Star Wars: The Force Awakens is another notable absence, although for good reason: Disney is choosing to forego part of the awards race in an attempt to keep the movie’s plot details under wraps. Room star Brie Larson was named best actress, with her co-star Jacob Tremblay receiving an award for breakthrough performance, which he shares with fellow young actor Abraham Attah from Beasts of No Nation.
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Director George Miller, center, speaks alongside Charlize Theron, left, and Tom Hardy during a press conference for the film Mad Max: Fury Road at the 68th global film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 14, 2015. The movie is based on a novel by Emma Donoghue.
The National Board of Review, a set of film fanatics and teachers, eschewed a number of of the prime unbiased contenders, like the journalism drama “Spotlight” (the massive victor at Monday night time’s Gotham Independent Film Awards) and the Nineteen Fifties romance “Carol”. Sylvester Stallone won supporting actor for reprising his iconic role as Rocky Balboa in “Creed”. Not often within the past decades. Mad Max received appreciation from the audience as well as critics when it was released. Since 1995, only three of the National Board of Review’s picks (“American Beauty”, “No Country for Old Men”, and “Slumdog Millionaire”) have gone on to take the big prize at the Oscars.
The board also lists its top movies beyond the best picture. But the organization doesn’t always foreshadow Oscar winners, as was shown last year when A Most Violent Year was shut out and the first NBR victor in 15 years not to be nominated by the Academy.
This is obviously huge news for those of us (yes, I’m one of them) who consider Fury Road a contender for Best Picture at the Oscars, and serves to further cement this film’s reputation as a science-fiction/fantasy story that digs deep into the minds of its viewers.
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Will “Max” find its name on the shortlist when Oscar nominees are announced?
