Very good show this year. Jackman worked his butt off and all the musical numbers were really good. They were obviously going for "classy" this year and I think they achieved it well.
The 5 presenters for the acting awards I thought was horrible at first -the supporting actresses just didn't pull it off, they seemed to be just reciting what was written. But from Cuba Gooding on, I warmed to it and many of them seemed very personal and heartfelt - especially Shirley Maclaine to Anne Hathaway.
The structure of the show, going from pre-production through post -production and presenting the awards in that order was kind of cool. Although Will Smith must have been a bit embarrassed with his "I love action movies" and the one film nominated in that category that wasn't action - won.
I do think that the Academy is getting a bit further apart from audiences though. The support for Milk and Benjamin Button rings kind of wrong. However I agree with most of Slumdog's wins, you have to love Boyle.
I missed Peter Gabriel, but Legend did a good job and they a decent job of making it into a medley. The winning song even sounded kind of like a Gabriel song.
Overall a great show - and they'd be smart to bring Jackman back. He's a refreshing change from the irony that the comedians bring to the event.
