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The Houston Film Critics Society, of which yours truly is a member (along with the those two guys that used to work for the Chronicle, among others), just released their 2008 award winners. I'm already drafting a strong letter of protest haranguing my fellow HFCS members for failing to acknowledge Rambo's greatness in any category, but that's a story for another day.
BEST PICTURE -- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
BEST DIRECTOR OF A MOTION PICTURE -- Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE -- Sean Penn, Milk
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE -- Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -- 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 FEATURE -- Man on Wire
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM -- Mongol
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE -- Terence Blanchard, Miracle at St. Anna
BEST ORIGINAL SONG -- "Down to Earth," 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
Aside from the fact that *cough* I still haven't seen Benjamin Button, I really don't take issue with any of our choices. For those who care, some of my picks were Frozen River for Best Picture, The Wrestler's Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, Let the Right One In for Best Foreign Language Film, and Year At Danger -- which nobody but me and a few dozen people at the DeadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City saw -- for Best Documentary, but I'm just glad we didn't embarrass ourselves by, say, putting Iron Man in our Top 10.
The HFCS awards will be presented at a ceremony at the MFAH this Saturday. I won't be able to attend, though I may change travel plans if Anne Hathaway decides to show up to accept her statuette in person.
-- Pete Vonder Haar
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