The 2008 Oscars!

Hey, I'm going to be watching and updating the show. Not the red carpet, though. So keep checking during the show. Here's a list of the nominees, btw.

My predictions (only the stuff I actually have a clue about):
Leading Actor - George Clooney
Supporting Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Lead Actress - Cate Blanchett
Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett (I'm hedging my bets)
Animated Film - Ratatouille
Art Direction - Sweeney Todd
Costume Design - Across the Universe
Director - The Coen Brothers
Original Score - Atonement
Original Song - That's How You Know
Visual effects - Golden Compass
Adapted Screenplay - There Will Be Blood
Original Screenplay - Juno
Best Picture - No Country for Old Men

The opening - I always like it when they do those integrated movie openings, like Billy Crystal used to do. This one just looks kinda weird, though. Way too dark. I wonder if they'll do anything special 'cause it's the 80th show?

Did Jon Stewart host a couple of years ago? And made all those parody ads? I think it was him. Anyway, lots of talk about the writers strike, which is natural. Was I the only one who thought "There Will Be Blood" was a horror film when they first heard about it? My mom laughed at the Atonement joke, even though she hasn't even heard of the movie. Is it bad that I laughed at the "would only embolden the audience" line?
Enough with the politics, just get on with it! Thank you.

Costume design - Does anyone know what the song was that played when the presenter walked up? I feel like I know it, but I can't place it. I didn't see Elizabeth, so I can't really say too much about it. (You'll probably hear that a lot tonight).

Montage - Ah, I had a feeling they'd do something like this. What's with all the snapshots, though? Cool to see all the clips from the musicals numbers, though. What? Nooo! Not "My Heart Will Go On!!!" *sigh* But it won, so I guess they had to use it. Whoa, really old Charlie Chaplin!

Animated Feature - Yay for Anne Hathaway and Steve Carrell. (I like them.) But Anne's dress looks like the bust area is too big. "Is this being shown in Belguim?" XD I want Ratatouille to win, but it'll probably go to Persepolis. Surf's up was a fun film, but I don't think it'll win. Yay, Ratatouille! Brad Bird's speech was cute.

Make-up - I was immediately humming "Milord," but only because I know the Forbidden Broadway version. La Vie En Rose was the one I thought would win (of the three 9_9), and it did.

It was so hard not to sing along to "Happy Working Song." Amy Adams got nervous near the end, I could tell, but otherwise I thought she was very good.

Visual Effects - When Jon introduced the presenter as a wrestler, my mom instantly thought of Hulk Hogan, but I knew he meant The Rock. Golden Compass wins.

Art Direction - They might give it to Atonement, since that'll probably get a lot of stuff. No, it's Sweeney Todd! Yay!

Actor Montage - Christopher Walken with a bushy moustache! That's all I have to say.

Supporting Actor - Jennifer Hudson's dress....triangle....just no. I had a feeling somebody from NCfOM would win, and probably more will. I never saw the film, but people seem to like giving it awards. I wish my sister was hear to translate the guys speech to his mom.

Parody Montages - Okay, I'm amused. Binoculars, bad dreams...makes you wonder what other kind of things you can make montages out of.

The August Rush song was okay, but I got distracted in the middle.

Live Action Short - I never saw any of these (where do they get shown, really?). Anyway, the Pickpocket one won.

Animated Short - Heh, a Bee Movies montage. I liked the clip from The Swarm. "There aren't any small parts, but there are some pretty small actors." Interesting how there are more animated shorts nominated than animated features. Also interesting that half of them weren't 2D animation, either.

Supporting Actress - Y'know, I know very little about all these movies. So it really could go either way. Tilda Swinton wins. My mom predicts that she's either anorexic or pregnant, based on the dress.

Scientific Technical Awards - I don't really care about these, but I guess it's good to have them provided. Besides, I'm guessing that the third song will be That's How You Know, and I know that Kristin Chenoweth is singing it, so I'm excited.

Adapted Screenplay - The lines thing was okay. Oh ho, I was right, and I just based it on the fact that my friend was confused by the movie ^_~

How the process works, always interesting. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who question this every year. In a "why didn't that film get anything" kind of way, though (seriously, no Original Song nomination for Hairspray? And Norbit gets makeup but not Hairspray?).

I'm not sure whether Kristin was trying too much to be herself, or to ape Amy Adams, because at some parts it seemed like it would have been better if she had made the song her own, but at others, she seemed to be deviating from the song too much. A little of both, I guess. And they cut out a verse! Not a huge deal, but I definitely noticed.

My computer decided to have a crisis, so I lost what I wrote about the sound mixing and editing. All I remember was that the guy we saw a thing about on the news didn't win for like the twentieth time. I didn't get to write about Best Actress, but Marion Cotillard won.

The song from Once was all right, but my mom kind of soured the experience by bringing up Magic Works (from the fourth Harry Potter film) again. Let it go, Mom!

Best Picture Montage - they do a variation of this every year, don't they? Interesting to see which pictures were color in the sea of black and white up until the mid-fifties. And then one black and white in the sixties.

Film Editing - I completely missed which film won. I'll look it up in a minute. Ah, The Bourne Ultimatum sweeps the editing categories. Makes sense.

That design tribute was pretty cool. Again, I missed who they're tributing, but as my mom commented, "at least they got him before he died." His speech is too long... ah, good, it's over.

Foreign Language Film - Again, where do they show these films? And if they don't show them over here, then why are we nominating them? I wonder this every year. Wikipedia probably has the answer, but I'm not looking right now. Congrats, Austria.

Without even looking, I knew that the announcer would be Patrick Dempsey. Do I know the singer? Probably not if I can't even figure out how to spell his last name. (Sorry, John Macglauclin, for butchering your last name!) So Close is a hot-and-cold song for me. I mean, I like it a lot, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it (unlike That's How You Know, which makes me be in the mood for it. You know the kind). John, you did a bad, bad job. You'd never make it to Hollywood if this were American Idol.

Original Song - It's not anything from Enchanted! Rawr!!! No, the most boring song (the one from Once) won. (What did the woman say? The mike must have muted or something.) Still, after last year, I shouldn't be surprised that the vote was split so much, but in the past, Alan Menken has had three songs nominated and still won, so I thought it might have worked out.
Ah, they brought the woman back since she was muted. That was nice.

Cinematography - I was so mad about the song still that I almost missed this. No Country for Old Men won.

Memorium montage - Michael Kidd was a choreographer, too, not just a dancer, but I guess that didn't show up on film. I never heard of most of these people. They didn't show Charles Nelson Reilly, but I looked him up and he was more of a TV person, so I guess that's why.

Original Score - I felt bad for Amy Adams, since the only thing Enchanted was nominated for didn't win at all, but she seems okay. Again, the only one of these movies I've actually seen is Ratatouille, but it's not winning. Yup, Atonement got it.

Y'know, Jon Stewart isn't being all that funny tonight. I seem to recall him being better the last time he hosted, but I don't really remember it.

Documentary, Short Subject - Kind of clever to let the troops introduce it, but again, this is the category that makes me wonder where I could be seeing these things. Only in select cities? As in, only in LA or someplace not on the east coast or even remotely near New England.

Documentary, Feature - I figured Michael Moore wouldn't win. People are sick of him, no pun intended. But see my comments on the previous category.

Original Screenplay - It really could go any way with this one. I think they'll give it to Juno because they want to give it something, but I actually saw Ratatouille, and that's the only one. And the others sound good, too. Ah, Juno got it. There you go, then. I want Diablo Cody's tattoo to be anime-related, but I don't think it is.

One thing all these montages make me realize is just how many movies people win for that you never hear about any more. Seriously, Save the Tiger? Has anyone heard of that before tonight?

Leading Actor - In truth, I have no clue. People seem to like Daniel Day-Lewis. I'm all for Sweeney Todd getting another award, but I don't think people are going to give it to Johnny Depp. He doesn't either, since he wore his glasses. And Tommy Lee Jones is always cool. And it goes to Day-Lewis.

I'm tired of montages...

Director - As I predicted the Coen brothers got it. We ended up talking about how long it must have taken the guy to dictate The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, since he could only do it by blinking.

Best Picture - No Country for Old Men. I figured it would be that or There Will Be Blood, but people like the Coen brothers more, I guess.

And that's that. Sorry I wasn't more interesting. I probably won't do something like this again, unless it's something I'm more invested in, like the Tony Awards.