The big winner at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, which took place on Sunday night in Los Angeles, was undoubtedly Martin Scorsese.

At the sixth time of asking the fast talking Italian-American director finally received the recognition he deserves winning the 'Best Director' Oscar for his superior crime thriller 'The Departed'.

Over the years it has become something of a bad joke within the movie industry how Scorsese has been repeatedly shunned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts despite being nominated several times.

But, with the director now 64 years of age, perhaps the voters thought they better acknowledge his fine body of work now while he is still making decent pictures.

Whether his current production 'The Departed' is the best film he has ever made is open to debate (personally I don't think it is) but nonetheless it is a fine, brilliantly directed movie in which Scorsese draws some wonderful performances from his leading actors.

Down the years Martin Scorsese has been nominated in the best director category for 'Raging Bull', 'Goodfellas', 'The Gangs of New York', 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and most recently 'The Aviator'.

And despite the merits of many of these landmark productions his most recent enterprise 'The Departed' has been his most commercially successful film to date.

Whether or not the fact that this film also won the 'Best Picture' may be seen as a sop to the director this must surely be the icing on the cake for the man who has given so much to the film industry over the last thirty years or so.

And the director was in good company as he received his award from three other great directors of a generation - Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Copolla and George Lucas.

In the run-up to Sunday night's awards ceremony, which were held in the Kodak Theatre in LA, all the talk had been that this year was going to be Martin Scorsese's year to win 'Best Director'.

Where the 'Best Picture' Oscar was going to go seemed to be less clear but, I suppose, it was fitting that 'The Departed' walked away with this gong to complete a 'double' of the top two big awards of the night for Scorsese.

Some years the Oscars (and the Academy) throw up a few surprises but this year everything seemed to go as it had been predicted.

The acting honours went to a very emotional Forest Whitaker and the regally attractive Dame Helen Mirren for 'The Last King of Scotland' and 'The Queen' respectively.

And in what appears to be life imitating art the word is now that Dame Helen may actually be granted an audience to meet the person her character portrayed.

Supporting actor Oscars went to Alan Arkin for 'Little Miss Sunshine' and Jennifer Hudson for 'Dreamgirls' while former US Presidential Candidate Al Gore won an Oscar for his documentary feature 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

In a year without a major blockbuster or clear favourite with the Academy the technical awards were shared between quite a few of the year's cinematic releases with 'Pans Labyrinth' being the second most successful picture on the night (3 Oscars - for cinematography, make-up and art direction.

'The Departed' won four awards in total - Best adapted screenplay and best film editing being its other two awards.

Despite the ever increasing number of awards, and awards ceremonies, connected to the world-wide film industry the Oscars is still the 'Big One' and the golden statuettes are still the prize most coveted by all who stand in front of (and behind) a movie camera.

Every year the Oscars are the night that Hollywood collectively lets its hair down - albeit in a perfectly styled and straightened manner - and it is the night that everyone who is anyone (in the business) wants to be seen walking up and down that famous red carpet.

After the serious business of handing out the awards has been completed the stars, and the hangers on, head for the various glitzy showbiz parties at various locations to party (or at least be seen to party) the night away.

And then, it's all over for another year and those who make, and star, in films have to get back to the serious business of earning a living and entertaining a public which seems to have fallen in love with the cinema all over again. Until next year!