Darned politics! It's always getting in the way of our entertainment. This year, there were Oscar worries due to the writers strike. Next year, there is going to be some presidential interference. Unless you've been living on a remote island under a rock, by now you should have caught on that there's a presidential race a-brewing to figure out who is going to replace Dubya in the White House. Whatever person gets picked will have their inauguration on January 20, 2008.

That's the day that the 81st Annual Academy Award nominees were going to be announced, like they are every year, on a Tuesday in mid-January. To completely avoid a showdown, The Hollywood Reporter posts that the Academy will ignore tradition next year and announce the nominees two days later -- Thursday, January 22 at 5:30 am, PST.

So, the Oscar schedule for next year is as follows:

December 1 - Credit forms are due.
December 26 - Nomination ballots are mailed.
January 12 - Ballots are due back.
January 22 - Nominees are announced.
January 28 - Final ballots mailed.
February 2 - Annual nominees luncheon.
February 7 - Scientific and tech achievement awards given.
February 17 - Final ballots due.
February 22 - Fancy-garbed actors and notables flock to the Kodak Theatre for the awards.

Okay. It's time to get down to brass tacks. I'm going to get up on my soapbox and hope that the right Academy members read the column this week, because it's time to re-do the rules of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar category. Do you know how long it has been since a great film, a truly great film, won in this category? I'm talking about a film made by a genuinely great artist of the cinema, a film for the ages, and not just a perfectly good film, or a film about one of the great world wars. Here's your answer: twenty-five years ago. Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1983) was the last great one. That leaves 25 years of pretty good, just OK, forgettable, or flat-out awful winners (mostly forgettable). This year's winner, The Counterfeiters (41 screens) had to be one of the worst movies I saw all year; at it's center is a perfectly good (true) WWII concentration camp story, but it's warped by an entirely inept director, responsible for one of the worst movies I've ever seen, All the Queen's Men (2001). How did it win? How did it get past all the truly great films of 2007?

He was the talk of the red carpet Sunday night after interrupting Ryan Seacrest's interview with Jennifer Garner, only to wrap Garner in a bear-hug and kiss her neck. I'd say the poor gal was a bit freaked out. And then there's Gary Busey's date in the background, trying to push her way in toward Seacrest, smiling like a moron in that ugly green dress. Anyway, Busey, as always, was a maniac. Now, check out what happened after the ceremony (I believe it's after), as an 11-year-old female reporter attempts to approach Busey for an interview.

She sounds like a cute girl, shooting these red carpet things for a website called StarzLife.com. I don't think she runs the website, but they most likely brought her in to do the reporting -- probably because it was the only way they could get a celeb to talk to them. So the girl tries to talk to Busey, and the guy just verbally abuses her. Not so much that he was making fun of her, but treating her like a complete moron -- raising his voice, asking her to repeat the question 30 times, then refusing to give the girl a shout out for the site. "I don't do shout outs," he, well, shouted.

But we'll give her a shout out. Go visit StarzLife.com. There ya go kid. Check out the video above.

[via EW]

Thanks to the local ABC affiliate in Buffalo, NY, we now have a great quote to put on the DVD box of No Country for Old Men: "The guy with no expression who keeps blowing up everything." There it is! That's the best movie of the year in a nutshell. Anyway, in case you haven't seen this yet, a technical snafu up in Buffalo accidentally turned on the newsroom mics in the middle of the Oscar broadcast -- right as they were announcing the best director award for Joel and Ethan Coen. Watch the video above, and listen to the part where the feed cuts out and these folks start talking about the film. One guy goes, "I don't believe in this Oscar bullsh*t, but this was the best movie of the year." Then the female news anchor goes, "What's it about?" And I swear it sounds like someone responds to her question with an answer that goes something like, "It's men. It's about old men." No idea. But it's definitely one of the funnier Oscar goof-ups I've seen in some time. My vote is for the Buffalo news team to host the awards next year.

Here's more on the story, including the names of those involved, from the local Buffalo press.

[via Defamer]

The other day, Erik asked you for your ideas on new Oscar categories to shake things up a bit. I don't think it's Jon Stewart's fault the Oscar's tanked, but will he be asked back next year? I'm betting not, but who knows? Meanwhile, Cinematical's Chris Campbell, who also writes for Spoutblog.com with former Cine EIC Karina Longworth, has some excellent ideas for ways to boost the Oscar ratings.

My favorite among his suggestions is the Gary Busey Red Carpet. Hell yeah! Get rid of Regis, who's about as boring as watching bread get moldy, and bring on the Busey action. He can show up drunk with his fly open, and attack all the talent as they make their walk up the red carpet. It'll be almost like adding a sporting event to the Oscars -- duck and run from Gary Busey before he attacks your neck!

Poor Jennifer Garner would probably have to bring an entourage of everyone who's f*cking her husband, Ben Affleck, to be her body shield against further Busey attacks. For added fun, Busey can bring along his son Jake, who can also get drunk and talk loudly to everyone within ear range about how he's Gary Busey's son. The two of them could become a regular Oscar team like Melissa and Joan Rivers ... only drunker and with less cleavage and plastic surgery.

For more of Chris's ideas, including what Diablo Cody should have really done on that stage, go read the full piece.

Well, that didn't take long. Only two days after the gal took home a best original screenplay Oscar, nude photos of stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody have surfaced online, courtesy of Egotastic. Most of the photos look a tad old, and they definitely shouldn't take anything away from her win (I'm sure the gal is used to being seen without any clothes on), but it does mean we're not exactly ready to stop talking about this rather amusing success story. The images show Cody in some pretty revealing outfits, and in one photo she's actually rocking the whip cream bikini top. Groovy. Then there's a few others of the girl swinging from a stripper pole in what appears to be her own house. Why don't I have one of those yet in my living room? Oh yeah, I'm not hot.

Personally, I couldn't help but snicker when this girl walked up onto the Oscar stage in a leopard-print dress and a "Jonny's Girl" tattoo. I suddenly felt like it was New Year's Eve at a dive bar in Jersey. What's interesting about that particular tattoo is that, according to reports (including Wiki), Cody divorced her husband (aka Jonny) in late 2007. So fellas -- anyone interested in a former stripper-turned-Oscar winner with a tattoo dedicated to her former husband on her arm? Don't all raise your hands at the same time. Nevertheless, we here at Cinematical dig Cody (her body, her tat and her script for Juno) and we wish her nothing but luck going forward.

Even though we're all having a good time geeking out over last night's Oscars telecast, the actual show turned out to be a ratings nightmare. According to preliminary ratings from Nielson, the 80th Academy Awards came in 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever! And 21 percent lower than last year! Damn, looks like at least one record was set last night. So what's the problem? Is it that a majority of the public haven't seen the nominated movies? Is it because the show is too long? Is it because the categories aren't flashy enough?

After they announced the second sound-related award last night, I turned to my friend and noted that they could've easily replaced one of these sound categories with something a little more fan-friendly. Or even if they want to stick with what they have, perhaps more people will watch if they have more say in how the awards show plays out. So in the spirit of brainstorming, what would be a good category to add to future Oscar telecasts? Best fanboy film? Best comedy? Or how about a viewer's choice award? Would something like asking, ya know, actual paying moviegoers which film they liked the best take away from the epic-like ceremony?

What can Oscar do to turn this sucker around? (And no, having Miley Ray Cyrus announce every award is not a good solution.) Sound off below ...

A lot of people will be talking about Marion Cotillard today, whose teary-eyed acceptance speech was just beyond cute. But I feel the night's greatest moment came in two parts -- first when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova performed Falling Slowly (from the movie Once) on stage, and then when both accepted the Oscar for best song. In a very cool moment, Irglova was cut off at the mic before she could thank anyone, and so after the commercial break Jon Stewart brought her back on stage to finish what she was about to say.

Talk about two kids who deserved a break. This song, from a film that was made for roughly $100,000, beat out Disney and their -- what? -- 13 Enchanted nominations. Was it me, or did each of those Enchanted songs sound exactly the same? This time, however, the Oscar went to the little guy (and girl). You could totally tell that there was a ton of love behind that song -- and even though it was obvious Hansard and Irglova were nervous at the beginning, they finished it off in spectacular fashion. Above, check out their performance at the Oscars, then head after the jump to see both acceptance speeches.

Last night, as per every year at the Oscars, they take a brief break from all the self-congratulatory back-patting to acknowledge the deaths in the movie industry over the preceding year. As several of our readers (and Scott Weinberg, who was going ballastic on IM about it) noted, Brad Renfro, who died of a drug overdose on January 15 of this year, was mysteriously excluded. The troubled actor, best known for his work in The Client, Apt Pupil, and Bully, had been known to have a drug problem for years, and had a drunk driving and heroin-possession arrest in May 2006, but was supposedly "working hard on his sobriety" at the time of his death.

The In Memorium was supposed to be for everyone who died between February 1, 2007 and January 31, 2008. Heath Ledger, who died a week after Renfro, was included in the montage. No word from the Academy that I've seen yet on why Renfro wasn't included -- an honest oversight? A deliberate sweeping-under-the-red-carpet because heroin was involved? What do you think about Renfro being shut out of Oscar's "In Memorium"?

I have such a huge Oscars hangover this morning. Did anyone theme it for the night? I cooked some mean-ass burgers in honor of Juno, then attempted to make a few milkshakes (in honor of There Will be Blood) before realizing I had no ice cream. Anyone get nutty and make Ratatouille? Anyway, when it comes to the day after the Oscars, talk usually surrounds the big surprises. What were the shockers? Personally, I totally thought Transformers would walk away with at least one Oscar for special effects or sound, and Marion Cotillard winning best actress came somewhat as a surprise. I mean, a French actress winning best actress for a foreign language film that practically NO ONE saw?

And Tilda Swinton? Really? Do cracked-out single mothers not mean anything to the Academy voters? Amy Ryan definitely should've won in that category. Other surprises -- who the hell let Gary Busey onto the red carpet? Did you see him lick Jennifer Garner's neck? Poor girl. Unfortunately, her husband was f**king Jimmy Kimmel at the time and couldn't be there to rescue her. But anyway, last night's biggest upset? In your opinion, who was it? (And is it okay to say that my new crush is Marion Cotillard. Holy crap did she look fantastic!)

Well, the Oscars are a wrap. You can see all the winners right over here.
Cinematical staff did pretty well with our predictions, and so did our readers. You guys picked the winners for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapated Screenplay -- the same categories we got right. We missed Best Doc and both actress categories. Not bad overall.

What do you think about this year's Oscars? Did you think Jon Stewart did a good job with the hosting? Aside from the part where he kind of disappeared for the last hour, but I guess they usually do that towards the end when everyone wants to wrap it up already and get to the parties. What were the big surprises of the night? Any huge disappointments? (Go ahead, anti Diablo Cody contingent. You can say it.)

Oh, and who looked awesome, and who didn't? I thought Marion Cotillard, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner and Anne Hathaway had the best looks of the night among the ladies. On the guy's side, Johnny Depp and George Clooney both looked hot, and so did Denzel Washington. And Glen Hansard ... yeah, he was adorable too. I'm just saying.

Time for your thoughts on Hollywood's big night -- discuss away!

Click here for the 2008 Academy Award Winners, updated in real time, and highlighted in bold.

Cinematical's Erik Davis, Scott Weinberg and Kim Voynar are live blogging the Oscars! Kim's up next with the conclusion of the 2008 Academy Awards ...

That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for spending Oscar night with us!

11:45PM Thank God, it's almost done. Denzel Washington, looking smoking hot, is presenting. And the big winner is ... no surprise! No Country for Old Men is sweeping it up tonight. Good for them. WINNER BEST PICTURE: No Country for Old Men

11:40PM Coming up, Best Director. I'm still betting on the Coens to take this one. Scott calls it for Paul Thomas Anderson, but at least he's not threatening to kick any cats if PTA doesn't win. Scott ate BBQ with PTA once. I'm jealous. Don't you just love Martin Scorsese's voice? And ... the Coens win it! I bet No Country takes Best Picture too. WINNER BEST DIRECTOR: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men

11:32PM Time for Best Actor. Helen Mirren even makes presenting an Oscar look good. I'm still betting Daniel Day-Lewis, so is Weinberg. And we're ... so right. Daniel Day-Lewis. And he so deserves it. ... WINNER BEST ACTOR: Daniel day-Lewis, There Will be Blood

11:27PM So, the Coens win screenplay for No Country, Cody for Juno. Who's gonna take Best Picture? My money is still on No Country for that one, but we'll see if there's an upset.

Click here for the 2008 Academy Award Winners, updated in real time, and highlighted in bold.

Cinematical's Erik Davis, Scott Weinberg and Kim Voynar are live blogging the Oscars! Scott's up next with the ceremony's second hour below ...

10:45pm As the guy from Loverboy and Can't Buy Me Love introduces yet another song from Enchanted, I turn you over to Ms. Kim Voynar, who gets pretty much all the best awards to herself.

10:44pm The consistently unintelligible Penelope Cruz is here to give out the award for Best Foreign Film, a category that Kim and I are boycotting for various reasons. Congrats, though, go to Best Foreign Film: The Counterfeiters.

10:39PM brb i have to pee

10:33PM Nicole Kidman gives out a Lifetime Achievement award to art director / production designer Robert F. Boyle, of North By Northwest, The Birds, and Fiddler on the Roof.

10:29PM Apparently Renee Zellweger is a huge fan of film editing, and so she gives out this award: Best Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum. That's three!!

10:27PM Wow, I forgot that Crash won Best Picture.

10:25PM Kim says it's Hansard she loves, not Farrell. So there. Glen, I have her number.

10:23PM Woohoo! Jack Nicholson time! This guy's the freakin' man. Still. Here he intros a look back at the first 79 Best Picture Winners. Cool.

10:20PM You gotta remember Glen Hansard from The Commitments, right? He had crazy red hair back then.

10:18PM Colin Farell (aka Voynar's secret lover) slides on in to introduce a tune ("Falling Slowly") from Once. If this song doesn't win this award, I'll kick one of my three cats.

10:13PM Good lord is Marion cute.

10:12PM The always-cool Forest Whitaker is here to give out a big one. Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose!

Click here for the 2008 Academy Award Winners, updated in real time, and
highlighted in bold.

Click here for our continuing live blogging -- Kim is up for the final stretch.

Click here for our continuing live blogging -- Scott's up now with the second hour.

Cinematical's Erik Davis, Scott Weinberg and Kim Voynar are live blogging the Oscars! Erik steps in first with the ceremony's opening hour below ...

9:37PM: Okay, I'm throwin' it to Weinberg. Enjoy the rest of your evening folks. (And sorry for pissing some of you off. I'm just havin' fun -- and I love you all!)

9:31PM: Looks like we've got Best Supporting Actress up next. This one is completely up in the air, but I'm rooting for Amy Ryan. Don't give Blanchett another Oscar please. Please. It's like, one more Oscar and she'll turn gold. (She might not have many, but doesn't it feel like she's already got 15 Oscar wins?) Seriously. She's already bronzing a bit. Man, there were so many better Ryan quotes. Here we go. Best Supporting Actress Winner: Tilda Swinton. Complete shocker right there!

9:28PM: Seriously. He's still doing f**king Bee Movie commercials! Holy God -- Seinfeld has officially jumped the hive. Best Animated Short Film Winner: Peter and the Wolf.

9:25PM: Owen Wilson! Did you know he's got a guy watching his wrists backstage? Best Live-Action Short Winner: Le Mozart De Pickpockets

9:22PM: Another song. How about they just sing Falling Slowly from Once a good seven times throughout the night and call it a show? Ah, but this one has the thirty people in the background swaying back and forth. Powerful, ladies and gentlemen. F**king powerful stuff right there. Sway people! Clap people! Raise that sh*t up people!

9:20PM: I'd say the writer's strike jokes will feel old and tired in another 10 minutes. Like the bad dream salute. Where's the "reveals breasts moment" salute?

9:16PM: Javier thanked his mom in Spanish. I bet half the theater wondered if she was an illegal immigrant at that moment.

9:10PM: Here comes supporting actor with a montage first. Let Regis announce this one please -- I want to hear him say Xavier Bardem again. Aww, I hope Cuba Gooding saw that look back from the McDonald's drive-thru. Best Supporting Actor Winner: Javier! Javier! Javier!

9:08PM: Shhh, it's Cate Blanchett. Are we allowed to talk while she's on stage? I feel like Blanchett is my somewhat hot 8th grade homeroom teacher. Man, all the shitty awards come in the first hour. Art Direction Winner: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Nice. Good win.

9:05PM: Because The Rock needs to announce every f**king award! Best Visual Effects Winner: The Golden Compass. Take that Transformers of the Caribbean!

The winners of this year's Academy Awards are below, updated in real time and highlighted in bold.

Best Picture

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men -- WINNER
There Will Be Blood

Best Director

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

Best Leading Actor

George Clooney -- Michael Clayton
Daniel Day Lewis -- There Will Be Blood -- WINNER
Johnny Depp -- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
VIggo Mortensen -- Eastern Promises

Best Leading Actress

Cate Blanchett -- Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie -- Away from Her
Marion Cotillard -- La vie en rose -- WINNER
Laura Linney -- The Savages
Ellen Page -- Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay

Christopher Hampton -- Atonement
Sarah Polley -- Away From Her
Ronald Harwood -- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel and Ethan Coen -- No Country For Old Men -- WINNER
Paul Thomas Anderson -- There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody -- Juno -- WINNER
Nancy Oliver -- Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy -- Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Jim Capobianco, Jan Pinkava -- Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins -- The Savages

Best Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck -- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem -- No Country for Old Men -- WINNER
Phillip Seymour Hoffman -- Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook -- Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson -- Michael Clayton

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 -- WINNER

Best Animated Feature

Persepolis
Ratatouille -- WINNER
Surf's Up

Best Foreign Language Film

Beaufort
The Counterfeiters -- WINNER
Katyn
Mongol
12

Go through the jump for the rest...

Achievement in Art Direction

American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- WINNER
There Will Be Blood

Achievement in Cinematography

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood -- WINNER

Achievement in Costume Design

Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age -- WINNER
La vie en rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Documentary Feature

No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side -- WINNER
War/Dance

Best Documentary Short Subject

Freeheld -- WINNER
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Achievement in Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum -- WINNER
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Achievement in Makeup

La vie en rose -- WINNER
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Achievement in Music (Original Score)

Atonement -- WINNER
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma

Achievement in Music (Original Song)

Once -- "Falling Slowly" -- Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova -- WINNER
Enchanted -- "Happy Working Song" -- Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
August Rush -- Nominees to be determined
Enchanted -- "So Close" -- Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Enchanted -- "That's How You Know" -- Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best Animated Short Film

I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Even Pigeons Go to Heaven
My Love
Peter & the Wolf -- WINNER

Best Live Action Short Film

At Night
The Substitute
The Mozart of Pickpockets -- WINNER
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Achievement in Sound Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum -- WINNER
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Achievement in Sound Mixing

The Bourne Ultimatum -- WINNER
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Achievement in Visual Effects

The Golden Compass -- WINNER
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers