Glamour and predictable winners as usual at the Kodak theatre in Hollywood as the 78th Academy Awards were presented - for the films of 2005. Hosting for the first time Jon Stewart was probably kinder than people might have thought, but after a somewhat slow start, his satire mostly hit home - if not too unstoppable laughter. George Clooney, who said on the red carpet that he had three chances to lose, and that he thought all his co-nominees were communists, took home the first award in the Best Supporting Actor category (often the category in which the best acting is actually found). He saw off competition from strong contenders as Matt Dillon, Paul Giamatti and Wililiam Hurt - all of whom The Fresh Films thought was more worthy winners, But then again, Clooney deserved at least something for his three awards. The technical awards were largely shared between King Kong (2) and - somewhat surprisingly - Memoirs of a Geisha (3) while Hustle & Flow gained notice for winning the award for best original song - appropriately entitled "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp".

The major awards then went fairly according to plan. Rachel Weisz took home what most people felt was a faviourite win in the Best Supporting Actress category before Reese Witherspoon and Philip Seymour Hoffman both recorded Oscars in their first-ever nominations. Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix probably wasn't as pleased as they looked, while David Strathairn and Terrence Howard both looked far more laid back. The screenplay awards fared no surprises - Crash and Brokeback with one each. Then Ang Lee finally got his Oscar for best directing, leaving Brokeback odds on to win best film as well, but Paul Haggis got his second statuette of the year when his Crash took home the most prominent Oscar.