Another year, another Academy Award ceremony with less than stellar ratings-though ratings were up by 6 percent. One has to wonder when the AMPAS will become more in touch with the general movie-going public. Regardless of what the general consensus was of Academy members, a Wall-E or The Dark Knight Best Picture nomination would likely have boosted ratings significantly.

Since Frost/Nixon and The Reader had virtually no chance of winning anyway, what’s the harm in nominating a more popular and beloved film to gain viewership? The highest-rated Oscar ceremony came when Titanic– the highest grossing film of all time (before inflation-adjustment)-garnered 14 nominations back in 1998.

To give credit where credit is due, there were certainly merits to this year’s Oscar telecast. Hugh Jackman, who had his first gig as host of the Academy Awards, gave an enthusiastic and hysterical opening number. He not only poked fun at himself, but also made jokes about many of the Best Picture nominees (most visciously The Reader), and even did a short bit with Anne Hathaway in a musical send up of Frost/Nixon. Jackman was largely absent from the rest of the telecast but was certainly a pleasant change from hosts of the past few years.

The ceremony moved much faster than in years past and took a different approach in giving out the major acting nominations. Five previous winners of the award came on stage, each focusing on honoring a specific nominee with a small, personalized blurb. This had mixed results. Though some of the former winners effectively praised the nominated performance, others seemed to just be praising the actor or actress without knowing a thing about the performance that got them nominated, leading one to believe they hadn’t even seen the film.

The former winner who gave, perhaps, the most amusing tribute was Robert DeNiro, winner of Best Actor for Raging Bull nearly 30 years ago, made a few jokes at Sean Penn’s expense while still paying him due tribute. It would have been nice for the Academy to show clips of the nominated performance as in years past, especially for viewers who missed out on many of the performances, but this change in presentation did inject some freshness into a too often typical and tired process in past ceremonies.

There were few surprises as far award recipients go. The favorite for a big win going in, Slumdog Millionaire, won an impressive eight Oscars out of its 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Danny Boyle. Kate Winslet finally won a long-deserved Oscar for her role in Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, though her surprise at winning seemed a little over the top considering she was widely considered the frontrunner. The wonderful Penelope Cruz won a much deserved Best Supporting Actress statue for her work in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and, much to everyone’s expectations, Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his haunting portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. In what was the most somber part of the ceremony, Heath’s father, mother and sister accepted the award on his behalf, dedicating it to Matilda, his daughter with actress Michelle Williams.

The only moderate surprise came when Sean Penn won for his performance as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk over Mickey Rourke in the Best Actor category. Though they had received an essentially equal number of critical awards during the lead up to the Oscars, Rourke had the Golden Globe win and the comeback factor on his side. It wasn’t enough, however, and his turn as a down-on-his-luck fighter in The Wrestler lost out to Penn.

In his speech, Penn continued a theme of the ceremony in support of gay rights begun when Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black won for Best Original Screenplay and attributed the film’s hero with saving his life as a gay teenager growing up in a conservative Mormon family.

Overall, the ceremony was a success, barring a somewhat unfortunate musical number halfway through featuring Beyoncé and Jackman singing songs from classic musicals, and it was clearly a distinct improvement over last year’s ceremony.

For now, though, it’s time to start making predictions for the 2010 Oscars.

They are, after all, only a year away.