Category: The Envelope Please…

It’s time for the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony; I’ll be your host for this evening. To join in on the conversation and fun, you can either respond below or holla at me by sending a message to “@trishalynn” on Twitter.

All times are Eastern ’cause I’m in New York City, and I pray that I will be awake long enough to finish out this awards show.

And let the show begin!

5:38 pm: I’m actually beginning this year’s live blog by watching the very first episode of “Leverage” with a friend who’ll be keeping me company during the boring categories. By starting with this show, I figure that I’ll be going into this very long ceremony on a good note.

I’d like to remind you that our hosts for this year will be Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, only one of whom has hosted the ceremony before. Also, the show is under the production of newbies Bill Mechanic and Adam Shenkman; I am eagerly predicting that there will be many dance numbers which makes my inner girly girl squeal with happiness.

6:44 pm: Yeah, I just finished watching another episode of “Leverage” from DVR because a) we’ve still got a lot of time to kill before even the red carpet stuff starts and b) I do have a guest. Also, there’s no way that I’m going to be able to eat dinner while the show’s going and type at the same time.

I’ve also just added Ben Lyons to my Twitter list because apparently he’s the official backstage Tweeter for the production office. But I’m not adding Ryan Seacrest, no matter how much you beg.

Elizabeth Banks was just on right now, mentioning that she presented the Sci-Tech Oscars, calling them the “nerd Oscars.” Though, there was this awesome moment where she mentioned that she was watching Versace and Tom Ford (fashion designer and director of A Serious Man) was standing next in line to speak to Seacrest so there was a little bit of friendly clashing.

6:50 pm : Sigourney Weaver is so cute speaking about Avatar because even though she is a fairly intelligent woman, she’s totally toeing the company line. She looks fantastic in her red toga-like dress, and she just mentioned that she’s going to be pole-dancing for her role in You, Again. HOMG, I think I may have turned gay.

6:58 pm: I can’t believe that Jay Manuel is employing Monday Night Football-style graphics to talk about fashion. Finally saw Sandra Bullock’s dress, and yes, she does look amazing and gorgeous, but my friend was all, “Eh.” He’s a boy, what does he know?

7:18 pm: Totally dislike Sarah Jessica Parker’s dress. My friend just said that she looks cured, like leather. I completely agree, but I think it’s interesting that they’re talking about the PBS miniseries that Matthew Broderick is on right now

Kathryn Bigelow is tall. I also just noticed that Linda Hamilton’s kinda tall, as is Weaver, and the Na’vi are humongous. I am prepared to unequivocally state that James Cameron has a fetish for tall women.

Charlize Theron had roses on her bodice, and I can’t believe that I’m agreeing with Jay Manuel regarding their placement.

7:28 pm: Matt Damon is looking old for some reason. I also think it’s a shame that though tuxes are so boring to look at. And George Clooney? What happened to your hair? Back to Damon, who mentioned briefly the Liberace project that someone in my office is upset about because one of her clients was going to be doing a Liberace project next.

7:31 pm: Clooney, Queen Latifah, and Adam Shankman are riffing on Jeff Bridges being Lebowski-like. And I think it’s hilarious how Meryl Streep was ignoring Seacrest for just a bit, and now she’s busting his balls.

7:38 pm: Keanu Reeves couldn’t grow a beard to save his life. Why so patchy?

7:42 pm: Gabourey Sidibe is so cute for fist-bumping Keanu Reeves and she just said about her dress, “If fashion were porn, this dress is the money shot.” But I do have to admit, that it reminds me of Christian Siriano’s brown prom dress that he designed for a teenager who ended up hating it.

7:44 pm: RDJ is awesome for rocking the blue bow tie and gray jacket. Thank you for being different and awesome. Seacrest is now just telling us that there’s going to be something awesome happening at the beginning of the show and if it’s NPH himself, Neil Patrick Harris, doing an opening number, I will plotz.

7:53 pm: Kate Winslet looks amazing. Not sure I like the front pleating, though. Jeff Bridges’ partner is just so beautiful. And… now I think they’re recycling the dress shots. That’s okay, this gives me a chance to renew my hatred for Miley Cyrus.

8:04 pm: Switched over to the ABC coverage because it’s close to crunch time. Nice coup for them getting all five of the Supporting Actress nominees to talk to each other, but it just feels weird to have them all corralled like that. OMG, how fucking awesome is George Clooney for running down the fan line like that?

8:09 pm: Seeing the trailer for The Last Song makes me not want to see it. However, I do still appreciate Greg Kinnear’s acting trajectory from “The Soup” and hope the same thing happens to Joel McHale and/or Chris Hardwicke.

8:14 pm: I almost plotzed when Kathy Ireland asked Morgan Freeman about his producer and daughter’s jewelry, but when he mentioned that they’d be auctioning them off to raise money for Nelson Mandela’s charity, I was cool.

Here’s the first montage of the evening, recounting the Best Picture winners for a certain time period before mentioning the nominees for this year. They’re just showing the movie posters in alphabetical order and so far, I am not impressed.

8:26 pm: I totally love Whatshisface from for calling Meryl Streep the most nominated actor in history. And let’s go on with the show! But after these commercial breaks.

8:34 pm: They’ve brought out all the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees on stage to start the show, and Sidibe looks like she’s having the most fun. And now, they’re being escorted off-stage by tuxedo gents and

I am so totally plotzing listening to Neil Patrick Harris sing his fucking heart out, and I completely forgive Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin right now.

8:45 pm: Seven minutes into the show, and I am not loving how often they’re busting into Meryl Streep. And then they just totally got me back with the Hitler joke because of how audacious it was. At least Gabourey Sidibe’s mom like Steve Martin’s joke. I fear I’m totally missing something with the Clooney/Baldwin staring contest, though. All in all, I give this opening monologue a C.

8:50 pm: First award is for Best Supporting Actor, and I want to shoot whomever wrote Cruz’s joke. And the winner is Christophe Walz, and good on him for it. I’m loving the Quentin Tarantino as navigator metaphor in his speech, and it was nicely done.

8:53 pm: Ryan Reynolds introduced Sandra Bullock’s performance in The Blind Side and I’m of two minds as to whether or not I think she should win it, mostly due to accusations of racefail that were thrown about.

9:05 pm: I like the Best Animated Picture introductions. And the winner is Up which totally surprises no one. Very gracious speech from director Pete Docter.

I hate Amanda Seyfried’s dress now, because it’s overly fluffy. She and Miley Cyrus are presenting the Best Original Song nominees, and I do love that they’re showing actual clips from the movie and/or showing the real singers doing the songs in context. Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett take it down for “The Weary Kind” for Crazy Heart. I also just noticed that the “This is the XXth award for BLANK” announcements are back, and I wish they’d stayed away.

9:07 pm: Chris Pine introduces District 9, mostly only because he was in Star Trek. I think they only amped up the “The theme of this movie is based in apartheid” angle so that the rest of the people in the audience could know why it was nominated.

9:16 pm: Yeah, you betta recognize that Tina Fey revived your career, Baldwin. I am in love with the actor/writer banter between Fey and RDJ. There’s that snark and cynicism that I wanted to see in this year’s ceremony. Hooray for Mark Boal, winning Best Original Screenplay for The Hurt Locker.

9:21 pm: Oh no, I didn’t want to think about John Hughes’ death right now. *pours one out* And they’ve now brought out so many of his former leading actors and actresses, and gave his family a standing ovation. I also would feel remiss if I didn’t link to this blog entry I read the day of or the day after his death.

9:25 pm: Okay, as much as I loved Up, can I say that the only reason why I think it got nominated was because it does feature one of the saddest scenes ever to be shot in or for a Disney movie and yes, that does include Old Yeller.

9:35 pm: I’m in love with this montage for the Best Short Film nominees because showing how short films can lead to features and inspiring future full-length film directors is just so neat. “Logorama” wins for Best Animated Short, and I have got to find the whole thing somewhere because it looks kinda neat. I’m in love with producer François Alaux for these lines: “No logos were harmed during the making of the project”, “You can applaud them, they’re directors,” and after mentioning that it took six years to make the short, “I hope to come back with a feature film in about 36 years.”

Best Documentary Short goes to “Music by Prudence” and I am totally perplexed by this woman who just jumped into the middle of their acceptance speech… and they got played off! The winner for Best Live Action short is “The New Tenants,” but I didn’t pay attention to them at all because I was still trying to find out who the white woman was who pulled a Kanye West.

9:43 pm: Best Makeup is being presented by Ben Stiller in Na’vi drag, and there are ways it could have been more effective. I’m saying that Stiller’s 0 for 2 in my book when it comes to Academy Awards presenting. Star Trek wins, and goddamnit, I am really getting pissed off at these people being played off.

9:45 pm: Unfortunately, I have no thoughts on A Serious Man, and I’m totally jonesing for a cigarette.

10:22 pm: A tribute to horror movies? I’m digging this Paranormal Activity tribute, and oh no… Twilight is not a horror movie. How dare they tie these things in together? Still, a good representation from the best horror movies.

10:25 pm: Okay, I love this explanation of how sound editing works because god knows it’s a category that so many laymen don’t understand. Even better that it was narrated by Morgan Freeman. The winner for Best Sound Editing is The Hurt Locker. I hope they explain Sound Mixing at the same time. Nope… that’s a bit of an oversight. Winner for Best Sound Mixing is also The Hurt Locker, and I really hope this is a sign that Locker will beat Avatar for Best Picture.

10:31 pm What the hell was that? They only panned over a picture of the Sci-Tech winners? Oh, Oscars, you hurt us nerds so badly and yet we still care about you.

It would be so awesome if The Inglorious Basterds won the Best Picture award. And while I’m at it, I’m going to link you to this list of honest movie posters which is doing a better job of summarizing the Best Picture nominees than these clips are.

10:36 pm: What’s up with no clips for the Best Cinematography award? Avatar finally picks up a technical Oscar; I’m not as upset about this as I could be.

10:43 pm: Okay, Karl Malden got the most applause during the In Memoriam part and I totally loved James Taylor singing “In My Life” because that is just a sad and wonderful song. For some reason, there seemed to be many more younger people in this montage than usual. Or maybe I’m just noticing this because I’m getting older.

10:52 pm: Street dancers interpreting Original Score, and OMG, it’s the League of Extraordinary Dancers! Their interpretation still doesn’t beat Jasmine Guy and friends from the 1990s, though. The winner is Up, and I have to say that the LXD interpretation of that score did make me tear up. “Being creative is not a waste of time!” So freaking true.

10:55 pm: Avatar picks up the Visual Effects award, and really… it’s probably the only one it really deserved. “Thank you for trusting us with your performances, it couldn’t have been easy,” is such an understatement.

11:07 pm: What’s with all the writer-hate? And just what the hell happened to Matt Damon? Winner for Best Documentary Feature is The Cove which is probably giving every PETA member in a 25 mile radius a hell of an orgasm. But an organic one. Also a first for Oscars? First mass cell phone sign-up ad on stage.

11:10 pm: After a more entertaining bit than most of anything Martin and Baldwin have done, Tyler Perry presents the Best Film Editing award to The Hurt Locker and my hopes are renewed again. Also, love those editors for saying they did the movie mostly without studio interference. And speaking of The Hurt Locker, I’m sad to say that I still haven’t seen it yet.

11:18 pm: I’ve decided that I don’t like the lampshade curtain wall that keeps coming down. That must go. El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes) wins Best Foreign Language film, and writer/director Juan José Campanella’s joke about not having to compete against Avatar probably only went over with me.

11:33 pm: Interesting that they’re bringing back one of the things I loved from last year’s telecast. Michelle Pfieffer’s tribute to Jeff Bridges rocked, as did Vera Farmiga’s to George Clooney. Colin Firth’s smile at Julianne Moore’s words to him made me tear up, as does Morgan Freeman’s at Tim Robbins’ joke, but in a different way. And of course Colin Farrell’s was amazing. Hearty applause for everyone. And the Oscar goes to Jeff Bridges! Goddamn, his wife is gorgeous.

11:52 pm: For some reason I’m not loving these Best Actress speeches as much as I loved the Best Actor ones… except for Stanley Tucci’s. Did Sean Penn just imply that Meryl Streep got robbed last year? God, I love that man sometimes.

Sandra Bullock wins for The Blind Side, and I think I love the fact that she’s not only the winner of the Best Actress Oscar but she’s also the winner of the Worst Actress Razzie for her work in All About Steve. Oh, God… is this over yet?

11:58 pm: Best Director goes to Kathryn Bigelow, and I did give a little screech of happiness. I’m even happier that Avatar didn’t win Best Picture.

And I’m done!

Every year, the U.S. film entertainment industry dislocates its shoulder by giving itself (and our foreign friends whom we think are cool enough) the largest pat on the back in the form of the Academy Awards show. Viewed by almost 36 million people last year, the Oscars aim to honor the best in film in front of the camera, behind it, and even within it.

The awards are a venerable institution in Hollywood as have been attempts to influence either the selection of the nominees and/or the voting on the awards themselves. The winner of this year’s Best Controversy Heading into the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony is Variety publisher Brian Gott and director John Newton for Iron Cross.

Back in November 2009, Pete Hammond wrote in his blog for the L.A. Times a story about how British writer/director Joshua Newton was working non-stop around the clock to finish work on his movie Iron Cross so that it would be eligible for a 2009 nomination for lead actor Roy Schieder’s last performance before his death from multiple myeloma cancer the year before.

The blog entry itself was a nice piece of fluffy work, but not really anything special until this particular paragraph:

To that end [Newton] has gotten his investors to agree to a “substantial” buy (about $400,000) in the Hollywood trade paper Variety with ads of one sort or another running every day until Oscar voters have turned in their ballots in late January. The campaign started in mid-November with daily yellow-and-white teaser strips sporting phrases like “Would my dad turn this murderer over to the authorities?” and “Anger clouds the heart and threatens the choices we make” leading up to this week’s expensive Weekly Variety full color cover ad of Scheider and a one-page open letter to academy and HFPA members, the same one that ran in Monday’s daily paper with a DVD copy of the film’s trailer attached.

Thanks to some investigative journalism from the folks at Defamer.com, apparently that $400,000 advertising campaign also included yanking down a negative review of the movie from freelancer Robert Koehler because it didn’t mesh with the overall tone of the advertising campaign.

Defamer.com writer John Cook even printed an email he got from an anonymous source attributed to Newton which speaks about the advertising campaign and his disappointment in Koehler’s work as a critic:

I have checked Koehler’s [critiques] out. For instance, look at this list of reviews for the hit comedy Rat Race:

http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/ratrace

You’ll note the very high percentages awarded by the top critics – reaching 100% by the San Francisco Chronicle. Koehler, who trashes many movies, gave it only 20%, stating “A lineup of comic actors running on empty long before the dust settles”. Clearly a man without a sense of humour. Which probably explains why he hated Iron Cross.

Best part of all is that Newton is now claiming that the Variety ad sales team is ultimately responsible for the mess because they promised that for his cost of $400,000, he and his private investors would get a top notch For Your Consideration campaign, but instead were sold a shoddy bill of sale upon the publication of the review. And thanks to the power of Google cache and citizen journalists, the entire review can still be seen here.

So congratulations, Misters Gott and Newton, and thank you for reminding us once again about the integrity surrounding the Academy Awards.

Thanks to having focused on releasing both Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler last year with both receiving Oscars nominations (and in Millionaire‘s case, winning almost all of its categories), the Toronto Film Festival has become the new “it” place to stage a run for the Oscars.

Like an ouroboros feeding on itself, the media noted this and swarmed to the festival this year and thanks to its win of the People’s Choice award (as helpfully summarized here by Moviehole.com), Precious, Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire has now become the film to beat in the Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress categories due to similar wins at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Starring newcomer Gabourey Sidibe in the title role with Mo’Nique playing her invalid mother, the film is based on the 1996 debut novel from poet and performance artist Sapphire, and to be perfectly honest, the subject matter is something that the Oscars audience usually eats up: downtrodden person overcomes unforgivable obstacles with the help of inspirational teachers.

That the “unforgivable obstacles” include incest, teen pregnancy and sexual abuse is perhaps the film’s only stumbling block because unlike Juno and its win two years ago, there ain’t nothing fluffy about how the problems in Precious begin.

(Now that I think about it a little more deeply, I think that Geoffrey Fletcher, the screenwriter for Precious should also be nominated for the adapted screenplay award because having been able to translate the novel’s stream of conscious narrative into film is definitely some kind of achievement.)

Having both Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey as two of your executive producers also won’t hurt the movie’s chances at all… or perhaps it could hinder them as both Perry and Winfrey are such entertainment powerhouses that it could turn the voting audience away from such spectacle.

Still, I do have to give Mo’Nique a lot of credit because when she was on the WPIX morning news show here in New York City last week promoting the movie, she pooh-poohed the entertainment reporter’s questions about the producing duo, saying that sophomore director Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer) really deserved all the credit for creating and crafting the production.

Also starring Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey (yes, really), Precious will be in limited release in the U.S. on November 6.

This is a new experiment for us here at MovieMake-out.com, which is our liveblog of the 81st annual Academy Awards ceremony. I’ll be your host and lead blogger and I’m hoping that Gordon will be able to chime in from time to time when he’s not working on Monday’s Multiplex comic. (Sorry, Trisha! I was swamped. — gm)

To join in on the conversation and fun, you can either respond below or holla at me by sending a message to “@trishalynn” on Twitter.

Click for the liveblog! (All times are Eastern, ’cause I’m in NYC.)

5:46 pm So I’m destressing before the actual pre-show event by watching “Ace of Cakes.” I do not have any preconceptions about how the actual show will go, despite the producers’ hope of an actual party atmosphere. And as for the rest of you who are actually watching this in your homes or someone else’s homes (and are over the age of 21) here’s a link to the first Oscars drinking game I found via Google that I liked. Alas, I only have one bottle of beer and one bottle of wine in my apartment and must blog, so I can’t play along. Boo responsibility!

6:50 pm Switched over to ABC’s coverage, and man is this boring. One thing that must not be forgotten about this year’s Oscar night is that this will be the first year that advertisements for upcoming movies can be shown during the telecast.

And as we noted in one of our previous posts, we may get to see even new trailers for movies like X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 26), and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17). The question is, of the sole ad spot each distributor will get, which movies will they go with?

6:53 pm And speaking of ABC’s coverage, the audio from the microphone has just cut out during Melissa Leo’s (Best Actress nominee for Frozen River) interview. Let’s hope that Taraji P. Henson’s (Best Supporting Actress for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) interview goes better. Aw… her namechecking was so cute.

7:14 pm Say what you will about Barbara Walters, but I do love her first follow-up to the dating question she asked Nick Jonas because gave a direct quote for him to rebutt, and though he didn’t, it makes him and the rest of the Jonas Brothers look evasive for not answering. She was a serious journalist once upon a time, and for that I still have a modicum of respect for her.

7:41 pm The money quote from the Barbara Walters interview with Mickey Rourke, about what it would mean to him if he won the Best Actor award: “You can’t eat it, you can’t fuck it, and it won’t get [you] into heaven.” Word.

8:02 pm Oh hooray! Tim Gunn is doing the live red carpet stuff on ABC. I’m good with that, and Kate Winslet is wearing a dress that’s an updated version of the schizoid dress that Kim Basinger wore years ago. Sarah Jessica Parker has vagina-boob arms going on, and it’s kinda sad. [Edit: Perhaps this is pre-taped… but that’s okay by me.]

8:17 pm Mickey Rourke is so freaking hot in Jean-Paul Gauthier. I do not know why the kids from HSM or Miley Cyrus are doing interviews on the red carpet, but if Hannah Montanna: The Movie does get an Oscars nomination next year, I think I will have to puke.

8:27 pm Okay, playing the accountancy sea shanty from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life while introducing the Pricewaterhouse Coopers guys? Well played, ABC. Marissa Tomei looks like she’s wearing a bunch of cocktail napkins stitched together. And this montage about what the Oscars are going to look and sound like? WTH?

8:28 pm Here we go… after these words from our sponsors.

8:38 pm No opening video montage, and the first song sounds like a mash-up of “Sing, Sing, Sing” and some Aaron Copeland piece. Not a good start, imo. RDJ applauding himself? Awesome. Hugh with a disparaging joke about Australia? OH YEAHHHHH… I think my ovaries are combusting right now. Craigslist dancers? Cheap little backgrounds, and Anne Hathaway singing and doing a Nixon pose? And the finale? Okay, I take it back, this Oscars telecast could be very, very awesome.

8:47 pm Okay, five presenters per award? This could get somewhat tedious, but I think I like the idea of these elder stateswomen passing the torch to the next actresses. Goldie Hawn, I really wish that you had taken a brush to your hair. And the first award goes to…Penelope Cruz.

9:02 pm Well played, Tina Fey and Steve Martin. But I do have to wonder abour Fey’s hair because she reminds me of the woman in the pre-show film for the Star Tours ride at Disneyland. Goddamn, I really want WALL-E to win… and am disappointed when Dustin Lance Black wins for Milk. Lots of applause for Black’s speech and yes, yes, yes! for the equal rights moment in his speech. And is this the beginning of the Slumdog Millionaire steamroll?

9:07 pm Strangest presenter combo of the evening? Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black. I really wanted to pour one out for the Iron Giant mention, because if there’s a movie that really deserved some kudos, that was it. And the Dreamworks/Pixar joke? Would have probably worked coming out of a different presenter’s mouth. Hooray for WALL-E, which was a shoo-in. And look how cute Kumio Kato is… thanking his pencil, and doing a Mr. Roboto joke after winning the best animated short film award.

9:24 pm I think I really like the format for these Oscars, going through them in the order of how a film is made, because a lot of people do forget about the little people. Having the music play under the intro speeches? Is very freaking distracting. I am still not in love with Sarah Jessica Parker’s dress or boobage. Benjamin Button picks up the art direction and make-up awards, which means that it’s trending to be honored more for its technical aspects than its acting ones. The Duchess gets the costume design award, and I’ll bet this screws up a lot of people in their office pools.

9:29 pm Teeny-boppers presenting a movie montage above love? Ugh… and I don’t even know who the girl presenting with SparklyVampire was.

9:35 pm OMGWTF, Ben Stiller?! What the hell is up with these weirdo presenter combos? And Slumdog racks up another win, this time in cinematography.

9:40 pm And… once again, the Sci-Tech award winners get shafted. They didn’t even show more than two of its winners? *rolls eyes* But at least we know that Dreamworks and/or Paramount won’t be able to show any other trailers during this broadcast because they shot their wad with The Soloist.

9:47 pm Comedy montage? Not bad… best moment was when the cinematographer guy got involved, both in the montage and on stage. And here’s another office pool breaker… Spielzeugland (aka Toyland), for best live-action short.

9:57 pm “The musical is back, ladies and gentlemen!” Oh yes, I love it when he dances. But honestly? Wasn’t the very first part of this song a take on “All I Need is the Girl”? It’s a shame that I don’t know who the hell this woman is– oh wait, that’s what the High School Musical kids were doing on the red carpet and whatnot and that’s Beyonce. I am such a dork. ABBA done as a drum and bugle corps number? Not bad, but it’s a shame that you really can’t see the real musicals that are showing on the scrim behind the dancers at the top of the stage. And I totally should have guessed that Bah Luhrmann was behind that.

9:59 pm Green Card + Two Weeks Notice = The Proposal. And there’s Touchstone’s wad blown.

10:08 pm And here we go with the best supporting actor award nominees, and man! I’m actually very happy to see Joel Gray up there. Oh, Cuba Gooding, Jr. Thank you for saying everything we wanted to say when we first heard about RDJ’s part in Tropic Thunder. So glad Heath Ledger won this award, and yes, he did deserve it. *sniffle* Nicely done, Ledger family.

10:15 pm Apparently no one’s surprised that Man on Wire wins best feature documentary. But nicely done, Philippe Petit for not only doing a magic trick on the stage, but balancing the Oscar on your chin. Smile Pinki wins best short documentary; I have to think that Megan Mylan memorized her speech.

10:35 pm Action montage was mostly all superhero movies, and that’s fine with me. Once again, Benjamin Button gets the visual effects award here. I honestly think that when it comes to geek-awards, we shot our wad with The Return of the King and won’t get another chance for two more decades. Whoops, I take that back, we got sound editing with The Dark Knight. And Slumdog Millionaire gets one more for sound mixing, in a category I doubted they’d win. Nice job, giving most of the speech to Resul Pookutty. And here’s another one to Chris Dickens for film editing on Millionaire.

10:50 pm The more I see the promo for “Castle” the less I want to see it, even if it does star Captain Tightpants.

11:01 pm Musical score montage ends with Slumdog Millionaire; is that a sign it’s gonna win? Love Alicia Keyes’ pronunciation. Yep… another one for Millionaire, for original score. Wait, why are there taiko drummers on stage with Hindi dancers? I think that I really like the fact that they were able to blend the songs so well into one song. Hooray for mashups? Will this be yet another Slumdog win? And…. yep. This is starting to get boring.

11:10 pm Though I’m sad that Ploning didn’t get a nomination and glad that Waltz with Bashir was able to be nominated, I know nothing at all about Departure.

11:15 pm Oh, damn… I do believe I detest this new format for this part of the show because I want to see the full images of the people who have died. What the hell is up with this damn sweeping camera bullshit? So pissed off.

11:23 pm Reese Witherspoon is wearing a very strange dress tonight. David Fincher looks like he doesn’t think he’s going to win. Hah! Nice of Danny Boyle to start with a light moment. And he is right that it’s been a pretty good show so far.

11:33 pm Marlee Matlin winning her best actress Oscar was one of my favorite moments. But why did they use the theme from Tara during the announcement of which five previous best actress winners? And Shirley MacClaine’s speech to Anne Hathaway is why I think I love this new idea of having the previous winners present to the present nominees. Of course Sophia Loren is presenting to Meryl Streep. How could she not? But is it just me, or does Loren look like she’s on something? I’m sure Dr. Pauly or Change100 would know. And yay for Kate Winslet, because Anne Hathaway will indeed be back in a future year to win. Oh, how cute is her father for whistling like that? Love his hat.

11:43 pm I hope Adrien Brody kisses the winner of this category, because that would be awesome. And now I’m so curious as to how exactly they matched up these previous presenters with the current nominees. Michael Douglas’ father played opposite Frank Langella. I do not get the DeNiro/Penn connection, unless it’s a Tribeca Film Festival thing. And I also don’t remember when Brad Pitt worked with Anthony Hopkins. Kinda disappointed Mickey Rourke didn’t win, but this is definitely going to make me try and catch Sean Penn in Milk if they decide to show it again. “I do know how hard I make it hard to appreciate me,” “Commie homo-loving sons of guns” and his admonishment at the end to the Proposition 8 supporters makes this one of the best speeches ever.

11:53 pm And finally, at the end of the evening, our grand prize winner is… Slumdog Millionaire, with almost the entire cast and crew coming up on stage to accept the film.

And we’re out of here…!

By now, almost everyone knows that the best way for an actor—or actress, but I really dislike the word sometimes—to garner an Oscar nomination includes being British or playing a person with mental disabilities.

Well, Variety’s Timothy M. Gray came up with a few more categories to add to the “Oscars bait” pool, including:

Talk funny. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood was a prime example of a long, proud tradition of speaking in a strange voice, using eccentric rhythms and speech patterns and—this is important—doing it while squinting.

[In the running for the Best Animated Picture nomination is] $9.99, a stop motion toon for grown-ups, based on the very short stories of Israeli writer Etgar Keret (some of them no longer than a sneeze, but evocative enough to set your imagination running). That might seem like a shortage of material on which to base a feature, but consider that most blockbusters can be reduced to 25 words or less….”
—Variety’s Peter Debruge, on the very curious nature of this year’s Best Animated Picture selections