2009 Oscars: Change was in the air, but no surprises among the winners.

Ben Stiller's lampoon of Joaquin Phoenix was, for me, the best and funniest moment of the night. Anyone who's seen the actual Letterman interview would surely agree that was strange moment and Stiller's take on stage brought down the house.

With new producers, we saw a new format for the show. A great many set changes were interesting and the seating in a semi-circle around the stage was an interesting way to involve the audience. My favorite change to the program was the introduction of the acting categories which saw 5 previous winners come to the stage and introduce each nominee. It was a fantastically personal touch that everyone enjoyed, particularly as in almost every case it was a hardened veteran or legend that spoke to a younger generation. Of course each group of 5 included the previous years winner, so keeping that tradition alive was good to see.

As I stated in the title, the actual winners of the Oscars were largely expected. So no real surprises anywhere. I managed to get 78% of the winners correct but Jake squeaked out the win by picking up one more win for 83% on the night. Penelope Cruz's win for Supporting Actress was his ace in the hole. In my defence, I had picked her as my sneaker win.

For those of you who didn't watch or didn't catch all the categories, here is your complete list of winners:

Original Screenplay: Milk

Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire

Sound Editing: The Dark Knight

Original Song: "Jai Ho" - Slumdog Millionaire

Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire

Make-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

Costume Design: The Duchess

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader

Actor: Sean Penn - Milk

Best Motion Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Lastly, the acceptance of supporting actor by the Ledger family was short and sweet and while the win was practically a foregone conclusion, it's nice to see the academy get it right. It will always be debated if it was the performance or the emotion that garnered the win. For my money, his work in The Dark Knight was one of the most unexpected and inspired pieces of acting I saw in 2008. Frankly, he deserved it.

I'm just saying,

Elijah