and all that jazz

Michael Yada/EPA) @ TimesOnline

thoughts from this year's surprisingly breezy (by usual standards) Oscars telecast:

• for all the talk about toning it down in the face of the recession, the ceremony lost no luster at all. Though it seems the producers went for timeless class rather than gaudiness, the moon-sized chandelier setting spoke louder than any speeches about "the times we live in".

• good job by Hugh Jackman in a number of dance numbers that aren't easy to pull off in a live show. Not as good during the joke segments, but he was more than honest.

• funniest bit of the night: Steve Martin/Tina Fey presenting the screenplay awards ("...and I'm Steve Martin"). Close second: Seth Rogen/James France/Janusz Kaminski laughing at sad movies, and Ben Stiller's Joaquin Phoenix impersonation. Too bad he didn't rap though.

• despite Slumdog Millionaire being a good movie, winning this many awards seems destined to push it into "overrated" territory. More diversity in the nominations on a regular basis would be nice, instead of having one "little indie that could" become a juggernaut simply because it's likable enough. For all its flaws, The Wrestler should have had a nod, and The Dark Knight definitely should have too.

• while my vote would have gone to Robert Downey Jr for his incredible performance in Tropic Thunder, Heath Ledger's Joker was acting at its very best. And his family gave a very dignified speech that was one of the more moving moments of the ceremony.

• despite a frenzied movie-viewing slate in the past few weeks that had me feeling at times I was watching The Curious Case of Slumdog/Nixon Getting Married, I didn't get around to catching a few of the front-runners like Milk or The Reader. With the releases for so many of these movies jammed up together in a couple of months, it would be nice if they moved the show back to March, like it used to be.
  

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to make my 14th cup of tea of the morning.