The big story
And in a flash, the Oscars are done. Dusted. Wept over, then swept into night by Meryl and Jean, Octavia and Christopher.
The light from Hollywood - a powerful beam of gongs and gowns and shock white teeth - lit up even our dank corner of north London. Thank Harvey the Film team were on hand to guide you through the dazzle. Xan Brooks' liveblog - all five hours and 58 minutes of it - followed the night from the red carpet right up to The Artist's best picture triumph. Then Hadley Freeman watched sophistication fall to inebriation at the Variety after party. Finally, our office-bound critics - frazzled and full to burst with Oscar party junk food - took to the video studio to explain why all of it - even Nick Nolte's marvellously bad humoured contribution - went pretty much as expected.
In truth it was a safe, predictable ceremony. The Artist won big. Sacha Baron Cohen done a naughty. Angelina Jolie done a sexy. Billy Crystal partied like it was 1990 (some said 1970). The likely winners trotted up and won the things.
It's no surprise, really. The Academy is nothing if conservative. In a perfect world you - the film fan - would decide who was deserving of a small gold-plated man on a plinth. Imagine if there had been some way that you could have voted for your fantasy set of Oscar winners. In some sort of interactive, maybe? With the facility to compare your results with that of other readers and guardian.co.uk/film's critics? Imagine that!. Nevermind the stars and the speeches, the fireworks and flashbulbs, THAT's what real dreams are made of.
In the news
Sam Raimi to bring The Day of the Triffids to the big screen
Emma Watson to star in new Sofia Coppola film
Elizabeth Olsen in talks for Spike Lee's Oldboy remake
Daniel Radcliffe's The Woman in Black sets British horror record
Israeli audiences flock to Iran's Oscar-winning A Separation
Adam Sandler breaks record with 11 Razzie nominations
On the blog
Is Ghostbusters 3 doomed without Bill Murray?
Flick teaser: Wrath of the Titans - crusading for the dreck dump
Will relaxation of 'great wall' quota set Chinese film-makers free?
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel welcomes older viewers at UK box office
David Cox: Why do films do such a bad job of portraying old people?
Cine-files: Roxy Bar and Screen, London
Clip joint: Marriage proposals
Watch and listen
Film Weekly Podcast: Ozwald Boateng on A Man's Story
Blank City: watch an exclusive clip from the film about New York's 'no wave' scene
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: watch the trailer
Catherine Shoard on open arts journalism: 'Culture doesn't exist in a vacuum'
The Guardian's Three Little Pigs advert
Further reading
Barbican to stage an exhibition to mark 50 years of James Bond films
Peter Bradshaw's five star review for Michael
Yoghurt and murder with Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Project X: the wildest party film of all time?
From Hackney to Hollywood: the stars of an all-black drama school
Trailer trash with Jason Solomons
In the paper
In tomorrow's G2 Film & Music, Freida Pinto talks about her role in Michael Winterbottom's Trishna, there's an interview with John Carter director Andrew Stanton, and Alexei Sayle writes about how a childhood full of Communist cinema dictated what he watched later in life. Saturday's Weekend Magazine features a Q&A with Samantha Morton, while the Guide has Taylor Kitsch on the cover and John Patterson writing on Kelly Macdonald. In Sunday's Observer New Review Claude Lanzmann speaks to Ed Vulliamy in an in-depth interview.
Something to look forward to
The Guardian is throwing open its doors on the weekend of 24-25 March for the epic Open Weekend, with hundreds of events covering ideas, innovation and entertainment. Film highlights include on-stage interviews with Steve "Shame" McQueen and Mike "Leaving Las Vegas" Figgis. Full details of cultural events here.
And finally
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