Last night's ACE Eddie Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton was an airy affair with lots of respect for the craft and plenty of entertainment to go around.

Emcee Patton Oswalt was a riot, steering clear, for the most part, of industry jokes and just doing the tap dance of his comedy routine in between segments.

Christopher Rouse pulled off a quasi-surprise (to those expecting a near sweep for "No Country for Old Men" through the guilds circuit), winning in the dramatic feature category for his work on "The Bourne Ultimatum."

Word has it that it was a landslide victory, and I have to say, the room seemed more than enthused by the work that went into putting together Paul Greengrass' summer thrill-ride.  Just before actress Julie Benz read off Rouse's name, a few people in the crowd shouted out "Bourne!"

I spoke with Rouse in the green room after his win, which he said caught him totally off guard.  He was quite humbled when I posited the notion that audiences perhaps take away from "Bourne" the craft of the editing, the intensity of the visual menagerie, whether they realize it or not.  He may indeed be on his way to an Oscar as well.

Rouse is currently hard at work over on the Universal lot cutting Greengrass' "Green Zone," an Iraq drama inspired by Rajiv Chandrasekaran's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City."

"Juno" was also a favorite in the room, judging by reactions to Jason Reitman as a presenter, Dana Glauberman's name when mentioned here and there, etc.  However, Chris Lebenzon, an old pro at this stuff, reigned in the comedy category for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

Oh, just before presenting the award to Lebenzon, filmmaker Michael Moore told a gut-busting story about why he owes his career to the Bush family.

It turns out, nearly 20 years ago, when he was working on the groundbreaking "Roger & Me," Moore knew nothing but nothing of the editing trade.  So vast was his ignorance that the first 20 hours he shot were slateless, because he didn't know what the heck a slate was.  He and his crew kept waiting for people to "pop their p's" so they could sync up the sound (yikes).

Moore said he called up an aqcuaintance, an editor in New York, and asked him to help out because he was, quite honestly, floundering in putting his doc together.  Later the next year, in January of 1989, while watching the inauguration of George Bush, Sr., Moore noticed his editorial savior in the crowd behind the new leader of the free world and wondered how he could have managed a spot on the stage.

As it turns out, the editor in question was Bush's nephew.  He didn't want to tell Moore at the time, Moore said, and he also mentioned that he "had this crazy cousin," Bush, Jr.  "Thank you, Bush family," Moore said, the crowd giggling along with him.

Moore also said that he bumped into Oscar telecast producer Gil Cates in the lobby area, "You know, the guy who played me off the stage last time," Moore said.  Cates apparently had apologized, telling Moore he wouldn't do it again.

Uh oh.

The night was full of touching tributes, including a hilarious presentation of the Golden Eddie to filmmaker Norman Jewison by comedic legend Carl Reiner.  William Friedkin, meanwhile, offered a great tribute to Lifetime Achievement recipient Bud Smith, who has worked with the director on more than a few endeavors, including "The Exorcist," "Sorceror" and "To Live and Die in L.A."

Cates, by the way, was on hand to present the great Millie Moore with her Lifetime Achievement Award.

Probably the most heart-felt moment of the evening came just before Hal Holbrook presented one of the night's awards.  He told a long and detailed story about how "Into the Wild" editor Jay Cassidy played around with the final scene between Holbrook's Ron Franz and Emile Hirsch's Chris McCandless in the film,.  Cassidy ultimately decided to interupt the sequence with a scene depicting Hirsch on the cusp of peril in Alaska before coming back to the emtional jeep scene for which Holbrook is so often remembered in the film.

Holbrook said he's spent much of his life somewhat oblivious to what editors add to the filmmaking process, and that his work on this film and his observations of Cassidy's work, specifically, brought him in tune with something he now sees as one of the most valuable aspects of the industry.  "Without Jay's decisions," Holbrook said," I would have never been nominated for an Academy Award."

Speaking of "Into the Wild," I also spoke with composer Michael Brook just before the show.  Most of it was talk of London, his former home, but we did touch on his score's disqualification by the Academy.  He said he was certainly surprised because, though there are plenty of songs in the pic, there is certainly no lack of score.  We both agreed there should be some changes in the branch's qualification process, a hot button issue in the awards watching community as of late.

Here are some pics from the show:


Christopher Rouse accepts the dramatic feature trophy for "The Bourne Ultimatum."



Michael Moore, mid-anecdote, just before presenting the comedy feature prize to Chris Lebenzon.



Lifetime Achivement Award presenter Gil Cates.



Presenter Jason Reitman, on cloud nine as of late.



One of our great treasures, Golden Eddie recipient Norman Jewison.



Bud Smith, refusing to get into a speech and ofering a simple
"thank you," as Billy Friedkin watches on.



Your comedy nominees...



...and the dramas.