‘Milk’ Spoiled With NY Critics’ Award For Best Picture

For members of the New York Film Critics Circle, an average morning before its annual awards vote usually goes like this: 1. Order breakfast. 2. Refresh memory on the last month’s worth of releases. 3. Review the LA Film Critics Association awards from the day before. 4. Go 180 degrees in the opposite direction. That years-old tradition continued today (with slight variation) when the NYFCC anointed Milk as its Best Picture for 2008.

LAFCA’s own favourite, WALL-E, did make an appearance among today’s awards, earning Best Animated Film, and the groups’ choices for Best Actress (Sally Hawkins), Best Actor (Sean Penn) and Best Supporting Actress (Penelope Cruz) overlapped as well. From there, however, all the Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire love dissipated into sloppy kisses for Josh Brolin, Mike Leigh and Rachel Getting Married, among others. And yes, for the record: Revolutionary Road still has yet to win anything after more than a week of awards season.

The full list of winners:

Best Picture: Milk

Best Director: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk

Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married

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

Best Documentary: Man on Wire

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best First Film: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River