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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
WALL-E wins Best Film, Dark Knight runner-up
I love LA - or the LA film critics, at any rate - because the group has ever so rightly named WALL-E the best film of the year, as has Time Magazine.
The AP story on the awards states that the LA critics went “populist” in their picks, noting that The Dark Knight was the runner-up film. However, populist should not be read as “conventional.”
The LA folks have been known to break from their fellow critics to promote a movie that might not otherwise get a lot of attention. The most famous example of this was when they named Terry Gilliam’s Brazil 1985’s best movie, helping Gilliam’s version see the light of day when Universal was attempting to butcher it.
Now, by giving an animated film the top prize for the first time ever, and by lauding The Dark Knight, I think the LA critics are saying, in effect, that yes, these are “populist” movies, but they’re populist movies that actually deliver the goods in an extraordinary way. They deserve to win top honors. And in the case of both WALL-E, and The Dark Knight, I couldn’t agree more.
I wish I could say that means WALL-E has a realistic chance at a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Yes, Beauty and the Beast made it in 1992, but that was before the animated film category was created. With that category in place, I don’t think voters will feel the need to give it the big prize. WALL-E has a shot, but a long one at best.
That’s a shame. For too long, animation has been ghettoized because there’s still a mentality that it’s primarily for kids. Any adult who has seen any Pixar movie ought to know by now that their movies aren’t just for kids, or even primarily for kids - but EVERYONE.
The Dark Knight, on the other hand, has better than a good chance at a nomination. It’s building momentum. While only recently its Best Picture prospects were dubious, I’m now ready to say it will get a Best Picture nomination. At this point, I expect the nominees to be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire.
The Golden Globes announce their nominations Thursday - we’ll see where they fall.
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