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What was the Academy thinking? There’s no other way to guess than to watch the winners, many of which are available to stream. The big winner for best picture and director, Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” isn’t up for rental until March 13 — along with “Call Me By Your Name” (best adapted screenplay, James Ivory) and “I, Tonya” (best supporting actress, Allison Janney). But most of the others, including the shorts, are ready to watch from home now.
‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’
Sam Rockwell, left, and Frances McDormand in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”Merrick Morton/Fox Searchlight Pictures
Won for: best actress in a leading role, best supporting actor
As a grieving mother who pressures the local sheriff to investigate her daughter’s murder, Frances McDormand gives a performance that both complements and stands in contrast with her Oscar-winning role as Marge Gunderson in “Fargo.” The two share a Middle American candor and clarity of mission, but McDormand takes her “Three Billboards” character down a wayward path that edges this salty film into disturbing moral terrain. Ditto Sam Rockwell, whose supporting role as an outwardly vile cop possesses hidden dimensions, though the character nonetheless falls short of redemption.
Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu
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‘Darkest Hour’
Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour.”Jack English/Focus Features
Won for: best actor in a leading role, best makeup and hairstyling
The two Oscars for “Darkest Hour” go hand-in-glove — or rather, face-in-latex. For four hours a day, Gary Oldman and his prosthetic artisans, Kazuhiro Tsuji and Lucy Sibbick, immersed themselves in the task of getting Oldman into his role as Winston Churchill during the Battle of Dunkirk. As Churchill, Oldman projects the bellicosity and rhetoric necessary to bend the political establishment to his will and rouse the British people for the long fight against the Nazis. Yet buried under all that bluster (and makeup), there’s the distinct uncertainty of a man who could, in fact, be making an historically consequential mistake.
Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes
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‘Dunkirk’
Mark Rylance, left, and Cillian Murphy in “Dunkirk.”Warner Bros. Pictures
Won for: best sound editing, best sound mixing, best editing
Although Christopher Nolan’s large-scale re-creation of the Dunkirk evacuation was shut out in all the major categories, the technical awards the film did collect suggest its unique strengths. Rather than put the dialogue first, Nolan and his team of editors and sound mixers instead reduce it to oft-unintelligible murmurs amid the chaos of war, creating a multipronged symphony of combat, weaving together three story strands across three different timelines until they converge into one. Nolan broke through on a virtue of complicated puzzle pictures like “Memento” and “The Prestige,” but “Dunkirk” carries that sophistication into pure visual language — it’s minimalist storytelling on a maximalist stage.
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Where to watch:Amazon, iTunes
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‘Get Out’
Daniel Kaluuya in “Get Out.”Justin Lubin/Universal Pictures
Won for: best original screenplay
In one of the most competitive categories of the night, Jordan Peele’s original script won an Oscar for upending horror conventions and for reminding audiences that two-term presidency of Barack Obama did not, as many had hoped, signify the dawn of a “post-racial” America. With debts to the screen versions of Ira Levin’s “The Stepford Wives” and to “Rosemary’s Baby,” Peele takes a weekend in which a young black man (Daniel Kaluuya, nominated for best actor) meets his white girlfriend’s family and imagines it as a surreal and satirical nightmare of wicked conspiracies and sublimated racism.
Where to watch:HBO
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‘Blade Runner 2049’
Ana de Armas and Ryan Gosling in “Blade Runner 2049.”Warner Bros.
Won for: best visual effects, best cinematography
Until now, the cinematographer Roger A. Deakins was the Susan Lucci of famous Oscar also-rans, with 13 nominations for films like “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Fargo” and “Skyfall,” but nothing to show for it. But Deakins’s artistry on “Blade Runner 2049” was not to be denied: More than merely replicating the future-noir ambience of the original film, Deakins extended it with startling bursts of color and light, no doubt aided by the Oscar-winning visual effects team. The palette alone puts enough of a distance between the two films to keep “Blade Runner 2049” from seeming like a retread.
Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes
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‘Icarus’
Bryan Fogel in “Icarus.”Netflix
Won for: best documentary feature
There were more subtle and more artfully crafted nominees for best documentary, but it’s exceedingly rare for a documentary to have the real-world impact of a film like “Icarus.” In the midst of “Super Size Me”-like stunt to dope himself up into becoming a winning amateur cyclist, director Bryan Fogel stumbled onto a major international scandal when Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian antidoping agency, confessed to leading a sweeping program to enhance the country’s Olympic prospects through banned substances. Rodchenkov’s whistle-blowing — which has since landed him in the witness protection program — is astonishing to see on camera.
Where to watch: Netflix
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‘Coco’
Hector (voiced by Gael García Bernal) and Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) in a scene from “Coco.”Disney — Pixar
Won for: best animated feature, best original song
Pixar has spent so much energy lately cashing in on old hits that “Coco” was a reminder of how audacious its original films could be. After all, this is an animated feature about death, following a young boy who crosses into the Land of the Dead to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. Rich in color and song, the film also immerses itself in Mexican cultural traditions without the once-over-lightly treatment of lesser works like “The Book of Life.”
Where to watch: iTunes, Vudu
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‘Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405’
A scene from “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405.”ShortsTV
Won for: best documentary short
Across 40 minutes, this intimate documentary from Frank Stiefel examines the life and work of Mindy Alper, a Los Angeles-based artist whose lifelong struggle with mental illness is reflected in her line drawings and sculptures. Now in her 50s, Alper still communicates two or three times a day with her mother, who has been steadfast in her support, and she still takes a cocktail of medications for obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety and psychosis. Her mother notwithstanding, Alper’s artwork serves as her lifeline, a place where she can manage her abundant fears through creative expression.
Where to watch: YouTube
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‘The Silent Child’
Maisie Sly in “The Silent Child.”Slick Films
Won for: best live action short
Rachel Shenton writes and stars in this short from Chris Overton about a social worker who finds a 4-year-old deaf girl who is receptive to learning sign language, but she has trouble convincing her parents it’s worth the bother. A nice bond develops between Shenton’s social worker and the girl, touchingly played by Maisie Sly, but “The Silent Child” takes more of a message-first approach in advocating for neglected children.
Where to watch: YouTube
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‘Dear Basketball’
A scene from “Dear Basketball.”Glen Keane Productions
Won for: best animated short
Written and narrated by Kobe Bryant, “Dear Basketball” is a retirement-year tribute to the game that made him a star, sketching his journey from a moony-eyed 6-year-old to a professional whose body is finally breaking down. Told with absolute sincerity and handcrafted simplicity, it’s like a cross between “The Giving Tree” and a post on The Players’ Tribune.
Where to watch:Go90
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