Well, last time it was St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco and Southeastern Critics weighing in and today I have four more critic award lists to preview for you as critics from Houston, Toronto, Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth have all released their winners and for the most part it’s a Slumdog Millionaire day with it taking two of the four Best Picture slots while Benjamin Button scores one and the folks in Toronto toss up a surprise win for Mongrel’s Wendy and Lucy.
Sean Penn (Milk) continues to clean up the Best Actor nods while Toronto was the odd duck again awarding Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. The Best Actress category saw a pair of wins for Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) while Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy) and Meryl Streep (Doubt) also took home honors.
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) was named Best Supporting Actor on all four lists while Viola Davis (Doubt) won for Best Supporting Actress on two lists with Rosemarie Dewitt (Rachel Getting Married) and Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) split the other two.
Best Director was Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) all the way except for the Toronto crix who refuse to play nice and award Jonathan Demme (Rachel Getting Married).
Meanwhile, WALL•E has pretty much proven at this point it will be winning Best Animated Feature at the Oscars while Man On Wire owns the Best Documentary category as all four lists once again award those two.
All four lists as featured on the next four pages and you can always keep up on the lists in RopeofSilicon’s “The Contenders” section.
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast: Doubt
Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Animated Film: WALL•E
Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Foreign Language Film: Mongol
Best Original Score: Terence Blanchard for Miracle at St. Anna
Best Original Score: “Down to Earth” from WALL•E
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema: Andrea Grover and The Aurora Picture Show
Outstanding Achievement in Film Programming: Marian Luntz and The Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Film Department