Award Season

Mad Max: Fury Road Named Best Film of 2015 By the National Board of Review

The first critics’s awards of the year have a lot of love for blockbusters.
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From Rex USA.

The National Board of Review, an awards-giving organization sometimes known for its stuffy taste, has thrown a true curveball this year, naming Mad Max: Fury Road the best film of 2015. The group of critics and academics, usually the first to announce critic’s awards for film, had room for more than one blockbuster in its affections, naming Ridley Scott and Matt Damon best director and best actor, respectively, for The Martian, and naming Sylvester Stallone as best supporting actor for Creed.

It may be indicative of what a wide-open Oscar season it is that there is so much room for surprise— not just in the films included, like tiny indie Mediterranea or comedy-drama hybrid The Big Short, but in the ones left out; there is no mention of expected awards heavy-hitters like The Revenant, Joy, Carol or Brooklyn. The awards should be an enormous boost for both The Martian and Mad Max, each of them crowd-pleasing blockbusters that some high-minded voters might see as not prestigious enough, as well as for Room, honored for stars Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay and currently trying to continue its wave of buzz from the Toronto International Film Festival. This also should fire up the many critics and all audiences who have yet to see Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which opens December 25.

A complete list of NBR award winners is below.

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 MartianBest 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
The Martian
Room
Sicario
Spotlight
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