Canadian film critics divided on Oscar predictions

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Canadian film critics divided on Oscar predictions

CTV.ca News Staff Published Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:07AM EST Last Updated Friday, May 18, 2012 5:45PM EDT

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Canadian film critics and journalists are undecided about which film will take home Oscar glory this Sunday, almost evenly divided between the ensemble drama "Babel" and mob saga "The Departed."

According to the results of CTV's First Annual Film Media Oscar Poll, 47 per cent of Canada's film critics and entertainment journalists think that "Babel" will come out the Best Picture winner, while 40 per cent have placed their bets with "The Departed."

The quirky road comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" earned just 13 per cent of the vote, while "The Queen" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" weren't even on the radar, with no votes at all for them.

According to the journalists, the only gold that Canada will take home is for The "Danish Poet," the National Film Board production by Torill Kove nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category -- leaving fellow nominees Ryan Gosling, Paul Haggis and Deepa Mehta empty-handed.

Members of the Canadian film media are predicting that Martin Scorsese will win his first-ever Oscar for Best Director, with a solid 87 per cent thinking he'll win for "The Departed," while Clint Eastwood has the favour of just 13 per cent of the vote for "Letters From Iwo Jima."

Not one single film critic selected Canada's Ryan Gosling to win Best Actor for his role in "Half Nelson." Instead, Forest Whitaker is the overwhelming favourite for his role in "The Last King of Scotland," receiving 93 per cent of the vote.

Just as predictably, Helen Mirren locked up votes for the Best Actress category for "The Queen," with 93 per cent of the vote. Absolutely no one selected Judi Dench in "Notes on a Scandal." Instead, Meryl Streep from "The Devil Wears Prada" attracted the remaining 7 per cent of the vote.

Only seven per cent selected Mehta's "Water" to take home the Best Foreign Film Oscar, with a full 67 per cent selecting instead "Pan's Labyrinth."

Among the other notable results:

Canadian film media are united in their predictions that Jennifer Hudson (87 per cent) will win the Best Supporting Actress over Cate Blanchett (13 per cent).
In the Best Supporting Actor category, however, there is more dissension, with Eddie Murphy receiving 60 per cent of the vote over Alan Arkin (20 per cent), Djimon Hounsou (13 per cent) and Jackie Earle Haley (7 per cent).
Paul Haggis received only 13 per cent of the vote in the Best Original Screenplay category (for "Letters from Iwo Jima"), with Canadian critics uncertain about whether the screenplay Oscar will go to "Babel" (40 per cent) or "Little Miss Sunshine" (33 per cent).
According to respondents, Kevin O'Connell's reign as the person to lose the most times at the Oscars will continue when he loses his 18th nomination for Sound Mixing for "Apocalypto" (33 per cent) behind "Dreamgirls" (53 per cent).
Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" appears to have a lock on Best Documentary Feature, earning the support of 93 per cent of respondents.
Two-thirds of respondents (67 per cent) believe that box-office favourite "Happy Feet" will win Best Animated Feature, while the other 33 per cent expect "Cars" to race away the winner.

Conducted between Feb. 12 and 19, CTV's Film Media Oscar锟� Poll asked members of the Canadian film media community to predict the winners of each of the 24 categories for The 79th Annual Academy Awards锟�, airing on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. ET.

Dozens of journalists responded, from media outlets such as The Globe and Mail, National Post, Maclean's, the Toronto Star, Sun Media, Canadian Press and CBC, among others.

The poll was not only predictive, but competitive as well: the journalist selecting the most correct Oscar wins will receive $1,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. The winner will be announced Monday, Feb. 26 by CTV.