The 2nd Annual 2008 Colleen Awards

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Cean Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy & Frank Marshall
MILK-Bruce Cohin, Daniel Links & Michael London
Tropic Thunder-Stuart Cornfield, Eric McCleod & Ben Stiller
The Reader-Donna Gigliotti, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack & Redmond Morris
Doubt-Mark Roybal& Scott Rudin

Best Director
Daren Aronofsky—The Wrestler
David Fincher—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley—Doubt
Tarsem Singh—The Fall
Ben Stiller—Tropic Thunder

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sally Hawkins—Happy Go Lucky
Melissa Leo—Frozen River
Meryl Streep—Doubt
Catinca Untaru –The Fall

Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Fassbender-Hunger
Sean Penn-MILK
Brad Pitt-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke-The Wrestler
Sam Rockwell-Snow Angels

Best Actor in a Supporting Roll
Robert Downey Jr.—Tropic Thunder
Brad Pitt—Burn After Reading
Heath Ledger—The Dark Knight
Eddie Marsan—Happy Go Lucky
Phillip Seymour Hoffman—Doubt

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams—Doubt
Viola Davis—Doubt
Frances McDormand—Burn After Reading
Samantha Morton—Synecdoche New York
Kate Winslet—The Reader

Best Ensemble Cast
Doubt
Tropic Thunder
MILK
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche NY

Best Original Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black—Milk
Mike Leigh—Happy Go Lucky
Charlie Kaufman—Synecdoche NY
Guy Ritchie—RocknRolla
Ben Stiller—Tropic Thunder

Best Adapted Screenplay
David Gordon Green—Snow Angels
David Hare—The Reader
Eric Roth—The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons
John Patrick Shanley—Doubt
Tarsem Singh—The Fall

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins—Doubt
Colin Watkinson—The Fall
Roger Deakins & Chris Menges—The Reader
Anthony Dod Mantle—Slumdog Millionare
David Higgs-RocknRolla

Best Editing
Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Greg Hayden—Tropic Thunder
James Herbert—RocknRolla
Dylan Tichenor—Doubt
Joe Walker—Hunger

Best Art Direction
Ged Clarke—The Fall
Mark Friedberg—Synecdoche NY
Donald Graham Burt—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ralph Grot—Tropic Thunder
Brendan Rankin—Hunger

Best Costume:
Sex and the City the Movie—Patricia Field
The Fall—Eiko Ishioka
Doubt—Ann Roth
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Jaqueline West
The Wrestler-Amy Westcott

Best Sound
Ron Bochar & Danny Michael—Doubt
Steve Cantamessa—Tropic Thunder
Ronan Hill—Hunger
Ed Novick—The Dark Knight
Tom Ozanich—RocknRolla

Best Make Up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Greg Cannom
Tropic Thunder-Carlton Coleman & Heather plot
The Dark Knight-John Caglione Jr. & Conor O'Sullivan

Best Score:
Phillip Glass—Cassandra’s Dream
Carter Burwell—Burn After Reading
Jon Brion—Synecdoche New York
Alexandre Desplat—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Tropic Thunder—Theodore Shapiro

Best Song
“The Wrestler” Written by Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler
“Little Person” written by Jon Brion and Charlie Kaufman for Synecdoche NY
“Love Me Sexy” Written by Theodore Shapiro & Will Ferrell for Semi-Pro

Best Documentary:
Alex Gibney - Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Tony Kaye – Lake of Fire
James Marsh - Man on Wire
Stephen Walker - Young@Heart
Marina Zenovich – Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Nomination Tally: (Best Picture Nominees in Bold)
12 Doubt
11 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10 Tropic Thunder
6 The Fall
6 Synecdoche NY
4 Hunger
4 Milk
4 The Reader
4 RocknRolla
4 The Wrestler
3 Burn After Reading
3 The Dark Knight
3 Happy Go Lucky
2 Snow Angels
1 Cassandra’s Dream
1 Frozen River
1 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
1 Lake of Fire
1 Man on Wire
1 Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
1 Semi-Pro
1 Sex and the City the Movie
1 Slumdog Millionare
1 Young@Heart

Drew's Thoughts:
I like the Colleens overall this year. I'm happy she used her better judgment and didn't nominate Slumdog for a lot. The Best Score category looks pretty solid though I think she was prejudiced towards the Dark Knight. Hunger, RocknRolla, and The Reader made pretty strong showings, keeping things interesting. The acting noms are solid even though they aren't exactly what I would have chosen. I was wondering if we'd have a (somewhat) dissenting voice on The Wrestler this year and here it is, It should have been recognized for Picture, in my opinion, but I'm glad Doubt, Benjamin Button and Tropic Thunder all showed up in that category. Doubt dominated the Colleens and I'm pretty confident it'll take home the big prize at the Colleens. Screenplay categories look fairly solid though I can't support a screenplay nom for Happy Go Lucky. I wonder if the surprise appearance of Eddie Marsan is too little too late for his hopes of a Dolphin nom. I am surprised with Colleens love of Hunger it didn't take home a nomination for costumes, I'd been predicting it. A nice set of nominations overall, looking forward to the winners cause I think there could be a few surprises.
Joe's thoughts:
A fun year viewing the colleen's this year, always have i greatly respected the judgement of my older sister. Her judgement this year was once again solid, but here are my comments. I'm looking forward to discussing these in person in the future because colleen defends her ideas with great conviction, so everyone should know these noms were well thought out.
happy to see: carter and jon getting love for their amazing scores, The Dark Knight getting a make-up nom in this very competative year of make-up work, the make-up in the dark knight is iconic. Sex and the city getting a costume nom, glad you and me found ways to great sex in their. Also glad wrestler got a costume nom as well, the ripped up parka was genious. Happy synecdoche got a art direct nom, great stuff in that movie. Glad someone gave love to deaks work in the reader, because there were a few memerable shots in that film. Glad someone else beside me gave samatha morton a nom because she got screwed at the other members awards. Really happy to see Eddie Marsen from happy go lucky get some love, i thought he was great and almost gave him a nom, glad to see his performence wasnt forgotten. Glad milk got lots of love as it was one of the better movies of this year, glad to see darren got a director nom, even though the wrestler got left out.
not happy to see: the best movie of the year, the wrestler, get totally shafted, what was up with that? How did the reader get a best pic nomination, not a very good movie at all, shocking to see it nominated. As your awards were very similar to drews i said this before but i have to say it again, how could a screenplay like the dark knight lose out to the reader and the fall, two childish scripts, i dont know how this happened. RocknRolla getting a lot of love. what was the deal, how can you think the rocknrolla script was better then bagheads? oh yeah, get rid of the ensemble category, im sorry but its a cop-out. if you loved them give them an award
things i was confused about: hunger, getting left out of the best pic category, especially when the reader made it. the nom for the actor in hunger, who, only had one scene of dialouge, losing the weight isnt enough. No dark knight for best score, how did that happen
my prediction: doubt takes home the best pic, beating milk in a close race