In case you’re wondering, yes, as in previous years, I will be live-blogging the Oscars. This is an unusual year for us in that Kath and I have seen ALL of the nominated films, plus many of the acting performances, so we’ll actually have strong preferences this year. Swing on by and join us at 8:30 (no, I’m not planning to comment on the red carpet arrivals.)
PAD
Sure, various sites are blogging, but really, who cares about the others? This is where the action is.
8:30–Some where Dougray Scott is sitting at home watching Hugh Jackman and thinking, “That could have been my career.”
8:31–So although the smart money is on “Slumdog,” I’m thinking that “Milk” could provide an upset. Voters could see it as a chance to take a stand against Prop 8.
8:32–So is Jackman going to sing and dance? Waste if he doesn’t.
8:32–Yup, here we go. It’ll be tough to top Billy Crystal’s, though. Maybe Billy will join in.
8:34–The Craig’s List dancers?
8:35: Wow. Ann Hathway has nice pipes. I’m surprised it’s not a breakaway dress.
8:38: Well, it’s not quite as funny as Billy Crystal, but it beats the hëll out of a tap dance interpretation of “Saving Private Ryan.”
8:40: Meryl Streep flexed her muscle and Caroline promptly said, “Football!” Kathleen has trained her well.
8:41: And the award for first montage goes to: Thank you! Where’s Sally Field?
8:43: Somewhere there’s a picture of Goldie Hawn that’s incredibly old.
8:44: Best supporting actress. Will probably be: Penelope Cruz. Should be: Viola Davis. Would love it to be: Amy Adams. But Kath is pulling for Henson.
8:47: One for one in “will probably be”
8:49: At this rate the Oscar cast is going to run past midnight.
8:50: Ahhhhh…typically they award “Best supporting actor” close to “Best supporting actress.” But this year obviously they’re going to delay that because of all the drama attached to Heath Ledger.
8:53: Tina Fey and Steve Martin. Talk about your power couples.
8:54: Tina Fey serving as Steve Martin’s straight woman. Perfect.
8:55: Will probably win: Milk. Should win: WALL-E. Only two films I saw: Milk and WALL-E. What a lousy year for there not to be a film called “Cookies.”
8:56: Two for two in “will probably be”
8:58: Yes, but with all respect, if Harvey hadn’t been taken from us 30 years ago, you wouldn’t be up there, so…
8:59: Adapted screenplay. Will probably be: Slumdog. Should be: Button. Would love it to be: Frost/Nixon.
9:01: Three for three in “will probably be”
9:02: As Alan Dean Foster pointed out, it’s interesting that if you write a great novelizaton of a screenplay, you’re critically dismissed, but if you write a great screenplay version of a book, you can get an Oscar.
9:03: Oooooooooo…
9:04: It still annoys the crap out of me that two of the best movies of 2008 aren’t up for best picture: One because it was just ignored, and the other because it’s ina ghetto with other animation.
9:05 On the one hand this is taking up an insane amount of unnecessary time; on the other hand, it’s certainly entertaining to watch.
9:06: Will probably win: Wall-E. Should win: Wall-E.
9:07: And Jack Black makes a bunch of money betting on Pixar. This should take some of the sting out of Pixar’s losing that other animation award to KFP
9:08: Will probably win: Presto. Should win: I dunno. Only saw that and the one with the Octopi.
9:09: Seriously? Fracking animation short ruined my perfect record. The fact that it’s classic animation may be a commentary on all the computer animation.
9:12: This looks to be a long night. Kath is making me some nachos. World’s greatest wife.
9:15: Art direction. Will probably win: Button. Should win: Dark Knight. Would like to see win: Changeling.
9:17: At least it wasn’t Revolutionary Road. I swear, I don’t understand the attraction of that film. Two gorgeous people with a nice house, healthy kids, a good income…and they’re miserable and tear into each other. All I could think was, Geez, appreciate what you have and stop bìŧçhìņg.
9:19: So I’m five for six.
9:20: Costume design. Will probably win: Milk. Should win: Button.
9:20: No kidding. Those big costume dramas are attractive because voters readily understand them as costumes. Kathleen had that one right. So I’m five for seven.
9:22: “Very quickly…” Too late.
9:23: Makeup. Will win: Button. Should win: Hellboy.
9:24: Six for eight.
9:25: Ariel is squealing in delight because the vampire guy is up there.
9:25: Does he act better than he talks right now?
9:28: Paradoxically, a montage about romance that I’m not in love with.
9:29: You know what’s weird? We’re an hour into this and I don’t recall seeing any commercials for movies.
9:30: I wonder if they’re going to bother with productions of the nominated songs.
9:31: What the hëll is stiller doing?
9:32: Okay, anyway: Cinematographer: Will probably win: Slumdog. Should win: Dark Knight. Would like to see win: Reader.
9:33: Okay, I get it. He’s riffing Joaquin Phoenix. Long way to go for that joke.
9:34: Bingo. Seven for nine.
9:37: Now I want to see the movie about the dog tracking down his family.
9:38: At first I was surprised that Jessica Beil apparently couldn’t get a date. Now why is she wearing decorative white trash bags?
9:40: Ah. A commercial for a movie. The only one thus far; appropriately it’s “The Soloist”
9:45: It took a lot of work for Judd Apatow to make a short film about comedies that was only sporadically funny.
9:46: Best short film. No clue. On the line
9:47: Kath said that Toyland had the most buzz. So I’m seven for ten, although for the most part the ones I missed were the ones I didn’t see.
9:51: Commercial for “Castle.” I’ll be watching that for the three or so episodes that get aired.
9:52: Will someone please tell Hugh Jackman that this isn’t the Tony awards?
9:53: What. The hëll? Is this DOING here?
9:54: I mean, I know he’s a song and dance man. But this is ridiculous. “One night only.” That’s how long we have for the Oscars. You can’t stop the beat, but you can bring the show to a halt.
9:56: Uhm…guys? Mama Mia isn’t up. For anything.
9:57: Well, that’s five minutes of my life I won’t be getting back. “The musical is back?” Yeah: “Chicago” proved that years ago. What’s your point?
9:58: Baz Luhrrman put that together? Okay, if they’d had Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, it would have caught my interest.
10:00: I mean, honest to God. In what universe is the musical back? There was exactly one musical this past year, it was critically slammed, it wasn’t especially good, Pierce Brosnan embarrassed himself in it. I mean, yeah, it made a buttload of money, but go argue with Abba fans.
10:02: So I assume we’ll have five guys to give best supporting actor.
10:03: Best supporting actor. Will probably win: Heath Ledger. Should win: Heath Ledger. Could signal a major upset: Josh Brolin. Would be a hoot if he won: Robert Downey.
10:05: Downey would be great in “Shaft”
10:07: I wonder who would accept for Ledger. His ex-wife? Christopher Nolan?
10:08: Wow. His family. Okay. Eight for eleven, but I think we all saw that coming. I don’t consider this a sympathy vote; I think he would have won even if he hadn’t passed away.
10:11: Documentary. No clue. Let’s see from the clips.
10:12: Okay, pure guess based on visuals: Trouble the Water.
10:13: Boy, did his joke about gods go over like a lead balloon.
10:15: Should’ve gone with my first instinct. Saw the guy on the wire, though “Cool,” but then went with the Katrina one. Yeah, time is short: Thanks a lot, big pointless production number.
10:17: Short subject. No clue. Based on the visuals: Smile Pinky.
10:18: Okay, I’m back. Nine for thirteen.
10:18: So the wire guys sleight of hand was cute, even if he did obviously pocket the coin after the simple misdirection. But balancing the Oscar on his nose was cool. That’ll make some highlights clips.
10:21: So we’re almost through two hours…thirteen awards have been presented…and there’s eleven to go. After two hours. Oy.
10:22: It’s nice to see that they’re doing film creation basically in order. But even so, this is just dragging.
10:24: And the award for best commercial goes to: Jimmy Kimmel and Tom Cruise. Meantime now we have action films. Here’s what I’d like to see: A montage of films that just monumentally sucked. I mean ghastly. Terrible. Stuff you can’t believe was released. That would amuse me.
10:26: Visual FX; Will probably win: Button. Should win: Iron Man.
10:27: And thus does the bias against action, so deftly pointed out by Will Smith, continue. Ten for fourteen.
10:28: Sound editing: Will probably win: Slumdog. Should win: WALL-E. Would be nifty: Iron Man.
10:29: No. Kidding. Okay, well, I still think WALL-E should have taken it. The first half hour was nothing BUT sound editing. Ten for fifteen.
10:30: Okay, sound mixing. Will probably win: Button. Should win: WALL-E.
10:31: NOW Slumdog wins? Terrific. Fracking sound awards. Ten for sixteen. Ðámņáŧìøņ.
10:34: Film editing. Will probably win: Slumdog. Should win: Dark Knight.
10:35: Okay, back on track. Eleven for seventeen. Stupid technical awards.
10:36: In less than ten minutes we’ve blown through more awards than we did in the previous 45.
10:41: Seven awards to go. Average of five minutes per award, 35 minutes; we might hit 11:30.
10:42: They should have had someone French present this award. Or bring back Steve Martin and have him putting on his French accent from the Pink Panther films.
10:43: I saw Jerry Lewis as Applegate in “Ðámņ Yankees” on Broadway. He was great.
10:44: Oh yeah. I forgot about “The Nutty Professor” connection. Eh. Still should’ve been Steve Martin.
10:46: To think that when he and Dean Martin split up, the popular wisdom was that Martin would thrive and Lewis would vanish into obscurity. Guess in the long-term competition, Lewis won.
10:50: Nominated score. Will probably win: Slumdog. Should win: WALL-E. Should’ve been nominated: Iron Man. And Speed Racer.
10:53: I love the way she says the names. “Alejandra”
10:54: Twelve for eighteen. Yeah, well, y’know what? My definition of “best” is what I’d most want to put on when I’m driving. Definitely Speed Racer.
10:56: Oh, for the days when the Academy was going nuts trying to figure out how to mount “Oh Canada”
11:00: Interesting that they combined those two songs. That never would have occurred to me. Will probably win: Jai Ho. Should win: Jai Ho. Best combo: Jai HO and Down to Earth
11:01: Hard to ignore a song that keeps you in the seat during the credits. Thirteen for nineteen. Anybody know what “Jai Ho” actually means?
11:03: Kath informs me it means “Victory,” with the longer version meaning “May You be Victorious”
11:06: Good evening to the world. Okay: No clue about this. Will guess from the visuals.
11:07: I was trying to type “Waltz with Bashir.” Ah well. Thirteen for twenty.
11:08: I swear, I don’t know how I’d sit through this if I weren’t blogging. This makes it pass much faster.
11:10: Best actor is going to be really interesting. If Mickey Rourke wins, then I think Slumdog is probably a lock. If Sean Penn wins, Best picture is a question mark.
11:11: I forgot about the dead zone. Be interesting to see the reaction when Heath Ledger hits the screen. She’s…singing with it? Not sure how I feel about that.
11:15: Did they miss Heath Ledger? Did I miss him? I think taking the extra time for Newman was nice, and I’ve decided I liked the sing along. Took me about a minute.
11:18: Oh. He passed away in January of 2008, so he would have been in last year’s montage. That’s right.
11:19: They’re giving director before lead actors? Interesting. Of course, if they were doing it in true production order, best director would have been right after screenplay. So: Will probably win: Slumdog. Should win: Milk. would be nifty: Ron Howard.
11:20: Okay then. Fourteen for twenty one. Which means that if “Milk” wins it’s more of a political statement than a genuine belief as to what’s the best.
11:25: So the ONLY montage that wasn’t full sized on screen was the In Memoriam? That’s screwed up.
11:26: And the winner for most smoking hot working of a gown: Sophia Loren. Winner of the “crap, why did I have to stand next to Sophia Loren award: Shirley McClaine.
11:27: Best actress. Will probably win: Kate Winslet. Should win: Kate Winslet. Be nifty if she did: Angelina Jolie
11:30: Merl Chreep? Who the hëll is Merl Chree…oh. Sorry. I can’t help but think that right now she’s studying and memorizing the accent for future use.
11:31: Fifteen for twenty-two. The kicker is that the producers tried to position her for best supporting because they figured she’d have a better chance. What a hoot.
11:33: And now as we stare down the barrel of best actor, we find ourselves asking about the presenters the same question we had for Battlestar Galactica for ages: Who will the final five be?
11:35: Final five. Let’s see: Jack Nicholson, I would think.
11:36: Maybe Dustin Hoffman.
11:37: Oh well. Didn’t get any of them right. Should’ve twigged to Hopkins. And Kath figured Brody.
11:38: Michael Douglas has had some work done.
11:39: Best actor. Will probably win: Sean Penn. Should win: MIckey Rourke. Would really like to see win: Frank Langella.
11:42: If nothing else, Mickey Rourke would give the most interesting speech.
11:43: Sixteen for twenty-three. With Penn beating out sentimental favorite Mickey Rourke, I think that means best picture could flip either way.
11:46: I find it interesting that they’ve totally done away with bringing up the orchestra to play people off. On the one hand I always thought it was rude. On the other hand, you wind up running late. Great speech by Penn. Absolutely great, from the slam at the gay haters to the shout out to Rourke.
11:47: I remember this guy. He played the guy in the office of tax clerk at the end of “Blues Brothers.” The one who stamped “received” on the receipt. I wondered whatever happened to him.
11:50: Okay, THIS is an interesting montage. Starting with films that are nominated this year and then showing films that were thematic precursors. I just wish we hadn’t had to wait three hours and twenty minutes to get to an interesting montage.
11:52: Best film. Will probably win: Slumdog. Should win: Milk. Be nifty: Frost/Nixon.
11:53: Final tally: Seventeen for twenty-four. I was right on everything I’d actually seen except for the dámņëd sound awards. A closing montage of what’s coming up in 2009: Good idea. Of course, a lot of them are comedies and action flicks and therefore will be MIA from next year’s awards.
Boy, is this awards show going to be pilloried in the press. Presentations that seemed like good ideas in theory but just inflated the running time. Acceptance speeches that went on and on. A half hour overtime. Hugh Jackman trying to do Billy Crystal stuff when he’s much more at home with the Tonys. Tina Fey and Steve Martin giving us a glimpse of what the awards would be like if the right people were hosting. If I hadn’t been blogging I’d likely have fallen asleep by now.
• 
My bad. Slumdog lost Sound Editing to The Dark Knight.
“10:46: To think that when he and Dean Martin split up, the popular wisdom was that Martin would thrive and Lewis would vanish into obscurity. Guess in the long-term competition, Lewis won.”
Dean didn’t do too badly on his own. It doesn’t hurt to outlive the other guy, too.
I loved the song montage but something went wrong with it. And even though I didn’t see Slumdog (The only Oscar fave people actually saw) I now want to see it more because the songs sound great.
@Delmo but my hubby used Dean to woo me, so I think Dean wins, in the long run
PAD, you should guess which 5 actors and actresses they haul out to announce the nominees. Think they’ll do the same thing for directors?
For us too.
For us too.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish they weren’t swinging the camera around on the death montage
Instant Play for Netflix does work on a Mac.
Done it myself.
@Luigi Novi – Ðámņ it, I feel so ignorant right now! But my comment still stands (sans monstrously massive error) Thank you for setting me straight.
PAD, what do you think of the in memoriam tributes. I can’t stand them but only because they’re depressing.
Did they skip Heath or did I miss it?
Some of the worst camera work ever, would have been nice to actually see the video and names of the people being remembered.
Heath was in last year’s montage.
Heath died early enough to be included in last year’s tribute show.
@Conor – Thanks for defending me, even though I pretty much deserved that.
Heath was included in last year’s death montage.
PAD they managed to slip Heath in at the end of last years memoriam, they did miss Roy Schneider which he wa sin this years
Still surprised they didn’t do him again
Ugh. President of the Academy. Who cares.
I believe Heath was included in last year’s memorial
Ledger was in last year’s montage. I remember some people complaining about Roy Scheider NOT being featured last year, he died shortly after their cut off point for inclusion. Ledger died before, so he was in.
Ahh, okay, thank you. Was confused.
This has been the dullest Oscar ever…until the death montage, when they actually made me angry. Swinging the camera around to show postage stamp sized frames with pictures, while the only window large enough to do the job was occasionally too far away to read. Idiots.
So, I’ve caught all of like 10 seconds of the Oscars, and that was just after they announced Ledger as the winner.
I guess that’s what happens when the Academy decided to gush over all the arthouse films, none of which I cared to see.
Sophia Loren still looks wonderful! The original is still the best!
Oh wow, the Best Actress winner from last year is unrecognizable to me. As good as I am with faces, I’m embarrassed to admit that.
Yes, there were gripes last year about Heath being in the montage, and others, like Brad Renfro, who also died young, not being in it.
And dámņ, not watching and not really keeping an eye on everything, I thought after Director they’d be ready to hand out Best Picture and they would’ve gotten the show in just at 3 hours.
I was wrong on that one badly.
Yes! Penn won! Yes! Thank God!
Aw, I wanted Mickey Rourke to win. Sean Penn probably did an amazing job (and I love how his win sticks it to the anti Prop 8 crowd) and his acceptance speech was actually HUMBLE! And funny.
By the way, the guy from Twilight scares the hëll out of me. I think he really is a vampire.
Penn’s hands are shaking. Not that I blame him.
That makes 11 years in a row that at least one acting award was given to someone playing a real person.
hey they snuck citizen kane in the best picture category but it didn’t win
Slumdog won. No big surprise.
It ends with commercials?!! Bad form. Hugh did well as a host but didn’t get that much to do other than show off his singing skills (when will he get a movie musical?) I want to see Slumdog much more now but I still think it’s a shame that the most popular movies of the year got so little love. On the other hand, some of the best films of the year never get seen. When will we solve this disconnect between the audience and the awards?
PAD, Tina Fey hosting is a great idea. If they wanted a duo they could have her with Amy Pohler. When are those two going to do another movie, anyway?
Somewhere Dougray Scott is sitting at home and thinking, “Whew! That could have been my career.”
Peter David: 10:07: I wonder who would accept for Ledger. His ex-wife? Christopher Nolan?
Luigi Novi: Ledger never married.
I didn’t think the program was THAT bad. However, if, at this year’s Emmys the award for Variety/Music directing goes to the Oscars program director, I’ll be upset, especially after the way they screwed up the memoriam part.
PAD said: In what universe is the musical back? There was exactly one musical this past year, it was critically slammed, it wasn’t especially good, Pierce Brosnan embarrassed himself in it. I mean, yeah, it made a buttload of money, but go argue with Abba fans.
Peter, does that mean, if your community theater decides to do “Mamma Mia!” in a few years, you WON’T be trying out for it? I could see you putting on an accent to do the (I think?) Australian guy. And, let’s face it, if the play were done for charity, and you announced it here and in the comics community, I could see serious cash being raised to see you in one of the costumes at the end.
Ask Katherine what she thinks about the idea.
Interestingly, Ledger is only the second actor to win an acting Oscar posthumously (I thought it would’ve been more), but the first one was Peter Finch, who won for 1976’s Network, who, interestingly enough, like Ledger, was also Australian.
Man, if Hugh Jackman gets nominated for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he should be šhìŧŧìņg his pants.
“Sophia Loren still looks wonderful! The original is still the best!”
Really? I thought she looked terrifying, like a mummy.
“When will we solve this disconnect between the audience and the awards?”
I don’t think that’s a problem (after all, do we really want something like Transformers getting a Best Picture nomination?). The problem is the disconnect with the critics and film scholars who actually know what quality films are. Oddly, this year the critics and the audience were pretty much united, with The Dark Knight and WALL-E being the favorites of both groups, while the Academy went their own way.
But yeah, weird ceremony this year. I loved Jackman’s opening musical number, hated pretty much everything that came after (especially the presentations of the acting awards, which people have already rightly maligned). And I love musicals, but even I found that medley of musical numbers tedious. And somehow the ceremony managed to feel both overly long and overly rushed.
This year’s overlooked memorium award’s gotta go to patrick mcgoohan. Didn’t he & montalban die on the same day? Maybe mcgoohan’s estate opted out of that horribly-directed memorium montage!
I lasted for about 20 minutes before I was overwhelmed by the smarmy pomposity, so I spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and playing video games.
I did like Hugh Jackman’s intro number, however. The guy sure is multi-talented! He even found a way to plug his Wolverine movie!
PAD said: In what universe is the musical back? There was exactly one musical this past year, it was critically slammed, it wasn’t especially good, Pierce Brosnan embarrassed himself in it. I mean, yeah, it made a buttload of money, but go argue with Abba fans.
Um, not true.
“High School Musical 3” was released in 2008. There were also a few others that got NO attention whatsoever, such as “Were the World Mine”.
“Mama Mia” was just happened to the biggest and highest profile film of the bunch. And I also enjoyed it for what it was.
LOL at:
“9:34: Bingo. Seven for nine.”
How many times do you think B&B said that in the writers room of Voyager?
Ironic PAD… heh heh heh
My wife just mentioned that she read that they didn’t include George Carlin in the In Memoriam. And sure enough, having just reviewed it, they didn’t include him.
I don’t get it. Every year they miss somebody, and there’s really no excuse for it.
And Eartha Kitt.
I thought THE WRESTLER was every bit as good as it rep. And THE VISITOR is purty dámņ good too.
I thought THE WRESTLER was every bit as good as it rep. And THE VISITOR is purty dámņ good too.
Majel Barrett, of course.
I’ll stop now, as I don’t need to embarrass the Academy any further.