For the most part, the Oscars are one of the most glamorized and hyped television events of the year. From the red carpet coverage to the actual presentation of awards, the Oscars offer insight into the film industry and the celebrities who populate it.

Sunday night’s 81st Annual Academy Awards drew an audience of about 36 million, which was a significant spike from last year’s 32 million. But were the Oscars better than last year?

The hosting duty, which should be one of the highlights and provide some of the memorable moments of the night, was put in the lap of Australian actor Hugh Jackman. Having Wolverine host the Oscars was a pretty bold move by the Academy, as it was met with mixed feelings by many who felt the Aussie wouldn’t be up to the role. They were right. Unfortunately, Jackman was an extremely forgettable host. His opening monologue, which included a fairly funny song and dance number with Anne Hathaway, boded well for the rest of Jackman’s night as host. Too bad he rarely did anything else the rest of the night.

I even forgot he was the host until Will Smith said something along the lines of asking where Jackman was. Perhaps he was getting ready for the second song-and-dance number of the night with the obviously lip synching Beyonce Knowles. At least Jackman was working hard – he sure was huffing and puffing running around the stage. Still, the two dance numbers did little besides remind viewers that there was, in fact, someone hosting the show.

As for funny moments of the night, Jack Black and Ben Stiller stole the show with Black’s joke about Pixar being better than Dreamworks, and Stiller’s Joaquin Phoenix impersonation. Steve Martin and Tina Fey were fairly funny as well during their presentation for best screenplay.

Speaking of the presentation of the awards, this year’s ceremony included extra-long set ups with five former winners personally talking about each of the nominees. This made the presentations drag on longer than normal, and was bearable the first time, but soon got pretty tedious. Then there was the sort-of joke, sort-of not from Cuba Gooding Jr. about Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of a black man in “Tropic Thunder.”

All in all, the 81st Annual Academy Awards were definitely fun to watch, even with the sub-par performance from host Hugh Jackman. Maybe he should have just dressed up as Wolverine.

And the winners are:

Best Picture

“Slumdog Millionaire”

Best Actor

Sean Penn, “Milk”

Best Actress

Kate Winslet, “The Reader”

Best Director

Danny Boyle, “Slumdog

Millionaire”

Best Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger, “The Dark

Knight”

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina

Barcelona”

Documentary Feature

“Man On Wire”

Animated Feature Film

“WALL-E”