The New York Film Critics Circle: "Milk" Best Film of 2008

[J_UNTITLED]

From Variety...

"Milk" and "Happy-Go-Lucky" came up winners in a contentious year of voting by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Film honors went to "Milk," and stars Sean Penn and Josh Brolin won for actor and supporting actor, respectively. The prizes continue the momentum for Gus Van Sant’s biopic, which has fared well in the early B.O. running while picking up a handful of year-end kudos.

Mike Leigh won the director prize for "Happy," and its star, Sally Hawkins, drew the actress nod.

The remaining seven awards went to seven different pics.

Penelope Cruz won for supporting actress in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Cinematography went to "Slumdog Millionaire" d.p. Anthony Dod Mantle and Jenny Lumet won for screenplay for "Rachel Getting Married."

"Wall-E" took animated feature, "Man on Wire" documentary, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" foreign film and "Frozen River" first film.

"It’s been the kind of year where there are three or four or five films you could get behind," said Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly critic and chair of the New York Film Critics Circle. "But there’s not that one single film that made you so passionate that you throw yourself behind it."

The New York Film Critics Circle, founded in 1935, has a disputatious streak. This year, according to an account of the voting leaked by New York Post critic Lou Lumenick, "Rachel Getting Married" came within four points of winning for film.

Another tight race was director, where Leigh nipped "Slumdog Millionaire" helmer Danny Boyle by a point.

Members indicate their support of a pic by putting a 1, 2 or 3 next to it on the ballot, with 3 the best grade. The winner must also be cited on a majority of ballots. Sometimes, as was the case this year, voting goes three or four rounds before a winner is decided.

Awards will be handed out at an evening ceremony on Jan. 5.

The winners of the New York Film Critics Circle are:

Film: "Milk"

Director: Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky"

Actor: Sean Penn, "Milk"

Actress: Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"

Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married"

First Film: Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"

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

Animated Film: "WALL-E

Documentary: "Man on Wire"

Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

[Crim122]

Cant wait to see it...once it actually gets released here.

[_Bolt_]

Batman fanboys will not be happy.

But anyways, Milk was FAR and away the best movie of the year

[Crim122]

Batman fanboys run this site :x

[J_UNTITLED]

Apparently...

[Crim122]

Seeing it tonight, finally!

[Blu Man]

Originally Posted by Crim122

I'm a Batman fan boy and I run this site!!!

You are?

[fighthefutureofhd]

har har har. that was a knee slapper.

[GORT]

Originally Posted by J_UNTITLED

From Variety...

What about this list is a big surprise coming from the new york film critics

[LordSummerIsle]

First post on this thread in almost a decade! Milk really wasn't that great.

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by scwilli1

First post on this thread in almost a decade! Milk really wasn't that great.

Agreed, a one time watch but more interesting to me as I lived in the Bay Area when all of this happened.

One small piece of gossip I heard from a professor at SF State was that Milk and Moscone kind of liked to bully Dan White. That's not a reason for White to do what he did, but if true, does give some interesting context.

[Bugg]

To fair to the critics here, 2008 wasn't exactly brimming with amazing movies. Outside of Wall-E and Let the Right One In, there's nothing I would score higher than a 7/10.

[Hoke Moseley]

Really glad this was bumped.

[Poya]

Heath didn’t win Supporting Actor? Isn’t that blasphemy?

[Trollhunter]

WALL-E should have won for Best Picture.

Mickey Rourke should have won Best Actor.

Let the Right One In should have won Best Foreign Film

[stvn1974]

Josh Brolin should have won best supporting actor over Ledger.

[Al_The_Strange]

Still haven't seen Milk. Do love me some TDK, Wall*E, LTROI, Gran Torino, Love Exposure, Ip Man, and Wanted, among others. 2008 was great.

[Hoke Moseley]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Josh Brolin should have won best supporting actor over Ledger.

I get that you're a Nolan hater, but let's not pretend that Ledger's performance in TDK is anything less than godly.

[stvn1974]

Originally Posted by Hoke Moseley

I get that you're a Nolan hater, but let's not pretend that Ledger's performance in TDK is anything less than godly.

It isn't even close to Nicholson's.

[Hoke Moseley]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

It isn't even close to Nicholson's.

lmao