2008 Oscars Winners: No Big Surprises Here

The Oscars were fairly typical of the awards show that hit its 80th birthday this year. There were collages of past Oscar moments, including one showing a quick piece of each Best Picture since the Academy Awards began in 1928. Jon Stewart hosted with a clean but only vaguely funny performance. Harrison Ford made one of his somewhat rare public appearances to announce Best Original Score. For the musical performances, Tony Award winner Kristin Chenowith performed "That's How You Know" from Disney's Enchanted while Amy Adams performed "Happy Working Song" from the same movie. Enchanted's three nominated songs didn't take the Best Song prize though. Some of the announcers seemed to have trouble with the teleprompter, and several also slipped on a spot of the floor right behind the microphone stand. All in all though, considering the unsure production of the entire show because of the writer's strike, it went off without any real problems.

Most of the movies that won awards are movies that your typical American hasn't seen. It's a trend seen in most of the Oscar presentations that I've seen. No Country for Old Men went away with four awards. All in all, the Oscars didn't really seem different this year than they've appeared any time in the recent past.

Winners
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)

Best animated feature film of the year
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird

Achievement in art direction
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount): Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Achievement in cinematography
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal) Alexandra Byrne

Achievement in directing
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Best documentary feature
"Taxi to the Dark Side" (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner

Best documentary short subject
"Freeheld" A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth

Achievement in film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Christopher Rouse

Best foreign language film of the year
"The Counterfeiters" Austria

Achievement in makeup
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova

Best motion picture of the year
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

Best animated short film
"Peter & the Wolf" (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best live action short film
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)" (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis

Achievement in visual effects
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood

Adapted screenplay
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Original screenplay
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody