LA Film Critics Wild About Wall*E

Wall*E is working on his speech for the LA Film Critics awards ceremony on January 12th.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced their 2008 awards today. They awarded Wall*E the best picture award, the first time in their history that they’ve chosen an animated film. The Dark Knight came in second for best picture and Christopher Nolan, that film’s director, was in second place for best director. Heath Ledger won best supporting. This is worth noting because The Dark Knight, along with Wall*E, was a huge commercial success–something usually considered to be a hindrance for awards.

Does that mean that I think the Academy is going to be handing out big awards to films like The Dark Knight and Wall-E? No. Maybe the LA Film Critics Association, being in the heart of the industry (and I use the word industry to emphasize the business side of film, not the art side), is more open to recognizing that a big hit can also be a good film. But for other awards associations, there are enough other usual suspects (indies, impressive dramas on “important topics”) to fill out their awards card.

(By the way, I like the way the LAFCA announces the runners-up as well; it’s nice to know who would have to step in and wear the crown if the winner was somehow disqualified.)

And without further ado, the full list of winners:

Picture: “Wall-E”
Runner-up: “The Dark Knight”

Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Runner-up: Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight”

Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk”
Runner-up: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

Actress: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Runner-up: Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”

Supporting actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Runner-up: Eddie Marsan, “Happy-Go-Lucky”

Supporting actress: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Elegy”
Runner-up: Viola Davis, “Doubt”

Screenplay: Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, “Synecdoche, New York”

Foreign-language film: “Still Life”
Runner-up: “The Class”

Documentary: “Man on Wire”
Runner-up: “Waltz With Bashir”

Animation: “Waltz With Bashir”

Cinematography: Yu Lik Wai, “Still Life”
Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, “Slumdog Millionaire”

Production design: Mark Friedberg, “Synecdoche, New York”
Runner-up: Nathan Crowley, “The Dark Knight”

Music/score: A.R. Rahman, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

New Generation: Steve McQueen, “Hunger”

Douglas E. Edwards independent/experimental film/video: James Benning, “RR” and “Casting a Glance”