The Oscars are here. Minus the writer's strike and full of old Hollywood glamour. But who won? And the Oscar goes to...

By: Kindah Mardam Bey 

The Oscars had every right to be nostalgic this year; they had a tribute to 80 years worth of memories from the Oscars that was introduced by George Clooney, previous winners spoke about the moment of winning, and before a category was announced a montage of previous winners was shown. The shtick for the presenters this year was hilarious Josh Brolin/James McAvoy, Anne Hathaway/Steve Carell, the two guys posing as Halle Berry & Dame Judi Dench, were all worth a genuine chuckle at. Jon Stewart was funny, he kept his jokes clean and incredibly funny and oddly not overly political. He was exactly the right temperament for the show, I think the Billy Crystal job position may be filled (unless Billy comes back, and then of course Stewart loses the job).  

No shock was Javier Bardem winning for best supporting actor, but his acceptance speech where he directly addressed his mother in Spanish was not understood by millions but it was so moving Jon Stewart said `If you are looking for the first moment of the evening, we've just seen it. ` What was shocking, even to the winner, was best supporting actress Tilda Swinton whose speech was quirky and as witty as she is always known to be. We all thought Cate Blanchett was a sure bet to win, but Swinton has deserved the award for a very long time so it was a delight to see her win. Blanchett was a two time loser for best supporting role and best actress, but since she has won already, I'm sure she was just `grateful to be nominated.` Any of the female nominees in the Best Actress category would have been a well deserved win in anyone's opinion (except Ellen Page in her own opinion, as on her Barbara Walters pre-Oscar interview she commented well beyond her years, that she didn't deserve to win) but Marion Cotillard`s speechless acceptance speech for her role as Edith Piaf had her thanking `love` at the end, as any self-respecting French woman would. Now who would want to miss that?  

Best Original song went to `Falling Slowly` from the film Once, that was only nominated once in the category, unlike Enchanted that was nominated three times for three songs also in this category. Male lead and singer/songwriter Glen Hansard gave a beautiful speech but Markéta Irglová lost her chance to speak in the meantime. With complete finesse, the Oscars allowed her to give her acceptance speech after the commercial. Director of winning documentary feature film Taxi To The Dark Side asked for the country (the US) to come from the dark side and back into the light. Possibly the sweetest win was for Diablo Cody for best original screenplay, in a category that rarely sees three women nominated it was a standout year, but for a woman like Cody, whose life has been as patchy as her leopard print dress, it was a great win. Cody thanked her family for loving her exactly the way she is.

Daniel Day Lewis won for best actor, no surprise on that front, and he was characteristically sweet.  Ethan & Joel Coen made Oscar history as the last two directors to win for a film was for West Side Story; Ethan said thank you when they won for best adapted screenplay and said he had nothing to add when they won for best director. The Best Picture, as for director and original screenplay, and supporting actor, was won by No Country For Old Men.

You can read the AnEVibe review of the Best Picture Winner No Country For Old Men here .  

The rest of the Winners are.....

BEST PICTURE
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Hal Holbrook, "Into The Wild"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, "Juno"
Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Brad Bird, Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, "Ratatouille"
Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"
Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Beaufort" (Israel)
"The Counterfeiters" (Austria)
"Katyn" (Poland)
"Mongol" (Kazakhstan)
"12" (Russia)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"Surf's Up"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
 "No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"War/Dance"

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Freeheld"
"La Corona" ("The Crown")
"Salim Baba"
"Sari's Mother"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Falling Slowly" from "Once"
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted"
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush"
"So Close" from "Enchanted"
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted"

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"I Met the Walrus"
"Madame Tutli-Putli"
"Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)"
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)"
"Peter & the Wolf"

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM