9:20 – Robert Downey Jr. and Naomi Watts present the visual effects award. Wow, apparently “Poseidon” was nominated for an Oscar, but “Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest” wins and four really nerdy-looking white guys step up to the microphone.

 

9:23 – Ken Watanabe expounds on the Foreign Language Film award with an exotic lady whose name I did not catch. A somber montage of winners past and present demonstrates the historical dominance of Italy and France in this category, but Clive Owen and Cate Blanchett shock the room and cineastes everywhere when they give the award to German nominee “The Lives of Others” instead of the hot “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

 

9:33 -  Ellen and the interpretive dancers pay tribute to non-nominee “Snakes on a Plane.” George Clooney presents Best Supporting Actress – it seems early, so maybe we’re on schedule. Jennifer Hudson delivers the night’s first truly emotional moment accepting her award for “Dreamgirls.”

 

9:42 – Eva Green and Gael Garcia Bernal present Best Documentary Short: “The Blood of Yingzhou District.”

 

9:44 – Jerry Seinfeld presents the award for Best Documentary Feature; he has a good extended bit about the losing nominee face and moviegoing in the 21st century. George Lucas is not amused. No surprise here: “An Inconvenient Truth” wins. Al Gore sermonizes, even though I don’t think he’s really supposed to be up there.

 

9:50 – Clint charmingly fumbles through his introduction of Lifetime Achievement honoree Ennio Morricone, he of spaghetti western fame. After a montage, Celine Dion performs his new song, and I walk out of the room. Morricone is surprisingly sprightly for a dude who has been famous since the 1960’s, but Clint still has to translate for him. The Lifetime Achievement award has always been a weird point of contention: often it’s a too little, too late distinction for legendary filmmakers, but despite the slightly insulting way it can open old wounds, there’s something comforting about the tacit admission by the Academy that even they can be wrong sometimes.

 

10:07 – Hugh Jackman and Penelope Cruz present Best Original Score. Gustavo Santaolalla wins for “Babel,” having also won last year for “Brokeback Mountain.”

 

10:10 – Sid Ganis does his normal boring spiel but they’ve sped it up through the magic of videotape. If this is Ellen’s idea, she is automatically the best host of the decade.

 

10:11 – Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst show up to silently plug “Spider-Man 3” and hand out the award for Best Original Screenplay. Michael Arndt wins for “Little Miss Sunshine.” To keep the broadcast lively, an emcee reads trivia during the walk to the podium tonight. Ardnt’s tidbit: He quit his job as Matthew Broderick’s assistant to write the film.

 

10:17 – Only six awards left to give means that they’re making good time. Depending on how long the “Dreamgirls” performance takes, this may be over by 11.