Best Actor/Actress
Winners: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant/Brie Larson for Room
Simon Ramshaw: Paul Dano for Love & Mercy/Cate Blanchett for Carol
Emma Allsopp: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant/Brie Larson for Room
Jordan Oloman: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant/ Brie Larson for Room
Zoe Godden: Matt Damon for The Martian (to spite his Departed co-star)/Anyone but Jennifer Lawrence
Rhian Hunter: Leonardo Di Caprio for The Revenant/Cate Blanchett for Carol
Best Supporting Actor/Actress
Winners: Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies/Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
Simon Ramshaw: Ralph Fiennes for A Bigger Splash/Tilda Swinton for A Bigger Splash
Emma Allsopp: Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight/Marion Cotillard for Macbeth
Jordan Oloman: Tom Hardy for The Revenant/ Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs
Zoe Godden: Is still bitter about Idris Elba and Benicio Del Toro getting snubbed/Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs
Rhian Hunter: Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight/Rooney Mara for Carol
Best Picture
Winner: Spotlight
Simon Ramshaw: Mad Max: Fury Road
Emma Allsopp: Mad Max: Fury Road
Jordan Oloman: Mad Max: Fury Road
Zoe Godden: If Fury Road could get it, that would be greeeeeeat
Rhian Hunter: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Director
Winner: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Simon Ramshaw: George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
Emma Allsopp: George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
Jordan Oloman: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Zoe Godden: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Rhian Hunter: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Best Animated Film
Winner: Inside Out
Simon Ramshaw: Anomalisa
Emma Allsopp: Inside Out
Jordan Oloman: Inside Out
Zoe Godden: Inside Out
Rhian Hunter: Inside Out
Best Cinematography
Winner: The Revenant
Simon Ramshaw: Macbeth
Emma Allsopp: Macbeth
Jordan Oloman: Mad Max: Fury Road
Zoe Godden: Sicario
Rhian Hunter: Macbeth
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: Son of Saul
Simon Ramshaw: The Dance of Reality
Emma Allsopp: The Tribe
Jordan Oloman: Embrace of the Serpent
Zoe Godden: When Marnie Was There
Rhian Hunter: Wild Tales
Best Adapted/Original Screenplay
Winners: The Big Short/Spotlight
Simon Ramshaw: Carol/Ex Machina
Emma Allsopp: Room/Ex Machina
Jordan Oloman: The Martian/Ex Machina
Zoe Godden: Leonardo’s acceptance speech
Rhian Hunter: Room/Ex Machina
A critical look at this year's Oscars
My fantasy picks mainly go with those who were nominated, but I was most aggrieved to see Macbeth being unfairly snubbed. What a travesty!
Even though I wanted Mad Max to win Best Picture I was most definitely fine with Spotlight taking the top spot. It was a genuinely moving film with awesome performances all around so put me down as satisfied (I’m also glad it beat The Revenant because who doesn’t love surprises?). I was overjoyed to find out Leo had finally won, what a great day. Looking through those nominated I think he was truly the most deserving and he climbed inside a dead animal so give him a break. I was backing Brie Larson from the very moment I saw Room so I was absolutely overjoyed to find out she had triumphed, what a beautiful and deserving performance. I was hugely disappointed with the winners for the supporting categories as I thought Mark Ruffalo was definitely going to get one this year for his staggering performance in Spotlight, but that was not the case. For the supporting actress I still believe Marion Cotillard should have won for Macbeth, but she wasn’t even nominated. This year has been a mixed bag for me, but I am happy for the big winners.
Emma Allsopp
My dream Oscar wish-list is pretty hipster as is, but Hell’s bells, this year’s Oscar winners were essentially the polar opposite of what I wanted.
When I found out I lived in a world where a Mad Max movie had been nominated for Best Picture, the world felt like a better place. But, deep down, I knew it was a tease, and they wouldn’t crown ‘The Greatest Action Movie Ever Made™’ with what it deserved. Spotlight took Mad Max’s rightful place at the top (which I’m very mildly okay with, because yay for us journalists, right?), but it was Alejandro González Iñárritu snatching Best Director that really got my goat. That being said, Brie Larson’s Room win was well-deserved, and even though I thought Blanchett gave a better performance by a hair, she’s had a total of two Leading wins already, so it’s clearly Brie’s time to shine. As for Mark Rylance’s gong for EXTREME WHITE-KNUCKLE ACTING in the otherwise glacial Bridge of Spies, I don’t have any enough words to express my discontent.
Simon Ramshaw
Usually, I pretty much disagree with every winner. But this year wasn’t too bad - although Carol not even getting a look into any of its nominated categories was an absolute travesty.
Mad Max: Fury Road got almost everything it deserved, but a snub in the soundtrack category was just baffling - and Lady Gaga’s overlooked ballad ‘Til it Happens to You should have won Best Original Song over Sam Smith’s sub-par Bond theme. But with more and more outstanding films being nominated in the main categories, realistically the winners are never going to be exactly who we want them to be. The Academy voters have been embroiled in controversy this year for the lack of diversity among the nominees, and there are plenty of films that were overlooked - Beasts of No Nation, Creed, Straight Outta Compton - but considering how strong this year’s candidates were, the actual results have turned out pretty much as I expected them to.
Rhian Hunter
What a night! I was pretty happy with the results here, to be honest.
I didn’t care for Mark Rylance, or Bridge of Spies in general really, so to see Tom Hardy get snubbed there was annoying. I really enjoyed Ex Machina and Inside Out, and was glad they got the recognition they deserved. I thought George Miller really deserved Best Director though, after spending a tremendous amount of time trying to get Fury Road made. But none of that matters, because the man of the night, and professional tear in my heart Leonardo DiCaprio finally got the golden statue that he should have had way back in 1993 when he played Arnie Grape. If I was the president of the Academy, the awards would have their own section solely for ‘Best Leonardo DiCaprio Performance’ which he would win every year, but that’s just me. Like, have you seen Romeo + Juliet? Jesus.
Jordan Oloman
If there’s anything to take away from the 88th Academy Awards, it’s that marginalised groups need a platform.
From Kevin Hart and Chris Rock addressing Black Lives Matter, to Lady Gaga sending a powerful message about consent and sexual assault, and yes, Leo dedicating his acceptance speech to climate change and how it affects indigenous societies, this year’s Oscars were not about who won, but rather, who’s winning globally, and how we can tackle this. Of course, there’s the supposed ‘shock’ of Spotlight taking Best Picture from The Revenant (the Academy don’t like awarding people consecutively), and somehow Sam Smith won for that god-awful Bond theme, but ultimately viewers tuned into something not just about obsessing over J-Law’s bob. It’s an event that showcases progress, highlighting the talents of the world’s most diverse auteurs, giving them a voice. So perhaps stop celebrating that Fury Road dominated the technical categories, and instead see what the film represents for our journey to become an intersectional society.
Zoe Godden
