The National Board of Review has identified what they consider to be the best films of 2008, and a Disney/Pixar film once again takes top honours in the Animation category.
WALL-E, Waltz With Bashir Among Best Films
Andrew Stanton's movie WALL-E was named the Best Animated Feature Film of 2008. Previous Disney/Pixar winners in the Animation category include 2007's Ratatouille, 2006's Cars, The Incredibles (2004) and another Stanton flick, 2003's Finding Nemo.
The NBR honoured another animated film, Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir. Although it didn't receive any specific awards, the Flash animated movie was named one of the Top 5 Foreign Language films of 2008.
NBR's Best Film of 2008: Slumdog Millionaire
Although the NBR has a controversial reputation among film critics, it gets noticed mainly for being the first group to release its "best of" list, and acts a bellweather for what the more conservative elements of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences might go for when the Oscars are announced on February 22, 2009.
Therefore it was a shock that the NBR chose a foreign film as its Best Picture pick: Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. Although it was the toast of the Toronto Film Festival, the flick has been considered a long shot, due to its director (best known for the smack addled movie Trainspotting and the horror flick 28 Days Later) and lack of Hollywood stars. The NBR also hailed leading actor Dev Patel as a breakthrough performance, despite the fact that he only appears in half the movie.
The National Board of Review's Best of 2008
• Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Director: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Best Actor: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
• Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
• Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk
• Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Best Foreign Foreign Language Film: Mongol
• Best Documentary: Man on Wire
• Best Animated Feature: WALL-E
• Best Ensemble Cast: Doubt
• Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
• Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt
• Best Directorial Debut: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
• Best Original Screenplay: Nick Schenk, Gran Torino
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire and Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Spotlight Award: Melissa Leo, Frozen River and Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
• The BVLGARI Award for NBR Freedom of Expression: Trumbo
Top Ten Films (In alphabetical order): Burn After Reading, Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Defiance, Frost/Nixon, Gran Torino, Milk, WALL-E, The Wrestler
• Top Five Foreign Language Films (In alphabetical order): Edge of Heaven, Let the Right One In, Roman de Guerre, A Secret, Waltz With Bashir
• Top Five Documentary Films (In alphabetical order) American Teen, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), Dear Zachary, Encounters at the End of the World, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
• William K. Everson Film History Award: Molly Haskell and Andrew Sarris
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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