Yeah, I know, the Oscars are not the true measure of the movies and their merits, yadda yadda. It’s just Hollywood throwing itself a big party.
But it’s a FUN party. And they let us watch! 
Using [STRIKE]Wolverine[/STRIKE] Hugh Jackman as the show host seemed a strange choice, but they played the show to his strengths by having him sing and dance. The opening number was a riot, because of its fake “we are using cheap sets because of the Bad Economy” theme, and Anne Hathaway actually had me going for a second there that her part in it wasn’t planned. Good acting! And nice singing, too!
The second number was nothing short of spectacular, a great homage to all musicals ever; my only problem was that they kept singing different tunes at the same time and I felt that clashed, but that choreography was amazing, especially with Beyonce and the High School Musical kids in it! Still, I am NOT convinced that Musicals are back as a movie trend.
Slum Dog Millionaire won best movie and a lot of other awards, which was to be expected as it was the “little movie that could” and those are usually favorites. Still, I hear it was a good movie (haven’t seen it yet) and it was cool to see all those people from India (even the kids!) come to the Oscars for the first time and WIN!
Batman was not nominated as best movie, but being a Superhero movie that was to be expected as well (that will ONLY happen in places like the People’s Choice Awards- and it did!) but it DID win Heath Ledger the Best Supporting Actor Oscar posthumously, only the second time that’s ever happened. (Dark Knight’s box office just passed ONE BILLION dollars, so I think the WB people are pretty happy anyway.)
Wall-E won best Animated Film (duh- even Jack Black, the voice of Kung Fu Panda, joked that Pixar always wins) though Panda was pretty good and HAS won other awards.
The part with the former winners of Best Actor and Best Actress congratulating the current nominees was nice, but I don’t see that becoming a tradition (hard to get five busy, famous actors to show up at once- I’m amazed they pulled it off!)
In general, there was less humor and more style this year, which I think it’s a good thing, as some of the skits used in the past have sucked. (The worst part this year was the one with the two pot-smoking idiots from Pineapple Express laughing at movie scenes. Sheesh.) Not everybody can be Billy Crystal, y’know.
But the MOST annoying thing: commercials flashing ON SCREEN during the presentation? WTF?? Was that a local cable thing or did it happen elsewhere??
Still, I had fun, and I guess I’ll continue to watch the Oscars every year. 
