Bill Maher intro'd the documentaries, fitting since he made one, "Religulous," that, he joked (or not), didn't get nominated. Again the show's producers do the right thing, letting the documentary feature filmmakers get a little screen time talking about their passion.
And the winner is: "Man on Wire," about Phillippe Petit's daring high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in the 1970s. Petit said his thank yous, then balanced his Oscar on his chin (coupled with Seth Rogen's curiosity about turning one into a pipe makes two new uses for the golden statues).
I thought "The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306," about the assassination of Martin Luther King, would win documentary short, but I knew I was wrong as soon as I saw the clip from "Smile Pinki," about a young Indian girl's surgery for cleft lip. It won.
A following segment paid tribute to action movies in 2008, and god knows they were big box office. Presenter Will Smith rightly noted that action films don't get a lot of respect, but they do get big budgets. Then the visual effects award went to "Benjamin Button," by far the most gimmicky of the nominees ("Dark Knight" should have won).
The sound editing award went to "The Dark Knight," which I guess is sort of a small consolation considering how monumental that movie was. I thought "Wall-E" would win.
Another nice surprise in the sound mixing category: "Slumdog Millionaire." It is masterfully done ... music, dialogue, ambient sound, etc. Seamless, really. But I thought "Wall-E" would win that too.
"This is not just a sound award," the film's Indian editor Niv Adiri said, "this is history being handed to me."
"Slumdog" also took the film editing award (Chris Dickens), as cameras caught star Dev Patel pumping his fist in the air.
That's four awards for "Slumdog" now, with best director or picture ahead.
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