I have to say, a lot of this morning's poo-pooing of the Oscar ceremony last night is a bit hyperbolic for my taste.  The mixed critical reactions, that is.  I found the night to be rather swift and host Jon Stewart to be at the top of his game.  Sure, there were a number of montages that should have been nixed.  The Best Picture bit that Jack Nicholson presented comes to mind as considerably unnecessary.  But by my watch, the thing was over in less than four hours, something around three and a half...and that's ALWAYS a good thing.  Right?

But let's get into it.  The season has come to a close and the Coen brothers, Scott Rudin and "No Country for Old Men" had their day to shine.  Good for all involved.  It's the most un-Academy win since "The Silence of the Lambs," but that's the way things go sometimes.

There were surprises in store for some.  Such as Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton taking the leading and supporting actress trophies, swooping in at the last minute to steal away the thunder of the night's frontrunners.  Personally, I saw this coming, but no one could deny the possibility was there and the situations were ripe for upsets.  Both speeches, by the way, were quite good.  Cotillard was appropriately emotional (as was Diablo Cody, who even choked me up with her teary acceptance).  Swinton, meanwhile, offered that Tilda charm and sass that has become something of a staple this season for the "Michael Clayton" star.

The biggest shocks of the night for me came in the craft races, where "The Bourne Ultimatum" snuck in and grabbed the sound editing and sound mixing statuettes.  The latter category had been primed as a race between "Transformers" and "No Country for Old Men," a considerable media concentration given the nominations tally of Kevin O'Connell and Greg P. Russell.  Sadly, they missed yet again and this was their last shot at getting it together.  They'll go off and, obviously, churn out great work separately, so this isn't the end of days.  But it would have been a nice bow on their partnership, to be sure.

I think the best moments of the evening both involved the film "Once."  The first was Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's performance of "Falling Slowy," which elicited a huge cheer from the crowd.  The second was Jon Stewart's insistence that Irglova come back out and be given her moment to offer what ultimately was, let's face it, the bes speech of the evening.  Trigger happy bands really piss me off and someone needs to key them into the fact that some people you just don't scoot away like that.  This was a songwriting DUO, the two STARs of the film, for Pete's sake.  Give them both their moment, please.

The "Enchanted" numbers became a bit tedious after a while, and I couldn't help but wish Eddie Vedder had been there to mix things up.  There are no two ways about it.  The music branch embarassed itself this year.  That's my opinion, in any case.

Apparently the ratings were the lowest ever, which it is foolish to attribute (as some have) to the actual show.  I would say one need only look at the slate of rather unpopular Best Picture nominees to find out why the public at large wasn't very interested.  Personally, I thought it was the best year for movies in a long while.  But just look at the box office rankings to see what people preferred.  It's not in line with Oscar.

Anyway, now we look ahead to next year, right?  RIGHT?  Well, those of us who are nuts, in any case.  Scott Rudin and the Coens will be back, for different projects.  Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Angelina Jolie, Frank Langella, Russell Crowe, George Clooney -- all heading back to the race.  Returning filmmakers include Ridley Scott, Joe Wright and David Fincher, while Paramount Pictures once again has the glut of product to consider.  And there'll be a "titanic" reunion in store for the nostalgic romantics in the crowd.

But we'll get there.  For now, let's just all enjoy the release of another Oscar year in the rear view mirror.  It's been a blast contributing here at variety this season,a nd I hope you've all enjoyed reading.  We'll weather the fallout in the coming days and call it quits at the end of the week.

Happy Monday.

•  Anne Thompson was at the Governor's Ball, and she has a thing or two to say about it. (Lucky!) [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Jeffrey Wells has 11 observations on the night's festivities, including some stage coaching for the Coens, a cheers to Colin Farrell for supposedly urging producers to let Marekta Irglova speak, and some fashion criticism for Jon Stewart. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Even though it was a tight, swift show, apparently no one watched.  Maybe it has something to do with the vast unpopularity of the nominees? [The Hollywood Reporter]

•  Sasha Stone sticks it to the jerks who can't help themselves but continue to give Diablo Cody hell. [Awards Daily]

•  David Carr rounds up the show and the Ball. [The Carpetbagger]

•  Tom O'Neil rounds up the critics' reactions to the show, which was apparently "a bore and a sporadic thrill."  Uh, ok. [Gold Derby]

•  David Poland spoitballs reactions to the festivities. [The Hot Blog]

•  New York Magazine wraps up its coverage with some Jon Stewart talk. [Vulture]

•  David Edelstein, meanwhile, has some reactions as well (he dug the decision to bring Irglova back as well). [The Projectionist]

•  Pete Hammond writes up what is becoming the most over-done talking point of the past 12 hours: the international love fest that was the Oscars. [The Envelope]

•  David Halbfinger files for the Gray Lady. [New York Times]

•  And Erik Davis thinks the performance of "Falling Slowly" was the night's best moment. [Cinematical]

The guys are tired of the "Enchanted" tunes, and our resitant "Jewban" points out that Holocaust movies continue to dominate the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars.  Meanwhile, "Once" wins Best Original Song but the band makes the stupid decision to play poor Marketa Irglova off the stage.  (We notice now they made the right decision to bring her back out and say a few words.  Classy move.  Thank you.)  Take a listen.

•  Ryan Adams points us to a chart indicating the potential of a box office boost for Oscar-nominated films. [Awards Daily]

•  From the Gray Lady's Oscar portfolio last week, Lynn Hirschberg takes a look at unlikely paths to staredom. [New York Times]

•  David Poland wraps up his "10 Rules of the Season" two-parter Oscar column. [Movie City News]

•  Tom O'Neil is perturbed by the (frankly outrageous) news that Kristin Chenoweth will belt out "That's How You Know" on the Oscar telecast, rather than "Enchanted" star Amy Adams. [Gold Derby]

•  He also chats it up with Razzie creator John Wilson. [Gold Derby]

•  Because I totally forgot to link to it earlier, I will now: Nathaniel Rogers rounds up six net mavens to chat all things gold in his 3rd Annual Oscar Symposium. [The Film Experience]

Music (Song) "Happy Working Song" -- Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Music (Song) "So Close" -- Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Music (Song) "That's How You Know" -- Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

UPDATE:  Carr is now saying that an announcement will come later today regarding the eligibility of the track.  If the Academy doubles back here, it'll be pretty sickening, given that all of this was cleared up once (so to speak) already.  Maybe they want a hat-trick on pissing people off this year.

EARLIER:  David Carr's widely circulated speculation about "Falling Slowly," the Oscar-nominated song from "Once," is troubling me.  Not because I feel the song is on the way out due to eligibility concerns, but because I thought this was already cleared up long ago.  So who's feeding this line to the media?

To the best of my knowledge, the songs from "Once" that were deemed eligible were, indeed, written specifically for the film.  They were released on an album before the film's theatrical release, but according to the Academy's rules, that doesn't matter.

Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor and Publisher, is also getting into the fray, muddying the waters and indicating that "Falling Slowly" might not have been one of the songs Glen Hansard wrote specifically for the film.  Well, it was.  Along with "If You Want Me."  The other tracks were not original to the material and were deemed out of Oscar's bounds accordingly.

M'kay?

Poor Amy Adams didn't manage a slot in today's field of Best Actress nominees, but her "Enchanted" character is the voice behind all three of those Best Original Song nominations the film racked up today.  So maybe she'll get a spot on Oscar's stage after all!

"Happy Woking Song," "So Close" and "That's How You Know" are each substantial song and dance set pieces from the Disney film, which took in over $120 million at domestic box offices and won the award for Best Family Film at the Critics' Choice Awards two weeks ago.  Adams was also nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.  "That's How You Know" picked up a nomination from the group as well.

Last year, the three nominated tracks from "Dreamgirls" were combined into a rather impressive medly.  Perhaps this year's Oscar telecast -- should the show make it past the death grip of the writers' strike -- could stitch together a similar block of tunage for this musical extravaganza?  It would be delightful to see Adams make an appearance in this capacity and would certainly prove to be a light-hearted moment in an affair set to be dominated by the dark and drab films of the 2007 film awards season.

And by "dark and drab," I include the sad-but-true fact that Eddie Vedder will not be gracing the stage with his powerful crooning an songwriting expertise.  Regardless, the award seems all but secure for Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's "Once" ditty "Falling Slowly."

Eddie Vedder has made a rare music video appearance this year forfor Best Original Song hopeful "Guaranteed," from the "Into the Wild" soundtrack.  (Edited due to piss-poor researching on Vedder's music video appearances by yours truly.  I'm a child of theg runge era, and can only recall his long hiatus from doing them.  ANYWAY).  VH1 debuted the video earlier this week, and apparently, the gaffers were also on strike when director Marc Rocco shot the thing.

No, but seriously, folks...

It's good to see Vedder showing such committment to this project and his work in it.  Some of the finest songs of the year were in this film.  I was more moved by "Rise Up" and "Society," but "Guaranteed" is a solid track as well.

Here's the video:

Adam Sandler (no not that one) writing in Variety's Eye on the Oscars: Song and Score feature issue talked to a few people in the game to assess the slow but sure obsolescence of the ending credits, star-driven track.

It has been a pretty fortunate turn of events in recent years that the Academy has given its attention to a song's usage in a film and bearing on the stor rather than simply closing their eyes and chalking up this closing track or that as a nominee.  That little rule shift is probably the reason "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow" made it into contention (on the way to a win" back in 2005, and is certainly the reason the tunes of "Brokeback Mountain" didn't make the ultimate cut.  Regardless, it's good to finally see a story like this one out there.

Here's a quick look:

This creatively cautious sensitivity to not always having an end-titles song is a lingering backlash to the once ubiquitous, overwrought ballads that for years graced every studio's tentpole pic. These songs were often more a marketing ploy than a tune evocative of the film's story.

It is also part of the new fiscal reality: Songs from big artists can be expensive and prohibitive given the current state of shrinking film and music budgets. And without a robust music industry, fat soundtrack deals are scarce and a hit song is no longer the foolproof marketing tool it once was. [Variety]

There's plenty more stories in the issue for all you film music lovers out there.  Jon Burlingame has the lede with a story calling 2007 a "banner year" for music-driven films.  He also does a nice job of rounding up the constant rule changes in "Oscar's most tinkered-with category."

Sandler, meanwhile, is back with ways studios are attempting to target the music branch voters, such as YouTube videos, live concerts (like the Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova show here at the Wiltern a few months back) and CD inserts in trade magazines (Paramount Vantage jumped on this early with "Into the Wild" supplements).

Anthony D'Alessandro wraps things up by pondering Oscar telecast performances and their effect on the longevity of "film-dwelling hits."

•  "There Will Be Blood" and "Zodiac" top a critics poll of the year's best. [indieWIRE]

•  Gerard Kennedy surveys the top contenders for Best Original Song. [In Contention]

•  Award Central begins its Golden Globes countdown in the Features department. [Variety]

•  Pete Hammond weighs in on SAG and the blows felt by "Atonement" and "Sweeney Todd" yesterday. [The Envelope]

•  But Tom O'Neil makes sure it's clear that the winner of Best Cast doesn't always forecast the winner of Best Picture. [Gold Derby]

•  And David Poland is bored with the announcement, as usual. [The Hot Blog]

•  Sasha Stone has a comparison chart for contending performances this Oscar season across three awards-giving bodies. [Awards Daily]

•  Gurus 2.0 go on the record again, pre-SAG, having hastily knocked "Into the Wild" down far too many pegs in response to the HFPA near shut-out. [Movie City News]

•  Nathaniel Rogers can't get "Sweeney" tunes out of his head. [The Film Experience]

•  Hank Rosenfeld draws out the similarities between Nicole Kidman's evil Ms. Coulter ("The Golden Compass") and conservative nut-job Ann Coulter. [Los Angeles Times]

•  Scott Bowles gets in some quality time with Daniel Day-Lewis. [USA Today]

•  And a final list of awards designations before the holiday, courtesy of yours truly. [In Contention]

Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" led the BFCA nominations tally today with seven tips of the hat, including nods for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and, of course, a spot in the group's top ten list.

Jason Reitman's "Juno" wasn't far behind with six nods, while "Atonement," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "Sweeney Todd" each managed five.

The morning's announcement was a huge boost -- nay, a shot in the arm for "Wild," one of a trio of Paramount Vantage hopefuls in this year's race.  Combined with a number of key mentions in yesterday's Chicago Film Critics nominations and the fact that, as far as I can tell, no film has ever solely led the BFCA field and missed out on a Best Picture nomination with the Academy, I'd say the Sean Penn effort is looking better than ever for a slot in the big five come January.

"Juno"'s tally of six was also exactly what Fox Searchlight's comedy hopeful needed to silence nay-sayers regarding its Academy potential.  It's clearly a formiddable contender.

Surprises included Best Actor mentions for Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl") and Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), as well as supporting actress berths for Catherine Keener in "Into the Wild" (a quiet contender this season) and Vanessa Redgrave in "Atonement" (for all of five minutes of screentime).

Casey Affleck, meanwhile, grabbed some more steam for his supporting portrayal in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," perhaps on his way to securing the same nod with the Academy.  And Amy Adams finally makes a significant appearance this awards season for her performance in "Enchanted."

A definite nod of note is Cate Blanchett's citation for Best Actress in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."  It might perhaps be read as Oscar tea leaf reading on the BFCA's part more than anything, given how critically reviled the film was, yet how undeniably Academy friendly the performance might still be perceived.

Finally, six composers were allowed room to wiggle in that category, including the first notices of the season for Marco Beltrami ("3:10 to Yuma"), Clint Eastwood ("Grace is Gone") and Alan Menken ("Enchanted").

The BFCA tends to be the best precursor for predicting the eventual Oscar turn-out, mostly due to a list of ten Best Picture contenders and a willingness to nominate across a wide spectrum of categories.  This year they seem to have spread the wealth evenly enough to have a decent prediction percentage yet again.

The BFCA's ten Best Picture nominees (with vote totals):

"American Gangster" (2)
"Atonement" (5)
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (4)
"Into the Wild" (7)
"Juno" (6)
"The Kite Runner" (2)
"Michael Clayton" (5)
"No Country for Old Men" (5)
"Sweeney Todd" (5)
"There Will Be Blood" (3)

The full list of nominees can be found on the BFCA website.  The awards will be broadcast live on VH1 on Monday, January 7, 2008, LIVE at 9:00 p/m. (e.s.t.).

What might be presumed the two frontrunners for Best Original Song, "Guaranteed" from "Into the Wild" and "Falling Slowly" from "Once" both received Grammy nominations today.  They were the only two songs nominated for films released this year, as the other three tunes in the category were from "Casino Royale," "Dreamgirls" and "Happy Feet" respectively.

•  David Carr runs some insular Times commentary regarind the L.A. premiere of "Juno." [The Carpetbagger]

•  Dissecting the potential "domestic strife" in screenwriter Diablo Cody's life via her tattoos.  Are we really going there? [The Envelope]

•  Todd Martens on intimate concert shindigs in lieu of sending music to Academy members. [The Envelope]

•  Sam Adams talks to the elusive Eddie Vedder about the tracks in "Into the Wild." [The Envelope]

•  Tom O'Neil talks to our own Anne Thompson about the Oscar derby. [Gold Derby]

•  Sasha Stone cleans up her NBR predictions. [Awards Daily]

•  T.L. Stanley takes the measure of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Terrence Howard's double-dipping potential. [Gold Rush]

•  David lunch talks to "Into the Wild" star Emile Hirsch. [The Hot Blog]

•  Ben Kawaller solicits some interesting comments from Tim Burton. [Vulture]

•  Lou Lumenick starts his Oscar overview, focusing on the big races... [New York Post]

•  ...and follows it up with some other ponderings in his blog. [New York Post]

•  Anne Thompson on the recent Variety screening of "The Savages" with Laura Linney and Tamara Jenkins Q&A. [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Brian Kinsley points us to a couple of below-the-radar contenders.  I like the "Persepolis" mention for Best Adapted Screenplay. [In Contention]

•  Todd Martens gets into the tracks of "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." [Extended Play]

•  The Envelope has officially gone off the deep end with its awards season content: I give you, a gallery of the top 9 dinner scenes of the year? [The Envelope]

•  Tom O'Neil talks to "Into the Wild" star Emile Hirsch. [Gold Derby]

•  Jeffrey Wells responds to an item from yours truly, stirs the waters of his comments section in the process. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  While at Jeffrey's site, I came across this interesting piece regarding potential inspirations for Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." [Anti-Dis-Arts-And-Entertainmentalism]

•  David Poland has taken to iPosting, and his wheels are spinning about the box office of "Beowulf." [The Hot Blog]

•  Nathaniel Rogers, in the fifth of a superlative on-going Oscar column, sizes up musicals at the Oscars. [The Film Experience]

•  Checking names off his interview wish lists, Scott Feinberg gets ahold of veteran Max von Sydow to discuss "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." [And the Winner Is...]

•  Lou Lumenick gets around to "There Will Be Blood," is dazzled by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. [New York Post]

•  Susan Wloszczyna talks to Josh Brolin about that silly "overnight success" story business.  Anyone seen "The Goonies???" [USA Today]

I didn't realize former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters had an original song in play this year until a copy of the soundtrack for "The Last mimzy" showed up on my doorstep last week.

The track is called "Hello (I Love You)" and, sadly, it's a bit of a bust.  Leaving alone the echoes of "Is There Anybody Out There?" that are more unsettling than intriguing, but New Line has hope that it could manage one of the three (or five?) final slots.

I never saw "The Last Mimzy," and it could be a profound piece of cinema that I'm completely ignorant to, so forgive me if this is so (I'm guessing it's not).  Whatever the case, that's another tune to keep in mind as the race unfolds.

It appears you can now listen to each of Eddie Vedder's "Into the Wild" tunes at VantageGuilds.com.  The studio also says that it will soon be adding production notes and Jonny Greenwood's score to the "There Will Be Blood" section, an interview with Angelina Jolie to the "A Mighty Heart" section (presumably Pete Hammond's much publicized Q&A from Sunday night) and the music video for Vedder's "Guaranteed," which I mentioned in this space over the weekend.

It looks like New Line Cinema will be putting its might behind the "Hairspray" track "Come So Far (Got So Far To Go)" for its Best Original Song push.  Original speculation was on the Zac Efron tune "Ladies' Choice," but the studio sent out a CD this week containing only the former.

"Hairspray," "Into the Wild" and "Once" are looking like the contenders in the category.  Unless five make it, then there are cases to be made for "Enchanted" or even another "Wild" track, but certainly not "A Hero Comes Home" from "Beowulf."  That's a poppy/dreadful tune if I ever heard one (which is strange, given that Alan Silvestri's score is so bloody awesome).

I neglected to mention in this morning's item that Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder shot the music video for "Guaranteed" yesterday, the prevalent track from "Into the Wild," just before arriving on the Paramount lot for the festivities.  This is the first music video the singer has appeared in since "Jeremy" -- 14 years ago.  "Guaranteed" also appears to be his own favorite piece of work on the soundtrack and -- obviously -- the tune that awards strategists are positioning for the Best Original Song category.

I still dig "Society" and "No Ceiling" (however short) a little more, but it's all a bunch of audible goodness regardless.

Eddie Vedder popped up tonight outside the Paramount theater for a modest crowd, performing songs from the "Into the Wild" soundtrack after a screening of the film.  And he killed.

Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch introduced Vedder to the crowd, which included a who's who of the entertainment industry: Cameron Crowe, Ringo Starr, Mark Ruffalo, Emilio Estevez and Wynona Rider among them.  Vedder cranked out "Guaranteed," "Rise Up," "No Ceiling" and "Society" before steering into Pearl Jam B-side "Drifting" as well as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" from the "I Am Sam" soundtrack.

Watching the performance from maybe five or six feet away and studying Vedder's face, I suddenly felt the sensation that this fixture of the grunge era had hit a new stride in his musical and lyrical career.  Something more textured, fuller, perhaps more mature.  There's no arguing that his is one of the great voices in rock history and that he can turn a lyric with the best of them, but what Vedder has accomplished on the "Wild" soundtrack is possibly the crowning jewel of the film.  Tonight was a testament to that.

The singer is showing aging, but not necessarily showing his age.  The lines are there, the years of celebrity and activism taking their toll, perhaps.  In any case, it was with a strange combination of sadness and pride that I watched a rock star fully embody this new, more cultivated phase of his career this evening.

I chatted briefly with the film's editor, Jay Cassidy, about his journey with Penn on each of the actor/director's works.  I also caught up with Penn himself, who said he was certainly feeling the toll of the awards campaign, but nonetheless, he seemed like he could take any given event by the horns then and there, regardless of fatigue.

A good event all around for Paramount Vantage, who is in high gear on a campaign that could lead all the way to a Best Picture nomination for the film.  We shall see.

(Photo courtesy of Hollywood Elsewhere)