PMA’s Oscar Live-Blog, PART ONE.

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Welcome. Take a seat, take a breath, relax. And enjoy the over-hyped, meaningless, very important, fun, funny (sometimes), and exciting (also sometimes) night that is the Academy Awards- with PMA’s live-blog at your side!

Here’s how this live-blog will work. I’ll post minute-by minute observations of the show from the start to the finish. And all of you readers out there are welcome to chat along in the comments! I want this to be as interactive a viewing experience as possible, so please comment frequently with your Oscar thoughts! I’ll try and respond to as many comments as possible in the live-blog. Click on and keep refreshing your page for live updates.

UPDATE: The live-blog is continuing on another page. Click here for 10:00 onward.

7:25- Already pumped for Hugh Jackman’s opening- I’m still unsure whether it will be awful or hysterical. My gut feeling? He’ll be OK. But I don’t understand at all why they’d pick him- he’s not a comedian! Stewart was certainly good enough last year to hold onto the job- it should’ve been him. Or Ellen again. Or Chris Rock. Or someone funny. But again, I’m sure Hugh will be fine. He was fine at the Tonys. Then again, that’s the Tonys. This is the Oscars. Whatever.

7:51- Watching Hugh’s Barbara Walters interview now. I decided that he’s the man, and I’m rooting for him- hopefully he’ll be a great host- calling it right now.

7:54- Yeah Jennifer, I agree- the show has lost a little suspense with “Slumdog” being such a heavy favorite. But the truth is, when it does win, it will be very, very deserved. The category with some great suspense is Best Supporting Actress. I loved Henson’s performance in “Benjamin Button.” But I hear incredible things about Penelope Cruz and Viola Davis (don’t make fun of me for not seeing those movies, I tried). So it’s up for grabs.

7:57- Did I just watch Hugh Jackman give Barbara Walters a lap dance?

7:59- Oh yeah Alec I almost forgot! Amy Adams definitely has a shot.

Red Carpet Time!

8:00- First shot of the “Slumdog” cast…love those kids. If you didn’t see it, star Dev Patel was great on Jimmy Kimmel the other night.

8:02- Josh Brolin is the man. His performance in “No Country” last year was really underrated.

8:04- Matthew Broderick sighting! I was just watching “Glory” the other day…what a great, great movie.

8:05- Taraji P. Henson looks much, much younger when she isn’t playing old-Brad Pitt’s mom.

8:08- The stripper from “The Wrestler” is Marisa Tomei, Jennifer, and I’ve heard that as great as she was, she doesn’t have much of a shot winning. What a great race though- Cruz, Adams, Davis, Tomei and Henson.

8:11- All of the cast members in “Slumdog” seem to share such a bond, it’s great. What an amazing story for an amazing movie- Dev Patel is a fantastic actor and the kids are all so cute. Can’t wait to see their acceptance speech- I’m guessing that Anil Kapoor (who played the host) will give it if Danny Boyle gets best director- Kapoor seems to be the cast’s outgoing leader.

8:13- Two comeback actors interviewed within minutes of each other- Rourke and Downey.

8:16- LOL Sara, I agree that “Slumdog” getting the best picture nod without any acting nods is interesting, to say the least, but I blame that on the Academy- Patel and Kapoor were both deserving. But either way, the movie was more plot-driven than character-driven anyway, and isn’t that OK?

8:22- Wow, no one at all talks about Richard Jenkins’ nomination for “The Visitor.” Who here has seen the movie?

8:25- Judd Apatow’s wife has a dress made of “indestructible material.” No she doesn’t- Judd Apatow is just showing off his very good sense of humor. Have you seen the preview for his upcoming movie, “Funny People”? Click here…it looks phenomenal.

8:30- And, we’re off! What a cool stage!

8:31- Jackman’s first joke kind of bashes “Australia.” And this is a great idea- a low-budget musical number…let’s see if it works.

8:33- It does! This is funny! What do you guys think? The “aging in reverse” sequence was hysterical.

8:36- Hathaway’s got pipes…”why is your upper lip so sweaty?”

8:37- “The Reader- I haven’t seen The Reader!” This is great. Am I digging this more than everyone else is?

8:39- Now Hugh is taking a very casual, in-the-audience approach, and it’s also working well. He’ll get rave reviews tomorrow due to his charm alone.

8:41- Whoops! The night’s first screw-up…how hard is it to pull the curtains open?

8:43- They’re giving the Best Supporting Actress award out so soon…the night’s entire suspense will be gone within the first 13 minutes! And I’m not sure if I like this idea of the former winners introducing the nominees…do you? I guess it’s alright…

8:45- I decided I like it. I just hope they don’t do it for every acting award.

8:48- And Penelope Cruz takes it! Her speech starts out kind of dull, but she finishes it off nicely- “Art will always be our universal language.” Well-put.

8:52- Ooo I just remembered- Jimmy Kimmel Live’s after-show is at 12:05. Watch it…Kimmel is great.

8:53- Yay! Tina Fey and Steve Martin being very funny! “And I’m Steve Martin.” Steve’s punchlines are great tonight. “The man who said that, is dead.”

8:55- “Oh, Steve. Nobody wants to hear about our religion that we made up.” That was great- one of the funnier awards presentations I’ve seen recently. And I love this script-reading.

8:56- “Synecdoche, New York,” should definitely have been nominated for best screenplay. And Wall-E’s nomination was much-deserved. But the award goes to…”Milk!” Congrats to Dustin Lance Black, who looks very young.

8:58- Just checked…he’s 29. And this is an excellent, important speech about gay rights. Kudos to him.

8:59- Steve and Tina keep going! “DON’T fall in love with me.” If Button wins best adapted screenplay, I’d be kind of annoyed…he adapted it more from “Forrest Gump” then from the short story.

9:01- It goes to “Slumdog,” the first of many deserved awards. What an awesome movie.

9:04- GREAT “Wall-E” Oscar bit…”Kung Fu Panda” was so great.

9:06- The animation montage went on way too long. But Wall-E gets the win and Andrew Stanton makes a very good speech. Both Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda were excellent movies.

9:11- Kunio Kato takes the award for Best Animated Short with “La Maison En Petits Cubes.”

9:15- Cool set for best Art Direction- the show is really impressing me so far. Jackman is getting rave reviews across the net…good for him.

9:17- I always love the sketch-to-screen transition…it’s extremely cool stuff. “Benjamin Button” snags its first award for Art Direction, and it’s incredibly deserved. The film is visually stunning- the backwards war scene, Button’s father’s final sunset, Cate Blanchett’s dancing scene…phenomenal stuff.

9:20- Best Costume Design goes to “The Duchess.”

9:22- O.K. Sarah Jessica Parker and Daniel Craig, I’ve had enough of you two. But WOW…will Best Makeup go to Button’s phenomenal visage or Ledger’s Joker?

9:24- It’s backwards-aging “Button” with the better makeup…I guess we should’ve seen that coming.

9:26- Noooo! Not a crappy montage! Nevermind, it’s scored by “Lovers In Japan,” so it’s fine.

9:27- This is kind of cool, but mostly kind of lame. I LOVE that “Nick and Norah” are in it! And so is “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”! Speaking of “Nick and Norah,” Vampire Weekend should’ve been nominated for Best Original Song with “Ottoman.”

9:30- What a clever Coca-Cola commercial!

9:31- Ben Stiller is doing a Joaquin Phoenix impression and it’s phenomenal! Wow…what a great idea. Surprised that the Oscars would allow this kind of parody to happen…but it works. Not sure if I love the whole “here’s how you make a movie” thing…I wish Jackman would be a little more goofy and a little less classy.

9:34- “Slumdog” receives it’s obvious award for Best Cinematography. Such a beautifully-shot film…the run through Mumbai was pretty much amazing, to say the least.

9:40- Well that was strange…they came back from the commercial only to have a quick, lame shout-out to the Scientific and Technical awards that could’ve been so much cooler.

9:41- How incredible does “The Soloist” look? If you couldn’t get a good feel from the quick TV trailer that just aired, check out the theatrical one here.

9:44- Hysterical. A comedy montage orchestrated by James Franco and Seth Rogen, in full-on “Pineapple Express” characters. Franco and Rogen laugh at the most intense scenes of “Doubt” and “The Reader,” confuse Robert Downey Jr. with Barack Obama, and stare profoundly at the makeout scene in “Milk.” Priceless.

9:47- The best live-action short goes to “Spielzeugland,” and Franco (almost) nails the pronunciation

9:52- Another Hugh Jackman song-and-dance…I hope this is good…

9:55- Nope…don’t like this at all. Coming off as very lame. It sounds great and I love musicals, but this just didn’t do it for me. And I’m always up for a drumline…but was there any point to the drums during “Mamma Mia”? They seemed so out of place.

This page is getting too long, and since we are just hitting 10:00, we’re moving on to part TWO of PMA’s Oscar live blog, HERE.

by Adam Offitzer on February 22, 2009 ‡ 0 reactions