> Pro: Fabulous stage. Some good one-liners from Crystal, especially in the apparently improvised "what celebs in the audience are thinking" segment. Hipper orchestra. Few horrible outfits aside from Cameron Diaz and Erykha Badu. Longer clips of the nominated pics and performances -- major points for that. And a general sense of moving things along between segments, unlike last year's seemingly endless waits; having the offstage Peter Coyote announce many of the presenters via voice-over certainly helped.

I liked Billy's song montage, m'self, though I agree that it was too long. As for shining moments, Michael Caine's acceptance speech ruled. His crack at Tom Cruise was hilarious - "do you have any idea what supporting actors get paid?" My biggest problem was Cher - there's another entry for your list of poorly dressed stars. And your list of stars who show up to the ceremony stoned.