Like last year, I’m going to kind of “liveblog” the Oscars, so you might want to check in from time to time and see the updated post! Right now, it’s just the nominees and my tips and wishes for the winners.

You can find links to all the movies here. I’ve seen all the red movies.

Okay, I’m home. I missed about 45 minutes of the pre Red Carpet, but therefore I got to see The Wrestler. Well, a good trade, methinks.

So, let’s get started. :)

German Red Carpet

I want to hit the German interviewer.

Danny Boyle stays cool in the face of disaster (= German interviewer).

Frank Langella looks great.

Penelope Cruz looks nice (Surprise!).

Oh, the German Red Carpet is done, thank God for that.

ABC Pre-Show

Kate Winslet looks absolutely gorgeous.
“What’s more on your mind tonight: Winning or not tripping?”
“Not tripping, actually.”

Josh Brolin and Diane Lane.

Amy Adams wears a weird dress. What’s that thing hanging from her breasts?

Taraji P. Henson looks nice, though the dress looks like she couldn’t walk in it.

Frank Langella is an absolutely gorgeous guy… Didn’t notice in Frost/Nixon.

Valentino is interviewed. Couldn’t they get any actors anymore?

The entire cast of Slumdog Millionaire, those kids are cute.

Mickey Rourke: wears ugly shoes and talks about his dog.

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens… why are they there? They are not considered actors, are they? (Don’t hit me, teenage fan girls!)

Robert Downey Jr. looks great.

Viola Davis looks beautiful, but her dress… But it can’t compete in ugliness with Miley Cyrus’ dress. Anne Hathaway’s dress is another contender, though.

Tribute to accountants, for the accountants who bring the winning envelopes.

Meryl Streep looks good, but has some weird things going on with her dress in the breast area.

Penelope Cruz looks like a duck about to get married.

Richard Jenkins gets to talk about his role… wow! All the women only get asked about their dresses.

Jack Black’s shirt’s a good colour.

Marisa Tomei must have lost a bet to wear that dress.

Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, who cares?

Blablabla about the music which will be played. And the stage.

Oh yeah, baby, pre-show’s over.

Now, the Kodak theatre’s shown from the outside and nothing happens… WTF?

81st Annual Academy Awards

It’s started!

Hugh Jackman looks awesome, as could not be expected otherwise. And he talks really Australian.

“The Academy Awards honours range: Kate Winslet is English and plays a German: nominated. Robert Downey Jr. is Australian and plays an American who plays an African American: Nominated. Whereas I’m Australian, played an Australian in a movie called Australia: Hosting. (…) But next year, everything will be different. I will be playing in a movie called New Zealand.”

Hugh Jackman sings a tribute to the nominated films. And dammit, he can dance. And he kidnaps Anne Hathaway.
Anne: “Mr Frost, I think I love you!”
Hugh: “Nixon, I love you, too!”

(…)

Hugh dances and sings: “THE READER! I should have seen The Reader! I was gonna do it later….”

“I’m a Slumdog, I’m a Wrestler, I’ve read the Reader, I’m Wolverine!”

Angelina Jolia and Brad Pitt. Hugh: “I actually don’t have a joke about them, but I’m contractually obligated to mention them at least five times during the show.”

Meryl Streep has 15 Oscar nominations. Hugh: “It’s hard to say, but with numbers like that, it’s hard not to think: steroids.”

Eva Marie Saint, Whoopy Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn and Anjelica Huston present:

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Nominees:

• Amy Adams in “Doubt” [Whoopy Goldberg says, “It’s not easy being a nun. Take it from someone who’s been there.”]
• Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
• Viola Davis in “Doubt”
• Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

My Wish:

Viola Davis. And definitely neither Amy Adams nor Taraji P. Henson, whose performance I didn’t find so extra-ordinary.

My Tip:

I’m not sure. But I think Penélope Cruz or Viola Davis.

Winner:

Penélope Cruz. And first half guess right. :) No surprise…
“Has anybody ever fainted here?”
She thanks Pedro Almodovar.  Blablablabla, Spanish blablabla….

Tina Fey and Steve Martin. *rofl* I can’t really write that down.

Tina: It has been said that a good writer lives forever.
Steve: The man who said that is dead.

Original screenplay [They actually read out the screenplay. Which is cool.]

Nominees:

• “Frozen River”, Written by Courtney Hunt
• “Happy-Go-Lucky”, Written by Mike Leigh
• “In Bruges”, Written by Martin McDonagh
• “Milk”, Written by Dustin Lance Black
• “WALL-E”, Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

My Wish:

I think that it’s utterly ironic that Happy-Go-Lucky’s only nomination is for the screenplay, because the movie is mostly improvised… Therefore, it doesn’t get my vote here, but In Bruges.

My Tip:

Frozen River.

Winner:

Dustin Lance Black – Milk. Sorry, but the screenplay wasn’t that good. Actually, I thought it pretty weak. But Dustin Lance Black gives us an inspirational speech about coming out of the closet. :)

Steve Martin to Tina Fey: DON’T fall in love with me!

Adapted screenplay

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• “Doubt”, Written by John Patrick Shanley
• “Frost/Nixon”, Screenplay by Peter Morgan
• “The Reader”, Screenplay by David Hare
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

My Wish:

I think that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button should be excluded from this category, as the screenplay has nothing to do with the original story anymore.
Anyway, I’m rooting for Doubt.

My Tip:

Doubt or Frost/Nixon.

Winner:

Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire. Wow. Didn’t expect that.

Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black…

Jack Black: Each year I do one Dreamworks movie and then I take the money and on the night of the Oscars, I bet it on Pixar.

Animation 2008: Scenes.

Best animated feature film of the year

Nominees:

• “Bolt”, Chris Williams and Byron Howard
• “Kung Fu Panda”, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
• “WALL-E” , Andrew Stanton

My Wish:

WALL-E. No question.

My Tip:

WALL-E. I’m sure.

Winner:

WALL-E! YAY! It definitely was the best movie of them all.
Andrew Stanton thanks his High School teacher for casting him as Barnaby 28 years ago.

Best animated short film

Nominees:

• “La Maison en Petits Cubes”, Kunio Kato
• “Lavatory – Lovestory”, Konstantin Bronzit
• “Oktapodi”, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
• “Presto”, Doug Sweetland
• “This Way Up”, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

My Wish:

Having seen only Presto, which was great, I’m going with Presto.

My Tip:

I honestly don’t know. I’ll guess This Way Up.

Winner:

La Maison en Petits Cubes. Okay, I guess… Not that I’ve seen any of it. This Way Up looks amazing, though.
Kunio Kato ends his “Sunk You” [As in “Sunk You, My Pencil”] speech with “Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto”. *lol*

Daniel Craig (*drool*) and Sarah Jessica Parker present

Achievement in art direction

Nominees:

• “Changeling”, Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
• “The Dark Knight”, Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
• “The Duchess”, Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
• “Revolutionary Road”, Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

My Wish:

The Dark Knight. Because this movie has been uhm forgotten in all the big categories, it should win as many prizes as possible in the smaller ones.

My Tip:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Winner:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I knew it.

Achievement in costume design

Nominees:

• “Australia”, Catherine Martin
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Jacqueline West
• “The Duchess”, Michael O’Connor
• “Milk”, Danny Glicker
• “Revolutionary Road”, Albert Wolsky

My Wish:

Revolutionary Road.

My Tip:

Australia.

Winner:

The Duchess. WHAT? I mean, what? WHAT? Nobody has ever seen this movie. It should not qualify.

Achievement in makeup

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Greg Cannom
• “The Dark Knight”, John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
• “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”, Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

My Wish:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The makeup was just phenomenal. (Again, I would have liked to say The Dark Knight, but…)

My Tip:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Winner:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Again. I knew it. Bye-bye Comic Adaptation Oscars (except Heath Ledger’s Oscar, who he would have gotten for any movie so it doesn’t really count). Anyway, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button really deserves it.

Robert Pattinson and Amanda Seyfried present Romance in 2008 Movies.

Natalie Portman and Ben Stiller… Ben Stiller is wearing a fake beard. At least I hope that it’s fake. :) Natalie Portman is wearing pink. Nobody should wear pink.

Achievement in cinematography

Nominees:

• “Changeling”, Tom Stern
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Claudio Miranda
• “The Dark Knight”, Wally Pfister
• “The Reader”, Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Anthony Dod Mantle

My Wish:

The Dark Knight. See above.

My Tip:

Changeling.

Winner:

Slumdog Millionaire. Honestly, this is getting boring.

Jessica Biel can’t talk. Or read. Or both at the same time. She presents some Technical Award or other. And whoa… we get advertisement? But I was only watching them for this!

Well, not really, but they’re still worth honouring, aren’t they?

James Franco and Seth Rogen present Comedy 2008. I like that one.And now they get Janusz Kamynszki and present

Best live action short film

Nominees:

• “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”, Reto Caffi
• “Manon on the Asphalt”, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
• “New Boy”, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
• “The Pig”, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
• “Spielzeugland (Toyland)”, Jochen Alexander Freydank

My Wish:

I have no idea.

My Tip:

I’ll give you another blind guess. New Boy.

Winner:

Spielzeugland. Okay.

Hugh Jackman: Mamma Mia! has sold more tickets than Titanic in the UK! THE MUSICAL IS BACK!

He dances and sings again, musical medley. I like it when he does that. He’s joined by Beyoncé. God, that woman’s beautiful.

And now there’s Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Go AWAY! And Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper. They are allowed to stay.

Baz Luhrman created that medley. Cool. He should stick to medleys.

Christopher Walken, Cuba Gooding Jr, Alan Arkin, Kevin Kline and Joe Gray (?) present

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Nominees:

• Josh Brolin in “Milk”
• Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
• Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
• Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

My Wish:

Heath Ledger. Because he won’t get another chance to win this thing. And he deserves it. Though, honestly, he has kind of an unfair advantage, being dead and all. So leaving him out, I’d go for Philip Seymour Hoffman.

My Tip:

Heath Ledger.

Winner:

Heath Ledger. Not really surprising, is it? His family accepts on his behalf.
Everybody’s  crying.  I’m  gonna start, too. *sniff*

Documentary 2008 featurette.

I have no idea who the presenting guy is, but he Bill Maher just opened the envelope to read the nominees. *g*

Best documentary feature

Nominees:

• “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
• “Encounters at the End of the World”, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
• “The Garden”, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
• “Man on Wire”, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
• “Trouble the Water”, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

My Wish:

Having only seen Man on Wire, I’ll go with that.

My Tip:

Man on Wire. So much buzz.

Winner:

Man on Wire! YEAH! It really was a most ipressive documentary. And there’s Philippe Petit, doing a magic trick. and now he balances the Oscar on his chin. *lol*

Best documentary short subject

Nominees:

• “The Conscience of Nhem En”, Steven Okazaki
• “The Final Inch”, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
• “Smile Pinki”, Megan Mylan
• “The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306″, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

My Wish:

I have no idea.

My Tip:

I have even less of an idea.

Winner:

Smile Pinki. Okay.

Will Smith presents

Achievement in visual effects

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
• “The Dark Knight”, Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
• “Iron Man”, John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

My Wish:

The Dark Knight. Because they were just really, really good.

My Tip:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Winner:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Of course. *yawn* You wanna make the Oscars more exciting? Give me more diversity with the winners…
I mean, the visual effects were great in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button… but.

Achievement in sound editing

Nominees:

• “The Dark Knight”, Richard King
• “Iron Man”, Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Tom Sayers
• “WALL-E”, Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
• “Wanted”, Wylie Stateman

My Wish:

Iron Man. Because this movie should get at least one Oscar. In any case, not Wanted. It was so abysmal, it doesn’t deserve that.

My Tip:

Actually, I don’t know a thing about sound editing. But I’ll guess that WALL-E will take the cake.

Winner:

The Dark Knight. YAY! YAY! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! GO DARK KNIGHT! Go Comic Adaptations! Thank you for proving me wrong!

Achievement in sound mixing

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
• “The Dark Knight”, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
• “WALL-E”,Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
• “Wanted”, Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

My Wish:

The Dark Knight.

My Tip:

See above. I don’t know anything about sound mixing either. But to keep it diverse, I’ll say Slumdog Millionaire.

Winner:

Slumdog Millionaire. I hate to be right in this case. Although, it’s the first non-white winner. So yay!

Will Smith: Yes, they still have me here. *g*

Achievement in film editing

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• “The Dark Knight”, Lee Smith
• “Frost/Nixon”, Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
• “Milk”, Elliot Graham
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Chris Dickens

My Wish:

I would like to say The Dark Knight, but I didn’t think the editing that good there… So, Frost/Nixon.

My Tip:

Frost/Nixon.

Winner:

Slumdog Millionaire. Oh my gosh. Deadra just mentioned a quota for the winners. Four Oscars per movie and not more. I think that would be a great idea.
Even Will Smith just called it ridiculous.

Eddie Murphy presents the Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis.

Michael Giacchino plays the nominated scores with the  Oscar orchestra.

Zac Efron again. And Alicia Keyes. They present.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Alexandre Desplat
• “Defiance”, James Newton Howard
• “Milk”, Danny Elfman
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, A.R. Rahman
• “WALL-E”, Thomas Newman

My Wish:

Thomas Newman. With Revolutionary Road in mind, he made not only one, but two remarkable scores this year and therefore should win.

My Tip:

Thomas Newman.

Winner:

A.R. Rahman. You’ve got to be  shitting me. Seriously. This Oscar was destined for Thomas Newman. Destined.

We get a show of the  nominated songs. The choreography sucks and there’s a mash-up in the end of one of the Slumdog songs and Down to Earth. Weird.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

Nominees:

• “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”, Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
• “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
• “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

My Wish:

Having not heard two of the three songs, I can’t really say.

My Tip:

One of the Slumdog Millionaire songs.

Winner:

Jai Ho – Slumdog Millionaire. Sucks LIKE BIG TIME! Thomas Newman, please accept my apologies on behalf of the people not completely crazy for Slumdog Millionaire.

Liam Neeson and Freida Pinto present

Best foreign language film of the year

Nominees:

• “The Baader Meinhof Complex”, Germany
• “The Class”, France
• “Departures”, Japan
• “Revanche”, Austria
• “Waltz with Bashir”, Israel

My Wish:

It would be exceptionally awesome to have Austria win again, but honestly, the best of these films was The Class or Waltz with Bashir.

My Tip:

Waltz with Bashir.

Winner:

Departures. How can it not be Waltz With Bashir? I haven’t seen Departures, but helloooo???

Queen Latifah presents the Memorial Montage and sings. Wonderfully, of course.  [Either they didn’t show Heath Ledger or Deadra and me both missed him… and HOW could I not know that Roy Scheider and Bernie Mac died?]

Reese Whitherspoon wears an interesting, but really beautiful dress. She presents

Achievement in directing

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher
• “Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard
• “Milk”, Gus Van Sant
• “The Reader”, Stephen Daldry
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle

My Wish:

The Reader or Milk.

My Tip:

Slumdog Millionaire.

Winner:

Slumdog Millionaire. Of course. I mean, Danny Boyle, I love you. Trainspotting: Stroke. of. Genius. But right now I’m considering never to see Slumdog, out of protest.

Shirley MacLaine, Sofia Loren, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard present

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Nominees:

• Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
• Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
• Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
• Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
• Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

My Wish:

Hmmm… I’m tied between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet, because they’re both amazing. Although I probably would have nominated Kate for Revolutionary Road instead.

My Tip:

Kate Winslet. It’s her year.

Winner:

Kate Winslet! YES! YES! YES! GREAT! A-fuckin-mazing!
“I’d be lying if I said that I never held a version of this speech before. I was eight and this (lifts Oscar) would have been a shampoo bottle. Well, it’s not a shampoo bottle now! (…) And I want to acknowledge my fellow nominees. I think we all can’t believe to be in a category with Meryl Streep at all.”

Robert DeNiro, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley, Michael Douglas and Adrien Brody (yay!) present

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Nominees:

• Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
• Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
• Sean Penn in “Milk” [Robert DeNiro: “How did he do it? How did Sean Penn get only straight roles for all these years?”]
• Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” [Ben Kingsley: “bleach-blonde battered bruiser”]

My Wish:

Mickey Rourke. Because Darren Aronofsky isn’t nominated. And because he worked so hard for this comeback. And because he was absolutely awesome.

My Tip:

Frank Langella. Since seeing The Wrestler, I will have to say Mickey Rourke will get this one.

Winner:

Sean Penn. Seriously? He was good, no doubt about it, but in this case, his winning is a disappointment.
“I know I make it hard for you to appreciate me more.”

Look, I’m sorry. If you think that playing other sexual orientation is so hard, why not give a gay actor an Oscar for playing a straight role?

I’m fed up. This was not a good decision and the whole evening has been like that.

Steven Spielberg presents the Best Movies 2008. The montage is weird.

Best motion picture of the year

Nominees:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Frost/Nixon”, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
• “Milk”, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
• “The Reader”, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris
• “Slumdog Millionaire”, Christian Colson, Producer

My Wish:

The Reader.

My Tip:

Slumdog Millionaire.

Winner:

Slumdog Millionaire. No comment needed. Seriously people, this is more than ridiculous. I’m fed up. I’m tired and I’m disappointed. I’m going to sleep.