Disney/Pixar’s WALL’E has been honored by yet another group of movie reviewers as end-of-the year picks continue to roll in from around the country. The film garnered four 2008 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, including Best Picture. It also took Best Animated Film, Best Original Screenplay for the script by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, and Best Original Score for Thomas Newman’s work.
WALL’E was the most recognized film of 2008 among Chi-Town critics. The sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire was second with three awards for Best Director (Dany Boyle), Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy) and Most Promising Newcomer (Dev Patel). Warner Bros.’ The Dark Knight earned a Best Supporting Actor win for Heath Ledger, as well as Best Cinematography for Wally Pfister. The Swedish horror sensation Let the Right One In also took a pair of awards. The pic was named Best Foreign-Language Film and Tomas Alfredson was voted Most Promising Director.
Mickey Rourke racked up another Best Actor prize for his starring role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, and Anne Hathaway took Best Actress for Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married. Kate Winslet received the Best Supporting Actress for Stephen Daldry’s The Reader. Ari Folman’s animated Waltz with Bashir was beat out in the Best Documetary category by Man On Wire, James Marsh’s film chronicling the 1974 attempt by a French daredevil to walk on a wire suspended between the two World Trade Center towers.
The awards represent voting by the 55 members of the Chicago Film Critics Association, an organization covering print, radio, television and the Internet. Winners were announced on Dec. 19 on WGN-TV by CFCA president Dann Gire and group members Dean Richards and Richard Roeper.
2008 CFCA Award Winners:
Best Picture: WALL’E
Best Director: Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Best Actress: Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet – The Reader
Best Original Screenplay: WALL’E (Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire (Simon Beaufoy)
Best Foreign Language Film: Let the Right One In
Best Documentary: Man On Wire
Best Animated Feature: WALL’E
Best Cinematography: The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister)
Best Original Score: WALL’E (Thomas Newman)
Most Promising Performer: Dev Patel – Slumdog Millionaire
Most Promising Director: Tomas Alfredson – Let the Right One In
