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.

It may have surprised more than a few people when Variety decided to go all out and introduce an Oscar blog to the Award Central section of the site (hi, nice to see ya, how are ya).  Well, believe it or not, staffer Justin Chang has beaten everyone to the punch -- even those ever-forecasting amateur Oscar watchers -- with a look ahead at what we might expect at next year's Oscar ceremony.

Well, almost everyone.

But seriously, this is the first full-blown article on the 2008-2009 Oscar season that I've come across.  It's a thorough piece, well-researched but perhaps a little too dependent on the obvious stuff.  There's little room made for potential surprise contenders, but let's face it, you can't see what's coming any more than you can stop it (hehe).  Chang nonetheless offers that "Experience warns us not to count too heavily on the so-called 'sure things,' as left-field surprises always have a way of sneaking in, but a handful of projects sure sound promising."

From your mouth to God's ears.  Here's a look at more:

Considering Scott Rudin produced "No Country" and exec produced "There Will Be Blood," this year's top nomination-getters, his upcoming slate is a good place to start. Assuming voters don't get it confused with last year's "Reservation Road," Paramount's "Revolutionary Road" would seem to have a clear path into awards season. Directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"), pic reunites much-nominated, never-victorious "Titanic" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in a 1950s marital drama adapted from the Richard Yates novel...

Two thesps who drew early kudos buzz this season seem like possible contenders for next year's actor race: Benicio Del Toro as Che Guevara in "The Argentine," the first in Steven Soderbergh's two-part study of the Cuban revolutionary; and Frank Langella, reprising his Tony-winning performance as President Nixon in Ron Howard's screen adaptation of "Frost/Nixon."

And later:

"Mystic River" winner Sean Penn could end up back on the ballot for "Milk," about gay-rights activist Harvey Milk, who was assassinated by a fellow San Francisco politician (played by Josh Brolin) at the height of his popularity. The Gus Van Sant-helmed project beat out a rival biopic from director Bryan Singer.

But Singer won't be empty-handed this fall. His "Valkyrie," which stars Tom Cruise in a historical thriller about a plot within the German army to assassinate Hitler, marks a reunion between Singer and "Usual Suspects" scribe Christopher McQuarrie.

And finally, what we've all been thinking:

The death of Heath Ledger has also amped up curiosity over his turn as the Joker in Warners' "The Dark Knight," stirring speculation about a posthumous supporting nom.

But there are a ton of titles mentioned.  Solid work throughout.  Give it a look.

I sort of stopped reading David Edelstein's New York Magazine blog, The Projectionist, because -- well -- he just didn't update enough.  But I came across his reaction to yesterday's Oscar nominations via Nathaniel Rogers' Film Experience Blog this morning.  Glad to see he's still generating some web content.

He spends plenty of time essentially re-reviewing "Juno" and calling the film's fans "duped" (no fan is he) before finally getting into some snubs he considers rather egregious. Frank Langella's performance in "Starting Out in the Evening," Ashley Judd's raw portrayal in "Bug" and the box office-challenged "Grace is Gone" are among them.

He starts out like so:

The announcement of the Academy Award nominations is always the saddest day of the year, not because the voters’ choices are lousy (although they tend to be) but because so many worthy movies suddenly lose their luster. As long as the potential for a nomination exists, attention will be paid. Once the field dwindles, audiences desert the also-rans faster than you can say “Fred Thompson.” And it’s on to DVD…

And wraps it up thusly:

What of the rest? The Academy went with the critics in giving No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood its love, but my hunch is that neither has many enthusiastic supporters among the voters and will split the vote anyway. Too grim, too weird. Atonement would have been perfect Oscar bait if it had been any good. Michael Clayton is terrific — but is it too conventional a conversion melodrama? Could Juno squeak through? Diablo Cody might be one doodle that can’t be undid.

Read the rest.

Variety looks at the acting races this weekend with an Awards Season Focus: 10 stories, all built around the thespians.

To kick it off, Stu Levine surveys the dark horse Oscar hopefuls that grabbed Golden Globe nominations, James McAvoy ("Atonement") and Helena Bonham Carter ("Sweeney Todd") among them.  But it begs the question, and not just for the dark horses that already need all the publicity they can get: Will contenders simply be hurting themselves by not showing up?  The dress rehearsal for Oscar is always the acceptance speech at a Golden Globe ceremony, so...just sayin...

Anyway, continuing, Robert Hofler gets into comedic performances getting the shaft, while Peter Debruge takes a healthy look at critical consensus building for various portrayals.  Despite consensus, however, Robert Abele wonders whether old-timers like Frank Langella ("Starting Out in the Evening") or youthful hopefuls like Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild") could step in and surprise a la Adrien Brody's 2002 victory for "The Pianist."

There's also a great piece from Sandee Angulo Chen about the modern abandonment of Method acting technique, but take a look at the full range of stories, there's plenty to chew on.