for its subtlety. Not something that is usually rewarded.
Speaking of clips, I think more praise is due to those who put together the nomination packages. I especially loved the sound categories, which craftily and pithily showcased the sound work on each film. When was the last time the Oscars actually did that?
Nothing really beat that high from the Mad Max hour this decade of ceremonies tbh (so far, at least).
They didn't cut to Kate and that was a shame, but to my regret, they were a little light on cutaways to the acting nominees in general.
I loved the Mark Rylance win. It's funny before the Golden Globes I wrote here that Rylance would be the one to beat and then the Stallone sentimental wave took over. Just shows that Academy members aren't always as sentimental as we think. I think it has to have been that his "body of work" just didn't inspire the respect people assumed it would.
Ex Machina's win over the bigger budgeted films was an even more shocking and rarer type of win. I think it won because Ex Machina gave viewers time to admire the effects. So often big fast explosions go past before you can absorb what you have seen. The visual effects in Ex Machina were much more like "Alien" you had time to notice the details. That's my theory.
Chris Feil: In the next month, only 2 movies are coming out that honestly look good. Zootopia and Midnight Special. I'm glad, then, that there's no actual film ads during the ceremony. Or were you really craving more footage of "No Lasso Wonder Woman"?
As C3P0 walked off the stage, did he cruise the giant Oscar? At least one person at my Oscar party declared that C3P0 just "came out."
Leigh's especially so, but those clips all around seemed very ACTING in all caps. The bathtub scene for Cranston, and Blanchett wielding a revolver seemed like big reminders that the Academy loves a good shouter.
It took them SOOOOOOOOOO long to cut to Kate during Leo's win. It was maddening.
Mark Rylance's win was my favorite. Agree with what others have said, it was very Tilda Swinton-esque. Respected, critically-adored foreign thespians doing impeccable, understated work. And their films' only wins. The Academy obviously liked Bridge of Spies quite a lot, so this was a great way to honor Rylance and the film itself.
I really like the fact that they brought all the winners back on stage at the end of the ceremony. Very celebratory and fun, and it was just like the Tonys.
And um, where's Mark Rylance? Easily the most surprising of the night, and also my most favorite win.
The presentation was great all around, with them bringing the crafts thing on stage and really showcasing the works by sound team and everyone all around.
At first I thought that Mark Rylance was the Jim Broadbent of the ceremony: respected British actor quietly taking a win against more bombastic competitors.
But I've come to realize that this year's Jim Broadbent is actually Alicia Vikander. Just as he won in the Year of Jim Broadbent, she won in the Year of Alicia Vikander. And they both won Oscars for playing real-life people that were not the main subject of a biopic.
@ Brevity:
I was just about to point out that Harold Zidler was merely inspired by a real-life character, and that his film was cetainly not a biopic - and only then did I realize that I had forgotten yet again what movie Jim Broadbent had won his Oscar for.
Ex Machina's FX win had me literally screaming! Probably the most surprising win... maybe ever?
There were some movie commercials, mainly My Big Fat Greek Wedding sequel. Tons of TV ads mostly THE FAMILY starring past nominee Joan Allen.
Phoe: Shh, that movie has no reason to exist. Seriously, if this is the end of Nia Vardalos' career? Good, then Hollywood can stop wasting their time on her.
Ex Machina's win was a big WOW moment - and proof that sometimes the hardest part is just getting nominated. See also: Mad Max.
Always disappointing that the Oscars aren't like the Superbowl in that big movie trailer premieres happen during the show. Seems like a big missed opportunity for some summer movie event slots.
Rylance's win, I think, comes down mostly to him being the only place for them to give that film - a film they obviously liked - a win. Big Short, Spotlight, and The Revenant all won elsewhere. Stallone was the only nominee of his film. It would've been as rare to see that happen as Ex Machina in vfx or Spotlight in best picture, and I guess they used their surprises on those two. I'm happy as Rylance was my favourite.
The Mad Max Hour... so great. It was so exciting to hear the name of those nutso movie called out so many times. I loved it.
@MrW:
"Um, Mr. Broadbent, please remember that your Oscar is for the film IRIS. You cannot pretend that you won for BRIDGET JONES' DIARY or MOULIN ROUGE."
"But I can can can!"
Re: Stallone's loss/Rylance's win. I think it is indeed true that Stallone's filmography is just not an impressive one.He's made a lot of schlock, far more than he's made good stuff, and that hurt him. I also read somewhere that he, like Eddie Murphy and Burt Reynolds, has made his share of enemies over the years. So that didn't help either. I'm really glad Rylance won - like Ex Machina's besting the biggies for FX, it was a lovely surprise.
@Jonathan - second! I was incredibly impressed with almost all of the clips (except Cate's, which was a letdown). Maybe they knew that some of us would have rioted if they hadn't used the Flung Out Of Space scene for Nagy's screenplay... :)
The New York Times knows about shade...meow!
Sean Diego: Yeah, considering they'd already used "Flung out of Space" the only other "clip" moment was the "we're not ugly people, Harge" bit. Ruffalo's clip was simultaneously expected and embarrassing. Because when you think "angry, but delivered with slow burning gravitas", you think "so loud you almost expect him to lapse into an impression of Gary Oldman in Leon." ("Bring me every priest." "Are you sure?" "EVERY PRIEST!")
I think this Oscars had the most GOOD surprises I've ever seen. I jumped out of my chair about five times. And Spotlight winning the big prize--that was such a great moment.