Utah Critics go "Dark"

It's that time of year again: When movie critics attempt to shape the year-end awards landscape by handing out their own honors.

The Utah Film Critics Association -- made up of film journalists from around the state, including yours truly -- voted Thursday night, and selected The Dark Knight as Best Picture of 2008. Like many critics' groups nationwide, Utah's gang also selected Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor.

Your humble narrator is particularly pleased with the selection for Achievement in Directing: Andrew Stanton, director of WALL-E. While we, like other groups, may continue to ghetto-ize animated films into their own category, at least we recognize that these films don't direct themselves. If Stanton's work on WALL-E doesn't count as visionary filmmaking, I don't know what does.

The full list of awards follows, and does include 2008 releases that have not yet opened in Utah:

Best Picture
The Dark Knight
(runner-up: Rachel Getting Married)

Best Achievement in Directing
Andrew Stanton, WALL-E
(runner-up: Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight)

Best Lead Performance by an Actor
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
(runners-up: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor; Sean Penn, Milk)

Best Lead Performance by an Actress
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
(runner-up: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
(no runner-up)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
(runners-up: Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading; Misty Upham, Frozen River; Evan Rachel Wood, The Wrestler)

Best Screenplay
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
(runner-up: Robert Siegel, The Wrestler)

Best Documentary Feature
Man on Wire
(runners-up: Encounters at the End of the World; Waltz with Bashir)

Best Non-English Language Feature
Let the Right One In
(runner-up: Waltz with Bashir)

Best Animated Feature
WALL-E
(runner-up: Kung Fu Panda)

[Scott Renshaw]