This year's Academy Awards ceremony was largely a success. As CNN indicates, the ratings boost and streamlined format can be pleasing takeaways for Academy members. Though it was far from the original plan, the host-free ceremony seemed to work just fine.

But it wasn't without its controversies. Arguably the biggest was which movie took the top prize.

'Green Book' capped off its big awards season with a Best Picture win

"Green Book" was inspired by a true story. In the 1960s African-American jazz musician, Don Shirley hired white former bouncer Frank Vallelonga.

His job was to drive Shirley on a concert tour through the South. The movie centers on the bond that forms between them.

Thought the movie was most received quite well, there were elements that displeased many. Some weren't happy with the portrayal of things such as racial tensions. People had misgivings about the movie's connections to China. Though, as Variety reports, for better or worse that's not uncommon anymore. There were also conflicting reports as to how accurate the movie was compared to the actual events. While "Green Book" had its detractors, it won a significant amount of awards leading up to the Oscars.

Many other Movies had also done very well during awards season. This year was arguably the most open competition in recent Oscars memory.

Several of the eight Best Picture nominees had claimed the top prizes at major awards ceremonies. Other nominees had their shares of criticism as well. Many were perplexed as to how two of them were even nominated in the category. Aside from elements such as acting and make-up, the reception for "Vice" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" was very mixed.

But in the end, they apparently had enough support to make the cut.

In the days leading up to the big event, predictions were scattered as to who the winners could be. "Roma" was largely considered to be a slight favorite, with "Green Book" often listed as having next best chance. By the time Best Picture was announced, "Green Book" didn't seem to have had much momentum left.

It had, however, won two major categories. But "Roma", "Black Panther" or even the much-derided "Bohemian Rhapsody" looked to be in better positions. Nonetheless, "Green Book" prevailed in a perhaps fitting cinematic twist.

Despite all of its success leading up to Academy Awards, some people were apparently still shocked. And anything and everything that might be wrong with it was suddenly spotlighted. This was intensified by the reaction from controversial filmmaker Spike Lee.

Contrary to narratives, 'BlacKkKlansman' was not the favorite and 'Do the Right Thing' didn't lose to 'Driving Miss Daisy'

Lee's movie, "BlacKkKlansman", was also inspired by true events concerning highly controversial subjects such as racism.

It focused on an African-American Colorado police officer who infiltrated the Klu Klux Klan in the 1970s. Lee reportedly attempted to storm out of the auditorium after Best Picture was announced. He later gave an alcohol-affected press conference where he made his displeasure obvious. Additionally, he somewhat bizarrely indicated that he held other resentments.

Lee is apparently still upset that his 1989 movie "Do the Right Thing" 'lost' to "Driving Miss Daisy." The latter movie won four Oscars including Best Picture. Lee might have a legitimate argument, except that his movie wasn't even nominated for Best Picture. In fact, the only category the two movies were nominated in together was Best Supporting Actor.

In that case, they both lost to Denzel Washington for "Glory".

Perhaps Lee was exceptionally buoyed by the win for "BlacKkKlansman" for Best Adapted Screenplay. But if he was very surprised that his movie didn't win Best Picture, he probably shouldn't have been. It hadn't won the top category from any awards during the course of the season.

It hadn't even made the list of the top ten by the National Board of Review. Which, incidentally, named "Green Book" as the top movie of the year.
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