Another expected, nothing-new, run-of-the-mill 2008 award roster arrived yesterday from the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association, a group of 46 DC, Virginia and Maryland-based film critics from television, radio, print and the internet. Is any critics group going to go rogue or wildcat on us over the next two or three weeks? Is any group at all saying to say, “The prevailing winds on Best Picture are well and good, but we don’t happen subscribe to them”?

Of course not. Everyone is going to vote for Slumdog Millionaire as Best Picture, no matter what. Because doing this puts the voter into a nice, safe, warm and cuddly place. A place that will result in smiles and hugs and mistletoe and cups of egg nog. Is anyone going to stand up with me and salute the best film of the year, hands down — i.e., Che? Are any critics outside of Chicago going to stand up for The Dark Knight or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Revolutionary Road?

WAFCA went for Slumdog Millionaire as Best Film, SM‘s Danny Boyle as Best Director, The Wrestler‘s Mickey Rourke as Best Actor, Doubt‘s Meryl Streep as Best Actress,

the Doubt gang as Best Ensemble, The Dark Knight‘s Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor, Rachel Getting Married‘s Rosemarie DeWitt as Best Supporting Actress, Let The Right One In as Best Foreign-Language Film and Man on Wire as Best Documentary.