To conclude awards season, Hollywood’s finest once again crowded into the Dolby Theatre on Sunday to honour the best of their best. An exercise in self-congratulation perhaps, but probably best expressed by Whoopi Goldberg’s - “We know it’s long. Tough.”

With the exception of a detached James Franco, the Oscars have actually benefitted from a very decent set of hosts over the past few years. When Eddie Murphy pulled out last year at the last minute, the producers even dusted off the venerable Billy Crystal to strut his stuff once more. Similarly, Hugh Jackman’s austerity-conscious low-budget musical number, and the gentle ribbing courtesy of Messrs Martin and Baldwin, paid their dues to the the greatest host in Oscar history - Bob Hope. Not so the Family Guy creator, who stumbled his way through a routine worse than Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes and utterly lacking in irony, finesse and self-deprecation. Have a song about breasts if you must, but accompanying it with a joke would at least increase the chances of it being perceived as ironic rather than misogynistic. Constructed smiles are usually within the comfortable remits of an actor’s arsenal, but the the few audience cut-aways that made it through left no doubt as to how they were perceiving it.

The awards themselves yielded little in terms of surprises and upsets. Winning in four categories, Life of Pi proved to be the most successful of the night, culminating in a second Best Director statuette for Ang Lee (after Brokeback Mountain in 2005). It also received well deserved gold for Mychael Danna’s Original Score, Cinematography and Visual Effects. The latter was not without its poignancy however, as the acceptance speech was cut short, just as members of the bankrupt effects house Rhythm & Hues, demonstrating outside the theatre, were being acknowledged. Les Misérables predictably walked away with Make-Up and Sound Mixing, for the revolutionary (sorry!) technique of recording its songs live on set with the orchestra synchronised in post. Incredibly, the sister category - Sound Editing - saw Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty share the first Oscar tie in almost 20 years.

At the host’s behest, the show included an homage to musicals and, of course, the James Bond franchise, now in its 50th year. The performances of “All that Jazz” and “One More Day” proved to be some of the ceremony’s most genuine choreographed moments, not outstanding but effective in the simplicity that had otherwise gone missing with MacFarlane. James Bond himself, like the Von Trapp family, was absent but, having been woefully overlooked back in 1964, Shirley Bassey nevertheless belted out “Goldfinger” with the appropriate aplomb to conclude an otherwise lacklustre tribute montage.

The ceremony gradually improved as MacFarlane was increasingly sidelined for the “big” categories. A teary Ann Hathaway was followed by a rather shell-shocked Jennifer Lawrence, winning Best Actress for her portrayal of a neurotic widow in Silver Linings Playbook. Lawrence tripped on the way to the podium but doggedly recovered with one of the more substantive acceptance speeches of the night, waving away the standing ovation as a sympathy trip. At 22, she is the second-youngest winner of all time in the category, the award coming as the cream in the coffee of a very successful year indeed. Quentin Tarantino and Christoph Waltz celebrated a double win for Django Unchained, one looking disarmingly dishevelled, the other charming as ever, yet each very graciously complimenting the other on their awards for Original Screenplay and Supporting Actor.

It’s the second win for both, an achievement that is likely to get lost in the noise surrounding the historic third Best Actor gong for Daniel Day-Lewis and his portrayal of America’s 16th President in Lincoln. If the merits of Spielberg’s film were a subject of debate, those of the performance certainly were not. Pondering how he and Meryl Streep might have switched roles, his speech mixed witty ad lib with sincerely humble gratitude, not least to Mr. Lincoln himself. He was followed on stage by the previous record holder Jack Nicholson and Michelle Obama, announcing Ben Affleck’s hostage thriller Argo as Best Picture.

Quipping “a telecast designed to put your patience to the test” was just about the only thing MacFarlane got right all evening. For those who were still watching, the last half-hour proved redemptory to an extent but on the whole, one of the less entertaining Oscars in quite a few years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Terhj8mjPwY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBZj7qIOAE8