• Was it just me or did the sets look reeeeeeeeeeeeeally cheap this year? I understand WHY they presented it that way but it took a lot of the glamour out of the event. Call me old fashioned. Many people praised the look though.
• Look Hugh Jackman was neither here nor there for me. I freakin HATE musicals so that probably had something to do with it. He was respectful, calm and collected but totally uninteresting too.
• Didn’t Brad and Angelina look like they were above it all? (but in a graceful way?)
• Kate Winslet NEARLY went into cringe worthy territory for her acceptance speech but is too classy to really get there. Penelope Cruz got there though.
• Tina Fey continues to rock.
• Seth Rogen and James Franco’s segment. Pretty funny.
• Most awkward moment: Jennifer Aniston presenting in front of Brangelina. Ouch!
• Heather Ledger’s family accepting his award. All class.
• Didn’t know Queen Latifah had a decent voice.
• Beyonce always looks good even if the performance isn’t.
• Danny Boyle jumping around and accepting his award for his kids. Great moment
• Sean Penn giving a fantastic speech
• I said to my wife “Sophia Loren still looks great!”. But then I double-taked when she presented. Whoooahh!
• Seeing the cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire being so happy on stage.
• Jury’s still out on Anne Hathaway. She’s great in Rachel Getting Married (review coming soon) but could end up with an Oscar one day and a tragic acceptance speech to follow
• Even Jack (Nicholson) didn’t show up this year! He’s ALWAYS there! (unless I didn’t see him).
• The 10 second preview of 2009 movies at the end of the ceremony was ultimately a zzzzzzzzzz although Public Enemies is shaping up to be all kinds of awesome.
• Jackman sitting on Frank Langella’s lap and laying one on him seemed rather uncomfortable for all.
• Wall-E was a shoe-in for Best Animated Film but it is easily one of the best FILMS of 2008.
• Overall, I think they should get rid of a host for the Oscar’s entirely OR get Letterman back (j/king). They’re not needed really, especially after the whole thing looks cheaper than ever.

Highlights (few and far between) included Martin Scorsese receiving the Best Director award from his old ‘Rebels on a Backlot’ crew Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Spielberg. As soon as they arrived at the podium, it was quite obvious Marty would win. Helen Mirren accepting her Oscar was all class and I didn’t mind the Will Farrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly skit. Sure it was obvious, but occasionally funny.

I scored 62.5% with my predictions which is pretty shit and not my best effort by far (Last year I scored around 80%!). A few surprises in there including Alan Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor although I had hoped he’d win. A big shock came from Pan’s Labyrinth losing out to The Lives of Others (which I haven’t seen) in the Best Foreign Film category. Since Pan’s is so loved by critics and fans alike, I thought that was a no-brainer. And even Melissa Etheridge winning best song over the three Dreamgirls nominations was a surprise. Not that I liked any of the songs, but I’m sure Dreamgirls fans were shocked.

Next year they really need to radically change the format. Get someone like Sacha Baron Cohen to host the event for one, play a sample of the nominated original songs only and cut all the pointless crap out. Even the recipients can speed things up. For example, if there are four people nominated in a category, at least time it out better so everyone gets to talk. I good 5 seconds is plenty for each person and I even noticed some disappointed winners who didn’t get a chance to thank even one person. Plan it out better you mofos!

But yeah, next year I think I’ll either tape or download the show and skip through most of it. Give me the MTV Movie Awards any day of the week.

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

The Departed will most definitely get this but I still think the original film Infernal Affairs is a better film. Babel deserves this one.

Babel (want to win)
The Departed (will win)
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

A tough one here. I’d like to see Paul Greengrass to get this for a stunning job on United 93. Of course, I also think Babel is a masterpiece so I wouldn’t mind Iñárritu gaining recognition. But it’s Marty’s time to be recognized by the academy.

Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel
Martin Scorsese – The Departed (will win)
Clint Eastwood – Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears – The Queen
Paul Greengrass – United 93 (want to win)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Peter O’Toole is an outside chance but I think Forest Whitaker deserves this one.

Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole – Venus
Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland (want to win & will win)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Penélope Cruz – Volver
Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren – The Queen (want to win & will win)
Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet – Little Children

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine (want to win)
Jackie Earle Haley – Little Children
Djimon Hounsou – Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy – Dreamgirls (will win)
Mark Wahlberg – The Departed

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

This one’s a tough one. The two actresses from Babel are amazing but so is little Abigail Breslin. Unfortunately it will go to Jennifer Hudson.

Adriana Barraza – Babel (Want to win)
Cate Blanchett – Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls (Will win)
Rinko Kikuchi – Babel (Want to win)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer – Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton & David Arata & Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby – Children of Men
William Monahan – The Departed (Want to win and will win)
Todd Field & Tom Perrotta – Little Children
Patrick Marber – Notes on a Scandal

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Guillermo Arriaga – Babel (Want to win)
Iris Yamashita – Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt – Little Miss Sunshine(Will win)
Guillermo del Toro – Pan’s Labyrinth
Peter Morgan – The Queen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

After the Wedding
Days of Glory (Indigenes)
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth (want to win and will win)
Water

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

Cars (Will win)
Happy Feet (want to win)
Monster House

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION

Dreamgirls – Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh (Will win)
The Good Shepherd – Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
Pan’s Labyrinth – Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta (want to win)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik
The Prestige – Art Direction: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Vilmos Zsigmond – The Black Dahlia
Emmanuel Lubezki – Children of Men (Want to win & will win)
Dick Pope – The Illusionist
Guillermo Navarro – Pan’s Labyrinth
Wally Pfister – The Prestige

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

Yee Chung Man – Curse of the Golden Flower
Patricia Field – The Devil Wears Prada
Sharen Davis – Dreamgirls (Will win)
Milena Canonero – Marie Antoinette (Want to win)
Consolata Boyle – The Queen

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth (Want to win & will win)
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING

Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise – Babel
Steven Rosenblum – Blood Diamond
Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón – Children of Men
Thelma Schoonmaker – The Departed (Want to win & will win)
Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson – United 93

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP

Adlo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano – Apocalypto (Want to win)
Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso – Click
David Marti and Montse Ribe – Pan’s Labyrinth (Will win)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SCORE)

Gustavo Santaolalla – Babel (Want to win & Will win)
Thomas Newman – The Good German
Philip Glass – Notes on a Scanda
Javier Navarrete – Pan’s Labyrinth
Alexandre Desplat – The Queen

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SONG)

“I Need to Wake Up” – An Inconvenient Truth Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
“Listen” – Dreamgirls Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler; Lyric by Anne Preven (Want to win & will win)
“Love You I Do” – Dreamgirls Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Siedah Garrett
“Our Town” – Cars Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Patience” – Dreamgirls Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Willie Reale

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Camara – Apocalypto (Want to win)
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock – Blood Diamond
Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton – Dreamgirls (Will win)
John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin – Flags of Our Fathers
Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes and Lee Orloff – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar – Apocalypto (Want to win)
Lon Bender – Blood Diamond
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman – Flags of Our Fathers
Alan Robert Murray – Letters From Iwo Jima (Will win)
Christopher Boyes and George Watters II – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Want to win and will win)
Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier – Poseidon
Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum – Superman Returns

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

The Blood of Yingzhou District (Want to win and will win)
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl (Want to win and will win)
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) (Will win)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour (Want to win! Go Aussies, go!)
West Bank Story