The biggest win went to the smallest movie

MARCH 1ST, 2016 — POST 057

So Leo finally won his Oscar. And a mediocre movie won for best picture. Chris Rock put Jada Pinkett Smith on blast in his opening monologue as host. And the lamest duck of all, for which the industry confused falling with flying, The Martian didn’t get a single gong despite extensive nominations. Most of The Martian’s nominations, at least those where it might have won, were in the technical categories. And Mad Max: Fury Road utterly dominated these, almost performing a clean sweep. Almost. Cinematography, as expected, went to The Revenant (because everyone knows a small golden man is the best cure for a focus puller’s frostbitten fingertips) so that was one technical award Mad Max wouldn’t get its warboy hands on. The other award that was clinced by another is the more interesting story.

The award for Visual Effects went to Ex Machina. This is the kind of result I dream of when looking at the nominees but my jaded sense of The Academy’s tastes (and their record) has me predicting a more sensible choice. And the category was filled with other sensible choices. Mad Max, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian, and The Revenant were the high rollers at this poker table whilst Ex Machina seemingly was topping up everyone’s whiskeys. Looking at the previous winners in this category just proves why anything but Ex Machina would have made more sense. To bore with a list momentarily: