The 88th Academy Awards

The 88th Academy Awards

Christian Burns
For The Clock
cab1031@plymouth.edu

The year 2015 was full of great cinema, from the blockbuster to the arthouse. Franchises such as “Star Wars”, “Jurassic” and “Mad Max” were revived.

Adapted properties, such as “The Martian”, “The Danish Girl”, and “The Big Short”, became widely successful and critically acclaimed.

Several original properties, including “Inside Out”, “Spotlight”, and “The Revenant” became some of the most critically acclaimed films of the year.

The months preceding the 88th Academy Awards were fraught with anticipation and controversy. No non-white actors or actresses nominated for Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, or Supporting Actress, for the second year in a row.

The film “Straight Outta Compton” is often cited, a critically acclaimed biographical film that details the formation of the hip-hop group N.W.A. Many people believe that either the actors in the film, or the film itself, deserved nomination and recognition by the Academy.

Another controversy is the omission of a nomination for Michael B. Jordan, for his performance in the “Rocky” sequel, “Creed.”

Most notable was the fact that Sylvester Stallone received a nomination for this role in the film as Best Supporting Actor. As a reaction to this, several celebrities boycotted the affair, and social media took on the cause before and during the ceremonies themselves.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences attempted to remedy this controversy by promising to work to be more inclusive of nonwhite actors and films. Additionally, they asked host Chris Rock to rewrite his opening dialogue to directly address the controversy.

That’s exactly what Rock did. He addressed the controversy immediately in a comedic manner, while also acknowledging the seriousness of the issue, and the underlying problem in Hollywood. He even referred to Hollywood as mildly and specifically racist, but acknowledged that the Academy is working to change that problem and image. And with that, the awards themselves began outright.

Best Picture was taken by the film “Spotlight,” a biographical crime drama that details the work of the team of journalists from the Boston Globe that uncovered the 2003 controversy of child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

The film also took away Best Original Screenplay, beating “Straight Outta Compton” and “Inside Out.”

“Inside Out” took Best Animated Feature, as was expected. This marks the fourth consecutive year that a Disney or Pixar film has won Best Animated Film, and the tenth award for Disney in this category overall.

Other critically acclaimed films, including Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” the visually impressive “Ex Machina,” the insightful documentary “Amy,” the inspirational “The Danish Girl,” and “Room” (for which actress Brie Larson won Best Actress) received awards on Sunday night.

COURTESY PHOTO

The big winners of the night were “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “The Revenant.” Of its 10 nominations, “Mad Max” won six, all relating to behind-the-scenes work and postproduction.

It beat out “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for film editing, sound design, and sound mixing, but was understandably beat by “Ex Machina” in visual effects.

“The Revenant” did not have the same turnout of awards. Although nominated for 12 awards, it only won two. Director Alejandro Iñárritu won Best Director for the second year in a row, after last year’s “Birdman”, and was the first to do so since Joseph Makiewicz in 1950.

The big win of the night, and perhaps the most anticipated win in 22 years, was the awarding of Best Actor to long nominated, but never rewarded, Leonardo DiCaprio, who won for his performance in “The Revenant.”

DiCaprio had been nominated for six Academy Awards, five of which were for acting. After being snubbed in 1993 for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”, fans have long awaited this award.

His continual nominations and losses have become a running joke on social media, even sponsoring an internet browser game where one plays DiCaprio on a “Red Carpet Rampage”.

After beating out Oscar-worthy performances by Bryan Craston, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender and Eddie Redmayne, those jokes can finally be laid to rest.

This year’s Academy Awards have been covered in controversy and protest, but this moment was one of several that made this ceremony notable. From Morgan Freeman buying and eating Girl Scout cookies on stage, to the Star Wars droids appearing on stage, this was certainly a memorable Oscars night.