In case you missed the 77th Academy Awards on Sunday night, here's a brief recap of all the action.
In order to speed up the process of presenting and accepting the awards, the academy made a few changes to the format of the ceremony. For the lesser-known awards, the nominees either lined up on stage, or had their awards brought out to them in the audience. Maybe next year they will have the losers drop through holes in the floor after discovering they haven't won.
But Hilary Swank apparently didn't get the memo, because she refused to wrap up her best-actress acceptance speech when the music cue started and continued to thank people while the music was playing.
In another effort to make the awards more entertaining to viewers, the Academy called upon Chris Rock to host the awards. Rock stepped up to the challenge by commenting on how actors use to their skills to fake being happy when they are nominated but don't win, and expressing his not-so-subtle opinions about President George W. Bush. But only critiquing a few celebrities by name is pretty good behavior for this normally loudmouthed comedian.
Beyonce Knowles also played a key role during the Oscars. Knowles sang three songs nominated for best song in a motion picture, which involved many quick changes on her part. The songs included "Believe" from The Polar Express, "Learn to be Lonely" from The Phantom of the Opera, and "Look to Your Path" from The Chorus.
The only potential hitch during the Oscars was the loud bang that sounded in the background when Jeremy Irons was presenting an award, but he was able to recover well by quipping, "I hope they missed."
This year the theme for the styles at the Oscars this year were all about color, such as Renee Zellweger's raspberry Carolina Herrera dress and the deep blue Atelier Versace dress worn by Virginia Madsen. Vintage styles were also popular this year for women, as seen in the iridescent Atelier Versace gown worn Halle Berry.
Jewelry was also particularly colorful this year, such as the yellow diamonds Penelope Cruz wore to mach her golden Oscar de la Renta gown.
Awards
Actor in a leading role: Jamie Foxx - Ray
Actor in a supporting role: Morgan Freeman - Million Dollar Baby
Actress in a leading role: Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Actress in a supporting role: Cate Blanchett - The Aviator
Animated Feature Film: The Incredibles - Brad Bird
Art direction: The Aviator - Dante Ferretti (art direction) and Francesca LoSchiavo (set direction)
Cinematography: The Aviator - Robert Richardson
Costume design: The Aviator - Sandy Powell
Directing: Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
Documentary feature: Born Into Brothels - Ross Kaufman and Zana Briski
Documentary short subject: Mighty Times: The Children's March - Robert Hudson and Bobby Houston
Film editing: The Aviator - Thelma Schoonmaker
Foreign language film: The Sea Inside - Spain - Alejandro Amenabar
Makeup: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Valli O'Reilly and Bill Corso
Music (score): Finding Neverland - Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
Music (song): "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" from The Motorcycle Diaries (Music and lyrics by Jorge Drexler)
Best picture: Million Dollar Baby
Short film (animated): Ryan - Chris Landreth
Short film (live action): Wasp - Andrea Arnold
Sound editing: The Incredibles - Michael Silvers and Randy Thom
Sound mixing: Ray - Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa
Visual effects: Spider-Man 2 - John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier
Writing (adapted screenplay): Sideways - Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
Writing (original screenplay): Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind - Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman; Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth
