The 2016 Oscar Awards Show was one of the best of recent years. Clearly it took some controversy to get them to kick it into a higher gear. Chris Rock has received some great plaudits for his hosting and this was well deserved. He managed to skate a careful line but made the point about strongly about the lack of diversity without insulting anyone. My favourite segments were Chris Rock’s interview with people outside a movie theatre in Compton where no one seemed aware of the white Oscar nominated films. The contrast was very funny and pointed. The other highlight was Louis CK introducing the nominees and winner of the Short Documentary. Also this was won by a Pakistani/Canadian director whose film about honour killing may have actually changed the policies around punishing honour killers in Pakistan. Makes the whole thing more meaningful when the Academy gives attention to an important film and makes a difference.

As for the awards themselves overall it was very good. I was disappointed that Amy won best documentary but otherwise I was pretty happy with the outcome. I loved the surprises like Spotlight taking Best Picture and Ex Machina took Best Visual Effects in the face of Mad Max taking all the other technical awards. All in all a good year, a pretty good show, and it deserved a better audience.