Oscar Night 2009: LIVE BLOGGING!!!

In summation . . .

Well, it was an evening of some surprises, though with just as many awards going as predicted. Slumdog Millionaire fared much better than I expected it to, winning all but one of its nominations. WALL-E took home Best Animated Feature, continuing Pixar's Oscar streak. Kate Winslet finally brought home an Oscar, and Heath Ledger won the second-ever posthumous Oscar. Though I thought The Dark Knight would have fared much better than it did tonight. I thought Hugh Jackman proved to be quite a good and engaging host, and I really liked how the acting awards were presented as individual profiles of each nominee. All in all, a pretty good show.

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11:53 pm

Best Picture: Christian Colson for Slumdog Millionaire — Well, the favorite won it! And I had gotten so used to seeing Jack Nicholson give the Best Picture award that I was caught off-guard by Steven Spielberg walking onto the stage.

Best Actor: Sean Penn for Milk — Wow, this was a major upset here! I was fully expecting (and dare I say, hoping!) Mickey Rourke to win. Though that was a nice little call-out he did to Rourke in his speech.

Best Actress: Kate Winslet for The Reader — Woohoo!!! Finally! After how many nominations? Was it five, six? The incredible Kate Winslet finally brings home that wonderful golden trophy that she so righteously deserves.

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11:22 pm

Best Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire — I was personally hoping for David Fincher to win this one, even though I knew it was Slumdog’s.

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11:09 pm

Best Foreign Language Film: Departures from Japan — I'm seriously going to have to find out where these foreign language films are being shown! Because in retrospect, I would love to have seen such films like City of God or The Lives of Others on the big screen.

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11:03 pm

Best Original Song: A.R. Rahman and Sampooran Singh Gulzar for "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire — I liked how they grouped all the songs together in this show, rather than spread them out across the night. I think there are fewer song selections this year, too. You know, with all these awards, I may have to see Slumdog Millionaire sooner rather than later!

Best Original Score: A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire — I couldn't help but notice that all the nominated musical selections were slow and meditative, with Slumdog Millionaire being the notable exception (at least instrumentally).

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10:45 pm

You know, I really enjoyed seeing Eddie Murphy give the Jean Hersholt tribute to Jerry Lewis. It reminded me of the Eddie Murphy I knew and loved back in the '80s. And that was quite a lovely speech by Jerry Lewis.

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10:36 pm

Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire — Hmmm, seems like a dead heat now between Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button!

Best Sound Mixing: Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, and Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire — Now I had thought The Dark Knight would pick up this one, because the difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing must be a very fine line. That was a very nice acceptance speech, though!

Best Sound Editing: Richard King for The Dark Knight — I missed this speech, because I was letting Nora back into the apartment. :)

Best Visual Effects: Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Like I said earlier, Benjamin Button is gaining quite a fooothold here!

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10:19 pm

Best Documentary Short: Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki — I wonder if these are playing at the E Street Cinema, too. Or the Drafthouse!

Best Documentary Feature: James Marsh and Simon Chinn for Man on Wire — Wow, I wasn't expecting Bill Maher to present an award tonight! And the magic tricks were a nice touch, too.

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight — I must disagree with a comment made to this live-blog post, because this is a worthy award for a very worthy performance. And Heath Ledger now becomes the second-ever posthumous award winner, after Peter Finch for Network. And I think it's very classy for the Academy to allow his family the opportunity to accept his Oscar.

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9:56 pm

Okay, I'm less impressed with this musical number than I was the first one. Hugh Jackman has great energy, but this number here seems a little redundant.

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9:48 pm

Best Live Action Short: Jochen Alexander Freydank for Spielzeugland — Okay, I must fess up to my idiocy here, because that short film with James Franco and Seth Rogan, it didn't even occur to me that this would be the buildup to the category's Oscar! Here, I thought it was just another montage.

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9:36 pm

Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire — Wow, Ben Stiller's really stealing the spotlight here! Is it me, or does he actually look good in that scruffy beard?

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9:28 pm

Best Makeup: Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Wow, I thought Hellboy II would take this home! But I think Benjamin Button could be gaining a strong foothold here tonight! Look out, Slumdog!

Best Costume Design: Michael O'Connor for The Duchess — Now this award makes sense, because costume design on a period piece is always a sure-fire winner.

Best Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Oooh, now I had thought this would go to either The Dark Knight or The Duchess. The first of many surprises tonight!

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9:10 pm

Best Animated Short Film: Kunio Katô for La Maison en petits cubes — Okay, I published pre-emptively just now. But I'd like to make it to the E Street Cinema sometime, as I think these shorts are playing there!

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9:07 pm

Best Animated Feature: Andrew Stanton for WALL-E — Pixar's Oscar streak continues! And I think I like Jack Black's plan of action RE: Pixar. ;)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire — You know, I'm intriged that Tina Fey and Steve Martin not only presented both screenwriting awards, but presented them one after the other! I regretfully haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, so I can't comment on the faithfulness of its adaptation.

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk — Another big award at the beginning! I had a feeling it would come down to either Milk or WALL-E.

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8:49 pm

Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona — Wow, I didn't think they'd start off with an acting Oscar right off the bat! But it's a great way to get me hooked. :) And it's quite nice to see Eva Marie Saint grace the stage!

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8:36 pm

Now this is an interesting musical number! Though I admit, a little unexpected. ;) But I like how Hugh Jackman's getting the audience involved directly, as this is quite a good nominee montage. I didn't realize Anne Hathaway could sing so well, either!

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8:31 pm

Wow, that's some stage they got! And it looks like the festivities are about to begin! Woohoo!!!

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8:25 pm

Wow, that's a super-long dress that Marisa Tomei is wearing tonight! And I'm wondering if it was wise to bring up her previous Oscar win (for My Cousin Vinny), because that was one of the greatest whiskey-tango-foxtrot moments in Oscar history.

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8:06 pm

You know, after all these years, even after seeing his bad-boy persona so strong and so believable in Grindhouse and No Country for Old Men, it's still hard to see Josh Brolin as anyone other than Brand from The Goonies.

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8:00 pm

All righty, people, it's time to get this party started!!! :) Tonight will mark my third year of live-blogging the Oscars, and this year I'm blogging the show from Nora's laptop (my own little change of venue). I'm quite excited to see this year's crop of winners, and I'm feeling pretty good about Hugh Jackman as host! And with all the possible outcomes, upsets, and surprises that could unfold before us tonight, naturally the suspense is terrible. Will Slumdog Millionaire sweep all the awards it's been nominated for, or could Benjamin Button or The Dark Knight sneak up from behind? Could Meryl Streep and Robert Downey, Jr., overpower Kate Winslet and Heath Ledger? Or will Kung-Fu Panda upset Pixar's Oscar streak? . . . By the end of tonight, all our questions will be answered! :)