The L.A. Film Critics Association has selected Pixar’s WALL-E as the Best Picture of 2008. 

Kudos to Pixar for setting a new standard of quality for animated films.

Some of the other L.A.F.C.’s choices:

1. Sean Penn, best actor for Milk 

 Prepare for Oscar #2!

2. Sally Hawkins , best actress for Happy-Go-Lucky

Watch this one. She may be a left-field winner this year. Oscar loves random European women, like Juliette Binoche in The English Patient.

3. Heath Ledger ,best supporting-actor winner for The Dark Knight

 Duh. 

4. Penelope Cruz, best supporting-actress choice for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Interesting choice. She does happen to be a fantastic actress underneath all that Latin hotness, and she’s no fool to team up with Woody Allen.

5. Danny Boyle, best director for Slumdog Millionaire

The director of Trainspotting always has a special place in my heart.

6. Mike Leigh, best screenplay for Happy-Go-Lucky

It’s a story about a woman who is perpetually optimistic. Nice to see something without guns and CGI get recognized.

Oscar Watch has officially begun!

And the makers of Milk can celebrate, earning the most nominations (8) to tie with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Some other highlights:

-Kate Winslet was nominated for her role in The Reader, but was relegated to the Best Supporting Actress category. What the heck is that? She’s only the centerpiece of the whole movie. Sadly, Revolutionary Road was completely overlooked.

They just love to torture me.

-Sean Penn and Brad Pitt are the big contenders for Best Actor. Penn will win it because Hollywood hates giving awards to pretty men.

-Critic’s pet Clint Eastwood got two nods, one for Best Actor in Gran Torino and the other as composer for Changeling. Interestingly enough, he was overlooked as Best Director for both films. They probably think he’s too old to notice.

-Left-field nominee Anne Hathaway for Best Actress in Rachel Getting Married. She’s been getting great reviews, so she must feel good after finding out her ex was a lying, cheating scum bucket.

-Robert Downey, Jr.’s brilliant turn as a white actor playing a black soldier in Tropic Thunder got a nod. Usually broad comedies are ignored during awards season, but whatever. He rocked it. He won’t win, though, because he’s up against Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight.

-Has-been Mickey Rourke finds his way onto the ballot for Best Actor in The Wrestler. They’ll probably play him up as this year’s “comeback kid”; he and Britney can do Barbara Walters together.

-Hollywood’s love-fest with Bruce Springstein continues with a nomination for Best Song for The Wrestler. I have a special place in my heart for Peter Gabriel, who is also nominated for Best Song for WALL-E. “In Your Eyes” is my favorite song ever.

Here’s the list of nominees:

Picture

• Changeling
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Doubt
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire
• WALL-E
• The Wrestler

Actor

• Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
• Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
• Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Sean Penn, Milk
• Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Actress

• Kate Beckinsale, Nothing But the Truth
• Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie, Changeling
• Melissa Leo, Frozen River
• Meryl Streep, Doubt

Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin, Milk
• Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• James Franco, Milk

Supporting Actress

• Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis, Doubt
• Vera Farmiga, Nothing But the Truth
• Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
• Kate Winslet, The Reader

Ensemble

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Doubt
• Milk
• Rachel Getting Married

Director

• Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
• David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
• Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
• Gus Van Sant, Milk

Screenwriter

• Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
• Dustin Lance Black, Milk
• Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
• Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

Animated Feature

• Bolt
• Kung Fu Panda
• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• WALL-E
• Waltz With Bashir

Young Actor/Actress (Under 21)

• Dakota Fanning, The Secret Life of Bees
• David Kross, The Reader
• Dev Petal, Slumdog Millionaire
• Brandon Walters, Australia

Action Movie

• The Dark Knight
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Iron Man
• Quantum of Solace
• Wanted

Comedy

• Burn After Reading
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Role Models
• Tropic Thunder
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona

TV Movie

• John Adams
• Recount
• Coco Chanel

Foreign-Language Film

• A Christmas Tale
• Gomorrah
• I’ve Loved You So Long
• Let the Right One In
• Mongol
• Waltz With Bashir

Documentary

• I.O.U.S.A.
• Man on Wire
• Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
• Standard Operating Procedure
• Young at Heart

Song (Performer/Composer)

• “Another Way to Die,” Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White, Quantum of Solace
• “Down to Earth,” Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, WALL-E
• “I Thought I Lost You,” Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele, Bolt
• “Jaiho,” Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar, Slumdog Millionaire
• “The Wrestler,” Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler

Composer

• Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Clint Eastwood, Changeling
• Danny Elfman, Milk
• Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, The Dark Knight
• A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Heath Ledger is going to win the Oscar this year.