Blog: Academy Awards ceremony

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Will Heath Ledger win? How will Hugh Jackman cope as Oscars host? And who will make the worst acceptance speeches? Blogger Chris Schulz takes in the 81st Academy Awards ceremony.

* That's the end of our live Oscars blog. Check back later for more news and updated stories from the awards.

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5.55pm: Who better to deliver the night's final award - best film - than Steven Spielberg?

The legendary director told the crowd not to forget about older films before a montage of all the nominees came on screen, juxtaposed with images from previous winners.

There are some quality films up for the award this year: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire.

As predicted, Slumdog Millionaire has completed its clean sweep. Good on them - it's a great film and they deserved it.

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5.49pm: Snore. As with the best actress nominees, five previous best actor winners - like Anthony Hopkins and Michael Douglas - trudged out to wax lyrical about each of this year's nominees.

I'm not sure I like this bloated time-waster. The Oscars need to be turned into a lean, mean two-hour affair. It's nearing the three-and-a-half hour mark and we've still got the best film award to go.

Anyway, the best actor winner was Sean Penn, who said he "did not expect this". He said he knew how hard he'd made it for people to appreciate him, then proceeded to deliver the night's longest speech.

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5.33pm: Okay, so apparently it's necessary to have five co-presenters deliver the award for best actress. The gushing plaudits delivered by the presenters before the winner was announced were nauseating.

"This is yet another unforgettable portrait from one of our most gifted actresses, and it's inspired," said one about Kate Winslet's role in The Reader.

Still, it was nice to see Halle Berry back on the Oscars stage, looking remarkably composed. The same can't be said for Sophia Loren - yikes. I didn't think the Oscars recognised horror films.

And what a surprise - Nicole Kidman is wearing white. I don't think she knows there are other colours available.

Finally, the winner is ... Kate Winslet. Look out for another tearful speech.

"I made a version of this speech when I was eight years old staring into a bathroom mirror, and this would have been a shampoo bottle. It's not a shampoo bottle now," said a tearful, breathless Winslet.

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5.24pm: Finally, we're getting into the big awards. Reese Witherspoon is on stage, and the best director award goes to ... Danny Boyle. It's definitely a big night for Slumdog Millionaire.

Boyle is an eloquent chap, but he can't stand up straight. Dude, take a look at your posture when you get home. Maybe it's time to see a chiropractor.

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5.10pm: Whew. Sorry for delays - they've been delivering boring awards, weird segways and ad breaks every five minutes. Talk about a stop-start affair.

The musical number from the Slumdog Millionaire guys was pretty cool though.

They must be building up to the big awards. Get a move on, guys - it's almost dinner time.

Departures won best foreign language film. Nope, I haven't heard of it either.

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4.32pm: There's a bit of a predictable feeling permeating these awards. No disrespect to Heath Ledger but his award had been predicted for months. Now, Benjamin Button - Forrest Gump in sheep's clothing - has won its third technical award for visual effects.

I'm predicting it won't win any major awards though. But I have been known to be wrong.

Will Smith was in charge of delivering that award, as well as best sound editing, which went to ... Richard King from The Dark Knight. That'll be music to his ears.

And Slumdog Millionaire has won another two awards, this time for film editing and sound mixing.

If someone wants to explain the difference between sound editing and sound mixing to me, I'll be asleep in the corner.

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4.12pm: It had to happen - Heath Ledger has won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Yes!

"We would like to thank the Academy and Warner Bros for allowing Heath the creative licence to create and explore this crazy Joker character," said Heath's father when accepting the award.

His family's acceptance speeches certainly bought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd.

Poor old Christian Bale's role in The Dark Knight has now, officially, been completely overshadowed, but Ledger is so good in it that - alive or not - he deserved that award.

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3.58pm: Good to see Philip Seymour Hoffman dressed up for the occasion in a nice tuxedo, paired with a jet black beanie. Perhaps he's got some corner stores to rob after the Oscars.

And Jennifer Aniston is sitting right next to musician John Mayer, all but confirming the pair are, like, together. Or engaged. Or, like, whatever.

Either that or she needed some moral support with ex-hubby Brad Pitt sitting with Angelina Jolie just a few rows away. Backstage catfight, anyone?

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3.58pm: "The Musical is back", declared Hugh Jackman, before donning a top hat and launching into another - yep, you guessed it - song-and-dance routine. Oh no. He's got it so wrong.

At least this routine had a busty Beyonce getting jiggy with it in a little red dress. But I think Jackman is going to get criticised for his performance tomorrow.

He's bought all the class of a bad Las Vegas show to the ceremony.

Along with Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron, the pair's medley of songs included Moulin Rouge, You're the One That I Want and Please Stop - End It Now.

Okay, so that last one wasn't a song. They're just the words swirling round and round in my head. And I'm not so sure the crowd was into this one either.

Penelope Cruz definitely had at least one eyebrow raised.

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3.39pm: Ben Stiller rules. He came on stage chewing gum with a giant fake beard, a la Joaquin Phoenix's infamous interview on David Letterman a couple of weeks ago.

"What's going on with you?" asked his radiant co-presenter Natalie Portman. "You look like you just came from a meth lab."

"I just don't want to be the funny guy any more," said Stiller, apeing Phoenix's stoner drawl. Then he stuck his gum on the table. It'll be on eBay tomorrow, guaranteed.

Yep, you guessed it, Slumdog Millionaire won its second award, for Best Cinematography. It's going to be a clean sweep, people, I'm telling you.

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3.30pm: Heck, they're ripping through these awards. My fingers can hardly keep up. At least I won't be sitting here till 9pm like previous years.

Also, apologies for the lack of photos from the ceremony. We're not allowed to use them until the Academy Awards have finished. It's against the rules.

Aww, pass the tissues. Evan Rachel Wood and that pasty-faced guy from Twilight just introduced a highlights package from 2008's biggest chick flicks. The only one I recognised was Sex and the City: The Movie.

Still, it's preferable to watching another song-and-dance routine from Hugh Jackman. Is it too late to give Jon Stewart a call?

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3.23pm: Whoopsee. Sarah Jessica Parker almost did a Miss Universe, tripping slightly on her way to the microphone. She gave co-presenter Daniel Craig a little 'I'm okay' smile and laugh on the way.

It sure is a long way for presenters to walk. Maybe they should have Segways?

Shame the pair were giving out such boring awards. Best Art Direction went to Forrest Gump - sorry, I mean The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

You can relax, Penelope Cruz - Button's Donald Graham Burt and Victor J Zolfo gave the night's most boring speech. Thankfully, the violins cut them off. No Michael Moore shenanigans here.

Meanwhile, Michael O'Connor won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for his work on The Duchess. Sewing class sure paid off for that guy.

Greg Cannom also won Best Make-up for his work on Button. Someone send him a free case of Natural Glow.

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3.09pm: A bit of energy came into the ceremony with a wrap-up of 2008's best animated feature films. Nothing like a bit of drum 'n' bass to get the party started.

It has to be Wall-E ... it has to be Wall-E ... Yes! It was Wall-E. He won the Oscar for Best Animated Film. He's such a cute robot. How could he not win?

Poor old Jack Black - who presented the award with Jennifer Aniston - must be gutted after his Kung Fu Panda missed out, along with Bolt.

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3.03pm: Slumdog Millionaire has won its first award of the night - Simon Beaufoy and his trophy for Best Adapted Screenplay. Me thinks it won't be the last.

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2.48pm: Finally, something to laugh about. Tina Fey and Steve Martin's jokes about a religion they made up backstage - that closely resembled certain beliefs held by Tom Cruise, John Travolta, et al - raised the biggest laughs of the night.

They were delivering the award for the Best Original screenplay, which went to Dustin Lance Black for Milk, and it turned into a bit of a schmaltzy love-fest. "God loves you," said Black.

Sorry, Black, but religion is funnier when Fey and Martin tackle it.

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2.48pm: Crikey, did Tilda Swinton come as the White Witch? She sure looks uptight. At least she managed a smile when she gave the Best Supporting Actress Oscar award to Penelope Cruz.

But why did they need five women to deliver the award?

A gasping, wobbly Cruz warned at the beginning of her speech: "This is not going to be 45 seconds, I can tell you that ... Has anyone ever fainted up here?"

Cruz's sniffly speech went right back to when she was a kid, watching the Academy Awards on TV, then ended in an indecipherable burst of Spanish. 

She's set the standard - come on Kate Winslet, let's see if you can top that.

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2.34pm: With a blast of horns, the Academy Awards have started with a very serious introduction by host Hugh Jackman. Why didn't they ask John Stewart back?

My suspicions about Jackman were confirmed with an opening song and dance number that saw Jackman riding a fake bike from the Batman movie, and taking the piss out of some of the awards' biggest films.

The crowd seemed to enjoy it. Me? I wanted jokes. His routine just wasn't funny enough.

Then there was this: "Everything is being downsized because of the recession," said Jackman, the star of recent film Australia.

"Next month I'm starring in a movie called New Zealand."

Right, that's it. Everyone boycott Wolverine when it opens. Right back at ya, Jackman.

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* What do you think of the Oscars ceremony? Post your comments below.