Sure they messed up the nominations by ignoring Kill Bill Vol. 2, Jim Carry, Eternal Sunshine for Best pic, and Dawn of the Dead for makeup, but the six catagories that I was really pulling for all swept at this years Academy Awards.

After surfing the net today I am starting to see what I knew was inevitable: ticked off people because Martin Scorsese didn't win for The Aviator. Well allow me to retort. Scorsese didn't win because he did not deserve the award, Eastwood did. Don't get me wrong, I love Marty as much as the next cinemaniac but The Aviator is far from his best work and yes he should have one several times (Raging Bull and especially Goodfellas) but it would be near impossible to not recognize Eastwood for the brilliant film that is Million Dollar Baby. Many people are saying that he only won because he is an actor turned director and the Academy loves the actor/director. Sure, they may adore that brance of talent but it's unfair that people are brushing off Eastood's achievement because they are ticked that Scorsese didn't win. I am sure Scorsese will get his eventually and hopefully for a film that holds up well compared to his greatest films, but I for one am glad that it wasn't this year.

Million Dollar Baby's other wins for Swank and Freeman rewarded two wonderful performances that rank among the best of their careers. Although Freeman's will be regarded by many as a lifetime achievement award it was truly deserved for his understated performance. Brad Bird also won Best Animated Feature for The Incredibles which would have been just as deserving for a Best Picture nom and Charlie Kaufman won for his brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind script. It should have been nominated for much more that it was, but his award was somewhat redeming.

And I can't wrap up without mentioning Chris Rock. He brought life to hosting that is usually absent with Billy Crystal's clone performance every year. His Georger Bush / Gap jokes were hilarious and his one-liners lightened up he evening (even if Sean Penn didn't get the jokes). I also extended my congratulations to Jamie Foxx who won predicatably and very deservingly and gave another touching acceptance speech. Overall, a Oscar night success.

Note to Academy: Get rid of the awards in the audience crap. If they have worked hard enough to win an Academy Award, they deserve to be the center of attention for a while.