The early hours of this morning saw the 90th Academy Awards take place on a night dominated by women and a love story involving fish.

Thankfully, there was no mix-up drama like last year as the romantic fantasy The Shape of Water celebrated four Oscars wins which included the all-important Best Picture accolade ahead of the likes of Dunkirk, Get Out and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Rather fittingly, Hollywood legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given another chance to present the main prize after that unfortunate incident involving La La Land and Moonlight last February.

The Shape of Water also scored a Best Director victory for Guillermo del Toro, who becomes the third Mexican filmmaker to win the category in the past four years. Furthermore, the film also picked up Best Production Design and Best Original Score for composer Alexandre Desplat.

 

The next big winner was Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic Dunkirk, as it claimed three technical gongs for Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.

 

On a fairly predictable evening of results, Frances McDormand saw off the likes of Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) to secure her second Best Actress win for her powerful role as scorned mother Mildred Hayes in the drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Upon collecting the award, McDormand delivered a strong speech, and invited all the Oscar-nominated women in the room to stand up and be applauded as part of the #MeToo campaign.

Co-star Sam Rockwell also persevered as he picked up Best Supporting Actor for his role as alcoholic police officer Jason Dixon.

 

Meanwhile, British star Gary Oldman eased his way to the Best Actor accolade for his portrayal of prime minister Winston Churchill in the war drama Darkest Hour.

 

On top of Oldman’s victory, Darkest Hour was also the recipient of the Best Makeup & Hairstyling award.

 

As with the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and BAFTAs, Allison Janney completed a clean sweep of major accolades after winning Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of LaVona Golden, the volatile mother of disgraced ice skater Tonya Harding in the sports biopic I, Tonya.

 

Elsewhere, Jordan Peele deservedly won Best Original Screenplay for his work on the hit horror Get Out, whilst veteran playwright James Ivory took home Best Adapted Screenplay for the romantic drama Call Me by Your Name.

 

There were also double wins on the night for the sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049 and the Pixar animation Coco.

Coco clinched Best Animated Film and Best Original Song for the emotional track “Remember Me” while Blade Runner picked up Best Visual Effects and a long overdue Best Cinematography award for veteran Roger Deakins who finally prevailed at the fourteenth attempt!

 

Meanwhile, the period drama Phantom Thread clinched Best Costume Design, while Chile’s A Fantastic Woman and Icarus were the respective winners of Best Foreign Language Film and Best Documentary.

One of the more unique successes on the night was for Rachel Shenton as the former Hollyoaks actress picked up Best Documentary Short for her work on The Silent Child.

The British star, who played Mitzee Miniver in the Channel 4 soap, used sign language to thank the Academy for acknowledging the short, in which sees her play a friendly social worker who teaches a young, deaf girl how to communicate.

The other unlikely victor was NBA star Kobe Bryant, as he became the first former professional athlete to win an Academy Award for his animated retelling of his own poem Dear Basketball.

 

However, it was a dismal evening for multi-nominated films as Lady Bird, Mudbound, The Post and Star Wars: The Last Jedi came away empty-handed.

 

In terms of the ceremony itself, chat show host Jimmy Kimmel provided a memorable monologue that made references to the #MeToo campaign as well as the recent tragedy at Parkland School.

The full list of Oscar winners are:

BEST PICTURE
THE SHAPE OF WATER

BEST DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro, THE SHAPE OF WATER

 

BEST ACTRESS
Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

BEST ACTOR
Gary Oldman, DARKEST HOUR

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Allison Janney, I, TONYA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sam Rockwell, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (James Ivory)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
GET OUT (Jordan Peele)

 

BEST EDITING
DUNKIRK

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BLADE RUNNER 2049

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE SHAPE OF WATER

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
PHANTOM THREAD

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
DARKEST HOUR

 

BEST SOUND MIXING
DUNKIRK

BEST SOUND EDITING
DUNKIRK

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
BLADE RUNNER 2049

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
THE SHAPE OF WATER (Alexandre Desplat)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
COCO (“Remember Me”)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
COCO

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A FANTASTIC WOMAN (Chile)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
ICARUS

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
THE SILENT CHILD

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
DEAR BASKETBALL