Oscars

Well, it worked out just as I expected. Slumdog Millionaire was a deserving winner for Best Picture, the best of the nominated lot although at least two other deserving films (Rachel Getting Married and Gran Torino) weren't nominated. Danny Boyle also deserved Best Director. though I wish he hadn't look so freaked out by every little thing that happened at the ceremonies (Christ, if he's that hyper-sensitive I don't know how he gets through a day).
 
Sean Penn may have meant it as a joke, but I thought he pegged the Academy voters just about right when he called them "a Commie homo-loving crowd." The Academy slapped itself on its backs, as it always does whenever a liberal message movie comes along, by naming Penn Best Actor for what I thought was a shockingly cliche performance (he looked so much like a-straight-guy-without-a-clue playing gay it was almost unintentionally funny)  in the shockingly corny and cliche (and atrociously badly written) lib preaching-to-the-converted biopic Milk. It's not that I'm against equal rights for gays--I'm not. I'm for 'em. What I'm against is bad movies. And Milk was a bad movie.
 
It was criminal injustice that Anne Hathaway, who gave a great performance in a once-in-a-lifetime role as Rachel's irredeemably damaged sister Kym, did not win the Best Actress award for Rachel Getting Married, but what's new about that at the Oscars? As for the supporting actor and actress awards...given who was nominated, who cared? 
 
For the record, here is a complete list of winners taken from IMDb, with embedded IMDb links.
 
 

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Christian Colson

 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Winner: Sean Penn for Milk (2008/I)
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Winner: Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Winner: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
 
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Winner: Okuribito (2008)(Japan)
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - A.R. Rahman, Sampooran Singh Gulzar("Jai Ho")
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - A.R. Rahman
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Chris Dickens
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Winner: The Dark Knight (2008) - Richard King
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg,Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
 
BEST DOCUMENTARY, SHORT SUBJECTS
Winner: Smile Pinki (2008) - Megan Mylan
 
BEST DOCUMENTARY, FEATURES
Winner: Man on Wire (2008) - James Marsh, Simon Chinn
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Winner: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
 
BEST SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
Winner: Spielzeugland (2007) - Jochen Alexander Freydank
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Anthony Dod Mantle
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Greg Cannom
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: The Duchess (2008) - Michael O'Connor
 
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
 
BEST SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
Winner: Maison en petits cubes, La (2008) - Kunio Katô
 
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Winner: WALL·E (2008) - Andrew Stanton
 
BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL PREVIOUSLY PRODUCED OR PUBLISHED
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Simon Beaufoy
 
BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR THE SCREEN
Winner: Milk (2008/I) - Dustin Lance Black
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Winner: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)