Lights, camera and not much action

IT SAYS SOMETHING about the growing predictability of the Oscars that the biggest surprise of the evening involved Meryl Streep winning best actress for playing one of the most recognisable figures of the 20th century. Stop the presses. Sun rises in east. Moon continues to orbit Earth. Fat man eats chips.

Most viewers were probably unaware that, following victory at the Screen Actors Guild, Viola Davis had been installed as a strong favourite by most bookies. Good old Meryl, victorious as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, did her best to swell the apparent tide of inevitability. "I could hear half of America saying, 'Oh no, not her again'," she said. Given that it has been 30 years since Streep last triumphed, this constituted a characteristic gesture of humility. She has now won three Oscars.

But she has lost more often than any other actor.

As we all expected, The Artistbecame the first silent film to win best picture since the inaugural ceremony in 1929. Christopher Plummer, now 82, won a lifetime achievement award disguised as a best supporting actor statuette. Bob Hope told some very funny jokes about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Hang on. That’s not right. It was Billy Crystal. Was it not? The victories by Plummer and Streep fitted comfortably into a ceremony that – following disastrous innovations last year – played like a reassuring exercise in taxidermy. When the camera panned across the front rows, the viewer half-expected to spot Gary Cooper applauding manfully.

It was stirring to see Terry George, proud Belfast man, collect the best live action short Oscar for The Shore. But even he is something of an old hand. Following nods for writing Hotel Rwandaand In the Name of the Father, George was converting his third nomination into a win. He gave the best acceptance speech of the evening.

Blame James Franco and Anne Hathaway for the retreat into nostalgia. Last year, those two actors hosted a ceremony that drew unprecedented levels of criticism for its pathetic, gimmicky efforts to appeal to that elusive “younger demographic”. This year, a brief appearance by Justin Bieber aside, the ceremony seemed content to provide the pre-sedation entertainment in Floridian retirement homes.

High-concept sets were nowhere to be seen. A traditional proscenium arch and red curtain greeted attendees at the Hollywood and Highland Centre in Los Angeles. A traditional sexagenarian comic fired mildly spiced platitudes at the acceptably starry array of presenters. “Nothing takes the sting out of these tough economic times like watching a bunch of millionaires giving golden statues to each other,” Crystal said during one of his sharper monologues.

If you were in any doubt that a holding pattern was being established, the repeated tributes to the “wonder of the movies” would have set you right. Look, Cirque du Soleil are monkeying about on trapezes in front of excerpts from Cary Grant films. Various stars are telling us about their first experience at the cinema. For goodness sake. It’s four o’clock in the morning and we’re watching the award for best documentary short. We’re the last people who need to be convinced about the magic of moving pictures.

So, what of the awards themselves? The victory for The Artist– Michel Hazanavicius's picture and Martin Scorsese's Hugoshared the top spot with five wins each – had been expected since its triumphant premiere at Cannes a full nine months ago. The Academy must, however, have divided feelings about the result. Over the last five years, efforts have been made to include pictures that draw major audiences. This was the thinking behind expanding the nominees beyond the traditional five finalists.

There were, this year, nine movies in the starting gate, but although Midnight in Parisand The Helpfared well, none counted as genuine marquee blockbusters. The victory for an eccentric French silent film (albeit one that zipped along) will not assist efforts to reach out to the flyover states.

And George Clooney lost. Among the major awards, the best actor race had been the hardest to call. The grey fox and Jean Dujardin, star of The Artist, exchanged friendly blows throughout awards season. In the event, the Frenchman triumphed and managed to deliver a haltingly charming acceptance ramble. Let's hope he enjoyed it. Not very comfortable speaking English, only a mid-ranking star in his native France, Dujardin will be lucky to ever again find himself on the inside of an Oscar envelope. No studio is going to disinter its silent-film department. The 2012 ceremony tells us absolutely nothing about the future of American cinema.

Still, quite a few of the awards did go to the right people. Octavia Spencer, playing a sassy maid, gave a classic Oscar-friendly performance in The Help. Accepting the award for best supporting actress, she delivered the evening's most impressively lachrymose speech. Spencer didn't actually regurgitate phlegm like the stricken Halle Berry in 2002, but they were still mopping up the stage for hours.

For once, the best foreign language Oscar went to the correct film: Asghar Farhadi's A Separation. The Iranian director's plea for tolerance offered a rare moment of sincerity in an evening characterised by old-school sucking up.

The lesson of the 2012 Oscars is easy to state: the organisers need to seek a balance between innovation and tradition. We don’t want young idiots reading out tweets during the longueurs. But we could bear something a little less creaky than Sunday night’s experiment in time travel. Good luck finding someone to take on that daunting task next year.

Oscars 2012: The winners

Best picture: The Artist

Best actor: Jean Dujardin( The Artist)

Best actress: Meryl Streep( The Iron Lady)

Best director: Michel Hazanavicius( The Artist)

Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer( Beginners)

Best supporting actress: Octavia Spencer( The Help)

Animated film: Rango

Foreign-language film: A Separation (Iran)

Adapted screenplay: The Descendants , by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Original screenplay: Midnight in Paris , by Woody Allen

Documentary: Undefeated

Original score: The Artist (Ludovic Bource)

Original song: Man or Muppet from The Muppets, music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie

Art direction: Hugo , Dante Ferretti,Francesca Lo Schiavo

Cinematography: Hugo , Robert Richardson

Costume design: The Artist , Mark Bridges

Film editing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Make-up: The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J Roy Helland

Visual effects: Hugo , Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

Short film (live action): The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George

Short film (animated): The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore , William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

Documentary (short subject): Saving Face

Sound editing: Hugo , Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

Sound mixing: Hugo , Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

From the irishtimes.com Oscars live blog

1:27amAaaand we have lift-off! This had better be worth the €35 monthly subscription to Sky Movies.

1:40amMartin Scorsese's daughter looks so bored already. Or whoever she is – small child sitting beside him.

1:51amBilly looks like his own zombie.

2:08am A Separationis the first Iranian film to win best foreign-language film. From the clips running in the background, I'm glad I haven't seen it – it looks like a right tearjerker, and I'm still getting over Bambi.

2:34amAnd here are Kermit and Miss Piggy, in a balcony! That's where Dave Fanning sits in the Olympia, you know. Love Piggy's dress – wonder who it is . . .

2:45amThey're turning off the mics . . . this is the first speech that's had to be cut short, for best documentary feature, Undefeated. How embarrassing.

2:58amMelissa Leo on stage, winner of best supporting actress in 2011 for The Fighter. Oh God, she's giving this speech the way I narrated the Christmas story in primary school, age 10.

3:30amAngelina has really perfected her gracious pageant smile. I really wish she'd kept her leg in her dress.

3:38amThis has been a great year for strong, feminine characters – such as The Iron Lady, apparently. Aaaaaand here's the cast of Bridesmaidsto introduce some more nominees and remind us of the one funny film with women in it of the last 10 years.

3:55amMeryl Streep, 17-time Oscar nominee, is presenting the next award. (She's only won twice.) Seven Golden Globes . . . two Emmys. Terrible dress. You can't have everything.

4:35amIt's come to that moment of tiredness where I think we all need to be talked off the ledge. No, Tom Cruise is not attractive; no, War Horsedoes not look good; no, toast will not answer any of your problems right now. - Rosemary Mac Cabe