My Oscar Reaction

UPDATED: February 28

I will try updating this post as time goes by because I took a TON of notes (just about every detail). So for now, I will give a few general responses:

It helps to know that they only had like 13 days to put this year's Oscars on, so I forgave a lot of things (quick montages, bad camera choices, poor jokes). Jon Stewart is one of my least favorite hosts. I figured they chose him because it was an election year, and the election itself is gaining much popularity. Too much political humor was used certainly, but I guess that's what Stewart does best (even though he didn't say anything gut-bustingly funny). My favorite line (executed in deadpan): "Film Editing. Wow. Somebody just won their Oscar pool on a guess."

"No Country For Old Men" won a lot of major awards (including Best Picture). What's more surprising is that it's heavy-handed competition ("There Will Be Blood") didn't win any of the major awards. I expected TWBB to pick up some, but NCFOM just about took them all. The speeches were mostly well prepared and kept surprisingly short. Those that didn't prepare or forgot their speech still delivered for most of the time.

I was really looking forward to Enchanted's big musical number, but I found it underwhelming and... unrehearsed. "Once" took away Best Song. They performed well, and it's a really great song. It was nice to see the two actors/songwriters holding Oscars on that stage.

Diablo Cody got her "Juno" screenplay. She was very overwhelmed, but who wouldn't be when you write your first movie script and then get handed an Oscar by Harrison Ford?

Well... I have more to add later. Just keep an eye on that "Update" status at the top for more to come. Now, here are the winners with a smatter of reactions:

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Alexandra Byrne

I said Atonement. Oh well.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Winner: Ratatouille (2007) - Brad Bird

Probably should've gone to "Persepolis" (France's submission for Best Film Of the Year). But nobody would've really understood that. Really enjoyed Brad Bird's dedication to his high school counselor who "prepared him for the movie business" by persisting that he couldn't do it.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Winner: Môme, La (2007) - Didier Lavergne, Jan Archibald

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: The Golden Compass (2007) - Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Winner: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Winner: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007)

Bardem thanked his mom in Spanish. Very touching. I caught "Es por Espagna."

BEST SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
Winner: Mozart des pickpockets, Le (2006) - Philippe Pollet-Villard

BEST SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
Winner: Peter & the Wolf (2006) - Suzie Templeton, Hugh Welchman

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Winner: Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton (2007)

BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL PREVIOUSLY PRODUCED OR PUBLISHED
Winner: No Country for Old Men (2007) - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - Scott Millan, David Parker, Kirk Francis

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Winner: Marion Cotillard for Môme, La (2007)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - Christopher Rouse

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Winner: Fälscher, Die (2007)(Austria)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: Once (2006) - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová(“Falling Slowly” )

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: There Will Be Blood (2007) - Robert Elswit

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: Atonement (2007) - Dario Marianelli

BEST DOCUMENTARY, SHORT SUBJECTS
Winner: Freeheld (2007) - Cynthia Wade, Vanessa Roth

BEST DOCUMENTARY, FEATURES
Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) - Alex Gibney, Eva Orner

BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR THE SCREEN
Winner: Juno (2007) - Diablo Cody

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Winner: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007)

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Winner: No Country for Old Men (2007) - Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin