Million Dollar Baby wins Best Picture. All the technical awards for The Aviator didn’t in the end lead to a cleansweep and the lower key drama of Eastwood’s film triumphs. As usual the best film in the five nominated (Sideways) didn’t win, although it has got a lot of valuable and unexpected exposure from the awards season.

As for Million Dollar Baby I think it is a fine piece of work but in a year that saw such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Before Sunset and Vera Drake miss out on Best Picture and marginalised to only a few nominations, well, something has to be clearly wrong. Ray and Finding Neverland were good but certainly not Best Picture material in my view.

Well, that’s it for another year. Not a great one to be perfectly honest as the two main contenders were not outstanding. The highlight was probably the two screenwriting awards. Charlie Kaufman winning Best Original Screenplay for the dazzling Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor winning Best Adapted Screenplay for Sideways.

That’s it from me. Good night.

Clint Eastwood wins his second Best Director Oscar and Scorcese is snubbed again!

Clint remarks that he’s just a kid compared to Sidney Lumet which provokes some laughter but Scorcese looks very sad. I have mixed feelings. Clearly Scorcese is one of the great American directors but I think The Aviator is an average film. I’d rather he won for a film that was really good than win because of a sympathy vote. That said you can’t help but feel sorry for him. Maybe a smaller budget and more restrained film (like, say, Million Dollar Baby) would bag him the Oscar he covets.

Now it’s time for the big guns. Sean Penn starts off the nominations with a babrbed defence of Jude Law after Chris Rock made a joke about the British actor. True to my prediction Swank wins for Million Dollar Baby. Only 30 years old and she has two Oscars. Remarkable if you think about the kind of films she has done since Boy’s Don’t Cry (e.g. The Core, The Affair of the Necklace etc). But she is a deserving winner although personally I would have gone for Kate Winslet.

Gwyneth Paltrow seems incredibly chuffed as she presents Best Foreign Film to Alejandro Amenebar for The Sea Inside.

Best Actor goes to (suprise, surprise) Jamie Foxx for Ray. I can’t think of a bigger favourite for the award in recent years and it proves the unofficial Oscar acting rule which is “characters with disabilities win”. See Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man, Daniel Day Lewis for My Left Foot, Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump – the list could go on and on. That’s not to say they were undeserving winners but it seems to be a factor in many past Oscar wins. Having said all that, Jamie Fox did give the best performance of those nominated.

Best Director next and I fear Martin Scorcese will be snubbed again. We shall see…

Wins so far:

– Best animated short film: Ryan
– Best Actress: Hilary Swank for Boys Don�t Cry
– Best Foreign Film: The Sea Inside
– Best Actor: Jamie Fox for Ray

So the fist big prediction of the evening is wrong. I think my heart ruled my head in going for Thomas Hayden Church over Morgan Freeman. I still hope Sideways wins something – it is clearly the best film at these awards and is one of the films that would benefit from an Oscar win.

As for the show itself, it seems surprisingly free of the dance numbers and usual opening show rubbish. So far, so good.

The winners so far:

– Art Direction: The Aviator
– Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby
– Animated Feature: The Incredibles
– Makeup: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Chris Rock is actually doing a fine job as presenter (there’s still time for him to offend people). The current sketch has him going to a local movie theatre in LA to prove Hollywood is not out of touch. He asks them their favourite movie of last year and the replies ranged from Alien vs Predator, The Chronicles of Riddick and White Chicks. I’m pretty sure it was staged but it was still very funny. Why not have a laugh at the worst films of last year and the goons who are constantly moaning about liberal Hollywood?

Welcome to FILMdetail’s live coverage of the 77th Academy Awards. Here are my predictions for the main categories.

BEST FILM
The Aviator
Million Dollar Baby
Finding Neverland
Ray
Sideways

Who will win: Million Dollar Baby
Who should win: Sideways

BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
Jamie Foxx – Ray
Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda
Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator

Who will win: Jamie Foxx
Who should win: Jamie Fox

BEST ACTRESS
Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby
Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake
Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Annette Bening – Being Julia
Catalina Sandino Moreno – Maria Full of Grace

Who will win: Hilary Swank
Who should win: Imelda Staunton

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese – The Aviator
Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
Alexander Payne – Sideways
Taylor Hackford – Ray
Mike Leigh – Vera Drake

Who will win: Clint Eastwood
Who should win: Alexander Payne

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Alda – The Aviator
Clive Owen – Closer
Jamie Foxx – Collateral
Thomas Haden Church – Sideways
Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby

Who will win: Thomas Haden Church
Who should win: Thomas Haden Church

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – The Aviator
Virginia Madsen – Sideways
Laura Linney – Kinsey
Sophie Okonedo – Hotel Rwanda
Natalie Portman – Closer

Who will win: Cate Blanchett – The Aviator
Who should win: Virginia Madsen – Sideways

Updates and commentary will follow throughout the evening. Let’s hope they don’t open the show with a stupid self congratulatory dance number.