Awards, Etc. from Boston, NY and AFI

I'll never get sick of seeing of seeing Penélope Cruz's name on Critics Award lists. She added two more to the list for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but we all remember that Tilda Swinton beat out Gone Baby Gone's Amy Ryan, who was undoubtedly the reigning champion of last year's supporting actress awards, when it came to Oscar time. Sean Penn, Heath Ledger and Sally Hawkins took home two more as well, with both The Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online mirroring one another in the acting categories (although Penn tied with Mickey Rourke in Boston). Although I frown a bit at Boston's feel-good Best Picture tie of Slumdog Millionaire and WALL·E, their choices of Gus Van Sant for Best Director (honoring both Milk and Paranoid Park) and Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li for cinematography for Paranoid Park was absolutely refreshing. Martin McDonagh was awarded the best new filmmaker for In Bruges by both. The two groups' awards, as well as AFI's list of the ten best films of 2008 are below:

Boston

Picture: (tie) Slumdog Millionaire; WALL·E
Director: Gus Van Sant - Milk; Paranoid Park
Actor: (tie) Sean Penn - Milk; Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Actress: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign: Let the Right One In
Animated: WALL·E
Documentary: Man on Wire
Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Rain Kathy Li - Paranoid Park
Editing: Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire
Ensemble Cast: Tropic Thunder
Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonagh - In Bruges

New York Film Critics Online

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan - Slumdog Millionaire
Actor: Sean Penn - Milk
Actress: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Animated: WALL·E
Documentary: Man on Wire
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire
Score: A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Ensemble Cast: Milk
Breakout Performance: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Debut as Director: Matin McDonagh - In Bruges

The 10 Best Pictures (alphabetically):

Che
A Christmas Tale
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
The Wrestler

AFI's 10 Best Films of 2008 (Alphabetically)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
WALL·E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler