The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their winners tonight in a star-studded gala. While there were plenty of winners, Slumdog Millionaire walked away with eight Oscars, easily the most of any film tonight.

The categories and winners are...

BEST PICTURE

• Slumdog Millionaire

• Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

• Kate Winslet for The Reader

• Sean Penn for Milk

• Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

• Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

• Dustin Lance Black for Milk

• Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

• Departures (Japan)

• Man on Wire

• Smile Pinki

• WALL-E

• La Maison en Petits Cubes

• Spielzeugland (Toyland)

• Slumdog Millionaire

• "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire

• The Dark Knight

• Slumdog Millionaire

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• Slumdog Millionaire

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

• Slumdog Millionaire

• The Duchess

• There were a few surprises tonight, but not at the top. Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as several of the more technical awards. In fact, it won eight of the nine awards it was nominated for, and only missed out on Best Achievement in Sound Editing.
• Sean Penn won for Milk, beating out
• Mickey Rourke's performance in The Wrestler, which is the only real upset of note.
• Kate Winslet finally won her Oscar; however, The Reader won't be remembered as one of her best movies. She's been in better movies where she wasn't even nominated.
• Penelope Cruz winning for Vicky Cristina Barcelona was an upset in my mind, as I had Taraji P. Henson winning for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. However, that was going against conventional wisdom.
• WALL-E won Best Animated Feature, making this the fourth time Pixar has won in the eight years of this contest. No other studio has won more than twice.
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button picked up three awards out of the thirteen it was nominated for (all technical awards) while Milk and The Dark Knight each picked up two.
• Heath Ledger became only the second actor to win a posthumous acting Oscar.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2009-02-22