Watching the Academy Awards should qualify as a marathon. Usually coming in at more than 4 hours, endurance and snacks are a requirement.

The question of the evening asked by movie fans around the world was, “Will ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ join ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘Titanic’ as the winner of 11 Oscars?” Also, “Will Bill Murray or Sean Penn walk away with the Oscar for Best Actor?”

The countdown to the awards began at 7 p.m. sharp. The stars arrived and the attendees were asked, as usual, what designer they were wearing. A deeper question was asked of Scarlett Johansson, however. To her credit, she didn’t reveal what it was that Bill Murray whispered in her ear at the end of “Lost in Translation.”

Angelina Jolie easily won the award for “most revealing dress” this year. It must be cool in Southern California at this time of year.

The ceremony began and Sean Connery took the stage first. To his credit, he was wearing pants this year. He was followed by Crystal’s usual lampoon of the nominees, which was hilarious as usual. A particularly funny moment was when outspoken producer/activist Michael Moore was smashed by one of the oliphaunts from “The Lord of the Rings.” Crystal then followed with a song featuring the names of the nominees from every category. How long does it take him to write that thing? Its running time: a mere 25 minutes.

The first award of the evening was for Best Supporting Actor, with Tim Robbins getting a well-deserved win as many predicted for “Mystic River.” Robbins was definitely the best choice here, and he didn’t have his usual politically charged acceptance speech for us tonight.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” began its run of the awards with wins in many of the technical categories, including Best Visual Effects, Best Costumes and Best Sound Editing, as of press time. Can you say sweep?

Ren‚e Zellweger accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Cold Mountain.” Never saw that one coming, either.

As usual, a very animated Robin Williams supplied commentary for the Best Animated Feature category, in which “Finding Nemo” won. Why did they even bother nominating the other films? “The Triplets of Belleville” and “Brother Bear?” Come on.

As usual, much time was taken up by technical awards and tributes. As of press time, many of the big awards had not been handed out yet.

One thing is for sure, though — the Academy should sign Crystal to a long-term contract. The man is nothing short of amazing. The highlight of the night was when he mimicked his good friend Robin Williams.

As far as Best Picture goes, the award should go to “The Lord of the Rings,” but “Mystic River” is a worthy adversary. May the better film win.

— Daniel C. Hartman is a junior in pre-journalism and mass communication from Ames.