The Oscars are always one of my favorite parts of the year. Some people get excited over the Super Bowl, but to me (a major movie and theatre nerd), the Super Bowl has nothing on the Oscars! Filled with both good and bad moments, Sunday night’s award show isn’t one that will be quickly forgotten. The following are some of the standout moments from the 88th Academy Awards.
Can we please just appreciate Chris Rock as a host?
With this year’s #OscarsSoWhite controversy, Chris Rock was the ideal man for the job. There has been a lot of controversy about the lack of diversity and my dude approached it head on. He made a number of jokes regarding the matter that were not only hilarious, but effective in attacking the institutional racism of Hollywood. This sketch was killer.
Steve Carell and Tina Fey presented together and it was magical.
The have to be two of the funniest people ever. Does anyone else feel the urge to watch Date Night now?
Jacob Tremblay is the cutest.
Can we talk about how adorable and talented this little dude is? First of all, his performance in Room is one of the best child actor performances I have seen in a while. Second, just look at how excited he gets over the Star Wars droids! I feel you little man.
Ex Machina won for Special Effects.
Not many people actually watch all of the movies that are up for Oscars, let alone have seen this little gem of a movie that was only up for a few. Ex Machina is an extremely underrated film that really deserves the recognition it received at the Oscars. What makes this win ever better is that it is a Science Fiction movie, a genre which is rarely represented in awards shows.
Leonardo DiCaprio looked so happy to have these cookies in his life.
Don’t you just wish Leo would look at you like that?
The Revenant won for Best Cinematography and Best Director
Emmanuel Lubezki and Alejandro G. Inarritu won for Best Cinematography and Best Director, respectively, and proved that they are two of the most talented men in Hollywood. Both men are celebrating back to back wins, as they also won in 2015 for their work on Birdman.
Joe Biden was there!?
Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the 2016 Oscars to introduce Lady Gaga’s performance. Joe freakin’ Biden! How cool is that? Joe Biden has been a strong advocate of the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign, aimed at ending sexual assault, so it only makes sense that he would be there to introduce her performance.
Lady Gaga SLAYED!
Yet again Lady Gaga has proven that she is a goddess, this time with her powerful performance of Til’ It Happens to You. The song appeared in The Hunting Ground, a documentary about rape on college campuses. She was joined by the sexual assault victims themselves, effectively making it one of the most emotional moments of the night.
Best Actress winner Brie Larson proves she is the sweetest person ever, both on and off screen.
Brie Larson absolutely blew me away with her performance in Room and then blew me away again at the Oscars. At the ceremony, Larson hugged every single sexual assault survivor featured in Lady Gaga’s performance. It wasn’t captured by the main camera; however, people in the audience filmed it and posted it on Twitter. Thank you, Brie.
Mad Max: Fury Road won mad awards.
See what I did there? Anyway, it is incredibly rare to see an action movie pick up as many awards as Mad Max did and that is what makes this such a big feat. Mad Max won the most awards of any film, six to be exact, and deserved them all. If you haven’t seen this movie, please do.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO FINALLY WON HIS OSCAR!
Perhaps the best moment of the entire night was seeing Leo win his long deserved Oscar. So far in his career, DiCaprio has been up for six Oscars, five of which were for his acting. After being robbed of the award for his 1993 film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, in which he played a boy with Autism, we’ve been just dying to see Leonardo up on that stage. AND HE FINALLY DID IT. Clearly everyone there thought he deserved it, too, considering he received a standing ovation. Even fellow nominee Matt Damon was all smiles for DiCaprio as he hopped up on stage to accept his long awaited Oscar. In true Leonardo DiCaprio environmentalist fashion, he used his acceptance speech as a platform to discuss climate change. Here’s the speech Leo has been holding in for 22 years:
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio proved yet again that they have the best friendship ever.
Kate Winslet teared up during his acceptance speech and it made my heart happy. After working together on Titanic and again in 2008 on Revolutionary Road, these two have remained the best of friends. These two are friend goals.