The annual Academy Awards were held Sunday, with some dark-horse winners and dead giveaways. Here’s a run-down on what happened.

Best Picture- ChicagoI don’t think anyone was surprised. This movie, which has captured the heart of a nation and could very well be the beginning of a new musical era, deserved this award.While I’d feared that the Academy would fall for “The Hours” and continue its track record of favoring serious films, I was pleased to see that it was willing to look back to the 1960s and remember that serious movies didn’t always rule the awards.

Best Director- Roman PolanskiAs comedian Wanda Sykes said on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, “Who does Martin Scorsese have to rape in Hollywood to get an Oscar?”While I can’t deny that all of the directors did a stunning job, I was more tempted to give the award to either Scorsese or Rob Marshall rather than Polanski.Scorsese because he’s had an entire career of impressive films and never won, Marshall because his directing debut was so incredible.I suppose the Academy is more forgiving than the U. S. government.

Best Actress- Nicole Kidman”The Hours” had to win at least one award, and I’d had the impression from the very beginning that it would go to Kidman.Though the race was a tight one and all of the actresses were deserving, two factors gave Kidman the advantage over the others.One, her performance was nearly flawless; two, many are of the opinion that she should have won last year for “Moulin Rouge”.Regardless, she now has her golden man to replace ’80s golden boy Tom Cruise.

Best Actor- Adrien Brody I don’t remember one single critic placing any bets on this 29 year-old actor to win, myself included.Because of his age, everyone expected the Academy to pass him up, since he has a long time ahead of him to make more great movies.But I’m pleased to see that the Academy put aside its outside thoughts and focused specifically on his acting ability.Besides Brody doesn’t wear annoying sunglasses to all the awards shows.

Best Supporting Actress- Catherine Zeta-JonesThe looks on both Kathy Bates’ and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ faces were priceless when Sean Connery only read “Catherine” off the ballot, not remembering that there were in fact two women by that name nominated.I’m not at all upset that Zeta-Jones won, even though I would have liked for Julianne Moore to have won an award for at least one of her nominations.But in the end, Zeta-Jones danced away with her much-deserved Oscar.

Best Supporting Actor- Chris CooperDecidedly my first “Yahoo!” of the evening. Chris Cooper, who has had a long and wonderful film career, deserved this award more than anyone.I’m of the opinion that anyone who can make a toothless, greasy-haired character so appealing that Meryl Streep wants to sleep with him deserves an award of some sort.One can only hope other actors who are as good but as under appreciated as Cooper will one day be recognized as well.

“Chicago” swept the Oscars, but actor Richard Gere was ignored, unlike his razzle-dazzle character Billy Flynn, seen here with Best Supporting Actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones. “Chicago” took the Oscar for Best Picture, the first musical to do so since “Oliver!” in 1968. (Miramax)