If you hadn’t noticed, we are venturing into yet another Oscar season, as evident by the National Board of Review having handed out some awards. Some of the winners are no-brainers, but there are also a fair share of surprises in the mix.
Best Film: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Director: Ridley Scott – The Martian
Best Actor: Matt Damon – The Martian
Best Actress: Brie Larson – Room
Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone – Creed
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Best Adapted Screenplay: Drew Goddard – The Martian
Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
Breakthrough Performance: Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation & Jacob Tremblay – Room
Best Directorial Debut: Jonas Carpignano – Mediterranea
Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Best Documentary: Amy
William K. Everson Film History Award: Cecilia De Mille Presley
Best Ensemble: The Big Short
Spotlight Award: Sicario, for Outstanding Collaborative Vision
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Beasts of No Nation & Mustang
Top Films
Bridge of Spies
Creed
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Spotlight
The Martian
Room
Sicario
Straight Outta Compton
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Goodnight Mommy
Mediterranea
Phoenix
The Second Mother
The Tribe
Top 5 Documentaries
Best of Enemies
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Diplomat
Listen to Me Marlon
The Look of Silence
Top 10 Independent Films
’71
45 Years
Cop Car
Ex Machina
Grandma
It Follows
James White
Mississippi Grind
Welcome to Me
While We’re Young
The Martian racking up some major awards is quite shocking. It’s a very good movie, but in almost every winning category you can find a more worthy candidate. Awarding Matt Damon the achievement in acting almost seems out of left field considering the hype behind Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant (it has been screened for this stuff; even I have seen the film already and personally believe that he gives the best leading role performance from a male actor this year). The same goes for Adapted Screenplay; Room, Brooklyn, Spotlight, and The Revenant are all far more worthy.
There are no surprises within female competition, as Brie Larson should continue stockpiling acting awards for her incredible performance in Room. It’s also interesting to see that The Hateful Eight was screened for competition, but I don’t need to see it winning awards to know that the movie will be anything less than outstanding.
Go Sylvester Stallone, he’s great in Creed. Yo Adrian , I WON AN OSCAR!!!!!!
Inside Out getting recognition in the animation department is surprising to literally no one.
I like that both Abraham Attah and Jacob Tremblay both got recognized for their amazing performances as child actors taking part in highly sensitive and taboo material. If both ended up nominated for Oscars I would be ecstatic.
I’m not sure what the hell that award for Sicario is, but goddamnit I’m just happy it won something.
The notion of awarding movies for freedom of artistic expression is a great idea that I support, and while I have seen Beasts of No Nation, I’m now considerably more intrigued by Mustang.
Everyone should check out the selections for independent and foreign films, as most of them are very good. Goodnight Mommy and It Follows are the stuff of nightmares, while Cop Car, Ex Machina, Mississippi Grind, and While We’re Young (although Mistress America is 2015’s superior Noah Baumbach film) all rule.
I haven’t seen many documentaries this year, but Amy seems like the obvious choice for the category; it’s soul-crushingly depressing and will make audiences despise the paparazzi, although hopefully they already hate those scumbags.
It’s cool seeing The Big Short win for its ensemble cast, as I’m now far more excited for its release next week while scratching my head wondering if all the A-level talent involved can really outshine the top-notch quality on display in Spotlight.
With all that out of the way, it’s time to touch upon the elephant in the room; Mad Max: Fury Road. Seriously, good for this movie being officially hailed as the best of its class. I really do hope it goes all the f****** way and wins the Oscar for Best Picture, not just because it’s probably the best action movie I’ve seen this decade, but to shake things up in the winners department of films that, while very good, are really pretentious or historically important to the point where mainstream audiences are just turned off.
What confounds me however is how this board can officially name Mad Max: Fury Road the absolute best film of 2015, without giving it any other award. They didn’t even throw it a bone in their little category for the best films of the year! That’s like the Academy awarding Best Picture to a movie they didn’t even nominate, or The Town getting a Best Picture nomination without Ben Affleck getting nod for Best Director. Oh wait…
Nevertheless, all of the major candidates are jockeying for position in the upcoming awards race, and it’s looking to be a fun one. The Danish Girl AKA Oscar Bait: The Movie even got shut out! Let’s keep it that way! Joy is also absent, which is telling that it must really suck, as the Academy and David O. Russell are practically a couple.
It’s also worth noting that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was not screened for consideration here (along with Sisters for those of you holding out on a John Cena Supporting Acting nomination or some nonsense).
Things will continue to be shaken up with the Golden Globe nominations being revealed next week, so stay alert for more awards season news along with my expert analysis.
Robert Kojder – An aficionado of film, wrestling, and gaming. Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook
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