Oscars 2018: 7 biggest talking points, from Frances McDormand’s powerful speech to Jimmy Kimmel's jet ski

Plus Jordan Peele's win, Guillermo Del Toro's big moment, and a controversial 'In Memoriam'

Another year, another Oscars comes and goes. This year’s ceremony saw the majority of awards go to those previously expected to win, The Shape of Water taking home the night’s top prize.

Despite the relatively predictable slate of winners, though, there were still some major talking points to emerge from the event, thanks mainly to some great speeches and appropriate political stances.

Jimmy Kimmel opens with a fiery monologue

The American late night host returned once more to host the Oscars, making timely jokes about the MeToo movement and the state of Hollywood.

During his monologue, for instance, Kimmel called the Oscar statuette,"the most respected man in Hollywood [because] he keeps his hands where you can see them, never says a rude word and, most importantly, [has] no penis at all.”

Kimmel then proceeded to call out the film industry, calling filmmakers ”so clueless about women, we made a movie called What Women Want and it starred Mel Gibson.”

Applauding the recent box office success of Wonder Woman and Black Panther, the host joked: "I remember a time when the major studios didn't believe a woman or a minority could open a superhero movie and the reason I remember that time is because it was March of last year."

Jordan Peele wins best original screenplay

One of the few categories that left everyone surprised was best screenplay — Martin McDonagh was largely expected to come home with the award for Three Billboards. However, on the night, Peele managed to overcome the odds and win the prestige prize for timely horror Get Out, becoming the first black screenwriter to ever win the award.

Only four black film screenwriters have been nominated for the award in the ceremony's 90-year history: Suzanne de Passe (Lady Sings the Blues in 1972), Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing in 1989) John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood in 1991) and eventual winner Peele.

Frances McDormand’s powerful speech

Having won almost every leading actress award under the sun, there were few left surprised when McDormand took home the Oscar for her performance in Three Billboards. Accepting the award, the actor gave a great speech that called on all the women nominated for prizes to stand up, the likes of Margot Robbie, Meryl Streep, and Greta Gerwig obliging.

“Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don't talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple days, or you can come to ours, whatever suits you best, and we'll tell you all about them.

“I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider”.

That last phrase — ‘inclusion rider’ — left many people scratching their heads: an 'inclusion rider' actually is when a cast and crew make it a contractual requirement to hire a diverse crew.

Guillermo Del Toro wins big

Over the last few months, Del Toro has proven himself one of Hollywood’s most beloved directors, partaking in heartfelt Q&As after screening around the world that have won over many.

As a result, the Mexican filmmaker took home home best director for The Shape of Water, which also managed best picture — beating stiff competition from Get Out, Three Billboards, and Call Me By Your Name. Standing on stage, Del Toro gave two wonderful, inspiring speeches calling on anyone with a passion for filmmaking to take it up, no matter what your background.

Jimmy Kimmel and McDormand were not the only ones to get political: actors Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, and Anabella Sciorra took to the stage on behalf of the Time's Up movement to hail the "unstoppable spirits who kicked ass and broke through the biased perceptions against their race, their gender and ethnicity to tell their stories", praising such breakthrough creatives as Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Yance Ford, and Kumail Nanjiani.

Last year's best actress recipient Emma Stone — handing out the Best Director statuette — described the nominees as "four men and Greta Gerwig”, a nod towards a similar sentiment made by Natalie Portman at the Golden Globes.

Actors Lupita Nyong'o and Nanjiani — originating from Kenya and Pakistan respectively — used their moment in the spotlight to express solidarity with the Dreamers, those hoping to stay in the US despite the Trump administration's scrapping of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration programme. Meanwhile, some attendees wore orange badges in support of gun control.

That jet ski

At the end of his opening monologue, Kimmel mentioned he would be giving away a jet ski to whoever gave the shortest acceptance speech. Throughout the night, many people would reference the joke, but it was Mark Bridges — who designed the costumes for Phantom Thread — who walked away with the prize (and presumably not with Helen Mirren).

'In Memoriam'

This year’s ‘In Memoriam’ segment proved slightly controversial as two big names were not included: Batman actor Adam West and Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, both of whom died last year. Many people took to Twitter to complain about the omissions, particularly Hooper — who also worked with Steven Spielberg on Poltergeist.

To catch up on all our Oscars coverage, follow this link.