The show itself was just fine. Shorter than usual, some nice speeches, a truly special moment when Marketa Irglova came back to deliver her lovely speech, some great jokes from John Stewart (the Norbit one was a favorite of mine).

But that’s not why these were the best Oscars ever. No, it was because of the winners. If you had asked me for my personal Oscar lineup, regardless of the official nominees, I would have said this:

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Best Director: The Coen Brothers
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard
Best S. Actor: Javier Bardem
Best S. Actress: Amy Ryan
Best O. Screenplay: Juno
Best A. Screenplay: No Country For Old Men

So as you can see, the official winners matched my dream lineup in 7 of 8 cases. That has never happened. I have trouble even remembering a year when the Best Picture matched my #1 film (Schindler’s List is the only one that leaps to mind) let alone almost all the major awards.

I am happiest about Marion Cotillard, who pulled off the one real upset of the night. I found Julie Christie wonderful in Away From Her, and I have a real soft spot for Ellen Page’s great Juno performance, but Cotillard’s work was transformative in the same way Daniel Day Lewis’ was. And boy, is she ever cute.

I was also happy to win this year’s small prize — which I can now reveal is a loaded Jaguar XF.

I predicted it a few months ago, and I’m happy to have been right: this is the best Oscar race in memory.

My top three films are up for Best Picture, and a fourth nominee is my #9. I haven’t seen the other film (Michael Clayton) but I very much want to, and by all accounts it is a worthy contender — and not the sort of cringe-worthy stuff the Academy sometimes goes for.

My two biggest disappointments are the lack of nominees for Zodiac, without a doubt one of the year’s best films, and the complete shut-out of Judd Apatow, who did such great work this year in different roles (writer, director, producer) on three great films (Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk the Line — I’m taking Amy and Dana’s word on the worthiness of the latter).

The biggest snub — Jonny Greenwood in the Original Score category — turns out to have been a matter of eligibility. The Academy deemed his score ineligible because it contained elements of other composers’ work. Yeah, yeah… whatever. I hope Michael Giacchino (who was snubbed for his extraordinary score for The Incredibles) picks up the award this time for his teriffic work on Ratatouille).

Nice to see Once get a nod for Original Song, though they could have had several nominated. Those songs were much better than the cute showtunes of Enchanted.

If I had my way, the winners from this group would be: No Country For Old Men for Best Picture and Director, Ellen Page for Best Actress, Daniel Day Lewis for Best Actor, Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor and Amy Ryan for Best Supporting Actress. Juno and There Will Be Blood would win the screenplay Oscars. No Country would take Cinematography and Editing and anything having to do with Sound. Ratatouille would win Score and Animated Film. No End in Sight would take Best Documentary. And the show would actually be written and broadcast because the strike was over.

The front-runners in this category are Cate Blanchett (absolutely deserving for her brilliant turn in I’m Not There) and Amy Ryan (equally deserving for her amazing character work in Gone Baby Gone). Also getting a lot of mention are Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), Saoirse Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave (both from Atonement). I have no problem with the first two — I haven’t seen Swinton’s film and Ronan was haunting in hers — but Redgrave’s inclusion is a head-scratcher. She appears in Atonement for about five minutes total and, while she’s quite moving, it’s simply not “best of” fare. Ruby Dee (American Gangster) is also in the mix, along with Catherine Keener (Into the Wild), Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) and Jennifer Garner (Juno).

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