Live Blog: 2009 Oscar Winners and Commentary
What's happening as it happens...
7:33:00 PM: And we pick it up here. Hello!
7:33:52 PM: Will Smith is sticking around for Editing and this has to go to Slumdog… Has to.
7:34:34 PM: And the winner is…
7:35:24 PM: That gives Slumdog Millionaire the lead for the night with 4 Oscars. Button is second with three and The Dark Knight has two.
7:36:38 PM: Danny Boyle is so happy out there in the crowd. Pretty cool to see their excitement.
7:37:03 PM: Coming soon is a tribute to Jerry Lewis.
7:38:01 PM: Arizona State is up on Arizona 29-24 with just under five minutes to go in the first half. The Pac-10 is tightening up folks.
7:38:38 PM: Oh, and the Oscars are taking a commercial break.
7:39:43 PM: You have to like how I turned off most of the ads all over the site for tonight eh? No flashing and annoying boxes to deter you.
7:41:33 PM: Interesting — Eddie Murphy is making his way on stage. He is out to give the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis.
7:44:27 PM: "From one Nutty Professor to another," I like it.
7:50:33 PM: The Academy Awards orchestra is now going to play a medley of the Oscar nominated scores. My pick here is WALL-E only because it was the best one, but I have a feeling the Slumdog score will win even though it hardly has one. The Defiance score is certainly the best to listen to of the bunch though.
7:53:32 PM: Zac Efron is making his way to the stage with Alicia Keys. She's a cutie.
7:53:53 PM: And the winner for Best Score goes to…
7:54:32 PM: Another miss on my part… Damn! 11-15
7:55:46 PM: Next up is song and I think I will get back on track with "Jai Ho".
7:56:11 PM: This is the performance segment Peter Gabriel dropped out of, but the performance is looking pretty good. Rahman goes from Oscar winner to performer… Nice!
8:01:18 PM: Nominees announced and the winner is…
8:01:39 PM: About 30 minutes to go and the big awards are about to be handed out.
8:05:51 PM: Freida Pinto is now presenting with Liam Neeson for Foreign Language Film.
8:06:16 PM: I have heard a lot of weird things about how these nominations were made, but my pick remains Waltz with Bashir even though it sounds like Departures may take it in a surprise.
8:07:12 PM: And Departures takes it.
8:10:56 PM: Queen Latifah is out for the "In Memory" segment.
8:15:36 PM: The sad part is over and all we have left are Best Actor, Actress, Director and Picture. Not a lot of surprises left except the question of who will win: Rourke or Penn? My pick remains Penn, but that is not to say I am confident in that pick.
8:18:02 PM: Sid Ganis, Academy president, decides not to make a speech! Boom, that's a win!
8:18:39 PM: Reese Witherspoon steps on stage to announce Best Director.
8:19:37 PM: Gotta go with Danny Boyle from Slumdog here, but am I the only one wondering why they got Witherspoon to announce this one?
8:20:16 PM: And the winner is…
8:21:09 PM: That's seven wins for Slumdog with Picture pretty much in the bag, which will mean 8 for Boyle's film. Not too bad.
8:23:34 PM: Oh, and I think I am now 13-18 with my picks. Not too bad, but I need to learn to go with expectation in some cases and stop thinking so logically.
8:25:06 PM: The show is back and it looks like we are going with Best Actress. Who will be there to present?
8:25:28 PM: Sophia Loren, Shirley Maclaine, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard are out to present for Best Actress.
8:26:44 PM: You know what's crazy, all five of these women will be in Nine later this year… Look for it, it's gonna be great!
8:27:22 PM: Oh wait… Halle Berry's not… Shoot me.
8:27:33 PM: Still, four out of five ain't bad. Forgive me.
8:27:59 PM: My pick here is Kate Winslet for The Reader. Will Streep take it from her? Doubt it… pun intended.
8:30:22 PM: Sophia Loren thinks she is the queen bee, but is she? Hmmmmmm?
8:32:11 PM: And the winner is
8:32:34 PM: So that leaves me at 14-19 with a tough call on Penn coming up. I am now curious to see who they will have to present Actor, I am starting to really like this format.
8:33:57 PM: Winslet asks her pops to whistle from the crowd… and he does! Nice moment.
8:35:59 PM: Best Actor time…
8:36:30 PM: The fact I am worried about my Penn pick at all tells me Rourke is probably going to win. I'm cool with either one and happy there is still a little mystery left in the show.
8:36:59 PM: Out to present is Robert De Niro, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Adrien Brody and Michael Douglas. Nice group.
8:43:11 PM: And the winner is
8:43:26 PM: Booyah! Feel good about calling that one correctly, but still congrats to Mickey.
8:44:11 PM: Oh man, and it's not Shirley Maclaine in Nine, it's Judi Dench.
8:44:29 PM: Sorry, working too fast here.
8:45:11 PM: Okay, so I am 15-20 with Best Picture left and I think we all know that is going to Slumdog, which will leave me at 16-21. Not too bad, but I still feel I could have done better.
8:47:10 PM: Now I look and see the commenters were way ahead of me on the Maclaine/Dench call.
8:47:31 PM: Steven Spielberg makes his way on stage for what must be Best Picture.
8:53:01 PM: And the Best Picture for 2008 is
You tell me, did the show live up to your expectations? Honestly, it exceeded mine greatly.
8:55:48 PM: Oh boy, now here comes the 2009 movie preview. Should I watch? No, I won't. Don't want to spoil the movie before I see it in the theaters.
9:12:08 PM: Just added 51 pictures from the red carpet check 'em out here.
Showing 55 Comments
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Hi Brad
Let me be the first to join you and say how much I am looking forward to your blog and commentary. It should be a fun evening with maybe a couple of surprises
Good luck
Helen (DC)
Russia online and following!
What do you think, how soon till we all crush the server as on…. what was that? SAGs?
Hi Brad!
Live from Dominican Republic following all night long!
Here from Nova Scotia up in Canada, plan to follow you all night.
And as a die hard Tar Heels fan, I am obligated to say go Wake Forest!
Who is Pattinson?
Sitting here in Florida and watching tons of Oscar stuff from E! and TV Guide.
Finally now the show is starting and I must say the fashion stuff is really killing me.
I am enjoying, but lets get to the movies already. Don't care about Valentino!
Watching in Ireland here. In Bruges will win the original screenplay oscar, mark my words! Very underrated movie.
Logging in from India – Bangalore.. Meghana here. Was with you during the Golden Globes as well, completely enjoyed your updates…
Fingers crossed for Ledger and Slumdog Millionaire!
Undecided on Hathaway myself, her features are too big or something(mouth, eyes etc.), can't really put my finger on it.
Here from New York. Writing a research paper. You're a life saver! Love your commentary.
i like the way they're announcing the winners. it's nice for the performances to be discussed a bit. nice change i think.
indonesia's here, reading you too brad!
This announcing the noms thing is extremely annoying. And Hathaway is gorgeous.
What the eff is taking so long?
but it's a shame that this way they had to cut music performances down to a medley. that's lame.
I hope only the top categories are this long. The technical awards will probably be shorter.
And did someone just shout something during Cruz's speech? No hablo espanol.
watching from France…
Indian in UK and watching …
loving the new format… tina fey and steve martin for next years hosts…
i had adams for supporting… got wall-e for this one animated movie… no rocket science there…
well can t watch it so reading you
whats next?
Firstly..kisses you! Secondly..no that was everything ;)
Seriously..thanks for this..I feel at almost 28 I should be over the freaking out when I somehow can't see the big daddy award show but I'm thinking learn to live with it.
Slumdog kids killed me on the RC…Mickey made me cackle as usual and Kate..well I think I'm still dead. Mad as a hatter that I'm missing the show but this is sure the next best thing.
Hi Brad, so far I've guessed only the Supporting Actress Oscar wrong. Greetings from Manchester, England by the way.
Brad, you are good man. Real good.
These are not guesses, these are not predictions, these are foresights!
@Risa:
Oh Risa…he meant Robert Pattinson, the male heartthrob who plays "Edward Cullen" in the Twilight movie, of course!
Who else thinks the show this year is kinda dumb? I mean, most of the award shows are kinda dumb normally, but I find myself laughing AT this show, not with it, if you know what I mean.
@jacynth:
Jacynth – you can check out a running order for the awards at:
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Oscar-Presentation-Order-Revealed-12100.html
Brads actually predictions correct: 7-9 also just saw an interesting spot for The Soloist definitely will be nominated next year its got oscar bait written all over it.
@Vince
I've just checked him out on IMDb and I remain underwhelmed. Thanks for the info though, mate.
Brad, please tell me you thought Rebecca Hall was snubbed!
sorry but the last win went to slumdog… for which category?
OK never mind, the Apatow bit was friggin hilarious- I was dying when they started laughing at "The Reader".
Still though, show is a bit underwhelming IMO.
ahhhhhhh the hours score playin on the documentary montage. definintely one of the best scores of the century.
getting all moist eyed…. Heath Ledger truly deserved this honor
YeY for heath ledger… he deserved it and all this talk of if he were alive would he win it… i couldnt care less.. if he were alive we would have another fantastic return of the joker… it is a loss and oscar cannot begin to fill the gap left by tat talented actor… lovely speach too… RIP ledger
they used TheDarkKnight soundtrack to bring up will smith… and he is takinga shot at the oscars for snubbing the dark knight.
its a shame that hans zimmer is not nominated
When they showed the action montage, they used the main theme from "Cloverfield", I noticed. I still think that that movie had Special Effects that rival anything that was nominated this year, and it cost about $30 million or so to make. Just my two cents.
Oh, and I'm totally screwed for my Oscar pool/contests this year- "Slumdog" taking best Sound Mixing over "TDK", really??
"Departures" taking Best Foreign Language Film- certainly a (welcome) surprise there.
Oh, and Freida Pinto is gorgeous isn't she? I'm in love, and I hear she's single…sorry, that was in incredibly poor taste.
I need to go to the store, but I can't leave now! I'll miss the juicy stuff. Here's hoping for a rambling speech from Mr. Mickey Rourke!
Hey Brad, do you know any update on who's going to direct BEAT THE REAPER? I was thinking of either Danny Boyle or Fincher does it but only he(Fincher) makes sure that Brad Pitt won't get involved.
Umm…Shirley Maclaine is not going to be in Nine either.
Brad was probably thinking of Judi Dench.
Hmmm, I guess Daniel Day-Lewis wasn't interested in presenting?? All the others have had the 2008 winners amongst the 5…
First big disappointment of the evening – should have been Mickey
I'm glad I guessed right for the Best Actor!!!! Well deserved second Oscar for Sean Penn. My prediction for Best Picture was MILK but I won't have any objection if any of the other nominees win, well, maybe apart from The Curious Blah Blah.
Hey Brad – thanks for all the hard work, much appreciated – I liked the format with past winners presenting too
I guess now we start all over again….
I really don't think Slumdog Millionaire should have been as recognized as much as it was at all. Golden Globes, yes, because it's a Bollywood movie, but I really wasn't touched by the cliche movie as much as I was by Changeling or MILK.
It was a super bland show
Enjoyed the commentary tonight. And, yes, I enjoyed the show and the new format. Thanks very much for the good work !!!
Rgds, Kevin. Toronto, ON Canada
Headlines read -
Slumdog Poops all over the 81st Academy Awards
If I go by Brad's logic (in that the Short Film awards "don't count"), I'm 20 for 21!!! That's why I'm a bit disappointed overall though- it was fairly predictable, except for the Best Actor/Actress categories (and In all honesty, I just wanted to see Kate and Sean give awesome speeches- although Rourke would've been welcome as well).
So not all is lost for me! Good night everybody, catch ya'll on the flip side.
P.S. Robert Pattinson lurking behind Mickey had to be one of the highlights of the night for me easily- looked like he was about to bite a fool.
HEATH WON!!! HOORAY!!! he made history! :D
I'm sick of even hearing the words "Slumdog" or "Millionaire". I'm pissed that Eastwood didn't get nominated for director, Gran Torino and Changeling were in my top 5 favorite movies this year.
@Kent:
I totally agree, Kent. Completely disappointing. And I think Clint should have also been nominated for Best Original Score for Changeling. I can still hear the tune in my head. In the beginning, it sounded so hopeful and sweet, but at the end, it just sounded so sad and when a tune can take on both persona's, it really is "music" to me
@Vince: Very nice Vince! That's some quality prognosticating.
I was happy for everyone tonight who won, especially Justin Lance Black he seemed very passionate. I feel bad for Mickey but am completely content with sean penn because he was equally fantastic.
I loved Slumdog millionaire, however, 10years from now when I look back at 2008, the only movies that I will recollect with pure unadulterated joy will be Wall-E , and maybe TDK, The Class, and Let the Right One In.
Whoa, this had its tiny glitches here and there but overall it was a pretty great show(well, much better than what I expected-the five former winners coming out to honor the acting nominees is a great idea..for a new idea!)
I know some people are upset with the Slumdog and Milk wins but I'm not. Just watching the happiness and excitement of the Slumdog cast/crew and Dustin Lance Black as well as Penn's great opening for his speech made all those wins worth happening.
Hugh Jackman was a competent host, even if not on the same level as Billy Crystal-awesomeness.
I only wish Hellboy had won make-up over Button not only because HB deserved it but also because that would not have Button coming in sole second but tied with TDK and Milk. But that is a minor complaint. All in all, pretty satisfying for me.