Well that’s that then.

Last night brought the curtain down on another incredible awards season as the glitz and glamour of Hollywood came together to celebrate the 85th Academy Awards.

On a fairly predictable evening, the fact-based political thriller Argo took the glory by winning three Oscars, including the prestigious Best Picture accolade ahead of the likes of Life of Pi and Lincoln.

The win provided a satisfying conclusion to a bizarre awards season for actor and director Ben Affleck, as the former Razzie winner took to the stage with fellow producer and Hollywood star George Clooney.

During an emotional speech, he thanked everyone involved on the film, as well as his actress wife Jennifer Garner. He then it rounded off by talking about how hard he had worked in Hollywood to finally earn the respect from his peers.

“I’d just like to say, I was here 15 years ago or something and I had no idea what I was doing. I stood out here in front of you all and really just a kid. I went out and I never thought I would be back here. You have to work harder than you think you possibly can. You can’t hold grudges — it’s hard, but you can’t hold grudges. And it doesn’t matter how you get knocked down in life; that’s going happen. All that matters is you’ve got to get up.”

Despite being snubbed for a Best Director accolade, Affleck and his film had defied the odds, especially after key victories at the Golden Globes, Screen Actor’s Guild Awards, Producer’s Guild Awards and EE BAFTAs.

Additionally, Argo also secured a further two wins for Best Editing, and a Best Adapted Screenplay success for writer Chris Terrio.

In rather audacious fashion, the Best Picture award was announced via web-link by First Lady Michelle Obama, who read out the result at the White House with the support of Oscar-winning legend Jack Nicholson.

Meanwhile, seven of the eight Best Picture nominees had the fortune of winning at least one award during the ceremony.

The fantasy drama Life of Pi finished up with the most gongs last night, including a surprise second Best Director victory for filmmaker Ang Lee, ahead of the much-fancied Steven Spielberg (Lincoln).

Additionally, the film secured wins in Cinematography and Visual Effects, as well as an Original Score prize for composer Mychael Danna.

Elsewhere, Daniel Day-Lewis made Academy Awards history by becoming the first male performer to win THREE Best Actor Oscars for his portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln in the historical drama Lincoln.

Upon receiving his award from fellow three time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep, Day-Lewis delivered a witty speech and jokingly said that he was close to playing Streep’s role as Margaret Thatcher in last year’s political biopic The Iron Lady.

Despite coming into the evening with a dominant twelve nominations, Lincoln could only manage one other win for its production design.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence capped off a fantastic last twelve months as she was awarded Best Actress for her role as dysfunctional widow Tiffany Maxwell in the romantic dramedy Silver Linings Playbook.

Among those competing with her in the same category included 86-year-old Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), and nine-year old starlet Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild).

On her way to collecting the award, Lawrence almost embarrassed herself after tripping on the stairs heading onto the stage.

It was also a solid night for Django Unchained, as the violent western brought controversial filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and German actor Christoph Waltz their second Oscars.

Tarantino scored his second victory in the Original Screenplay category for his audacious script, while Waltz landed his second Supporting Actor award in three years for his role as bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz.

Meanwhile, the musical epic Les Misérables picked up three wins, including a deserving Best Supporting Actress win for Anne Hathaway for her devastating performance as tragic factory worker Fantine.

As predicted, Hathaway gave an emotional speech thanking everyone on the film before concluding by saying, “someday in the not too distant future, the misfortunes of Fantine will only be found in stories and never in real life. Thank you.”

Additionally, the big-screen adaptation of the West End musical prevailed in the Makeup and Sound Mixing fields.

Les Misérables was also part of the Oscar ceremony’s incredible tribute to musicals as the whole central cast (including Hathaway and co-stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne) performed a medley of the iconic ‘One Day More’.

The latest film of the series Skyfall went on to secure two wins including a Best Original Song triumph for British singer Adele as her soulful rendition of ‘Skyfall’ helped to continue her fantastic run of form with awards.

The blockbuster was also part of a rare moment in Oscar history as it shared the Best Sound Editing prize with Kathryn Bigelow’s real life war thriller Zero Dark Thirty to become only the third time that a tie has occurred at the Academy Awards.

As expected, the Palme d’Or winning French drama Amour secured Best Foreign Language Film while there were notable wins for Anna Karenina (Costume Design), Brave (Animated Film), Searching for Sugarman (Best Documentary), and Paperman (Best Animated Short).

However, it was a frustrating evening for various films as the likes of Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and The Master came away empty-handed.

Away from the awards themselves, the Oscar ceremony provided enough entertainment to satisfy various audiences as Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane caused a stir with some hilarious and, at times, controversial talking points.

During his opening monologue, he re-enacted the film Flight through the use of sock puppets while also poking fun at Ben Affleck, Jodie Foster, and The Sound of Music.

However, he also received groans for risky comments such as calling Django Unchained a date movie for Chris Brown and Rihanna while also ridiculing Jean Dujardin, George Clooney and the death of Abraham Lincoln.

His most audacious yet edgy move was to sing a number called ‘We Saw Your Boobs’ in reference to several Hollywood actresses exposing themselves in films including Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Kate Winslet.

BEST PICTURE
ARGO

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, LIFE OF PI

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, LINCOLN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, LES MISÉRABLES

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz, DJANGO UNCHAINED

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ARGO (Chris Terrio)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED (Quentin Tarantino)

BEST EDITING
ARGO

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
LIFE OF PI

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
LINCOLN

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA

BEST MAKEUP
LES MISÉRABLES

BEST SOUND MIXING
LES MISÉRABLES

BEST SOUND EDITING (*TIE*)
SKYFALL
ZERO DARK THIRTY

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
LIFE OF PI (Mychael Danna)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
SKYFALL (“Skyfall”)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
BRAVE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AMOUR (France)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
INOCENTE

LIVE ACTION SHORT
CURFEW

ANIMATED SHORT
PAPERMAN

And that’s a wrap, everyone!

Thank you all for following my coverage of awards season, I will be counting down the months before the new season starts near the end of 2013.

I close by saying this, “ARGO F**K YOURSELF”!