Oscar Winners and Recap

"No Country For Old Men" won for Best Picture and Daniel Day Lewis was awarded with Best Actor. Cate Blancett, surprisingly did not take home an Oscar for neither category in which she was nominated losing Best Actress to Marion Cotillard and Best Supporting Actress to Tilda Swinton.

This year's host, John Stewart, started the evening's program with his usual political humor that had me rolling with laughter. Tidbits of current events from the presidential elections to the writers' strike warmed up the audience. He acknowledged and poked fun at a handful of stars in the crowd. Overall the opening monologue was entertaining ending with the punch line of all punch lines: "Gaydolf Titler" (you had to be there). Stewart was superb throughout the evening.

It was montage night at the 80th Annual Academy Awards. Apparently without writers until only mere days ago, the producers of the show decided to create a surplus of montages backed by notable music from past films. There were montages for the 79 movies that have won for Best Picture, another for Robert Boyle, the Honary Oscar winner. There were separate montages for the past winners of the four awards for acting. A montage was also made for bees. Yes, a handful of movies with bees were allotted a few precious seconds. If that was not odd enough, there was a montage for sleep, a collective of clips with actors suddenly waking up in the middle of the night.

Interviews were also employed to mitigate the lack of writers. Past winners Sidney Poitier, Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, and Steven Spielberg were some of the interviewees.

The show rolled along with nervous presenters, first time winners' speeches, and awards in less popular categories like art direction, make-up, and costume design.

Then suspense began to build as a tribute montage for best supporting actors ended with Cuba Gooding Jr.'s famous speech. Javier Bardem, the odds on favorite, won for Best Supporting Actor and gave a delightful speech in both English and Spanish thanking his mother, grandparents, and his native Spain.

Although the Ethan and Joel Coen won three awards for "No Country For Old Men", no movie stole the show as in years past. All four acting categories were won by European actors and actresses. Foreign filmmakers took home many Oscar statues this year. They are the new faces (and accents) of Hollywood. Refreshing.

My Best Speech Award goes to Cotillard who won for her role as singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose". "I'm speechless now. I thank you life, thank you love...Thank you so, so, so much! And it is true, there are some angels in this city," exclaimed a trembling, tearing Cotillard.

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, winners of Original Song from "Once", also gave genuine, heartfelt thanks. Irglová was cut off early the first go-around and was given another opportunity to deliver her speech after the commercial break (thanks to John Stewart). Both sang earlier in the show, Hansard with a worn, holey guitar and Irglová at a piano. They sang with a rare passion.

My Best Presenter Award goes to the two unnamed gentlemen who were supposedly substituting for Halle Berry and Dame Judy Dench. Hilarious.

List of Nominees and Winners from the Major Categories

Best Motion Picture of the Year:
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men - Winner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
George Clooney for Michael Clayton
Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises
Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood - Winner

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie for Away from Her
Laura Linney for The Savages
Ellen Page for Juno
Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose - Winner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton
Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men - Winner

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There.
Ruby Dee for American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan for Atonement
Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton - Winner

Best Achievement in Directing:
Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood
Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman for Juno
Julian Schnabel for Le Scaphandre Et Le Papillon
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men - Winner

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen:
Lars and the Real Girl: Nancy Oliver
Michael Clayton: Tony Gilroy
Ratatouille: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco
The Savages: Tamara Jenkins
Juno: Diablo Cody - Winner

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published:
Atonement: Christopher Hampton
Away from Her: Sarah Polley
Scaphandre et le papillon, Le: Ronald Harwood
There Will Be Blood: Paul Thomas Anderson
No Country for Old Men: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - Winner

Best Foreign Language Film:
Beaufort (Israel)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
Katyn (Poland)
Fälscher, Die (Austria) - Winner

More information and winners: Oscar.com