L.A Critics promote ‘Still Life’ and honor ‘Wall-E’

Does Pixar stand a chance at receiving an Academy Award Best Picture nomination this year? Kudos go to the Los Angeles Critics Assn. for picking Wall-E as the best film of the year and for backing Zhang-Ke Jia‘s Still Life – a picture that received a limited release in January and is being honored as Best Foreign and Best Cinematography by the group. West coast folks also found plenty of things to like about Brit titles Slumdog Millionaire and Happy Go Lucky.  

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”