The best and worst of the Oscars

Best Host: Chris Rock Scores and Scores Again

Hosting the Oscars can be a thankless task. Sometimes it seems that griping about the M.C. of the Academy Awards is the one thing Americans can agree on. (Thesexist stylings of Seth MacFarlane, anyone?) Buton Sundaynight, Chris Rock did not waste any time tackling the subject that has dogged Oscar season — the academy, and Hollywood’s, lack of diversity, on screen and in the corner office — and united the commenterati poised at their laptops and smartphones.

Welcoming the audience to the “White People’s Choice Awards,” Mr. Rock reeled offa monologuedevoted completely to the subject. It wassmart, substantive,self-deprecating, and most important, screamingly funny.

Among the choice lines: “You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job. So y’all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.”

Mr. Rock returned throughout the show to the issue, and it made for some inspired comedy, notably a montage that imagined black characters in movies like “Joy” and “The Danish Girl.” Of course, not every bit landed. (See Stacey Dash.) But Mr. Rock proved that sometimes an Oscars host can be better the second time around.—Lorne Manly

Worst ‘In Memoriam’Omission: Abe Vigoda

The dead keep tripping up the producers of the Oscars telecast. Last year, the Academy snubbed Joan Rivers during its “In Memoriam” segment.On Sundaynight, Abe Vigoda was unjustly overlooked. AndTwitter was miffed.

Mr. Vigoda, who despite an erroneous People magazine report in 1982 of his demise,died just last month, at the age of 94. Trying to rationalize his absence from the parade of pictures that scrolled by as Dave Grohl played “Blackbird,” the Twitterverse at first speculated that perhaps there was a Dec. 31, 2015, cut-off. But when David Bowie and Alan Rickman, who both died this year, made the cut, resignation turned to anger that Tessio from “The Godfather” was being ignored.

Mr. Vigoda, however, had good company in not making the “In Memoriam” roll call. The French director Jacques Rivette and the Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira were overlooked as well.—Lorne Manly

Best Surprise: Best Picture Goes to ‘Spotlight’

The biggest surprise of the night had to be “Spotlight” taking the Oscar for best picture. Prognosticators had pretty much broken for “The Revenant,” and it sure seemed that movie was on its way after winning awards for its director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu), lead actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and cinematographer (Emmanuel Lubezki).

But the scrappy “Spotlight,” just like theBoston Globe reporting team that the movie portraysexposing the Catholic Church’s cover-up of sexual abuse by priests, emerged triumphant. An exultant group took the stage, which included reporter-in-real-life Mike Rezendes (played in the movie by Mark Ruffalo). It may be the first time a working journalist got to bask in best-picture glory.

No one seemed happier than Michael Keaton, who screamed avery happy obscenityupon hearing the news and then scarfed down a Girl Scout cookie during Chris Rock’s sign-off.—Lorne Manly

Most Awkward Moment of the Night: Stacey Dash

Chris Rock’s decision to bring out the conservative actress Stacey Dash was an instant contender for the night’s most awkward moment.

Playing the faux new director of the academy’s minority outreach program, Ms. Dash, who is black, took the stage and wished the audience, “Happy Black History Month!”

In January, Ms. Dashbaffled manyby proposing that Black History Month be eliminated. Her cameoon Sundaynight seemed to fall flat. Inside the Dolby Theater, there weregrimaces and hands covering mouths.

And viewers at home were confused, too. “That Stacey Dash was brought out to make a joke out of her awfulness, and she seemed to find it cute, was all problematic at best,”tweetedthe writers Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.—Katie Rogers

Sharpest Gasp: Mark Rylance as Best Supporting Actor

Going into the ceremony,Sylvester Stallonewas considered perhaps not a lock but a very strong front-runner for best supporting actor. But when the winner was announced, an audible gasp went up from the Dolby Theater: It wasMark Rylance, who played the spy Rudolf Abel in “Bridge of Spies.”

Asked backstage how he felt about having “outpunched Rocky,” he said, “The thing about competing as actors, and I know it’s necessary to make a show out of it, but all of those actors are so good.”

“I feel I’m more a spokesman when I win than somebody better than all the nominees,” he continued. “I don’t take it too seriously.”

Not only were his fellow nominees so good, he said, but so were others who had been passed over, among them Idris Elba (“Beasts of No Nation”) and Paul Dano (“Love & Mercy”).—Cara Buckley

Most Effective Skewering of Hollywood

After his monologue ended, Chris Rock continued to poke fun at the lack of diversity in the movies, even using the movies themselves to score smart points.

Inone montage, he imagined black actors in white roles. A cross-dressing Tracy Morgan enthused,“These danishes is good, girl,”a moment that must be bound for meme status. And Leslie Jones took over for the bear and attacked Leonardo DiCaprio about her agent’s calls being ignored. Mr. Rock played the stranded astronaut in “The Martian,” forsaken by his potential rescuers (Jeff Daniels and Kristen Wiig), who’d rather have some hot pho.

In another video, Mr. Rockreprised a bit from his 2005 hosting gig, in which he polled black moviegoers to find out which Oscar-nominated movies they had actually seen. Back then “Sideways” was not a favorite. This time around patrons hadn’t even heard of “Spotlight” or “Brooklyn.”—Katie Rogers

Best New Duo: Joe Biden and Lady Gaga

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took to the stage to introduce Lady Gaga, a best song nominee, and the crowd went wild.

“I’m trying to find the teleprompter,” Mr. Biden said as members of the audience got to their feet.

He waved them down: “I’m the least qualified man heretonight.”

But he did have an important credit: He helped write the original Violence Against Women Act, and Lady Gaga’s song (written with Diane Warren) was for“The Hunting Ground,”about sexual assaults on college campuses.

Mr. Biden asked the crowd and viewers at home to take apledge: “I will intervene in situations when consent has not or cannot be given.”

“Let’s change the culture,” he added.

Then Lady Gaga took the stage and gave a rousing performance of the song, “Til It Happens to You.” At the end she was surrounded by survivors of sexual abuse, several of whom were featured in the film.

(Ultimately, though, she lost to Sam Smith and his songwriting partner Jimmy Napes, who took the Oscar for “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre.”)—Katie Rogers

Best Double Victory: ‘Mad Max’ Wins Oscars and the Internet

“Mad Max: Fury Road” might have won the most Academy Awards of the night — six — making it the most successful Australian film in Oscar history. That haul, however, comes with an asterisk: None of the awards were for glamorous categories like best picture, actor or director.

That didn’t seem to bother the “Mad Max” winners a bit, who in thoroughly enjoying their moments of fame put a distinctive gloss on their victories. Mark Mangini and David White, the winners in the best sound editing category, had tobe bleeped outas they began their acceptance speeches. And Jenny Beavan, who captured the award for best costume design, chucked Oscar tradition andwon the Internetin the process. Instead of wearing some boring (and expensive) fancy dress, she went the comfort route — including a faux leather jacket with a rhinestone skull bedazzled on the back.—Lorne Manly

Best Location for Girl Scout Cookie Sales

It looks like Chris Rock’s effort to turn the Oscars into a giant platform for the bulk sale of Thin Mints paid off: On behalf of his two daughters, he sent a Girl Scout troop through the aisles of the Dolby Theater, solicited Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Charlize Theron and others for cash pledges.

Last year, the troop made $600 and finished second in its cookie sales competition, Mr. Rock said. This year, the group apparently did a little better: Mr. Rock revealed that $65,243 worth of cookies were sold. (That number could be an exaggeration, but there’s still probably no better place to beat last year’s sales figures than the Dolby Theater.)

Anna M. Chávez, the chief executive of Girl Scouts of the USA, tweeted, “Special thanks to@chrisrockfor supporting@girlscoutsand making this year’s#Oscarsthe sweetest yet.”

Meanwhile, supporters of a rally in Flint, Mich. — including the directors Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay — raisedmore than $122,000for the town’s residents, who have been suffering from tainted water since at least 2014.

The contrast was not lost on Ms. DuVernay. She tweeted: “Oscar audience raises $65k for cookies. Can we raise $100k for folks poisoned by their own water?”—Katie Rogers

Best Reason Not to Be in It for the Money

When the comedian Louis C.K. took the stage to present the Oscar for best documentary short, he reminded the crowd at the Dolby Theater that most of them would make a lot more money off their work than any of his category’s nominees would.

“You cannot make a dime on this!” he joked, admiringly. “These people will never get rich as long as they live! … This Oscar is going home in a Honda Civic.”

But when Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy collected the Oscar — her second — for “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” about honor killings in Pakistan, she noted that the film had moved that country’s prime minister to work to outlaw these killings of women. In a room full of bling, everything else suddenly seemed like petty cash.— James Poniewozik

Least Surprising Wins: Tie, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brie Larson

Almost from the moment “Room” and “The Revenant” were unveiled last year, Oscar watchers predicted that their stars were locks for the Academy Awards. And sure enough, at least in these cases, the Oscar watchers were correct.

Brie Larson’s turn as Ma, a young woman held captive for years in a shed where she raises her small son, tugged on critics’ hearts even as they were mixed on “Room” itself. On Sunday, Ms. Larson, a first-time nominee, didn’t feign excessive surprise. She remembered to thank all the right people — including her director, Lenny Abrahamson, her co-star Jacob Tremblay, the fans — and even gave a shoutout to the Telluride and Toronto festivals, which gave her film a leg up.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance as the 19th-century frontiersman Hugh Glass in “The Revenant” required him to endure freezing temperatures, wrestle with a CGI bear and even eat raw bison liver. As if that weren’t enough, Mr. DiCaprio had previously been nominated five times (four for performances, once for producing) and lost every time. In the fine academy tradition of rewarding veterans years later, Mr. DiCaprio got his Oscar and also thanked all the right people (including his frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese). But also used the occasion to draw attention to a cause he’s espoused for years. “Climate change is real,” he said from the stage, “it is happening right now.”–Stephanie Goodman