The gowns and suits have been returned, the make-up has been wiped off, the hair has been let down and the jewellery has been safely stowed away. Hollywood’s equivalent of graduation day, awards season, has come to an earthshaking close with the end of the last awards show – the Oscars (or if you like, the Academy Awards). This glamorous affair saw actors fling on their Hollywood best – anything that sparkled, glittered, shocked, grabbed attention, and in some cases, disgusted – to strut down that red carpet to the famous Kodak Theatre, where the year’s best cinematic efforts were paid tribute to.

The 81st Academy Awards was hosted by the multi-talented Hugh Jackman who brought not only his Oscar talent but also his Tony-award winning talents. He provided a nice gust of fresh air to the fast becoming old and dusty comedy actor hosts. The show opened with Jackman performing a hilarious Broadway parody, self-penned and extravagant, with a bit of help from Anne Hathaway. That wasn’t the only musical number he graced audiences with. Somewhere before the coveted Best Actor award was given, Jackman enlisted the help of international pop sensation Beyonce Knowles and the young talented stars of the recent successful musical-turned-movie Mamma Mia, Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried (who, in my opinion, weren’t given enough lines to sing) for a tribute performance to the return of musicals to the big screen. This medley of famous musical numbers, aptly referred to as ‘The Musical is Back’, featured a large troupe of dancers in top hats and coat tails kicking their legs all over the stage with the back screen showing clips of old musicals we all know and love. Memorable songs from West Side Story (ring a bell, anyone?), Chicago, Mamma Mia, Moulin Rouge, The Wizard of Oz and many more were to be heard in this wonderful composition by Baz Luhrmann, famous for directing ‘Moulin Rouge!’ starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor, and the recent 'Australia' starring Nicole Kidman (again!) and Hugh Jackman.

The snazzy performances and amazing host aside, this year’s Oscars saw a significant change in how things were done. The spotlight wasn’t solely focused on only the winners this time, but on all the nominees who’ve worked hard to do that title justice. In the end, everybody was a winner.

The Oscar predictions this year came close to home. The moment the list for Best Supporting Actor was announced, there was immediate confident speculation that the clear winner would be the late Heath Ledger for his out of the world performance as the Joker in the movie, The Dark Knight. No surprises then, when he did win the posthumous award. When Heath’s family went up on stage to accept the award on his behalf, the whole of the Kodak Theatre was flooded with tears (did anyone catch Brad Pitt tearing up?). Another clear winner for multiple awards this year was the movie Slumdog Millionaire that inevitably swept the night with eight Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Soundtrack, Best Song – "Jai Ho", Best Sound Mixing and Best Adapted Screenplay. The award, which I thought, came as a surprise was the winner for Best Actor, who turned out to be Sean Penn for his leading role in ‘Milk’. I was astounded to be sure, but very happy with the outcome. Kate Winslet won Best Actress for her role in The Reader. One notable award I had looked forward to was for Best Costume Design and I was delighted with the undoubtedly deserving winner – Michael O’Connor for his 18th Century wardrobe for The Duchess starring Keira Knightley.

To sum it all up, the Oscars managed to deliver all the glitz and glam we have come to expect from Hollywood, but with a more sentimental twist this year. The subtle changes that have been applied to the Academy Awards should remain that way, hopefully for years and years to come. It’s nice to know that we can still depend on one show to not lose its extravagance much during a recession. There were some pretty inspiring and tear-jerking moments throughout the whole event that have probably restored my faith in humanity. Let’s hope that next year, they can do it again.