SALLY HAWKINS - ALTERNATIVE PRESS CRITICS PICK WALL-E

ALTERNATIVE PRESS CRITICS PICK WALL-E

It hardly seems that it would be a likely choice for the film critics who write for the alternative press, but Disney/Pixar's WALL-E has been named best film of 2008 in the ninth annual Village Voice-LA Weekly poll of 116 mostly alt-press critics. Hou Hsiao-hsien's The Flight of the Red Balloon came in second, just ahead of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky , whose star, Sally Hawkins, received the best actress award. Sean Penn was voted best actor for Milk , which placed seventh in the voting. Somewhat surprisingly, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire , which already boasts several best-picture awards, finished in 20th place, three positions below The Dark Knight, while Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino was left sputtering in 29th place. "Batman didn't prevail, and Clint failed to save the day, but then John McCain didn't win the election," wrote the Village Voice 's J. Hoberman in announcing the winners. "It was WALL-E that touched a chord and fit the national mood. ... The real miracle of WALL-E was that the standard Disney tropes -- adorable critters, rampant sentimentality, asexual eroticism -- were burnt to a crisp and then redeployed as beacons of hope in an almost unbearably bleak vision of a dead world."

02/01/2009