2009 Academy Awards Winners

2009 Academy Awards Winners

By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 22, 2009 5:28 pm EST

The 81st Academy Awards are now broadcasting live. Read our live blog of the award ceremony after the jump. For now, please leave your predictions in the comments below! The show is about to begin. The band is playing, and host Hugh Jackman has been introduced. Jackman made a joke about the recession saying that next year he’s doing a movie called New Zealand.His opening song and dance number is parodying all the nominees. I’m surprised to see Jackman bring up the point that the Academy didn’t recognize The Dark Knight or comic book movies.Jackman pulls Anne Hathaway up on stage to do a Frost/Nixon number which is supposed to be unplanned, but obviously is art of the show.I’m really not digging the Broadway song and dance number, despite some of the funny jokes. I think I would have preferred a good comic monologue by a funny comedian instead.Jackman tells Rourke that they have a 7 second delay, but if he wins, they switch to a 20 second delay. Funny, but I wonder if this is true?Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in Doubt 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 On Twitter Bretizzle says “I’m not feeling the ass kissing before the award is given.” I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic Reading text from the screenplay while showing scenes from the original screenplay nominees sounds like a really good idea, but isn’t as cool in execution.Original screenplay Frozen River, Courtney Hunt Happy-Go-Lucky,  Mike Leigh In Bruges, Martin McDonagh Milk, Dustin Lance Black WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, and Pete Docter Milk had the weakest screenplay of the bunch, but won due to the film’s politics (and I say this being a hardcore liberal living in San Francisco). WALL-E deserved to win but the Academy will never consider an animated film over a political one.Adapted screenplayThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth

Doubt, John Patrick Shanley Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan The Reade, David Hare Slumdog Millionaire, Simon BeaufoyThe first award of the night for Slumdog, and well deserved. I’m sure there will be quite a couple more. Jack Black explains how he makes a lot of money off animated films: Each year he takes all the money from his DreamWorks gig and bets it at the Oscars on Pixar. Extremely funny. Wonder if Jeffrey Katzenberg find it funny?Best Animated Feature Film Bolt, Chris Williams and Byron Howard Kung Fu Panda, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne WALL-E, Andrew StantonWow, Andrew Stanton definitely overprepared for his speech. He thanks his High School drama teacher for casting him in Hello, Dolly. Jack Black celebrating as if his film won was also quite funny. WALL-E Oscar photo thanks to FSR.Best Animated Short FilmLa 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 Wow, Pixar lost and I thought Pesto was their best short if years. Has the academy gotten tired of awarding them an Oscar every year? You can watch the winning short film on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2. Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker present the next award, which seems like an odd pairing. Alex Billington says to me in IM that it might be “Bond & Sex”.Achievement in Art Direction

Changeling, James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo The Dark Knight, Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando The Duchess, Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway Revolutionary Road, Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt Achievement in Costume Design Australia, Catherine Martin The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jacqueline West The Duchess, Michael O’Connor Milk, Danny Glicker Revolutionary Road, Albert Wolsky Isn’t it always the period pieces that win costume design?Achievement in MakeupThe 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 Second award win for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But will they win any above the line awards? Ben Stiller’s impression of Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t really that funny, but judging from the audience’s laughter, you would think it was the funniest thing they’ve seen all year.Achievement in Cinematography 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 MantleAnd the award for the most boring acceptance speech goes to…And now we have the roundup of the tech awards. Is Jessica Biel wearing a dress or a huge towel?And now we have a short film directed by Judd Apatow starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, reprising their roles from Pineapple Express, having stoner laughs at some of the films of the last year. Franco appears to be a big fan of The Wrestler’s Necrobutcher. Great short film. They should have commissioned more directors to do these instead of the edited packages.Best Live Action Short FilmAuf der Strecke, 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, Jochen Alexander FreydankOh god… another Hugh Jackman song and dance number. I can’t wait for the musical to go back out of style. Don’t get me started on the inclusion of the High school Musical stars… ughhh

Best Supporting ActorJosh 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 Heath did it! A lot of Dark Knight fans are probably jumping up and down right about now. Ledger’s family is on stage to accept.Animated Zoolander photo via Playlist.Bill Maher presents the next award, and is probably the first person in history to make an Athiest statement on the Oscar stage. Hollywood is too fearful to clap because  they believe in Aliens named Xenu. I love Bill Maher, but they probably should have figured out beforehand that it would be a bad idea putting him on after Heath’s potential win. Best Documentary Feature The Betrayal Encounters at the End of the World The Garden Man on Wire Trouble the Water Best Documentary Short The Conscience of Nhem En, Steven Okazaki

The Final Inch, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant Smile Pinki, Megan Mylan The Witness, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde The Jimmy Kimmel Live commercial featuring Tom Cruise was pretty good. The action montage was also pretty kick ass.Achievement in Visual EffectsThe 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 Third award for Benjamin Button. And out all of the awards, this one was rightfully deserved. Even if you thought Ben Button was boring, you have to agree.Achievement in Sound EditingThe 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 Second award  for The Dark Knight.Achievement in Sound Mixing 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

Third Oscar of the night for Slumdog, and I have a feeling there will be more.Achievement in Film EditingThe 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 DickensThat was fast. Oscar number four for Slumdog Millionaire. Wow, there seems to be an uprising of “Slumdog haters” in the comments. I’m surprised because I actually agree greatly with the award’s the film has won thus far. The Dark Knight is a great film, but it’s poorly edited. For instince, what does Joker do with that one guy with the knife in the poolcue scene?Jean Hersholt Award to Jerry LewisAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,Alexandre Desplat Defiance, James Newton Howard Milk, Danny Elfman Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman WALL-E, Thomas Newman Fifth Oscar for Slumdog, and I think most people will agree with this one (although, I’m not sure, the backlash is big in the comments). The film has an awesome score.The Bollywood musical performance was much more entertaining than that last Hugh Jackman musical number.Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Down to Earth” from WALL-E by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam Sixth Slumdog Oscar.. I think this is officially a sweep, right? Twitter use granttoneck points out that AR Rahman is Ine of the biggest Selling Musical Artist in the world (probably in the top 25?). I knew he was big in India and Europe, but not that big.Best foreign language film of the year The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) The Class (France) Departures (Japan) Revanche (Austria) Waltz with Bashir (Israel) I think everyone expected Waltz for Bashir to win. This is the first big upset of the night.I would have loved to see the In Memoriam video montage in full screen and without the live song.Best DirectorThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard Milk, Gus Van Sant The Reader, Stephen Daldry Slumdog Millionaire, Danny BoyleThe seventh Academy Award win for Slumdog! I wish Aronofsky was nominated, but somehow he was overlooked.Best ActressAnne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie in Changeling Melissa Leo in Frozen River Meryl Streep in Doubt Kate Winslet in The ReaderPredictable…Best ActorRichard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon Sean Penn in Milk Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler Wow. I think everyone was expecting Rourke to take this one. Not that I disagree with Penn’s awesome performance. I think I was just really excited for a crazy Mickey Rourke Oscar speech. Also, It was nice to hear Penn admit that he sometimes makes it hard for people to appreciate him.Steven Spielberg presenting Best Picture…Best PictureThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog MillionaireAnd if it wasn’t official, it is now. Slumdog Millionaire sweeps with eight total Oscar wins!

2009 Academy Awards Winners

By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 22, 2009 5:28 pm EST

The 81st Academy Awards are now broadcasting live. Read our live blog of the award ceremony after the jump. For now, please leave your predictions in the comments below! The show is about to begin. The band is playing, and host Hugh Jackman has been introduced. Jackman made a joke about the recession saying that next year he’s doing a movie called New Zealand.His opening song and dance number is parodying all the nominees. I’m surprised to see Jackman bring up the point that the Academy didn’t recognize The Dark Knight or comic book movies.Jackman pulls Anne Hathaway up on stage to do a Frost/Nixon number which is supposed to be unplanned, but obviously is art of the show.I’m really not digging the Broadway song and dance number, despite some of the funny jokes. I think I would have preferred a good comic monologue by a funny comedian instead.Jackman tells Rourke that they have a 7 second delay, but if he wins, they switch to a 20 second delay. Funny, but I wonder if this is true?Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in Doubt 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 On Twitter Bretizzle says “I’m not feeling the ass kissing before the award is given.” I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic Reading text from the screenplay while showing scenes from the original screenplay nominees sounds like a really good idea, but isn’t as cool in execution.Original screenplay Frozen River, Courtney Hunt Happy-Go-Lucky,  Mike Leigh In Bruges, Martin McDonagh Milk, Dustin Lance Black WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, and Pete Docter Milk had the weakest screenplay of the bunch, but won due to the film’s politics (and I say this being a hardcore liberal living in San Francisco). WALL-E deserved to win but the Academy will never consider an animated film over a political one.Adapted screenplayThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth

Doubt, John Patrick Shanley Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan The Reade, David Hare Slumdog Millionaire, Simon BeaufoyThe first award of the night for Slumdog, and well deserved. I’m sure there will be quite a couple more. Jack Black explains how he makes a lot of money off animated films: Each year he takes all the money from his DreamWorks gig and bets it at the Oscars on Pixar. Extremely funny. Wonder if Jeffrey Katzenberg find it funny?Best Animated Feature Film Bolt, Chris Williams and Byron Howard Kung Fu Panda, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne WALL-E, Andrew StantonWow, Andrew Stanton definitely overprepared for his speech. He thanks his High School drama teacher for casting him in Hello, Dolly. Jack Black celebrating as if his film won was also quite funny. WALL-E Oscar photo thanks to FSR.Best Animated Short FilmLa 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 Wow, Pixar lost and I thought Pesto was their best short if years. Has the academy gotten tired of awarding them an Oscar every year? You can watch the winning short film on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2. Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker present the next award, which seems like an odd pairing. Alex Billington says to me in IM that it might be “Bond & Sex”.Achievement in Art Direction

Changeling, James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo The Dark Knight, Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando The Duchess, Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway Revolutionary Road, Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt Achievement in Costume Design Australia, Catherine Martin The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jacqueline West The Duchess, Michael O’Connor Milk, Danny Glicker Revolutionary Road, Albert Wolsky Isn’t it always the period pieces that win costume design?Achievement in MakeupThe 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 Second award win for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But will they win any above the line awards? Ben Stiller’s impression of Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t really that funny, but judging from the audience’s laughter, you would think it was the funniest thing they’ve seen all year.Achievement in Cinematography 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 MantleAnd the award for the most boring acceptance speech goes to…And now we have the roundup of the tech awards. Is Jessica Biel wearing a dress or a huge towel?And now we have a short film directed by Judd Apatow starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, reprising their roles from Pineapple Express, having stoner laughs at some of the films of the last year. Franco appears to be a big fan of The Wrestler’s Necrobutcher. Great short film. They should have commissioned more directors to do these instead of the edited packages.Best Live Action Short FilmAuf der Strecke, 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, Jochen Alexander FreydankOh god… another Hugh Jackman song and dance number. I can’t wait for the musical to go back out of style. Don’t get me started on the inclusion of the High school Musical stars… ughhh

Best Supporting ActorJosh 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 Heath did it! A lot of Dark Knight fans are probably jumping up and down right about now. Ledger’s family is on stage to accept.Animated Zoolander photo via Playlist.Bill Maher presents the next award, and is probably the first person in history to make an Athiest statement on the Oscar stage. Hollywood is too fearful to clap because  they believe in Aliens named Xenu. I love Bill Maher, but they probably should have figured out beforehand that it would be a bad idea putting him on after Heath’s potential win. Best Documentary Feature The Betrayal Encounters at the End of the World The Garden Man on Wire Trouble the Water Best Documentary Short The Conscience of Nhem En, Steven Okazaki

The Final Inch, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant Smile Pinki, Megan Mylan The Witness, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde The Jimmy Kimmel Live commercial featuring Tom Cruise was pretty good. The action montage was also pretty kick ass.Achievement in Visual EffectsThe 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 Third award for Benjamin Button. And out all of the awards, this one was rightfully deserved. Even if you thought Ben Button was boring, you have to agree.Achievement in Sound EditingThe 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 Second award  for The Dark Knight.Achievement in Sound Mixing 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

Third Oscar of the night for Slumdog, and I have a feeling there will be more.Achievement in Film EditingThe 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 DickensThat was fast. Oscar number four for Slumdog Millionaire. Wow, there seems to be an uprising of “Slumdog haters” in the comments. I’m surprised because I actually agree greatly with the award’s the film has won thus far. The Dark Knight is a great film, but it’s poorly edited. For instince, what does Joker do with that one guy with the knife in the poolcue scene?Jean Hersholt Award to Jerry LewisAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,Alexandre Desplat Defiance, James Newton Howard Milk, Danny Elfman Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman WALL-E, Thomas Newman Fifth Oscar for Slumdog, and I think most people will agree with this one (although, I’m not sure, the backlash is big in the comments). The film has an awesome score.The Bollywood musical performance was much more entertaining than that last Hugh Jackman musical number.Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Down to Earth” from WALL-E by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam Sixth Slumdog Oscar.. I think this is officially a sweep, right? Twitter use granttoneck points out that AR Rahman is Ine of the biggest Selling Musical Artist in the world (probably in the top 25?). I knew he was big in India and Europe, but not that big.Best foreign language film of the year The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) The Class (France) Departures (Japan) Revanche (Austria) Waltz with Bashir (Israel) I think everyone expected Waltz for Bashir to win. This is the first big upset of the night.I would have loved to see the In Memoriam video montage in full screen and without the live song.Best DirectorThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard Milk, Gus Van Sant The Reader, Stephen Daldry Slumdog Millionaire, Danny BoyleThe seventh Academy Award win for Slumdog! I wish Aronofsky was nominated, but somehow he was overlooked.Best ActressAnne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie in Changeling Melissa Leo in Frozen River Meryl Streep in Doubt Kate Winslet in The ReaderPredictable…Best ActorRichard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon Sean Penn in Milk Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler Wow. I think everyone was expecting Rourke to take this one. Not that I disagree with Penn’s awesome performance. I think I was just really excited for a crazy Mickey Rourke Oscar speech. Also, It was nice to hear Penn admit that he sometimes makes it hard for people to appreciate him.Steven Spielberg presenting Best Picture…Best PictureThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog MillionaireAnd if it wasn’t official, it is now. Slumdog Millionaire sweeps with eight total Oscar wins!

The show is about to begin. The band is playing, and host Hugh Jackman has been introduced. Jackman made a joke about the recession saying that next year he’s doing a movie called New Zealand.His opening song and dance number is parodying all the nominees. I’m surprised to see Jackman bring up the point that the Academy didn’t recognize The Dark Knight or comic book movies.Jackman pulls Anne Hathaway up on stage to do a Frost/Nixon number which is supposed to be unplanned, but obviously is art of the show.I’m really not digging the Broadway song and dance number, despite some of the funny jokes. I think I would have preferred a good comic monologue by a funny comedian instead.Jackman tells Rourke that they have a 7 second delay, but if he wins, they switch to a 20 second delay. Funny, but I wonder if this is true?Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in Doubt

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

On Twitter Bretizzle says “I’m not feeling the ass kissing before the award is given.” I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic Reading text from the screenplay while showing scenes from the original screenplay nominees sounds like a really good idea, but isn’t as cool in execution.Original screenplay

Frozen River, Courtney Hunt

Happy-Go-Lucky,  Mike Leigh

In Bruges, Martin McDonagh

Milk, Dustin Lance Black

WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, and Pete Docter

Milk had the weakest screenplay of the bunch, but won due to the film’s politics (and I say this being a hardcore liberal living in San Francisco). WALL-E deserved to win but the Academy will never consider an animated film over a political one.Adapted screenplayThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth

Doubt, John Patrick Shanley

Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan

The Reade, David Hare

Slumdog Millionaire, Simon BeaufoyThe first award of the night for Slumdog, and well deserved. I’m sure there will be quite a couple more. Jack Black explains how he makes a lot of money off animated films: Each year he takes all the money from his DreamWorks gig and bets it at the Oscars on Pixar. Extremely funny. Wonder if Jeffrey Katzenberg find it funny?Best Animated Feature Film

Bolt, Chris Williams and Byron Howard

Kung Fu Panda, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne

WALL-E, Andrew StantonWow, Andrew Stanton definitely overprepared for his speech. He thanks his High School drama teacher for casting him in Hello, Dolly. Jack Black celebrating as if his film won was also quite funny. WALL-E Oscar photo thanks to FSR.Best Animated Short FilmLa 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

Wow, Pixar lost and I thought Pesto was their best short if years. Has the academy gotten tired of awarding them an Oscar every year? You can watch the winning short film on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2. Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker present the next award, which seems like an odd pairing. Alex Billington says to me in IM that it might be “Bond & Sex”.Achievement in Art Direction

Changeling, James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo

The Dark Knight, Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando

The Duchess, Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway

Revolutionary Road, Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

Achievement in Costume Design

Australia, Catherine Martin

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jacqueline West

The Duchess, Michael O’Connor

Milk, Danny Glicker

Revolutionary Road, Albert Wolsky

Isn’t it always the period pieces that win costume design?Achievement in MakeupThe 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

Second award win for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But will they win any above the line awards? Ben Stiller’s impression of Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t really that funny, but judging from the audience’s laughter, you would think it was the funniest thing they’ve seen all year.Achievement in Cinematography

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 MantleAnd the award for the most boring acceptance speech goes to…And now we have the roundup of the tech awards. Is Jessica Biel wearing a dress or a huge towel?And now we have a short film directed by Judd Apatow starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, reprising their roles from Pineapple Express, having stoner laughs at some of the films of the last year. Franco appears to be a big fan of The Wrestler’s Necrobutcher. Great short film. They should have commissioned more directors to do these instead of the edited packages.Best Live Action Short FilmAuf der Strecke, 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, Jochen Alexander FreydankOh god… another Hugh Jackman song and dance number. I can’t wait for the musical to go back out of style. Don’t get me started on the inclusion of the High school Musical stars… ughhh

Best Supporting ActorJosh 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

Heath did it! A lot of Dark Knight fans are probably jumping up and down right about now. Ledger’s family is on stage to accept.Animated Zoolander photo via Playlist.Bill Maher presents the next award, and is probably the first person in history to make an Athiest statement on the Oscar stage. Hollywood is too fearful to clap because  they believe in Aliens named Xenu. I love Bill Maher, but they probably should have figured out beforehand that it would be a bad idea putting him on after Heath’s potential win.

Best Documentary Feature

The Betrayal

Encounters at the End of the World

The Garden

Man on Wire

Trouble the Water

Best Documentary Short

The Conscience of Nhem En, Steven Okazaki

The Final Inch, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant

Smile Pinki, Megan Mylan

The Witness, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

The Jimmy Kimmel Live commercial featuring Tom Cruise was pretty good. The action montage was also pretty kick ass.Achievement in Visual EffectsThe 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

Third award for Benjamin Button. And out all of the awards, this one was rightfully deserved. Even if you thought Ben Button was boring, you have to agree.Achievement in Sound EditingThe 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

Second award  for The Dark Knight.Achievement in Sound Mixing

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

Third Oscar of the night for Slumdog, and I have a feeling there will be more.Achievement in Film EditingThe 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 DickensThat was fast. Oscar number four for Slumdog Millionaire. Wow, there seems to be an uprising of “Slumdog haters” in the comments. I’m surprised because I actually agree greatly with the award’s the film has won thus far. The Dark Knight is a great film, but it’s poorly edited. For instince, what does Joker do with that one guy with the knife in the poolcue scene?Jean Hersholt Award to Jerry LewisAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,Alexandre Desplat

Defiance, James Newton Howard

Milk, Danny Elfman

Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman

WALL-E, Thomas Newman

Fifth Oscar for Slumdog, and I think most people will agree with this one (although, I’m not sure, the backlash is big in the comments). The film has an awesome score.The Bollywood musical performance was much more entertaining than that last Hugh Jackman musical number.Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Down to Earth” from WALL-E by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman

“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar

“O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Sixth Slumdog Oscar.. I think this is officially a sweep, right? Twitter use granttoneck points out that AR Rahman is Ine of the biggest Selling Musical Artist in the world (probably in the top 25?). I knew he was big in India and Europe, but not that big.Best foreign language film of the year

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)

The Class (France)

Departures (Japan)

Revanche (Austria)

Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

I think everyone expected Waltz for Bashir to win. This is the first big upset of the night.I would have loved to see the In Memoriam video montage in full screen and without the live song.Best DirectorThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher

Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard

Milk, Gus Van Sant

The Reader, Stephen Daldry

Slumdog Millionaire, Danny BoyleThe seventh Academy Award win for Slumdog! I wish Aronofsky was nominated, but somehow he was overlooked.Best ActressAnne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Melissa Leo in Frozen River

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kate Winslet in The ReaderPredictable…Best ActorRichard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn in Milk

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Wow. I think everyone was expecting Rourke to take this one. Not that I disagree with Penn’s awesome performance. I think I was just really excited for a crazy Mickey Rourke Oscar speech. Also, It was nice to hear Penn admit that he sometimes makes it hard for people to appreciate him.Steven Spielberg presenting Best Picture…Best PictureThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog MillionaireAnd if it wasn’t official, it is now. Slumdog Millionaire sweeps with eight total Oscar wins!