2008 Academy Awards Recap

These Academy Awards saw the film nobody saw coming until its release, Slumdog Millionaire, dominate the ceremony taking home 8 Oscars out of 10, the most by a film since Return of the King. Hugh Jackman was a very warm and charming host giving us so many dance and song numbers we're bound to see again on YouTube. A very good call by the Academy on that front. No big surprises on the Acting awards. Some people will be upset Mickey Rourke did not win, but Sean Penn was wonderful as Harvey Milk. By the time Hugh started his first number we have forgotten The Dark Knight was not in contention for Best Picture, but everyone stood on their feet when Heath Ledger's name was called for Best Supporting Actor and his family gave a very moving speech of his memory. Jerry Lewis was very humble in his speech for the Jean Herseholt Award. Perhaps a slight problem in this year's ceremony might have been its predictability for the winners. Indeed I'm sure a lot of critics and bloggers will have a very high score in predicting the award recipients. I had a score of 17 out of 24 myself, but I missed 2 of the categories I usually have no idea who'll win, being Animated Short and Documentary Short Subject. I did however miss 2 of the acting categories, predicting Viola Davis instead of Cruz and prefering Rourke to Penn. A nice concept was born tonight, with 5 winning actors presenting the nominees and giving a short description of their performances. I hope this will continue for many years to come. I hope next year's ceremony will be as entertaining as this year's.

Well, what did you think?

Best Picture

And the Oscar goes to... Christian Colson for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor

And the Oscar goes to... Sean Penn for Milk

Best Actress

And the Oscar goes to... Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Director

And the Oscar goes to... Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film

And the Oscar goes to... Departures (Japan)

Best Original Song

And the Oscar goes to... 'Jai Ho' (A.R. Rahman & Gulzar) - Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Score

And the Oscar goes to... A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Film Editing

And the Oscar goes to... Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Mixing

And the Oscar goes to... Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke & Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Visual Effects

And the Oscar goes to... Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton & Craig Barron for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Documentary Short Subject

And the Oscar goes to... Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki

Best Documentary Feature

And the Oscar goes to... James Marsh & Simon Chinn for Man on Wire

Best Supporting Actor

And the Oscar goes to... Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

Best Live Action Short

And the Oscar goes to... Jochen Alexander Freydank for Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Best Cinematography

And the Oscar goes to... Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup

And the Oscar goes to... Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Costume Design

And the Oscar goes to... Michael O'Connor for The Duchess

Best Art Direction

And the Oscar goes to... Donald Graham Burt & Victor J. Zolfo for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Animated Short Film

And the Oscar goes to... Kunio Kato for La Maison En Petits Cubes

Best Animated Feature

And the Oscar goes to... Andrew Stanton for WALL-E

Best Adapted Screenplay

And the Oscar goes to... Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay

And the Oscar goes to... Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Supporting Actress

And the Oscar goes to... Pénelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Daniel's Final Predictions

Uh oh! I almost forgot to post mine! I apologize about my total lack of contribution for the majority of the season; it's been a hectic year thus far. Next year, however, I promise to get back on duty. Enjoy the show tonight!

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt
Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Costume Design: The Duchess
Best Makeup Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Song: "Jai Ho", Slumdog Millionaire
Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Best Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight
Best Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Animated Feature Film: WALL-E
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
Best Documentary Feature: Man on Wire
Best Documentary - Short Subject: The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
Best Animated Short Film: Presto
Best Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

The Big Night!!

We're just three hours away, and I hope you're as excited as I am for tonight's ceremony. I will provide live coverage of the winners for you, and we'll see if our predictions were right.