Big Picture Big Sound

It was touch and go for a while, but the Hollywood writers' strike, which led to the cancellation of this year's Golden Globe Awards ceremony, was settled just in time to prepare for the 80th Annual Academy Awards.  Yes, folks, the show did go on, broadcast live on ABC from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on February 24th, 2008 at 8:00 PM EST.

In fact, the show is going on as we speak (er...I mean, type). We'll be updating this page in real time with the Oscar winners. In the list below, you'll see the Big Picture Big Sound pick (in italics, with a subtle "Our Pick!" next to them) and then you'll see the winners as they're announced in italics and boldface (with "Winner!" next to them).

After one of those unfortunate opening montage sequences (for which Oscar is famous) which placed Butch and Sundance on the same CGI-riddled avenue as Godzilla and Alien, Jon Stewart emerged from an on-stage "pod" to call the show "post-writers' strike make-up sex".

Stewart soon loosened up, after a few subdued opening jokes, moving into comfy political territory. And then, at last, the awards began. All in all, even with its 3 hour 21 minute running time, it felt like a lean show. The musical performances were mercifully quick, the banter was kept to a minimum, and several deserving performers actually got their Oscars (Marion Cotillard, congrats!). In the end, I went 12 out of 21. That's what I get for picking the robots to beat Jason Bourne. That'll teach me.

And without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, the Oscars went to...

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
"Across the Universe"
"Atonement"
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" - Winner!
"La Vie en Rose"
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" - Our pick!

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
"Persepolis", Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille", Brad Bird - Our pick! - Winner!
"Surf's Up", Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
"La Vie en Rose" - Our pick! - Winner!
"Norbit"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
"The Golden Compass" - Winner!
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers" - Our pick!

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" - Our pick! - Winner!
"There Will Be Blood"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men" - Our pick! - Winner!
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" - Our pick!
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton" - Winner!

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Atonement", Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her", Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", Screenplay by Ronald Harwood - Our pick!
"No Country for Old Men", Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - Winner!
"There Will Be Blood", Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
"The Bourne Ultimatum" - Winner!
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Transformers" - Our pick!

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
"The Bourne Ultimatum" - Winner!
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"
"Transformers" - Our pick!

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away from Her" - Our pick!
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose" - Winner!
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
"The Bourne Ultimatum" - Winner!
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men" - Our pick!
"There Will Be Blood"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria - Our pick! - Winner!
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SONG)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" - Our pick! - Winner!
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted"
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush"
"So Close" from "Enchanted"
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted"

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood" - Our pick! - Winner!

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
"Atonement" - Our pick! - Winner!
"The Kite Runner"
"Michael Clayton"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"No End in Sight" - Our pick!
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side" - Winner!
"War/Dance"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Juno", Written by Diablo Cody - Our pick! - Winner!
"Lars and the Real Girl", Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton", Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille", Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages", Written by Tamara Jenkins

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood" - Our pick! - Winner!
Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", Julian Schnabel
"Juno", Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton", Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men", Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - Our pick! - Winner!
"There Will Be Blood", Paul Thomas Anderson

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men" - Our pick! - Winner!
"There Will Be Blood"