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By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008

Filed under: Awards

The New York Film Critics Circle has announced its awards for the year:

Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Best Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married"

Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"

Best Animated Film: "WALL-E"

Best Director: Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Best First Film: Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"

Best Foreign Film: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"

Best Actor: Sean Penn, "Milk"

Best Documentary: "Man on Wire"

Best Picture: "Milk"

Nice to see Brolin get a nod -- I think he's the best part of an amazingly strong cast in "Milk." But the praise for "Frozen River" continues to mystify me; in a year heavy with portraits of poverty, it's the only one that seems cliché-ridden and near exploitative. Still waiting on gossip regarding in-fighting during the voting, always a highlight.

The LA Film Critics Association went another way, picking "WALL-E" for picture of the year, the first time the award's been given to an animated feature. They also gave lead actor/actress to Penn and Hawkins, and "Man on Wire" continues to inexorably trample its way toward a doc awards sweep.

[Photo: "Milk," Focus Features, 2008]

+ 2008 Awards (NYFCC.com)
+ 34TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS (LAFCA.net)

Tags: LAFCA, Milk, NYFCC, WALL-E

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Wall-e was definitely the best animated film. Milk? I wanted to see it but eh.. the commercials weren't tempting enough. To be honest I didn't know what it was about but I heard it was about a gay guy running for mayor. That made it a little bit more interesting because at first I thought it was a slow guy running from mayor in the previews(no offense). And as for best directory, yeah Mike Leigh definitely deserved it.