With accuracy in all categories, the predictions made in last week’s Images on Sunday ticked like clock work. They even matched the three upsets predicted for Best Picture, Director and Cinematography. Every year, we predict probable and absolute winners in all categories except the shorts, which are hard to come by

The mantra of the 83rd annual Academy Awards was “take a moment, and breathe”. The casually put together broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles tried to do different, as it tries every year, and succeeded, if only marginally.

The Oscars this year incorporated young Hollywood — the very green and sometimes out-of-depth hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco — with a technically savvy and crafty presentation that created a relaxed ambiance. For some, the relaxed atmosphere was at the doorsill of boredom — many proclaimed the show dead minutes into the broadcast. Some even said that it needed Billy Crystal to save it from itself.

Film critic Roger Ebert tweeted: “Did I miss something? Is Billy Crystal getting the first laughs of the evening?”

Crystal and the digitally recreated late Bob Hope (taken from clips of an early Oscar cast) introduced the Best Visual Effects category; a fitting placement that silently announces how well-thought out this year’s production was. At over three hours, it was long but packed with tidbits that eased the bulge of the presentation (the songs were shorter and the big screen complemented the stage with vivid plays of splashing colour that changed with each announcement).

The script, however, for Franco and Hathaway was so safe that it gagged.

Franco, also a nominee for Best Actor for 127 Hours, was stoic with his comedy; he also had the difficult job of tweeting everything from backstage during the live event. In stark contrast, Hathaway jumped full-force into quirkiness.

There were discomforting moments when Kirk Douglas (at age 94) was introduced as the presenter for Best Supporting Actress, where Melissa Leo, the winner of the award, dropped the ‘F’ bomb out of excitement (film critic Richard Roeper was right on the money when he gave an early prediction of Ms Leo doing the night’s best acceptance speech). Hathaway presented a musical number meant to blush and mortify Hugh Jackman. And at the end, kid students from Staten Island’s PS 22 — a YouTube phenomenon known for its renditions of pop and rock songs — closed the show by singing Somewhere over the Rainbow from the film, The Wizard of Oz.

The 2011 Oscars ended the way they started: without a bang. For a medium bursting with rumble pop excitement, that’s the best stop-and-smell-the-roses solution one can ask for.