Movies News
Mirren, Whitaker & Scorsese big winners in Critic's Choice Awards
By M&C Movie News
Jan 14, 2007, 6:03 GMT

Los Angeles, CA  (M&C) -- The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the winners of the 12th annual Critics' Choice Awards at a star-studded ceremony January 12 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

E! Entertainment Television will broadcast this year's gala on Saturday, January 20th at 9:00pm ET/PT.

"Little Miss Sunshine" and "Dreamgirls" took home the most awards of the night, receiving four Critics' Choice Awards each.

"Little Miss Sunshine" received wins for Best Acting Ensemble, Best Writer for Michael Arndt, Best Young Actor for Paul Dano and Best Young Actress for Abigail Breslin.

"Dreamgirls" also took home four awards including Best Supporting Actor for Eddie Murphy, Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Hudson, Best Song for Beyoncé Knowles' "Listen" and Best Soundtrack.

"The Departed" took home two awards in the coveted categories of Best Picture and Best Director for Martin Scorsese.

Helen Mirren took home the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress for her performance in "The Queen" and Forest Whitaker won Best Actor honors for his role in "The Last King of Scotland."

"Charlotte's Web" was named the Critics' Choice for Best Family Film and "Borat" received the award for Best Comedy Movie.

Other winners included "Cars" as Best Animated Feature, "Letters From Iwo Jima" as Best Foreign Language Film and "An Inconvenient Truth" as Best Documentary.

Presenters at the gala included: Steve Spielberg, Jennifer Garner, Penelope Cruz , Sienna Miller,
Aaron Eckhart, Christian Slater, Jessica Biel, Spike Lee, Maria Bello, Cuba Gooding Jr., Emilio
Estevez, Martin Sheen, Emile Hirsch, Greg Kinnear, Jon Favreau, Alan Arkin, Cederic the
Entertainer, Marcia Gay Harden, Sophia Bush, Toni Collette, Fred Willard and Jon Heder.

Nominees in attendance included: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Forest Whitaker, Greg
Kinnear, Toni Collette, Penelope Cruz, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, Martin Scorsese, Zach Helm,
Catherine O'Hara, Clint Eastwood, Bill Condon, Eddie Murphy, Spike Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen,
Ryan Gosling, Emilio Estevez, Alan Arkin, Adriana Barraza, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning,
Stephen Frears, Tom Field and Tom Perrotta, William Monahan, Paul Greengrass, Rinki
Kikuchi, Peter Morgan, Cameron Bright, Abigail Breslin, Adam Beach, Michael Arndt, Joseph
Cross, Paul Dano, Guillermo Arriaga, Keke Palmer, Ivana Baquero, Clint Mansell, Gustavo
Santaolalla, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, Melissa Etheridge and Bryan Adams.

The 200 members of the BFCA (Monsters and Critics own Anne Brodie one of them) the largest film critics' organization in the United States and Canada, representing television, radio and online critics, selected nominees in each of 19 categories.

The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement.  Eligible films were released in 2006. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots.

Historically, the Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

THE 12TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS WINNERS

BEST PICTURE:
The Departed

BEST ACTOR:
Forest Whitaker - "The Last King of Scotland"

BEST ACTRESS:
Helen Mirren - "The Queen"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Eddie Murphy - "Dreamgirls"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Jennifer Hudson - "Dreamgirls"

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
Little Miss Sunshine

BEST DIRECTOR:
Martin Scorsese - "The Departed"

BEST WRITER:
Michael Arndt - "Little Miss Sunshine"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
"Cars"

BEST YOUNG ACTOR:
Paul Dano - "Little Miss Sunshine"

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS:
Abigail Breslin - "Little Miss Sunshine"

BEST COMEDY MOVIE:
Borat

BEST FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION):
Charlotte's Web

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION:
Elizabeth I

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Letters from Iwo Jima

BEST SONG:
"Listen" - Beyonce - "Dreamgirls"

BEST SOUNDTRACK:
Dreamgirls

BEST COMPOSER:
Philip Glass - "The Illusionist"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
An Inconvenient Truth