The 81st Annual Academy Awards--Live!
I will be blogging this live, updating at every commercial or so.
8:56pm Definitely some surprises here. Not Kate Winslet for THE READER, I thought it was her turn. Sean Penn as Best Actor for MILK over Frank Langella's Nixon in FROST/NIXON, that I didn't see, even though his performance was just fine. Or SLUMDOG taking Best Picture over BENJAMIN BUTTON, though it does seem like a total sweep for SLUMDOG.
8:23pm Danny Boyle wins Best Director for SLUMDOG. I was betting on David Fincher for BENJAMIN BUTTON, so this would seem to trend toward SLUMDOG winning top honors for the evening. Only, the order of presentations often reflects the most suspense of the awards, so I'd think that if SLUMDOG were to also win for Best Picture, that they'd present them in quick succession. We'll see shortly--
8:16pm A wondeful tribute led by Queen Latifah, to the luminaries who have died in the last year, culminating in Sydney Pollack and Paul Newman. Here's to them--
8:08pm Best Foreign Language goes to DEPARTURES from Japan. Didn't see any of the nominees, so I have no real opinion here.
8:04pm Best Song goes to SLUMDOG--moving things along--
7:57pm Best Original Score to SLUMDOG--again, no surprise there.
7:46pm Class act! The Jean Hersholdt Humanitarian Award this year went to Jerry Lewis, as presented by Eddie Murphy. Lewis has been an asshole in interviews, and Murphy in real life, but here both comported themselves perfectly. Not too histrionic, and not too long. Exactly as it should be.
7:37pm I'd guessed DARK KNIGHT for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing, so I was half right. (Best Sound Editing). I'm not that surprised that SLUMDOG won for Best Sound, or for Best Editing, since it was my guess there. It now becomes a race between SLUMDOG and BENJAMIN BUTTON, with those two splitting the lower categories, both have great momentum as the major categories roll around. I'm still betting on BENJAMIN BUTTON.
7:19pm Best Supporting Actor, Heath Ledger for DARK KNIGHT. Foregone conclusion of the night. At least his surviving family in accepting didn't drag it out. Unusual selection of presenters, though: Joel Grey, Alan Arkin, Cuba Gooding Jr, Christopher Walken, and Kevin Kline (who read the tribute to Ledger). But no film clips of the acting! Again, that's not right.
Best Documentary presenter is Bill Maher?! Who promotes his own movie, RELIGULOUS?
6:58pm Big flashy musical number, courtesy of Baz Luhrmann. Actually, I was more impressed with the low-budget opening number, a tribute to the major films of the year.
6:48pm Didn't know anything about any of the Short Subjects, so I didn't even hazard a guess there. But points to Judd Apatow for bringing Januz Kaminski in for some humor (winner for Best Cinematography for SCHINDLER'S LIST and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN). Also, with Seth Rogen holding one of Kaminski's Oscars and asking if it could be turned into a pipe, it's the Oscar's very first pot reference.
6:40pm Best Cinematography I thought would go to SLUMDOG, even though it wasn't appreciably more impressive than any of the other nominees, which were all excellent. I think the visuals of SLUMDOG stay with people a little longer, so I'd guessed that.
6:30pm I just called three wins: Best Art Direction (BENJAMIN BUTTON), Best Costume Design (THE DUCHESS), and Best Makeup (BENJAMIN BUTTON). I haven't seen THE DUCHESS, but Best Costume usually goes to the most periody piece, so I guessed that one. I could've seen Art Direction go in number of different ways for just that reason, but BENJAMIN BUTTON was a tour de force, especially with makeup, aging and reverse-aging Brad Pitt, so I knew that'd take it.
6:11pm Screenplay Oscars: I could've guessed SLUMDOG would take it, but I'd put my money on BENJAMIN BUTTON, thinking it'd get caught up in the sweep I'm predicting. But SLUMDOG is better suited to the lower categories, I'm thinking, unless this presages a big night for it yet to come. MILK was kind of a surprise, I'd guessed IN BRUGES just based on the buzz (haven't seen it), but it did provide the ceremony with a heartfelt social message, happens every year. And MILK was a good movie, not overly preachy, so I'm glad it won one (because I don't think Penn or Van Sant are gonna pick one up).
WALL-E was my guess on Best Animated, again largely on the buzz, as I haven't seen any of the nominees (though I did want to catch this, I didn't get a chance).
5:50pm First Oscar of the night--Penelop Cruz wins Best Supporting Actress for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. But as introduced by Goldie Hawn, Eva Marie Saint, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tilda Swinton, there were no film clips of their performances, just these previous winners gushing about how great each of the nominees were. I feel cheated.
8:56pm Definitely some surprises here. Not Kate Winslet for THE READER, I thought it was her turn. Sean Penn as Best Actor for MILK over Frank Langella's Nixon in FROST/NIXON, that I didn't see, even though his performance was just fine. Or SLUMDOG taking Best Picture over BENJAMIN BUTTON, though it does seem like a total sweep for SLUMDOG.
8:23pm Danny Boyle wins Best Director for SLUMDOG. I was betting on David Fincher for BENJAMIN BUTTON, so this would seem to trend toward SLUMDOG winning top honors for the evening. Only, the order of presentations often reflects the most suspense of the awards, so I'd think that if SLUMDOG were to also win for Best Picture, that they'd present them in quick succession. We'll see shortly--
8:16pm A wondeful tribute led by Queen Latifah, to the luminaries who have died in the last year, culminating in Sydney Pollack and Paul Newman. Here's to them--
8:08pm Best Foreign Language goes to DEPARTURES from Japan. Didn't see any of the nominees, so I have no real opinion here.
8:04pm Best Song goes to SLUMDOG--moving things along--
7:57pm Best Original Score to SLUMDOG--again, no surprise there.
7:46pm Class act! The Jean Hersholdt Humanitarian Award this year went to Jerry Lewis, as presented by Eddie Murphy. Lewis has been an asshole in interviews, and Murphy in real life, but here both comported themselves perfectly. Not too histrionic, and not too long. Exactly as it should be.
7:37pm I'd guessed DARK KNIGHT for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing, so I was half right. (Best Sound Editing). I'm not that surprised that SLUMDOG won for Best Sound, or for Best Editing, since it was my guess there. It now becomes a race between SLUMDOG and BENJAMIN BUTTON, with those two splitting the lower categories, both have great momentum as the major categories roll around. I'm still betting on BENJAMIN BUTTON.
7:19pm Best Supporting Actor, Heath Ledger for DARK KNIGHT. Foregone conclusion of the night. At least his surviving family in accepting didn't drag it out. Unusual selection of presenters, though: Joel Grey, Alan Arkin, Cuba Gooding Jr, Christopher Walken, and Kevin Kline (who read the tribute to Ledger). But no film clips of the acting! Again, that's not right.
Best Documentary presenter is Bill Maher?! Who promotes his own movie, RELIGULOUS?
6:58pm Big flashy musical number, courtesy of Baz Luhrmann. Actually, I was more impressed with the low-budget opening number, a tribute to the major films of the year.
6:48pm Didn't know anything about any of the Short Subjects, so I didn't even hazard a guess there. But points to Judd Apatow for bringing Januz Kaminski in for some humor (winner for Best Cinematography for SCHINDLER'S LIST and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN). Also, with Seth Rogen holding one of Kaminski's Oscars and asking if it could be turned into a pipe, it's the Oscar's very first pot reference.
6:40pm Best Cinematography I thought would go to SLUMDOG, even though it wasn't appreciably more impressive than any of the other nominees, which were all excellent. I think the visuals of SLUMDOG stay with people a little longer, so I'd guessed that.
6:30pm I just called three wins: Best Art Direction (BENJAMIN BUTTON), Best Costume Design (THE DUCHESS), and Best Makeup (BENJAMIN BUTTON). I haven't seen THE DUCHESS, but Best Costume usually goes to the most periody piece, so I guessed that one. I could've seen Art Direction go in number of different ways for just that reason, but BENJAMIN BUTTON was a tour de force, especially with makeup, aging and reverse-aging Brad Pitt, so I knew that'd take it.
6:11pm Screenplay Oscars: I could've guessed SLUMDOG would take it, but I'd put my money on BENJAMIN BUTTON, thinking it'd get caught up in the sweep I'm predicting. But SLUMDOG is better suited to the lower categories, I'm thinking, unless this presages a big night for it yet to come. MILK was kind of a surprise, I'd guessed IN BRUGES just based on the buzz (haven't seen it), but it did provide the ceremony with a heartfelt social message, happens every year. And MILK was a good movie, not overly preachy, so I'm glad it won one (because I don't think Penn or Van Sant are gonna pick one up).
WALL-E was my guess on Best Animated, again largely on the buzz, as I haven't seen any of the nominees (though I did want to catch this, I didn't get a chance).
5:50pm First Oscar of the night--Penelop Cruz wins Best Supporting Actress for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. But as introduced by Goldie Hawn, Eva Marie Saint, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tilda Swinton, there were no film clips of their performances, just these previous winners gushing about how great each of the nominees were. I feel cheated.
posted by Russ the Librarian at 5:17 PM
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