Our resident celebrity news blogger, Myrddin Gwynedd, keeps you up to date with the winners and losers at the granddaddy of them all, the Oscars.
Herald movie reviewer and entertainment editor Russell Baillie also lends a hand, offering a critic's take on the movie world's biggest gig of the year.
KEY POINTS:
That's it, the Oscars juggernaut is over for another year. For a full list of who won what, click here
6:05pm Russell: And so Slumdog Millionaire's fairytale run is complete as it wins best picture, it's eighth Oscar of the night.
On stage for the final thank you is a sizeable percentage of the population of Mumbai. There's an irony here somewhere. On a night when the new gimmick was stars paying heartfelt and very actorly tribute to stars in a very big celebrity love-in, the night's big winner was a star-free flick made a long way from Hollywood for possibly less money than what this awards night cost.
5:54pm Myrddin: It's the final award for the evening: best picture. And the Oscar goes to...Slumdog Millionaire.
5:47pm Russell: Likewise a veritable Mt Rushmore of former best actor winners pay tribute to this year's best actor nominees. Says Robert De Niro about Sean Penn in Milk, "How did he do it? How did for so many years Sean Penn get away with playing straight men?"
And the Oscar goes to: Sean Penn for Milk, one of the night's first surprises after the comeback run of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler which made him the presumptive winner.
Penn starts thank you his speech: "You commie homo loving sons of guns..."
5:40pm Myrddin: It's another great moment as Sean Penn wins the best actor award for his role in Milk. He gets a standing ovation as he walks to pick up his golden bloke. Great film, excellent performance from Penn, and a deserved win.
He opens his speech with a few gags, before ending on a serious note, chastising those who voted for the ban against gay marriage in California. He ends by calling fellow nominee Mickey Rourke his brother.
5:39pm Russell: The best actress nominees get the testimonials from former winners including Shirley MacLaine, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, and reigning Oscar acceptance speech crying champ Halle Berry.
And the Oscar goes to: Kate Winslet, who seemed to have survived the orchestrated backlash against her film The Reader, to finally win the award after many nominations.
Among many others Winslet thanks Peter Jackson who cast Winslet in her first feature, the New Zealand film Heavenly Creatures.
5:32pm Myrddin. Wow, Kate Winslet wins the best actress gong. In an emotional speech she namedrops a succession of people she wanted to thank, including Kiwi director Peter Jackson, who cast the actress in Heavenly Creatures.
5:28pm Russell: As was always likely, Danny Boyle takes the best director award for Slumdog Millionaire. With the film not featuring into the acting categories, there is only best picture for it to win to cap its historic night.
Boyle keeps an old promise to his kids that if he ever won an Oscar he would accept it in the spirit of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Next time, we're hoping he'll do Eyeore.
5:21pm Myrddin: It's another big win for Slumdog as Danny Boyle bags the Oscar for best director.
5:16pm Myrddin: Queen Latifah presents the 'In Memoriam' segment and sings I'll Be Seeing You. It's a weep-fest.
5:12pm Russell: Slumdog Millionaire's composer A.R. Rahman is a double winner, taking the Oscar for best score and best song - he was nominated twice in the latter category.
The performance of his Bollywood numbers along with John Legend and the Soweto Gospel Choir give proceedings a much needed energy boost as the awards head into its third hour.
The Japanese entry Departures wins the Best Foreign Language Film category over the much fancied Waltz with Bashir (Israel) and The Class (France).
5:02pm Myrddin: Zac Efron and Alicia Keys present the award for best original song. And the Oscar goes to...Slumdog Millionaire.
4:55pm Russell: The momentum slows yet again for the night's scripted feelgood moment, Jerry Lewis being awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from fellow Nutty Professor Eddie Murphy. The honour is for his years of raising money for kids suffering muscular dystrophy in telethons which have become an American broadcast institution. But say this for Lewis, as those old movie clips show, he sure used to be a lot funnier...
4:50pm Myrddin: Eddie "lost in showbiz" Murphy presents the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis for his charitable work.
4:37pm Russell: The backroom boffins get their due with Benjamin Button winning best visual effects, Dark Knight winning sound editing and the night's giant killer, Slumdog Millionaire winning sound mixing and film editing. It looks like the technical awards, which traditionally go to big budget action flicks are also getting swept up in Slumdog's momentum.
4:32pm Myrddin: Will Smith presents the award for best visual effects. And the Oscar goes to...Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Next up is sound editing. And the Oscar goes to...Richard King for The Dark Knight.
4:28pm Russell: In a strong field of nominees, Man on Wire wins best documentary feature. Its "star", Twin Towers high wire walker Philippe Petit balancing the statuette on his chin after his merci speech. For a recent Herald interview with Petit, click here
4:18pm Myrddin: Lost track of who's won what so far? Click here to read a list of winners.
Stoked that Ledger won the best supporting actor gong. As Russell said, he most definitely deserves the recognition. Dark Knight is a visual tour de force, and Ledger's performance in it is nothing short of brilliant.
4:15pm Russell: Among the former winners paying tribute to the supporting actor nominees, Cuba Gooding Jr gently chides Robert Downey Jr for his blackface turn in Tropic Thunder.
But, of course, the Oscar goes to the late Heath Ledger for playing the Joker in Dark Knight the announcement receiving a standing ovation as Ledger's father, mother and sister take the stage to accept the Oscar. He deserved the award. And let's say it one more time: Dark Knight deserved more.
4:02pm Russell: A skit starring Seth Rogen and James Franco based on their permanently stoned Pineapple Express characters about all the films people went to see, rather that the ones that got nominated for Oscars just doesn't come off, getting caught somewhere between irreverence and trying not to be too outrageous.
Now it's a old Busby Berkeley-styled musical medley starring Jackman and Beyonce which swings from Putting on the Ritz to Grease via The Sound of Music and Moulin Rouge through to Mamma Mia! with helped from the High School Musical kids.
Created by Baz Luhrmann, at least they found someone who could actually sing those Abba songs. But yikes, talk about musical ADD. Peter Gabriel has refused to be part of a later medley of nominated songs, saying there wasn't enough time to do his Wall-E number justice. Watching that pile up, you can see his point.
3:50pm Myrddin: Next up, Live Action Short. And the Oscar goes to ...Spielzeugland (Toyland).
And Jackman feels another song coming on...he lunges into another musical number decked out in tails. "Change has finally come. Mamma Mia! has outsold Titanic in the UK. Musicals are back!" proclaims an energetic Jackman. Yeah, and all that jazz. He's joined by Beyonce, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron. It's the musical equivalent of a drive-by shooting.
3:40pm Russell: An hour in and so far there's been seven winners. Only 14 to go.
Cinematography: The award goes to Slumdog Millionaire which with its electric handheld visual style beat out movies many times its budget.
3:39pm Myrddin: Natalie Portman and a bearded Ben Stiller, visibly taking a swipe at hobo-esque Joaquin Phoenix, present the Oscar for Cinematography.
3:34pm Myrddin: Robert Pattinson and Amanda Seyfried roll up to showcase a montage of romance in this year's movies. Jolly nice of them.
3:24pm Russell: Art direction - Leading nominee The Curious Case of Benjamin Button wins something for all that musty southern gothic. It's one of four period films in the category, the other one being Dark Knight.
Costume design: In the only category it's nominated in, The Duchess takes the Oscar for all those extravagant frocks which seemed to have stolen the show from its star Keira Knightley. Australia misses out on its only Oscar chance.
Make-up: Benjamin Button wins for taking Brad and Cate back to the future.
3:16 Myrddin: I loved the nifty camerawork as Jennifer Aniston took to the stage to introduce the award for best animated feature. It took mere seconds for the camera to cut to a smiling Angelina Jolie. Ouch.
There were rumours of a possible Jolie-Aniston red carpet showdown, but show producers wisely kept the ladies apart. Shame. I love a good catfight.
3:15pm Russell: Wall-E wins best animated feature. Well of course it does. As presenter Jack "Kung Fu Panda" Black said in his intro: "Every year I take all the money I make on Dreamworks films and take it to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar." Betcha it wins the all important sound editing award too. You just wait...
And best animated short goes to La Maison en Petits Cubes. Which despite its name was made by Japanese director Kunio Kato.
3:07pm Russell: Best adapted screenplay - a competition of four books and a play.
The Oscar goes to...Slumdog Millionaire. The fairytale continues, it would appear. The acceptance speech of screenwriter Simon Beaufoy reminds that while it might tell a very Indian story the film is very much a British production behind the camera.
3:05pm Russell: Interesting that a biopic gets best original screenplay, considering Harvey Milk was already the subject of one celebrated documentary. Maybe Milk will having a bigger showing in the big awards at the end, given that Gay marriage still remains a hot button issue in the United States.
3:00pm Myrddin: Tina Fey and Steve Martin present the Academy Award for Original Screenplay. And the Oscar goes to...Dustin Lance Black for Milk.
2:48pm Russell: After the opening extravaganza, here's the first big change. Former Oscar actress winners paying gushing tribute to each of the supporting actress nominees.
"It's not easy being a nun" quips Whoopi "Sister Act" Goldberg to Doubt's Amy Adams. But if all the acting nominees are going to get a personal celebrity roast, these Oscars are going to go on for the rest of the week.
Penelope Cruz wins best supporting actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. "Has anybody ever fainted here? I might be the first one."
Don't know if French director and video whiz Michel Gondry was involved in the DIY cardboard design of Hugh Jackman's opening number but if he wasn't his lawyers should surely be getting in touch soon....
2:45pm Russell: Hey cool, New Zealand gets a mention in Hugh Jackman's opening spiel. "Everything is being downsized... next year I'll be starring in a movie called New Zealand."
Trade Jackman for Crowe like they did for the movie Australia? I think we might have gained on the deal.
2:30pm Myrddin: And we're off! The ceremony begins. Time for frocks, shocks and celebrity flocks. Fasten your seatbelts...
Jackman puts his muscial credentials to good use with a rousing and rather amusing musical number with Anne Hathaway. He salutes the various nominees and gets a standing ovation.
12pm Myrddin: So what can we expect from this year's Oscars ceremony? Changes galore, apparently.
Several reports say show producers have re-vamped the show's tired and rating-eroding format, promising some radical changes; including a rumoured song-and-dance number to open proceedings - starring the vocal talents of, I kid ye not, Anne Hathaway, Beyonce and Zac Efron.
Then there's Hugh Jackman's eyebrow-lifting revelation that he will be "drunk and nude" during this year's ceremony (see attached video). He's a man of many talents is Hugh.
But for now, sit back, relax and take the weight off your clacky mules as we bring you the the very latest from this year's Oscars ceremony. We'll be back here at 2:30pm...
12pm Russell: This year's Oscars is meant to tell a story. The producers say they've crafted a narrative into how they give out those 24 awards in a ceremony redesigned to combat last year's all-time low tv ratings. Who is presenting is meant to be a surprise (best guess: some famous people). And then there's new MC Hugh Jackman whose song and dance credentials should bring a certain something else to a job usually given to American stand-up comedians, some of whom never darken Oscar's stage ever again.
Yes, it's likely we already know how this story ends. And some parts of the story we will have already heard from many pre-Oscar awards nights. And you can bet it's going to be a long story. Oscar is 81, after all. He's never going to do anything fast.
But here's to brave attempt at putting some show back into showbiz's bigest night. It might just be the Same Old Story underneath. But you can bet the tv ratings in Mumbai will be holding up just fine...
