Awards Page Index * OSCAR coverage here
'08 FiLM BiTCH Awards
by Nathaniel R

 

[some spoilers follow]

 

Best Credit Sequence / End or Beginning Titles
the bookending nominees are

The Fall	Kung Fu Panda	Quantum of Solace	Slumdog Millionaire	WALL•E
a mysterious monochrome accident	I miss 2-D animation	Kaleidoscope Bond Girls, sand flinging	Bollywood 101 "Jai Ho"	Art History 101 "Down to Earth"

Best Opening Scenes
first impressions are everything

A Christmas Tale	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Reprise	WALL•E	Waltz With Bashir
The Vuillard family history, as shadow puppet theater. The first of many yummy cinematic touches	So many backstory jokes (Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime -that title alone!) plus one sustained naked one	"this is where it all begins" ~best friends with manuscripts and exuberant dreams	The camera moves slowly towards earth, Broadway filling the void of outerspace	26 dogs ~ the hallucination kicks off a greater inquiry (my interview with Ari Folman)
Finalists: Australia (opening prologue) * Flight of the Red Balloon (the subway and the "stupid balloon") Semi-Finalists: The Dark Knight (masked heist) * Happy-Go-Lucky (bookstore) * Tropic Thunder (trailers)

Best Ending
the SPOILERS are

Burn After Reading	The Class	Rachel Getting Married	Wendy & Lucy	The Wrestler
Case closed. "What did we learn?"	Noisy makeshift peace in the schoolyard. Empty desks. Same drama next semester.	A final grace note for Rachel, her stormy sister abating. The music lingers, the house is still softly abuzz	Wendy's choice (if you need me I'm sobbing quietly and humming in the corner)	"The Ram"'s last Slam. Perfectly shot, desperately acted, wisely cut to black.
Finalists: In Bruges "I really hope I don't die" Semi Finalists: The Visitor drums in the subway * Milk end recording

 

Top Dozen Scenes of the Year
(EXCLUDING previous scene categories)
the moments that made the year are

Burn After Reading	The Class	Happy-Go-Lucky	Last Chance Harvey	Let the Right One In
"come back when it uh... makes sense"	disciplinary committee	last driving lesson	"stiff upper lip"	without an invite
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist	Paranoid Park	Rachel Getting Married	Revolutionary Road	WALL•E
turkey sandwich	the death	dishwasher	indiscretion of an american housewife	define dancing
		Finalists: "L'Chaim" Rachel Getting Married * "Burning House" Synecdoche New York * "just until June" Doubt * "Ray's guilt" In Bruges * pharmacy fall / surgery The Fall * struck by lightning Benjamin Button" * Semi Finalists: Murder Transsiberian Maria Elena arrive Vicky Cristina Barcelona *"apology" The Class * Juan Antonio's proposition Vicky Cristina Barcelona * Dinner Party confession" I've Loved You So Long * "The Wizard of Oz" Australia * wallpaper / shower Paranoid Park * interrogation The Dark Knight * "father/daughter heart to heart" The Wrestler * "the visitation" Love Songs * "Breakfast" Revolutionary Road * shopping A Christmas Tale *
Waltz With Bashir	The Wrestler
recurring dream	deli counter

 

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AWARDS TALLIES ( Oscar category tallies + Non Traditional "Extras")
56 films represented from 41 categories out of the 116 I saw in 2008
unreleased films not eligible for awards so some great festival films are not represented

Statistics for ALL Categories

16 nominations
Rachel Getting Married (4 Gold. 5 Silver. 1 Bronze)

14 nominations
WALL•E (5 Gold. 4 Silver. 2 Bronze)

12 nominations
Milk (3 Gold. 4 Silver. 3 Bronze)
The Wrestler (3 Gold. 3 Silver. 1 Bronze)

11 nominations
The Dark Knight (4 Gold. 2 Silver. 2 Bronze)

9 nominations
Australia (2 Gold. 1 Silver. 2 Bronze)

8 nominations
Burn After Reading (2 Bronze)
Savage Grace (2 Gold. 1 Silver. 1 Bronze)

7 nominations
The Class (1 Gold. 2 Silver. 1 Bronze)
The Reader (2 Gold. 1 Silver. 2 Bronze)
Reprise (2 Gold. 1 Silver)

5 nominations
Kung Fu Panda (1 Silver. 2 Bronze)
Quantum of Solace (1 Gold. 1 Silver. 1 Bronze)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (1 Gold. 3 Silver)

4 nominations
Elegy (2 Silver)
Happy-Go-Lucky (1 Gold. 2 Silver)
Iron Man (1 Silver. 2 Bronze)
Let the Right One In (2 Silver. 1 Bronze)

3 nominations
Love Songs
Slumdog Millionaire (1 Gold. 1 Silver. 1 Bronze)
Synecdoche New York (1 Gold. 1 Bronze)
Trouble the Water (1 Gold. 1 Bronze)
Waltz With Bashir (1 Bronze)

2 nominations
Ciao (1 Bronze)
A Christmas Tale (2 Bronze)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1 Gold. 1 Bronze)
Doubt (1 Bronze)
The Fall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
A Girl Cut in Two
In Bruges (1 Silver)
The Incredible Hulk (1 Bronze)
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (1 Bronze)
Revolutionary Road (1 Bronze)
Sex and the City: The Movie (1 Silver)
Wendy & Lucy (1 Silver)
Were the World Mine (1 Bronze)

1 nomination
27 Dresses
Baby Mama
The Duchess (1 Bronze)
Flight of the Red Balloon
Frozen River (1 Bronze)
Last Chance Harvey
The Last Mistress
Mamma Mia! (1 Silver)
Man on Wire (1 Bronze)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (1 Silver)
Paranoid Park (1 Gold)
Roman de Gare (1 Gold)
Tropic Thunder (1 Gold)
Under the Same Moon (1 Bronze)
Valkyrie
The Visitor (1 Gold)
W. (1 Gold)
Wanted
Young at Heart (1 Gold)

 

Most wins WALL•E (5 Gold. 4 Silver. 2 Bronze)
Second most Rachel Getting Married (4 Gold. 5 Silver. 1 Bronze)
Best Tally for a film I didn't completely love The Dark Knight (4 Gold. 2 Silver. 2 Bronze)
Worst Ratio / Noms to Wins Burn After Reading (8 nominations. 2 Bronze)
Most Nominations / Zero Wins Love Songs (3 nominations)

Most noms for a film not on top ten list The Dark Knight (11 noms)
Lowest ranking film with very high nomination count Australia (9 noms)
Film I liked least with 3 or more nods Synecdoche New York (3 noms)
Worst nom' total for a top ten'er In Bruges & A Christmas Tale (2 noms)
Highest ranking film on top ten to fare poorlyIn Bruges (#7)
Best films entirely snubbed Bolt, Kabluey, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Stop Loss and Frost/Nixon

Unreleased (ineligible) film that would have had a significant impact Hunger (Steve McQueen)