Movies

The 85th Annual Academy Awards [Live-Blog]

By Angie Han/

Two months of nonstop awards ceremonies have led up to this. The 85th Annual Academy Awards are being held tonight at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, of all people, and we'll be live-blogging the proceedings right here all night.

This season, Argo has emerged as the heavy favorite to win Best Picture (despite the lack of a corresponding Best Director nod), as has Anne Hathaway for Best Actress. But the picture isn't as clear for some of the other categories, and in any case there are no guarantees until the victor is clutching that little gold man up on that stage. Here's hoping for some pleasant surprises.

Hit the jump to read the winners as they're announced, along with live commentary.

8:38 – We are averaging one musical number per five minutes.

8:42 – Samuel L. Jackson : Oscars :: Tommy Lee Jones : Golden Globes

8:45 – Devindra: "At least it's better than Seth MacFarlane talking."

8:50 – Finally, an award!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

  • Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
  • Robert de Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Alan Arkin, Argo
  • Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

    • Thoughts: This wasn't a category where anyone seemed like a lock, but I'm a little surprised nonetheless. And still a little annoyed that this should have counted as a lead role, though of course I'm still happy for Waltz.

    8:56 – I never thought I'd see the day where I'd find Paul Rudd less funny than Seth MacFarlane. :(

    BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

  • Adam and Dog, Minkyu Lee
  • Fresh Guacamole, PES
  • Head over Heels, Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
  • Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare", David Silverman
  • Paperman, John Kahrs

    • Thoughts: No surprise there, but it's a delightful short and I'm happy to see it rewarded.

    BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

  • Frankenweenie
  • Pirates: Band of Misfits
  • Wreck-It-Ralph
  • Paranorman
  • Brave

    • Thoughts: Plenty of people are gonna be pissed about this one. At least Brenda Chapman got to go up — for a second there, it looked like it was just going to be Mark Andrews.

    9:05 – That's not all of the Avengers! Where's Scarlett Johansson? Where's Chris Hemsworth?

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina
  • Robert Richardson, Django Unchained
  • Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
  • Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln
  • Roger Deakins, Skyfall

    • Thoughts: Bummed for those who lost, especially Deakins, but can't argue too much. Life of Pi looks gorgeous, even on my TV at home. Also, that is a glorious mane of hair.

    BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
  • Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
  • Marvel's The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
  • Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
  • Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

    • Thoughts: Must be a bittersweet moment for Rhythm & Hues.

    9:12 – Oh, come on. Silencing him at that moment? Not cool.

    9:13 – Russ: "OK, the Jaws music used as the 'hurry up' song is great."

    BEST COSTUME DESIGN

  • Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
  • Paco Delgado, Les Misérables
  • Joanna Johnston, Lincoln
  • Eiko Ishioka, Mirror Mirror
  • Colleen Atwood, Snow White and the Huntsman

    • Thoughts: Nice to see Anna Karenina get a little love.

    BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

  • Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel, Hitchcock
  • Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  • Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Misérables

    • Russ' thoughts: "Winner for making Anne Hathaway 'ugly.'"

    9:24 – Russ: "Really nice editing and compositions on this Bond montage — good job capturing the visual identity of the series."

    9:25 – Russ: "And that's a killer introduction for Shirley Bassey to sing 'Goldfinger.'"

    9:26 – And she's killing it. Love it. This is what I want out of an Oscars celebrating music, not Seth MacFarlane singing about boobs.

    BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

  • Asad, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
  • Buzkashi Boys, Sam French and Ariel Nasr
  • Curfew, Shawn Christensen
  • Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
  • Henry, Yan England

    • BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

  • Inocente, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
  • Kings Point, Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
  • Mondays at Racine, Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
  • Open Heart, Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
  • Redemption, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

    • 9:37 – Is Seth MacFarlane not as bad as we expected, or is it just that the bar I've set for him is so impossibly low?

    9:42 – Okay, strike that last comment. On the bright side, consensus among the viewing party at my house is that Affleck and Damon should host next year.

    BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

  • 5 Broken Cameras
  • The Gatekeepers
  • How to Survive a Plague
  • The Invisible War
  • Searching for Sugar Man

    • Thoughts: Searching for Sugar Man has won every documentary award in the run-up, so we knew this was coming. Good news nonetheless.

    BEST FOREIGN FILM

  • Amour (Austria)
  • No (Chile)
  • War Witch (Canada)
  • A Royal Affair (Denmark)
  • Kon Tiki (Norway)

    • Thoughts: It's probably not going to win Best Picture, so I'm very pleased to see it get recognition here.

    9:59 – Kristy: "This is a diva-off! This is insane!"

    10:03 – C'mon guys, it's not that bad. You could barely hear Russell Crowe at all.

    10:05 – Russ: "I half-expected the sound mixer to drop everyone's mic there, except for Russell Crowe. Just leave him stranded belting out his bit."

    BEST SOUND MIXING

  • Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
  • Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
  • Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
  • Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
  • Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

    • 10:13 – Can't say I'm especially excited to see Ted, but I'm legitimately impressed by the effects.

    BEST SOUND EDITING

  • Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
  • Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
  • Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
  • Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
  • Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

    • Thoughts: I kept waiting for Mark Wahlberg to reveal that the second winner was a joke and the award was going to Ted. But, whoa! When's the last time this happened? Both winners are excellent choices.

    10:17 – Russ: "This tie thing is weird."

    10:17 – According to Rudie, the last tie was in 1995 for best live-action short.

    10:19 – I feel like such a dork, but I laughed so hard at that Sound of Music reference. That might be my favorite thing that has happened so far tonight.

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

  • Sally Field, Lincoln
  • Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
  • Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Helen Hunt, The Sessions
  • Amy Adams, The Master

    • Thoughts: I mean. Of course. Good for her, though.

    10:21 – I'm not alone! Russ: "Even as it was a pretty Family Guy moment, that Sound of Music gag was definitely a highlight so far."

    BEST FILM EDITING

  • William Goldenberg, Argo
  • Tim Squyres, Life of Pi
  • Michael Kahn, Lincoln
  • Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
    • Thoughts: First win of the night for Argo. Was pulling for Zero Dark Thirty, personally, but Argo is a great pick too.
    10:41 – Russ: "Adele seemed restrained, and her voice was often half-buried by the orchestra. A good performance, but Shirley Bassey is still tops."

    BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

  • Anna Karenina, Sarah Greenwood (Production Design) nad Katie Spencer (Set Decoration)
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Dan Hennah (Production Design) and Ra Vincent and Simon Bright (Set Decoration)
  • Les Misérables, Eve Stewart (Production Design); Anna Lynch-Robinson (Set Decoration)
  • Life of Pi, David Gropman (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
  • Lincoln, Rick Carter (Production Design); Jim Erickson (Set Decoration)

    • Thoughts: Again: Few surprises so far, but few really objectionable results either.

    10:51 – Russ: "I'm not sure what that... er... was that Bardem/Hayek/Cruz line supposed to be a joke?"

    THE GOVERNORS AWARDS

  • Hal Needham
  • D.A. Pennebaker
  • George Stevens, Jr.
    • THE JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD
  • Jeffrey Katzenberg

    • 11:03 – No Andy Griffith in the In Memoriam?

    11:08 – I like Chicago as much as the next gal, but what is this show's obsession with that movie?

    BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

  • Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina
  • Alexandre Desplat, Argo
  • Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
  • John Williams, Lincoln
  • Thomas Newman, Skyfall
    • Thoughts: Bummed Thomas Newman still has no Oscar, but I can't be too upset about Life of Pi winning.

    BEST ORIGINAL SONG

  • "Before My Time," Chasing Ice
  • "Pi's Lullaby," Life of Pi
  • "Suddenly," Les Misérables
  • "Everybody Needs a Best Friend," Ted
  • "Skyfall," Skyfall

    • Thoughts: I adore this song. An instantly classic Bond theme. And hey, this means Skyfall has more Oscars than Silver Linings Playbook or Argo so far!

    BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

  • Argo, written by Chris Terrio
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild, screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
  • Life of Pi, written by David Magee
  • Lincoln, written by Tony Kushner
  • Silver Linings Playbook, written by David O. Russell

    • Thoughts: Exactly the result we expected.

    BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  • Amour, written by Michael Haneke
  • Django Unchained, written by Quentin Tarantino
  • Flight, written by John Gatins
  • Moonrise Kingdom, written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
  • Zero Dark Thirty, written by Mark Boal

    • Thoughts: Nice! Not Tarantino's best screenplay ever, but happy to see him get his first win since 1995... and really happy to see something unexpected happen. (Would've picked Zero Dark Thirty, myself, though.)

    BEST DIRECTOR

  • David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Ang Lee, Life of Pi
  • Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
  • Michael Haneke, Amour
  • Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

    • Thoughts: This was a weird category where Ben Affleck would've been the clear favorite if he'd been nominated. I thought Spielberg had the strongest chance of those who were, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see Lee get it. Life of Pi was some impressive work.

    11:38 – Just think how much closer we would be to being finished if we could have cut out that "Boobs" number. And all the other numbers sung by MacFarlane.

    BEST ACTRESS

  • Naomi Watts, The Impossible
  • Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
  • Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
  • Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

    • Thoughts: Jennifer Lawrence is a delight. And very deserving. A little sorry that Emmanuelle Riva doesn't get to have the Oscar as her 86th birthday present though.

    BEST ACTOR

  • Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
  • Denzel Washington, Flight
  • Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
  • Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

    • Thoughts: Expectedly, Daniel Day-Lewis wins the Oscar. Unexpectedly, Daniel Day-Lewis has the funniest speech of the night. I love it!

    11:52 – This ceremony is running way too long, but at least the spillover part of it has been entertaining. (Michelle Obama!) Can't say the same for the other three hours.

    BEST PICTURE

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Silver Linings Playbook
  • Zero Dark Thirty
  • Lincoln
  • Les Misérables 
  • Life of Pi
  • Amour
  • Django Unchained
  • Argo

    • Thought: And here we are. Everyone was proved right.

    12:02 – Seems an odd choice to close by dwelling on the people who lost, but whatever —  goodbye, Seth MacFarlane! Goodnight, everyone!

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