Denerstein: Oscar diary: The show that wouldn't end

Published February 26, 2007 at midnight

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So what was going through the head of Rocky Mountain News film critic Robert Denerstein as he watched the Academy Awards? Read on.

6 p.m. After watching the 2 1/2 hours of pre-Oscar coverage, I feel stuffed before the main course is even out of the oven. I question my sanity.

6:20 p.m. I recall how Meryl Streep looked on the red carpet, a little Russian peasant mixed with Himalayan bling. I question her sanity.

6:30 p.m. A relaxed Ellen DeGeneres wears a maroon suit and white shoes. This year's host steps past any huge laughs, but at least doesn't force anything. Her work mirrors the show's slow start, which doesn't get around to a major award in the first 45 minutes.

6:45 p.m. The international flavor of Oscar prevails with the first award. Pan's Labyrinth beats out four Hollywood films for best art direction.

6:55 p.m. Jack Black, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly do a musical number about how poorly comics fare at the Oscars. They evidently don't do particularly well with Oscar production numbers, either.

7:15 p.m. The sound editing award is handed out. What's that I hear? Could it be people changing channels in search of a high profile award?

7:20 p.m. Err . . . make that 50 minutes.

7:22 p.m. The night's first upset: Alan Arkin beats out front-runner Eddie Murphy as best supporting actor for playing a heroin-addicted grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine. I love this guy's work, but his ho-hum acceptance speech was no winner.

7:30 p.m. Just in case the dull quotient wasn't high enough, someone decided that two of the nominees for best song should be performed back-to-back.

7:37 p.m. Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore (remember him?) tell us that the Oscars have gone green. An environmentally friendly Oscar program? What's next? Popcorn without artificial butter flavoring? Jack Nicholson did his part to get rid of excess - he shaved his head. He did it for a part, but it's also a convincing imitation of an Oscar statue.

7:45 p.m. I wrongly predicted that Cars, which struck me as a snooze, would win best animated feature. Happy Feet took home the prize. I've rarely been more delighted to have guessed wrong.

8:04 p.m. More hurt for Dreamgirls. Milena Canonero (Marie Antoinette) wins best costumes.

8:10 p.m. DeGeneres goes into the audience and talks to Clint Eastwood. Steven Spielberg takes their picture. Aren't celebrities ever so cute?

8:20 p.m Robert Downey Jr. joins Naomi Watts to hand out the award for best visual effects. The numbing acceptance speeches continue.

8:30 p.m. Germany's The Lives of Others wins the Academy Award for foreign-language film in Oscar's strongest category. Finally, someone looks thrilled. Director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck takes home an Oscar and also the prize for excitement - at least until Jennifer Hudson shows up to accept her best supporting actress Oscar for playing Effie White in Dreamgirls. Isn't this kind of emotion what winning an Oscar is supposed to be about?

8:45 p.m. Al Gore finally wins something. An Inconvenient Truth snags best documentary. Global warming has its night at the Oscars, despite the presence of much hot air. Is it me or is Gore better at working a show-business crowd than he is at debating? Not once did he threaten to put anything in a lockbox.

9:00 p.m. Composer Ennio Morricone wins an honorary Oscar and accepts in Italian as Clint Eastwood translates. Guess all those years making spaghetti westerns weren't wasted.

9:10 p.m. DeGeneres appears again. I'm beginning to forget that she's even on the show.

9:15 p.m. Michael Arndt wins for best original screenplay. His script was funny, nicely developed, smartly paced and very entertaining. Too bad he didn't write the Oscar show.

9:30 p.m. Queen Latifah and John Travolta present the award for best song. Dreamgirls, which had three songs, loses again. Melissa Etheridge wins for I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth. This may not bode well for big movie musicals.

9:35 p.m. Michael Mann (The Insider) puts together a pointless collection of clips that's supposed to show us America through its movies. Oddly, it includes Stanley Kubrick's great Paths of Glory, a movie about the French army during World War I.

9:45 p.m. Jodie Foster introduces the always touching segment on those who passed away in the previous year, the only montage that belongs in the show.

9:55 p.m. Helen Mirren wins best actress as everyone said she would, and does what you'd expect. She shows a bit of humor and a whole lot of class.

10:04 p.m. I had no rooting interest in this year's Oscars, save one. I was hoping Forest Whitaker would win best actor, and he did. He made a stirring acceptance speech and actually said something about how he views being an actor.

10:11 p.m. Martin Scorsese wins his Oscar as director. OK, The Departed wasn't Scorsese's best work, but it's impossible not to feel good for the guy who has made so many terrific movies and done so much to create informed interest in film.

10:15 p.m. Well, the last-minute Oscar mavens were right. The Departed wins best picture. For me, it wasn't the best film on the list, but after more than three hours of a seemingly interminable show, it was more about relief than anything else.

Winners at the 79th annual Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Departed

• Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed

• Actor: Forest Whitaker, Last King of Scotland

• Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen

• Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine

• Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

• Original Screenplay: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine

• Adapted Screenplay: William Mona- han, The Departed

• Original Song: Melissa Etheridge, I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth

• Original Score: Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel

• Film editing: Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed