Independent Spirit Award Nominations: "Carol," "Beasts of No Nation" and "Spotlight" Show Strength

The Independent Spirit Awards are hardly predictive of the Oscars; In many cases, they highlight the smaller films that get left out of the overall larger conversation. However, they're important to examine, because of how the high-profile films that do show up here.

So when a film like "Carol," one that is critically acclaimed but sort of an underdog when you look at people's Oscar predictions, leads the nomination count here, that's an important takeaway. It hardly means that the Golden Globes, critics and Oscars will follow the same path, but it shows where some of the heat and momentum is. For right now, at least.

Other leaders are the Netflix film, "Beasts of No Nation" and "Spotlight," while some presumed frontrunners fell a little flat. Take a look for yourself at the full list of nominations below.

Birdman Bounces Back at the Indie Spirits

After experiencing a bit of a bump at the BAFTA's, "Birdman" proved victorious over "Boyhood" at the Independent Spirit Awards.

That's not to say that Boyhood didn't have a chance to shine, however. Both Richard Linklater and Patricia Arquette won trophies for their contributions on the film; it seems like the main contenders have really solidified their positions as winners.

Michael Keaton, however, is still a question mark. Keaton has lost out on the BAFTA and SAG to Eddie Redmayne; he won here because Redmayne's film was not eligible. It'll be interesting to see if he can best Redmayne tomorrow night at the Oscar's given Birdman's frontrunner status.

Full list of winners below.

Birdman Leads Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Read below to find out which films were nominated and which films were left out.

The Independent Spirit Awards will be held on February 21st, 2015.

12 Years A Slave is Triumphant at the Independent Spirit Awards

Yesterday's Independent Spirit Awards proved successful for Best Picture frontrunner 12 Years A Slave. The film won 5 awards, including Supporting Actress, Screenplay, Director, and Picture. Though it had an easier time here due to the absence of American Hustle and Gravity, will it find similar success at tonight's Academy Awards?

Take a look at the full list of winners below. And don't forget to check out the updated Oscar index to see who stands with the most awards before tonight's ceremony!

Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations

The Independent Spirit Awards (nicknamed the Indie Spirits) have risen in prominence in the last few years since their inception back in 1984 (the first ceremony took place a year later). These awards often honor a lot of the smaller films that oftentimes don't find a place in the major awards race (Globes-SAG-BAFTA-Oscar), but have been known to honor those that are destined for Oscar glory. They're a nice award because sometimes, by honoring a lesser known nominee, they spark a flame in that particular nominee's campaign. Sometimes it begins and ends with the Spirits, but sometimes, they can find themselves seated at the Oscar ceremony, awaiting their name to be called.

Either way, the Spirits announced their nominations this morning, and Oscar frontrunner 12 Years A Slave led the pack with 7 nominations, with Alexander Payne's Nebraska trailing not too far behind with 6.

Take a look at the list of major nominees (and my thoughts) below (for the full list of nominations and breakdown by studio, you can go here, where Awards Daily's Sasha Stone has done a good job of compiling everything you need to know). The Independent Spirit Award winners will be announced sometime next year during the telecast; the date has yet to be announced)