2009 Oscars

As usual, I haven't seen most of the movies that are nominated, so I'm not going to predict anything, except to say that Wall-E is bound to win Best Animated Film, and should also win at least one of the sound awards (mixing or editing), and maybe even Best Original Screenplay.  I just can't see either song from Slumdog Millionaire besting "Down to Earth," but then again, I haven't heard them, either.

As last year, here are my thoughts on the ceremony as it happens.

• I love the idea of the crystal curtain, but I'm not sure how I feel about the actual curtain itself.
  
• Oh, Hugh Jackman, you're awesome.  That opening song was great.  Especially when the ending turned into a partial "This is the moment" parody.
  
• Mom, of course, can't help pointing out how unflattering the dresses worn by most of the presenters for Supporting Actress are (especially Whoopi Goldberg and Tilda Swinton).
  
• "To write is to live forever."  "The man who wrote that is dead."  XD!  The whole bit was good.
• Boo to Wall-E not winning Best Original Screenplay.  (Mom also boos with me.)
• Who is Jack Black glaring at?  He shouldn't be bitter; Kung Fu Panda took all the Annie Awards, apparently. 
• Yay for Wall-E winning Best Animated Film!
• Having actually seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I feel that its Art Direction Award is well earned.  
• I liked the romance montage, but I was waiting for the Mamma Mia footage, since the girl was one of the presenters.  Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have thought to look for it.
• Who was the other guy with Seth Rogan in that sketch?  The presenters weren't announced ahead of time, so I can't find it out.
• You see what they did there?  Having a medley of older movie songs to make it seem less strange when they do the medley of this year's Best Song nominees.  But it was so random, and not in a good way.  Ugh, try harder next time, Baz Luhrman.
• I figure that they had to give Heath Ledger the award because everyone else can try again next year.
• That Documentary winner (I forgot his name) was cool.
• Foul!  Foul, I say!  (Sorry, but I promised someone I would cry foul if Wall-E didn't win at least one of the Sound awards.)
• Ah, it's nice that they honored Jerry Lewis.  Before tonight, I never knew that he invented the Video Assist.
• Mom's comment: "Dean Martin, on the other hand, is dead.  I have the CDs to prove it."
• Don't know who the guy is, but he did an okay job on Down to Earth.   Those guys playing the drums look like they're having a lot of fun.  And putting the songs together at the end was pretty cool, too.
• Did I say this before?  Maybe I have but I'll say it again: if there are only three songs nominated, to have two of them be from the same movie just seems sort of tacky.  (And I'm not just saying that because "Down to Earth" didn't win.  I think that every time there's more than one song nominated from one movie.)
• Ugh, I hate "I'll Be Seeing You," no matter who sings it.
• It's interesting to have five presenters.
• The whole 'mixing other movies in between clips of the nominated movies' confused me for about two movies' worth before I caught on to what was going on.
• And of course, Slumdog Millionaire wins Best Picture.  Maybe this is just me, but I really feel like it needs a better title.  Or at least a title that kind of indicates it takes place in India, and not just a random American ghetto.
• Kind of nice that they end it with a preview of the movies coming out this year.