In the end, Wes Anderson got overlooked. Boyhood got beaten. The Brits just about made it. In many respects, last night’s Oscars were more ho hum than brouhaha. In winning both Best Picture and Best Director (for Alejandro Inarritu), Birdman demonstrated that Hollywood really does love nothing better than films about Hollywood; especially ones that expose the rigors they often endure. That it trumped Richard Linklater’s warm, human and technically audacious Boyhood is less a reflection of Linklater than it is on Hollywood’s capacity for self-reflection. It was good, at least, to see Boyhood’s fragile mother Patricia Arquette winning Best Supporting Actress; though it’s conspicuous (again) how few of the Best Film nominations had strong roles for women.

Admittedly, I was curious to see how American Sniper would fare. I’m no fan of Clint Eastwood’s Iraq war film; yet the film has shattered one of Hollywood’s ancient myths, that launching a film in January is doomed for failure. Not only that, American Sniper has become a phenomenon – debuting with a stunning $89.5m during its opening weekend in the States. And it has travelled, too: taking £2.53m from 410 UK cinemas. It is a divisive film; one that has played incredibly well in middle America yet less well received by more liberal audiences. In the end, it won Best Sound Editing.

Elsewhere, the Oscars were remarkably unremarkable. Wes Anderson managed four technical wins for The Grand Budapest Hotel (my favourite), Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor for his deeply felt portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Still Alice; a film in which she is the only remotely interesting item. It would have taken some kind of miracle for JK Simons not to win Best Supporting Actor for his fierce music professor in Whiplash. Nothing, though, for Foxcatcher; the other big film in contention.

It was good, though, to see Oscars for the Edward Snowden documentary CitizenFour and Pawel Pawelkowski’s Ida to win Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film.

But what do you think? Did Birdman deserve to best Boyhood..?  Or would you rather have seen Foxcatcher outsmart Whiplash?

Best Picture
Birdman
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory Of Everything
Whiplash

Best Director
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

Best Actor
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman

Best Actress
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory Of Everything
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into The Woods
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game

Supporting Actor
JK Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

Adapted Screenplay
The Imitation Game
American Sniper
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song Of The Sea
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Best Cinematography
Birdman, Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert Yeoman
Ida, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner, Dick Pope
Unbroken, Roger Deakins

Visual Effects
Interstellar
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Guardians Of The Galaxy
X:Men: Days Of Future Past

Film Editing
Whiplash
American Sniper
Boyhood
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game

Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Mr. Turner

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory Of Everything

Best Original Song
“Glory”, Selma
“Everything Is Awesome”, The Lego Movie
“Grateful”, Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You”, Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars”, Begin Again

Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

Best Documentary
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Best Documentary Short
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth

Best Makeup And Hair
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Foxcatcher
Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Animated Short
Feast
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

Best Live-Action Short
The Phone Call
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)
Parvaneh

Best Sound Editing
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing
Whiplash
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken