Marianne writes: Movie critic Leonard Maltin offered his Oscar predictions on his show Hot Ticket this weekend. He and his counterpart Joyce Kulhawick offered their takes on who they believe will take home Oscar gold in comparison to who they think should win. Their comments are more favorable to Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in comparison to other critics, who believe it will win but really don’t think it should. Maltin believes Jackson will win for Director, and that he is certainly deserving. That he, like we know, has done something immeasurable, and incomparable to anything else. He’s also predicting a Best Picture win as well saying it would be a crime to deny them the award. He also said that while he admires the other nominees, Return of the King just seems to be in an entirely different category, on a whole other level. Kulhawick said that she actually liked Seabiscuit better, but that she can understand a win for ROTK and would not be upset by it. As for the other nominee’s predictions they were as follows.

Best Actor
Maltin and Kulhawick
Will win – Sean Penn
Should win -Sir Ben Kingsly

Supporting Actor
Maltin
Will/Should – Ken Watanabe
Kulhawick
Will – Benicio Tel Toro
Should – Alec Baldwin

Supporting Actress
Maltin
Will – Renee Zelwegger
Should – Patricia Clarkson
Kulhawick
Will – Renee Zelwegger
Should – Holly Hunter

This was very refreshing to hear critics actaully happy with what they believe will win.