Oscars 2009 Liveblog

For the 2010 Oscars liveblog, click here!

Oscars Liveblog here start 8pm Eastern / 7pm Central / 6pm Mountain / 5pm Los Angeles time. I'm doing things a little differently this year, using Twitter to cross post. On either the site here or any Twitter-enabled device you'll be able to get my live commentary on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's big show -- who won, who should've won, and background that will help you enjoy this festival of Hollywood navel-gazing!

Go to the liveblog!Hit your browser's Refresh or Reload button to keep up.

# including why SLUMDOG was such an Oscar hit. 9:21 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Well, it's only 9:20 here, but I'm uber-tired. As I said, I'll be doing more analysis in the coming days on Making the Movie 9:19 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I think comedic presenters were the best. Ben Stiller's bit will probably be the most memorable presenter moment, not the musical numbers. 9:18 PM Feb 22nd from web

# HJ was fine, but there was nothing other than some fancy dance steps to make him stand out. 9:16 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I think they shouldn't encourage people to give shorter speeches, just speeches with less lists of names. 9:13 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Overall, I liked the show. Since they can't cut the boring categories, there's only so much they can do to bring the time down. Thought the 5 former present bit worked. 9:13 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Amelie Gillette: "They'll never fix the Oscars. But that's why we watch it." http://tinyurl.com/agz7oh 9:10 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Thanks for following along... Lillian. 9:03 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Credits with coming movies... hmmm. Extra desperation frosting. 8:57 PM Feb 22nd from web

# HJ: "Keep on making movies. And keep on going to them." Nothing like a final note of desperation. 8:56 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I'll have an analysis of why SLUMDOG took the gold in the coming days. Check back. o 8:55 PM Feb 22nd from web

# If you keep this speech brief, this show will be done by 9pm! 8:54 PM Feb 22nd from web

# They brought the whole Mumbai slum with them! 8:54 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Need I say... SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Jai hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 8:53 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Best Picture... 8:53 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I've knocked Button, but that montage reminds me what a good-looking movie it is. Gotta love David Fincher. 8:52 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Milk cuts with Network and Braveheart - kinda genius 8:51 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Fun montages mixing the nominees with previous winners. 8:49 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Is Spielberg speaking English? Not time to speak Hindi yet - wait till Slumdog wins. 8:48 PM Feb 22nd from web

# A last word for Mickey Rourke, "He is my brother." 8:47 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Penn praises Gus Van Sandt. Then turns political - "We've got to have equal rights for everyone." Good! 8:46 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Sean Penn: "I know how hard I make it to love me." Calls Acad "commie, homo-loving sons of guns" multiple times 8:45 PM Feb 22nd from web

# As Nikki Finke predicted, Sean Penn takes Best Actor. He won the SAG award and actors are the main Academy voting block. Still, a surprise. 8:44 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Ben Kingsley to Rourke: "We're better off having you in the ring. Welcome back." 8:43 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Angelina is beaming to hear Hopkins praise Brad. 8:42 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Adrian Brody has to look away awkwardly to see his next line when praising Richard Jenkins. 8:41 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Penn is turning red to hear DeNiro speak. Kind of awesome. 8:40 PM Feb 22nd from web

# DeNiro: "How did he do it? How did Sean Penn all those years get roles playing straight men?" 8:39 PM Feb 22nd from web

# He and Langella were apparently comparing notes on Nixon. Michael Douglas gets to praise him though, not Hopkins. 8:38 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Anthony Hopkins gets a huge cheer! 8:37 PM Feb 22nd from web

# And yes, this was her better performance. My THE READER review: http://tinyurl.com/bzauym 8:36 PM Feb 22nd from web

# She thanks the whole crew - big points. Class act. Gotta love Kate Winslet. 8:35 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Kate Winslet holding Oscar: "8 year old did this speech in bathroom mirror. This would've been a shampoo bottle. Not a shampoo bottle now!" 8:34 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I also thought Meryl Streep was impeccable and Melissa Leo was pretty good. 8:33 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Kate Winslet. Yay! 8:32 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Sophia Loren, I'm sorry, looks like a mummified corpse. She could learn from Streep how to age with grace. 8:31 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Does having a montage of actresses saying thank you deaden the big climax of an actress saying thank you? 8:26 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Wikipedia on Longinus: http://tinyurl.com/bt8hl6

# Boyle gets points by thanking the producers of the show. Thanks Longinus. The philosopher? No, the choreographer. 8:22 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. He should stay up there so he can be handy when they hand out Best Picture. 8:21 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Reece Witherspoon read Best Director nominees... momentum is for Boyle and Slumdog 8:20 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Ledger died January 22, 2008. Before the previous telecast. They must do it from the day of the Awards, because James Whitmore died Feb. 8:18 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Lillian: Was Heath Ledger not in that or am I crazy? 8:16 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Big finish with Anthony Mingella, Sidney Pollack, Paul Newman. #oscars 8:15 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Hearing applause for writers like Crichton, Pinter, Abbie Mann. Also Roy Scheider, Isaac Hayes. No applause for Farber the film critic. 8:14 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Queen Latifah sings for the recently dead. Hard to read the names behind her, even in HD. 8:12 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Scott Tobias: I think that "This is a departure for me!" joke was probably better before it was translated to English. 8:09 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Yojiro Takita "I. Am. Here. Because. Of. Film. We will be back, I hope." 8:09 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Departures wins! Lillian: "Random" The odds on favorite was Waltz with Bashir. Maybe The Class. Actual surprise here. 8:07 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Frida Pinto and Frankenstein: Best Foreign Film or what it should be called, non-English language film - I hate word 'Foreign' - especially since Academy is getting more international 8:07 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Me: "Slumdog domination" Lillian: "I'm just very happy about that." 8:05 PM Feb 22nd from web

# AR Raman "The essense of the filim, which is about optimism. All my life I had a choice between hate and love. I chose love and I'm here" 8:03 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Jai Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! #oscars 8:01 PM Feb 22nd from web

# That was decent medley. Helped by the fact that the Slumdog songs are AWESOME. 8:00 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Personally, I like his jazzy rendition just as well as Gabriel's 7:59 PM Feb 22nd from web

# John Legend fills in for Peter Gabriel who dropped out from singing the WALL-e song 7:58 PM Feb 22nd from web

# O saya! sung by Rahman - could he be a back-to-back double winner? 7:57 PM Feb 22nd from web

# That makes at least three people who have expressed thanks in languages other than English by my count. Good deal. Hope #oscars stay int'l 7:57 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: A.R. Rahman SLUMDOG - yes! 7:54 PM Feb 22nd from web

# "Please welcome Zak Efron and Alicia Keys" Do I have to? 7:53 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Snooze. Spielberg liked it though. 7:53 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Michael Giacchino, future winner for the score to PIXAR's UP, conducts a medley of the slowest songs from nominated films. 7:51 PM Feb 22nd from web

# RT Aaronoof: Shouldn't they have aired the award to Jerry Lewis at the top of the show when it was only like 2:30 AM in France? #oscars 7:50 PM Feb 22nd from web

# RT erickohn: One nutty professor introduces another. #oscar 7:49 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Tasha Robinson: "I was actually expecting that to be interminable, as honorary awards normally are, so I'm quite pleased." 7:48 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Jerry Lewis: "The humility I feel is staggering." I have SO much humility right now. I'm like the humblest guy on earth. 7:46 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I haven't seen many Jerry Lewis films, but there's a scene in KING OF COMEDY that Scorsese let him direct that is hysterical. 7:45 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Jerry Lewis has raised $2B for MDA, but it's still not cured. Epic fail? 7:44 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Eddie Murphy celebrates Jerry Lewis. You know, the one with the patent on video assist. 7:42 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Have to agree. They've met their goal of keeping show clipping along. But does that make it better? 7:38 PM Feb 22nd from web

# RT karinalongworth: "This seems to go much quicker when a) I'm not drinking, and b) I don't care about 90% of the films nominated." 7:37 PM Feb 22nd from web

# High percentage of bald winners this year? Subliminal advertising (looking like an Oscar = getting an Oscar)? 7:36 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Slumdog Millionaire. Boy they are sure coming from behind for the win! 7:35 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Film editing - wish they took as much time showing the art with this as they did with screenplay. Felt rushed. 7:35 PM Feb 22nd from web

# "This is not just a sound award, this is history." No, dude, it's actually just a sound award. Chill. 7:33 PM Feb 22nd from web

# This guy hyperventilating at the podium is adorable. 7:32 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Slumdog Millionaire. What a comeback after losing Sound Editing and Art Direction! 7:32 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Sound Mixing... heroes? That's a stretch. They can clean up a bad audio track only so much. Garbage in, garbage out. 7:31 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: The Dark Knight. Which may deserve it for all I know. 7:29 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Sound Editing. A category few in the Academy understand and no one in America does 7:29 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Oustanding Visual Effects: Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I guess there are people who liked the movie enough to vote for it. 7:27 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Oh nevermind. It's another montage of movies that were nominated peppered in with movies America saw. 7:25 PM Feb 22nd from web

# For the Sound montage, can we hear some sound effects please? #oscars 7:23 PM Feb 22nd from web

# "Stay tuned for a tribute to action movies"? Not stay tuned for, um, THE MAJOR AWARDS still to hand out. 7:19 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Smile Pinki wins for having an adorable title. 7:18 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Man on Wire. My review: http://tinyurl.com/ckey3a 7:17 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Bill Maher resists dig at Dustin Lance Black and instead plugs his doc http://tinyurl.com/dybjfy 7:17 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Werner Herzog pontificates on reality. That's the pot calling the kettle a grizzly. 7:12 PM Feb 22nd from web

# On cell with Lillian in Maryland. I can hear her audio - it's ahead of mine. And I'm here in LA. 7:10 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Heath Ledger, sentimental favorite, wins Best Supporting Actor posthumously. His family accepts on behalf of his genes. 7:08 PM Feb 22nd from web

# He's alive! Better than I can say for Allen Arkin. 7:03 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Joel Grey. Wow. 7:03 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Scott Tobias "isn't to my taste, but may be revitalizing for the broadcast. I'd wager the show gets its first good reviews in years tomorrow 7:02 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Baz Luhrman created that overwrought medley? No way! 6:59 PM Feb 22nd from web

# The whole theater is on their feet. Penelope Cruz applauds politely. 6:58 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Mamma Mia as, um, a drumcorps tune? 6:57 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Wow, the High School Musical kids totally interrupted Beyonce's groove. 6:56 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Beyonce is good at this. Maybe she should move to Broadway and leave the acting to Jennifer Hudson. 6:55 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Had to know with Condon and Jackman the show would be a musical fest. But I agree with Finke, lets not make the Oscars the Tonys. 6:54 PM Feb 22nd from web

# HJ "The Musical is back. I can't wait to see Doubt: The Musical." 6:52 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Tasha Robinson @ The Onion AV Club: "Toyland was probably the weakest of the shorts. But Nazis! And children in danger!" 6:49 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Best Live Action short: Toyland - looked Holocaust 6:47 PM Feb 22nd from web

# And those three are presenters. Odd, but I like it. Kaminski "Suck on that, Anthony Dodd Mantle" 6:46 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Gets better when Janusz Kaminski joins them on the couch. 6:45 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Extended Pineapple Express-based sketch. Mildly amusing. 6:44 PM Feb 22nd from web

# jlichman: "Jessica Biel, please stop. No one saw the sci-tech awards. Now take off your top." 6:43 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Jessica Biel explains who Ed Catmull is. But all I can remember is her pretty face. #oscars 6:40 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Creepy stalker camera finds Jerry Lewis in the audience. 6:39 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Finke: "Wait, wasn't that montage we just saw the same as MTV's Best Kiss Award?" 6:38 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Very genuine thanks from Dodd Mantle. I look forward to many more years of his cutting edge and kinetic work. 6:37 PM Feb 22nd from web

# It was great work and I highly recommend the feature on it that was in American Cinematographer. They published pre-prod emails between him and Boyle. 6:35 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Anthony Dodd Mantle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE !! 6:35 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Ben Stiller is upstaging the list of the nominees with his Joaquin wander. 6:34 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Everyone in Hollywood is having a laugh at Joaquin Phoenix's expense. Wonder how it feels to be him right now. 6:33 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Best Cinematography presented by Natalie Portman and Ben Stiller. Another odd couple. 6:31 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Finke: "Great idea to have presenters give out more than one award to save time. Or because [the producers] couldn't get enough stars?" 6:31 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Gay kiss from Milk mixed in with all the straight kisses says more than Dustin Lance Black's acceptance speech. 6:29 PM Feb 22nd from web

# They are trying their best to mix in clips of movies people actually saw with the movies that were nominated. #oscars 6:27 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Some young stars. Amanda Spacealien and the Twilight Vampire - they were much better than Daniel Craig and SJP. 6:26 PM Feb 22nd from web

# The micromachines guy couldn't have read those names faster. 6:25 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Benjamin Button. That's two for Button. 6:24 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Makeup: Hellboy vs. Benjamin Button 6:23 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Costume Designer thanks the Composer??? Now that's dancing about architecture. 6:23 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Didn't see it, but you could tell from the poster it had elaborate costumes. 6:21 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Best Costume: THE DUCHESS 6:21 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Craig stumbles again. SJP misses her cue. Snooze. 6:20 PM Feb 22nd from web

# High praise for David Fincher. I think Quentin Tarantino should play Fincher in the biopic. 6:19 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Benjamin Button. The only one it will take home tonight out of 13 nominations? 6:18 PM Feb 22nd from web

# The award for bad presenting goes to Art Direction. 6:17 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Daniel Craig stumbles and mumbles. 6:17 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Sarah Jessica's mic has too much reverb 6:16 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Spout "thefilmcynic: Presto sucks! Well done Mr Roboto guy" http://tinyurl.com/d28sho 6:15 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Bathroom break #oscars 6:13 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Kunio Kato: "Sank you, Animation. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto." No, that's actually what he said, not a racist joke. 6:11 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Oh, I was wrong. La Maison en Petite Cubes or some such French. 6:10 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Presto (PIXAR) will win Best Short Animated too. 6:09 PM Feb 22nd from web

# WALL-e wins. Question is not why did it win this category, but why not in the Best Picture category. Yes, it's better than Dark Knight. 6:08 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Too long montage of animated films that aren't even nominated. 6:06 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda) acknowledges that PIXAR always wins - kinda funny. Nice WALL-e opening where the little guy trashes an Oscar. 6:05 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Beaufoy is very composed for a writer. Dull list of thank yous. 6:03 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Simon Beaufoy SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - first of many for SLUMDOG? 6:01 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Steve Martin stops his patter and looks at Tina Fey: "Don't fall in love with me." 5:59 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Surprisingly religious speech about gay marriage from a former Mormon. 5:59 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Black puts in an applause line about gay marriage and there is a suspiciously long pause. 5:58 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Winner: Dustin Lance Black for MILK. Could this augur well for MILK in other categories? 5:57 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Very funny. Classy graphical illustration of how a screenplay becomes movie. 5:56 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Introducing screenwriters with Tina Fey and Steve Martin. 5:54 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Tasha at The Onion "Why did Penelope Cruz just say we need to protect the survival of art as best we can? Is someone hunting art for sport?" 5:52 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Great acceptance speech by Penelope Cruz. Impossible to make cynical quips. 5:50 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I would've also been happy with Viola Davis... but Penelope's performance in VCB was da best. 5:48 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Best Supporting actress is... Penelope Cruz! Yes! 5:47 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Whoopi Goldberg "It's not easy being a nun" 5:46 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Watch the screen below Viola Davis in the graphic. Kung Fu panda is doing a slomo Skadoosh. 5:45 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Five presenters - four too many? #oscars 5:43 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I wish the curtain had just blocked that whole montage of Best Supporting Actress winners. 5:43 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Minor curtain malfunction. 5:41 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Nikki Finke "OHMYGAWD, it's not the Oscars: IT'S THE TONY'S! Worst Academy Awards opening ever." 5:40 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Musical number works great as a stage thing. Good choice. 5:40 PM Feb 22nd from web

# HJ is cracking up at his German shprockets dance for The Reader. 5:37 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Anne Hathaway pulled on stage to play Nixon in Frost/Nixon parody. She has some pipes. 5:36 PM Feb 22nd from web

# HJ serenades Kate Winslet, acknowledges Dark Knight should've been nommed. 5:34 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Hugh Jackman, hereafter HJ, quips about range. Then disses New Zealand. 5:32 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Picking out Kate Winslet early. 5:31 PM Feb 22nd from web

# The stage is pretty cool. And the Lawrence of Arabia theme as swing actually works. 5:31 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Here we go for real now... unless there's a third red carpet show. In which case I'll be banging my head into a wall. #oscars 5:28 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Michael Giacchino "We're going to F with classic movie songs!" 5:27 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Ooh - a sneak peek - 5 minutes before the show... ??? 5:25 PM Feb 22nd from web

# More Jack Black, less Richard Jenkins plz #oscars 5:24 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Penelope Cruz totally owned in VCB - too bad she probably won't win #oscars 5:22 PM Feb 22nd from web

# The folks at the Onion AV club are even liveblogging the commercials http://tinyurl.com/agz7oh 5:19 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Miley Cyrus "Angelina's like one of my favorite persons of all history." 5:15 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Gotta love the slumdogs! 5:10 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Yawn. Want to see some #oscars handed out already. Guess I tuned in too soon. 5:04 PM Feb 22nd from web

# D'oh! More red carpet??? #oscar 5:01 PM Feb 22nd from web

# "Journey down Movies Road to gold"? 5:00 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Not only #liveblogging the #oscars myself, I also have links to other liveblogs http://tinyurl.com/bly7mu 4:59 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Here we go... #oscars 4:56 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Brad Pitt and Angelina look sad like they've already heard they lost #oscars 4:51 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Philip Seymour Hoffman is wearing a knit cap. I was just outside - it ain't that cold PSH! #oscars 4:46 PM Feb 22nd from web

# I personally can't wait for the actual #oscars show to start. I want to see some sketches, some winners and some Mickey Rourke f-bombs 4:44 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Red Carpet Show did a poll of people watching the Red Carpet Show - they like the fashions best - surprise! 4:42 PM Feb 22nd from web

# RT Liveblogging the #Oscars at Making the Movie - please retweet - http://tinyurl.com/dl5jw2 4:13 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Grey skies all around - watching the red carpet show - looks likes some people could get drenched 4:00 PM Feb 22nd from web

# Drove across town and back for a meeting. Traffic is predictably snarled the closer you get to Hollywood and Highland. 3:59 PM Feb 22nd from web

RESOURCES:
List of Nominees

OTHER LIVEBLOGGERS:
John Serba at Grand Rapids Press
Best Week Ever
Onion AV Club
Videogum
Defamer
Spout Blog
Deadline Hollywood Daily

PREVIOUS OSCAR LIVEBLOGS:
Oscars 2008 Liveblog
Oscars 2007 Liveblog
Oscars 2006 Liveblog
Oscars 2005 Liveblog

Oscars 2008 Liveblog

For 2009's Oscars liveblog, go here.

---

Welcome to the 4th annual Making the Movie Oscars Liveblog, wherein I gave a running commentary on the Academy Awards - live. Who won, who should've won and background that will help you enjoy this festival of Hollywood navel-gazing!

Go to the liveblog!Red Carpet Pre-Show

Hit your browser's Refresh or Reload button to keep up.

3:42 Watching the awkward pre-show interviews. There are plenty on fashion snarks live-blogging this, so I'll keep it light until the real show begins.
4:08 George Penacchio was a wooden boy who wished he was a real Red Carpet interviewer.
4:15 Who is older, Regis Philbin or Clint Eastwood? Trick question, both are technically dead.
4:21 The Commentariat here thinks the fashion experts are being too charitable to Diablo "Leopardprint Mumu" Cody.
4:28 Jennifer Garner's dress is too "funereal" sez the Peanut Gallery.
4:29 Is is just me, or does Tilda Swinton look like Conan O'Brien in drag tonight. (I really like Tilda, but I have to speak truth to power.)
4:44 IMDb is updating their photos already with pictures from the red carpet.
4:52 The web address is "ontheredcarpet.com" not "theredcarpet.com" or "redcarpet.com" or "carpet.com".
4:53 Julie Christie shows some boob and some politics.

5:01 Regis kicks off the official official Red Carpet Show.
5:08 Non-nominee Miley Cyrus is ubiquitous.
5:12 Helen Mirren complains about roles for women. Sour grapes for not being nominated?
5:24 Regis talks to the dancers. At least one of them (old guy, bow tie) was in the movie Enchanted. Don't ask me how I know.
5:26 With three minutes to go, Regis says "Bout a minute and a half to go." Actually no. Hasn't he done live television nearly every day for fourty years?

Liveblogging the 2008 Academy Awards

5:30 Here we go. How will Jon Stewart fare without a well-produced lead-in? Cheezy CGI lead-in is still something.
5:32 Stewart mic not on initially. Bad sign.
5:33 Stewart references the strike. Says writers should be invited to the Vanity Fair party.
5:34 Not a great response for his monologue from the commentariat here or the audience there.
5:35 Cheap joke on Bardem's haircut in No Country goes over his head.
5:36 Jack Nicholson said something inaudible after getting called rabbi.
5:37 On Norbit's nomination: "Too often, the Academy ignores movies that aren't good."
5:38 On Diablo Cody: "She used to be an exotic dancer. Now she's an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Hope you're liking the paycut."
5:39 Best joke so far: "The Iraq War movies haven't been doing well. But if we just stay the course..."
5:40 The room here liked the comparison of Obama's name to "Gaydolf Titler".
5:41 Right to costume design... I'm guessing Atonement. Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Two out of six attendees claim to have predicted this here. I didn't see it coming, myself. Never count out a costume drama for a costume award.
5:47 Here's... Clooney!
5:48 80 years of unpredictability... Can we just see the predictable show of this year please.
5:51 Stewart mocks 'new media' with an iPhone playing Lawrence of Arabia. "Oh, that's a camel."
5:53 Carrell panics that the Belgians will be upset he messed up his intro to "Best Animated Picture"
5:54 Nevermind whether animated features should be in a ghetto, Ratatouille wins.
5:55 Great little speech from Brad Bird about not taking no for an answer.
5:56 A glamorous Catherine Heigl intros makeup. Winner is... La Vie En Rose. This bears well for Marion Cotillard winning Best Actress. Music plays them off - but not Brad Bird... hmm.
5:59 First song performance: "Happy Working Song" - normally I would mock the absurd background dancers - but this spare production is just Amy Adams on stage with nary a prop. I know they had little time to prep after the strike, but that was just sad.

6:06 Stewart says "During commercial breaks, we make catty remarks about what people at home are wearing."
6:07 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson gives Visual Effects Award to... Golden Compass - another surprise win!
6:09 The Nerd Brigade is short and sweet. Shout outs to two visual effects houses: Rhythm and Hues, who specializes in realistic animals, and Framestore CFC, who specializes in realistic environments.
6:11 Sweeney Todd wins, predictably, Best Art Direction.
6:15 The apotheosis of Supporting Actors: Cuba Gooding, Jr.
6:17 And the Best Supporting Actor is... Javier Bardem.
6:22 Jon Stewart translated Bardem's speech. "He told his mom where the library was."
6:23 Funny montage: "Oscars' Salute to Binoculars and Periscope" and "Bad Dreams: An Oscar Salute"
6:24 Kerri Russel looks like Charlotte... from "Charlotte's Web".
6:25 Second song: "Raise it Up" - this one has production value at least.
6:28 Owen Wilson public appearance. He looks pretty medicated.
6:29 "Mozart of Pickpockets" wins Live Action Short. Lots of non-English-speaking winners so far...
6:31 Bad Bee Movie promo - just like NBC for that month.
6:32 "Peter and the Wolf" wins Animated Short.
6:35 Arkin announces Best Supporting Actress... people here like Amy Ryan... Tilda wins, big wows here. Tilda looks equally surprised. Tilda is giving her award away to her agent... that's making the subtext text. Bad form.
6:40 Sidney Poitier "There is no honor in the motion picture business [pause] that is as great as winning an Oscar."
6:44 "The never invisible Jessica Alba." Technical Awards...
6:45 Stewart: "Alba. Blanchett. Two pregnant women at the Oscars. But the night is young."
6:46 Josh Brolin & James McAvoy announce Best Adapted Screenplay... This could presage the Best Picture... The Coens for No Country for John McCain, er, Old Men
6:48 It's like Penn and Teller, there's one who doesn't talk.
6:50 "How We Do It" - lame piece. Jon Stewart's sarcastic "That was amazing" said it all.
6:53 Destiny "Miley" Cyrus introduces "That's How You Know" - why Kristin Chenoweth? Because she's on a show on ABC, duh.

7:01 Judi Dench and Halle Berry, no - Seth and Jonah. Funny bit. Goes on too long. Achievement in Sound Editing goes to... Bourne Ultimatum. Will Bourne win Mixing too? Winner: Bourne. The Sound Mixers acceptance speech got mixed down under the music. Oh the irony?
7:09 Forrest Whittaker auditions for an American Express commercial... Best Actress is... Marion Cotillard - as predicted by the bellweather Makeup category.
7:14 An adorable acceptance speech: "There truly are angels in this city!" I guess she hasn't been south of Pico, says Brendan Clifford.
7:18 Jon Stewart playing Wii apparently constitutes a joke. Colin Farrell introduces the song from Once. My favorite, and it could win. I could be right for Once.
7:22 A shadeless Nicholson announces the Best Picture montage. Everyone in Peanut Gallery gets up to pee.
7:28 Renee "Squinty" Zellwegger announces Editing. Bourne Ultimatum may win since it swept the sound category. It did. His father is Russell Rouse. He won in 1960 for the Screenplay for Pillow Talk
7:33 Honorary Oscar to Robert Boyle. He gets the standing ovation I though Owen Wilson would get, and Heath Ledger will surely get in the death montage.
7:36 He thanks Hitch. Not Alfred Hitchcock. No, the terriffic Will Smith movie - he didn't work on it - just really likes it.
7:42 Penelope Cruz intros Foreign Language - The Counterfeiters wins, for Best Movie with a Holocaust setting.
7:45 Server issues. Hopefully over before the last song nominee "So Close".
7:48 John Travolta dance transition. Winner for Best Song Once - like I've said many times, not Juno but Once was true indie - they de-miked Irglova.
7:52 This just in: Winning Oscar Caused Spielberg to Experience Male Menopause
7:57 They gave Irglova her moment and goes on and on, cliche after cliche.

8:00 Cameron Diaz announces Best Cinematography despite her own best efforts. Winner is... Robert Elswit for There Will Be Blood. It was indeed a tremendous acheivement.
8:01 Hilary Swank announces the Death Montage. Prediction: it will end with Heath Ledger.
8:05 Yup, Heath was the climax. But the commentariat here says "No Brad Renfro?"
8:08 Amy Adams announces the Spielberg Scores award. Best Score goes to... Dario Martinelli for Atonement. Probably for that first piece with the typewriter percussion.
8:11 This is the first win for Atonement, which had seven nominations. It doesn't bode well for Best Picture.
8:12 Best Documentary Short announced by soldiers. Interesting choice. I guess the anti-war category of Best Documentary would've been a little much. Then again, campaign contributions from soldiers have been going to the candidates who want to get out of Iraq ASAP.
8:15 Tom Hanks, All-American, intros this category instead. Taxi to the Dark Side - the poster of which was censored by the MPAA, wins. At least some good has come from institutional practices of torture.
8:23 "Movies are made of ideas" says Harrison Ford. Diablo Cody wins Best Original Screenplay, and proceeds to strip on stage. Honest to blog.
8:31 Helen Mirren announces Best Actor. Goes to Day-Lewis the overwhelming favorite.
8:36 Son of poet Cecil Day-Lewis gives a poetic speech. Thanking Paul (Dano? Thomas Anderson? The Biblical Figure?)
8:38 So far it's been split in the acting categories in terms of indicators for Best Picture. Best Director will be the biggest clue. (Or red herring.)
8:42 Marty Scorsese gives the hardware to the director of... No County for Old Men, Joel & Ethan Coen
8:45 Running early... Best Picture... No Country for Old Men - well best two-thirds of a movie.
8:46 Scott Rudin "I'm so glad to have something heavy that I can put on my desk. So it's within arm's reach when I get angry with my assistants."
8:48 Summary: It was a breezy, fun ceremony. The old men of the Academy clearly thought No Country was for them. In the coming days, I'll have a deeper analysis. Thanks for tuning in. Tune back soon.


Other Livebloggers:
41 Miles to Freedom
Batrock (Australian delay)
Deadline Hollywood Daily
Defamer
GreenCine
Kaedrin
Libertas
Personal Bee Mass Twitter Blog
Rob of Rob and Nicole
Spewker
TV Freak

Technorati Tags: liveblog, 2008, Oscars