First off, The Passion -- as expected -- was robbed. Didn't even win Make-up (Lemony Snicket won; please!). Such a shame.
[Addendum: The opening look at why movies are so great was a waste of time: they should have went directly to Chris Rock's monologue. The best part of said monologue was comparing President Bush's actions to a guy working at the Gap: easy target, but it hit home.]
Overall, the show was fairly boring and had few surprises. I only watched the first two hours, so maybe something special happened toward the end (it did not go overlong, since it was over before midnight). Doubt it, really. Chris Rock was okay, nothing more, as host -- his monologue was a bit forced. As usual, a few of the obscure awards supplied the best copy. One guy honored his sick mom. Another winner supplied a refreshingly quick comment or two. A third (one of the many Aviator technicals) had won for Raging Bull twenty-five years before, and had a few touching remarks honoring the director and so forth.
Million Dollar Baby dominated the non-technicals (except for Supporting Actress, Cate Blanchett obviously winning), surely annoying some of the film's distractors or those that favored others like Sideways and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the latter one of those many felt should have been nominated for Best Film. Those last two won for screenplay with the Sideways bunch graciously honoring the cast. As expected, Jamie Foxx won for Ray. Ray and Finding Neverland also picked up a spare technical.
The typical Academy sweep syndrome led to the usual questionable selections along with favored actor policies. For instance, Morgan Freeman really was not the Best Supporting Actor, even if his multiple nominations in the past makes him eligible for a "career best" type award. Also, Hilary Swank was fine, but one or two were as good or better -- they deserved the award, even if Swank is a fan favorite. Spanish language fans also received a treat (The Sea Inside -- the other euthanasia flick -- for Best Foreign, and a song from The Motorcycle Diaries. In fact, with a French song nominated, Best Song was multilingual tonight.
As usual, there was some nice stuff for the eyes, including some top heavy presenters. Laura Linney's jewelry was a bad choice as was Scarlett Johansson's makeup and hair -- fire that beautician! Kate Winslet looked very pretty though. Robin Williams was typically annoying. And, Al Pacino's tribute to Sidney Lumet (whose book Making Movies is quite interesting) hit the spot: truly honored the man and his craft (directing). As did Lumet's brief remarks.
I guess the ceremony fit the year: a tad bit lackluster. Again, if something big happened after 10:40 (EST), well, my bad.
[Addendum: Reading the accounts, I missed some crying, but nothing too much appeared to happen. Rock really didn't add any additional energy -- his bit railing against second rate celebrities didn't really work -- making his selection as host sadly basically a waste. Btw, I did like the bit where the animated custome designer from The Incredibles came out as a presenter. And, what was that faux sounding gun shot that we heard when Jeremy Irons presented?]