The Oscars are over for another year, and they went pretty much as we all expected.
After jilting him time and time again, the Academy finally made an honest man of Leo, while Chris Rock casually put every other host in recent memory to shame. Here are this year's standout moments.
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1. Chris Rock's perfectly barbed opening monologue
We could easily have taken all 16 of these moments from the first ten minutes of the show, which saw Rock taking good natured (but serious) aim at Hollywood's "sorority racism". You can relive Rock's best lines right over here.
2. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe being an unexpectedly hilarious duo
You know how Oscars co-presenters try to share a bit of banter on stage, and usually it's really awkward and stiff and obviously scripted? Gosling and Crowe, of all people, beat the odds.
"Let's not fight," Gosling implored. "We have two Academy Awards between us, this is beneath us." Asked by a bemused Crowe when he had won an Oscar, Gosling came back with: "Well, you have two Academy Awards, so… technically there's two between us." Adorable.
3. C3PO's existential crisis after meeting an Oscar statuette
It's not easy being gold.
4. Stacey Dash making everything really awkward for a minute
In case you missed it, Dash came under fire recently for suggesting Black History Month should be abolished. So naturally, she popped up onstage early in the show to chirp "Happy Black History Month!" with a vaguely manic glint in her eye. In that moment, we were all The Weeknd:
5. Mad Max winning EVERYTHING
…Until it didn't. There really was a point in the evening where Mad Max: Fury Road was sweeping the technical categories so thoroughly that it seemed vaguely possible it might upset The Revenant. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
6. Leo vs. the bear, round two
Sure, Leo finally got his Oscar. But not before a reminder that he will never be free of his greatest nemesis (and/or his true love, depending on your perspective). Every step you take, Leo. Every move you make. He'll be watching you.
7. Chris Rock getting some feedback for the Academy straight outta Compton
Rock interviewing moviegoers in Compton was maybe the funniest part of the whole ceremony. Highlights included him asking how upset they were by #OscarsSoWhite ("Did you think about rioting and looting?"), asking for their favourite white movies of the year, and wrestling a statuette back from one enthusiastic interviewee.
8. Harley Quinn and The Joker
Together at last!!!!!!
9. Sarah Silverman sex-shaming James Bond
Because she couldn't say what we were all thinking about Sam Smith's drippy 'Writing's On The Wall', Silverman settled for laying into Bond's legendary prowess.
"Maybe he likes sleeping with vulnerable women with heavy Jewish boobs and then never contacting them again," Silverman mused sadly. "I'm not saying he's terrible at sex, but he did sleep with 55 women in 24 movies, and most of them tried to kill him afterwards." Fair.
10. Spotlight = a joyously surprising Best Picture winner
The Revenant seemed to have it in the bag, with The Big Short as an outside shot, but gripping, noble thriller Spotlight took home the big prize instead.
11. Woody and Buzz reuniting
Like the Star Wars robots weren't enough, seeing Toy Story's Woody and Buzz together again sent us fully into a spiral of giddy nostalgia. The pair appeared onstage to present the Best Animated Film award to Inside Out, and their snarky bickering was everything.
12. Alejandro González Iñárritu throwing shade at Mad Max
The Revenant's director did not look happy that Mad Max was nabbing every technical award going. Still, becoming the first person in history to win the Best Director award two years running probably cheered him up.
13. Room star Jacob Tremblay being generally adorable
Between his Star Wars socks and his reaction to seeing C-3PO and R2-D2 on stage, it's pretty hard not to be charmed by Tremblay, just in case his remarkable performance in Room hadn't already won you over.
14. Sam Smith dedicates his award to the LGBT community
No, there is no universe in which 'Writing's On The Wall' is a better song than Lady Gaga's 'Til It Happens To You', and that was never more glaringly obvious than after both songs were performed live during the Oscars ceremony. But at least Smith's speech was lovely – he dedicated the award to the worldwide LGBT community, concluding "I stand here tonight as a proud gay man, and I hope we can all stand together as equals one day."
15. Sacha Baron Cohen reminding us why Ali G is no longer a thing
Calling out the tokenism of the Academy's presenter selection is fair game, but the resurrection of Ali G was mostly a standout moment for all the wrong reasons. "How comes there is no Oscar [sic] for all those little yellow people with tiny dongs - you know the Minions," he asked, as poor Olivia Wilde smiled politely beside him.
16. Inside Out's director making the very best use of the weird Oscars Thank-You Scroll
Nobody seemed entirely at ease with the weird new format – whereby the names of people the winner wants to thank scroll across the bottom of the screen – but Pete Docter single-handedly made a case for its existence, using the scroll to tell his kids they're getting a dog. Just imagine their faces.
Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
