Assorted Oscar observations

I sat up last night watching a delayed telecast of the Academy Awards. Having already read the winners, it was a bit like watching Titantic: not only does it drag on and on, but you already know how it ends.

Random thoughts:

• A hugely predictable ceremony with no real surprises. Not that I expected any. The winners for all the major categories lined up with my own predictions, which I should have posted here, so that you'd believe this statement. As a result of moving countries during Oscar season, I'm yet to catch a number of the nominated films, but I look forward to doing so over the coming weeks.
• In particular, I really need to see Slumdog Millionaire.
• Deserving win #1: WALL•E. With Kung Fu Panda picking up a few recent awards, I was a little worried for Pixar's romantic robot. If it weren't for the film's frenetic second half, I'd have liked to have seen it up for the big award: Best Picture. I also hoped WALL•E would take home Best Song, too, for Peter Gabriel's superb "Down To Earth". Alas, it was not to be.
• Speaking of Best Song, did anyone else find it a bit weird that they had there was a great, big sing-off of the three songs in contention? Should they do this for the other categories too? Imagine Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella and Brad Pitt – all in their respective characters – hamming it up on stage together. Maybe it's not such a bad idea after all...
• Deserving win #2: Heath Ledger. A truly touching moment during an evening of what is ostensibly self-congratulatory back-slapping. For those who feel Ledger was only awarded the trophy because of his unfortunate death, go back and watch The Dark Knight again: it's a powerhouse performance.
• Alan Arkin called Phillip Seymour Hoffman "Seymour Phillip Hoffman" during his nomination speech. Whoops!
• I miss seeing clips from the films when the nominated actors are announced: I don't know if Christopher Walken really thinks so highly of Michael Shannon.
• Deserving win #3: Man on Wire. Probably the best documentary I've ever seen.
• A note on the host: maybe it was because the sound on the telecast was mixed so that you couldn't hear the audience's reaction, but there came a point during Hugh Jackman's credit crunch-themed opening song when he stuck his head through a hole in a cardboard wall just above a headless baby doll to eerie silence. "This is all a bit tragic," I thought to myself.
• Every time the Nine Network cut to an ad break, they played music that sounded suspiciously like Dr Evil's theme from Austin Powers.
• Looking forward, there was a pretty neat clip-fest showcasing some of 2009's biggest releases.