Way to go, Texas! Even though the Dallas-Forth Worth Critics Association didn't give their Best Picture prize to The Dark Knight, no matter how hard Josh tried, the Austin critics know better. Not only did they give Batman and company Best Picture, but Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score as well.
Guess someone finally took our advice!. And that didn't mean they ignored other films. Sean Penn and Anne Hathaway took away lead acting prizes for their brilliant work in Milk and Rachel Getting Married, respectively, and Charlie Kaufman snuck in there for a Best Original Screenplay prize for Synecdoche, New York. Other awards were more typical-- Man on Wire for Best Documentary, Wall-E for Best Animated Feature-- but the overall the Austin critics showed a refreshing willingness to shake things up a bit. They even gave the Breakthrough Artist Award to my personal favorite, Danny McBride, for his work in Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder and The Foot Fist Way.
Does this revive The Dark Knight's Oscar chances in any real way? Probably not-- there are so many critics groups announcing prizes right now that it's all starting to feel like white noise. But at least there's one group of people willing to recognize something other than Slumdog Millionaire, and proof that there doesn't have to be consensus about best picture of the year. It wouldn't be any fun at all if it were.
The full list of winners is below, from Variety.
Top 10 Films:
1. "The Dark Knight
2. "Slumdog Millionaire"
3. "Milk"
4. "Synecdoche, New York"
5. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
6. "The Wrestler"
7. "Wall*E"
8. "Frost/Nixon"
9. "Let the Right One In"
10. "Gran Torino"
Picture:
"The Dark Knight"
Director:
Christopher Nolan, "The Dark Knight"
Actor:
Sean Penn, "Milk"
Actress:
Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married
Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress:
Taraji P. Henson, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Original Screenplay:
Charlie Kaufman, "Synecdoche, New York
Adapted Screenplay:
"The Dark Knight," Jonthan Nolan & Christopher Nolan
Cinematography:
"The Fall," Colin Watkinson
Original Score:
"The Dark Knight," James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer
Foreign Language Film:
"Let the Right One In" ("Lat den rotte komma in") (Sweden)
Documentary Film:
"Man on Wire"
Animated Feature:
"Wall*E"
Breakthrough Artist Award:
Danny McBride, Pineapple Express/The Foot Fist Way/Tropic Thunder
First Film:
Nacho Vigalondo, "Timecrimes" ("Los Cronocrimenes")
Austin Film:
"Crawford"
