What You Need to Know from The Oscars

The 90th Academy Awards aired last night, but viewership of the most watched awards show was still in decline from previous years. There were no crazy moments that are usually synonymous with the Oscar’s, but that was probably met with a collective sigh of relief by the producers of the show. Jimmy Kimmel returned as a host for the awards show, but his performance was just okay, with nothing spectacular coming out of it. The show certainly could have used a new host to breathe new life into it.

Nominations for the awards were announced in January, and we knew there would be a battle between some of the heavyweight films from seasoned directors like Guillermo del Toro and some of the newcomers including Jordan Peele with his hit horror film “Get Out.” Other films vying for the coveted Best Picture award included Martin McDonaugh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Dunkirk”. In the end, “The Shape Of Water” took the title. In fact, the film earned several awards throughout the night, including Best Director for Guillermo del Toro and awards for Best Original Score and Production Design.

When it came to outstanding performances in acting, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was the clear winner. Frances McDormand took home the Best Actress award for her performance in Three Billboards, while Sam Rockwell won the award for best supporting actor in the film as well. Gary Oldman’s stunning lead performance in “Darkest Hour” as Winston Churchill earned him the Best Actor award. Allison Janney’s supporting role in “I, Tonya” rounded out the acting awards with a Best Supporting Actress win.

Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” was nominated for eight awards for the evening, and ended up taking home three of them, all being technical categories. While it came as a disappointment to not take the coveted Best Picture award, “Dunkirk” scored its three wins in more technical categories, including Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Film-Editing.

For the more visual-oriented side of the awards, “Blade Runner 2049” took home wins in Best Visual Effects and Cinematography, the latter win going to legendary director of photography Roger Deakins, which gave him his first Oscar win.

Jordan Peele made history last night for being the first African-American to win the best original screenplay Oscar. The 39-year old, who made his name in sketch comedy with Key and Peele, said “I stopped writing this movie about 20 times… I thought it was impossible. I thought it wasn’t going to work.” The win was commended by many other celebrities, with Oprah Winfrey saying she was “so happy and proud” to see the star recognized for his first film as writer-director.

Pixar’s “Coco” took home the Best Animated Feature award last night, with it being a favorite among the Academy to win. This marks the ninth win for Pixar in this category. Director Lee Unkrich said that his film was made specifically so children of all races can see believable versions of the self on the big-screen, capping his acceptance speech off with “Representation matters.”