'WALL-E' Voted Best Picture By Los Angeles Film Critics
And you will never guess the runner-up...
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) announced their winners today and in a surprise turn the group voted to award Disney/Pixar's WALL•E as their Best Picture of 2008 and astonishingly have The Dark Knight as their runner-up. I say the decision is a surprise only because WALL•E had basically been counted out for no reason other than it was an animated feature, but the LA crix have really bumped up against tradition and even including the "it will never be nominated because it's a comic book movie" as their runner-up. A great day if you ask me, it shows some serious growth, but the surprises don't stop there.
For Best Actress Sally Hawkins took the prize for Happy-Go-Lucky and we haven't heard much of a peep about her since the film's early October release. Heath Ledger took Supporting Actor with Eddie Marsan, also of Happy-Go-Lucky, coming in as the runner-up and Still Life edged out the Cannes Palm d'Or winner The Class for Best Foreign language film in a race that is sure to be close.
I'm not sure how Waltz with Bashir takes Best Animated film considering WALL•E won for Best Picture overall, but that is no surprise since the NBR's best film of the year selection didn't even make their top ten. No one ever said these lists were logical.
I have added the LAFCA's winners and runners-up to "The Contenders" and will updating that section again tomorrow with the picks from the New York Film Critics and the Golden Globe nominees on Thursday morning, December 11.
Now here is the complete list of winners and runners-up:
PICTURE:WALL•E
Runner-up: The Dark Knight
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Runner-up: Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
ACTRESS: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Runner-up: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
ACTOR: Sean Penn, Milk
Runner-up: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
SCREENPLAY: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Elegy
Runner-up: Viola Davis, Doubt
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Runner-up: Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Still Life directed by Jia Zhangke
Runner-up: The Class directed by Laurent Cantet
DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: Man on Wire directed by James Marsh
Runner-up: Waltz with Bashir directed by Ari Folman
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Mark Friedberg, Synecdoche, New York
Runner-up: Nathan Crowley, The Dark Knight
ANIMATION: Waltz with Bashir
MUSIC/SCORE: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Yu Lik Wai, Still Life
Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
NEW GENERATION: Steve McQueen, Hunger
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: John Calley (previously announced)
DOUGLAS E. EDWARDS INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL FILM/VIDEO: James Benning, RR and Casting a Glance
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I kinda suspected something like this from the SFFCC.
That's it, I MUST SEE WALL-E!!
Wall-E was alright… but Dark Knight was in a different league.
Yeah… The Dark Knight is a much superior film. Wall-E is a little on the overrated side.
I felt Wall-E is a better film compared to TDK.
Ok, I just finished watching "Wall-E" and I feel that it's better than TDK.
But then again, that might just be a biased opinion since i hate TDK, and i hope it doesn't win any awards.
Will "Wall-E" become only the second animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture (Disney's "Beauty & the Beast" being the sole nominee so far)? I'm not so sure. Personally, I thought it was a fantastic film. I felt that the first 30 minutes or so (meaning, the part of the film where Wall-E is isolated on Earth) of the film was a masterpiece; however, once we are taken to the human spaceship, the film descends into more slapstick, good-hearted, familiar Pixar humor – which isn't a bad thing, its just not quite the stuff that Best Pictures are made of.
I just watched the Dark Knight on DVD last night and I'm now firmly convinced: it is the Best Picture of 2008 – LONG LIVE THE CLOWN PRINCE & THE DARK KNIGHT!!!