"Mad Max" Leads the Critics Choice Award Nominations

Hot off of its impressive streak with the LA critics and the Golden Globes, "Mad Max" was nominated for an astounding 13 nominations. A film hasn't dominated the nominations this hard since "Black Swan" won 12 nominations back in 2010.

Other films with a strong showing were "Carol" and "The Martian" (9), while there was definitely some substantial support for "Room," "Spotlight" and "Bridge of Spies." Both Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren nabbed nominations for "Tumbo," continuing off of their surprise success with both the SAGS and Globes last week. It would seem as if they're on track to repeat with Oscar, though I personally think the Academy will ultimately pass on them.

See the full list of nominations below. The award will air on January 17.

5 Favorite Golden Globe Nominations

As you may have heard, the annual Golden Globe nominations were announced yesterday, for better or worse depending on who you've been rooting for this awards season.

One thing I'll say, is that the Golden Globes are always the most exciting, bat crazy awards show. They've long eclipsed the Screen Actors Guild and Emmys in relevancy, and honestly, have some better choices than the Oscars in most cases. Last year they made history for nominating the incredible Ava DuVernay for Best Director, the first black woman ever nominated for the award. Oscar did not follow suit. In fact, if you look at their slate of nominees and winners last year, a lot of them are better than what Oscar ultimately picked.

This year's awards race is honestly all over the place, and while the Globes did a better job than SAG at forming a consensus, I still couldn't tell you what films have the edge at this point. But confusion aside, there are some really good nominations here, five of which really stood out to me.

Reacting To The Golden Globe Nominations

I've said it once and I'll say it again: It's a truly strange year. If you were to ask me which film had the edge after yesterday's SAG announcement and now the Globes, I still couldn't give you a confident guess.

"Trumbo" led yesterday's SAG nominations, the strangest occurrence I've ever seen. Today, "Carol" led the Golden Globe nominations, which is less strange, though still doesn't mean it's our frontrunner. The Globes have a long history with Harvey Weinstein, as every awards show does, so I don't know whether to chalk it up to the film's overall excellence or their affinity for Weinstein.

Similarly, "Brooklyn" a film I thought was universally beloved was not embraced as heavily here. "Room" on the other hand, showed some surprising strength, which could be good news for Brie Larson. Saoirse Ronan's surge in Best Actress critics' awards last week should not be overlooked, but if Larson starts winning, then look out.

Take a look at the full list of nominations below.

Screen Actor's Guild Award Nominations

This year's SAG nominations... are all over the place. Wow, I'm not even sure where some of the voters pulled some of these nominees out from.

According to In Contention's Kris Tapley, the strangeness of these nominations might have to do with the incredibly early deadline voters were sidelined with this year, though I'm still puzzled. Absolutely no love for Ridley Scott's, "The Martian" (though that will surely change come tomorrow's announcement from the Golden Globes), and a complete last minute surge from Helen Mirren, with TWO nominations for utterly forgettable roles.

"Spotlight" only managed two nominations: one in the predicted ensemble category, and another for Rachel McAdams who has been largely absent from precursor awards thus far. "Trumbo," featuring Mirren and Bryan Cranston, received three nominations after being critically shrugged off and forgotten about.

"Room" didn't manage an ensemble nomination, but it did land two for Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. The latter really needed this to be taken seriously in a very crowded field. If he gets in tomorrow with the Golden Globes, I think he's in for an Oscar nomination. And "Beasts of No Nation" showed strength as well. Netflix must be breathing a sigh of relief. Again, if it shows up tomorrow with the Globes, it should be taken seriously as a viable contender.

I think a lot of these nominations are largely irrelevant, however, and based purely on early buzz and the campaigning.

See the full list of nominees below.

Second Round of Critics' Awards: Consensus Forming (Kind Of)

The Boston, Los Angeles and New York Online critics all revealed the winners of their awards today. This follows the announcements from the National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle and the Gotham Awards.

There's no one film that's dominating the Best Picture prizes in the way that "Boyhood" did last year, but it's worth noting that "Carol" cleaned up with the NYFCC, and "Mad Max" is finding wide support despite being a summer film. If there's anything these critics prizes are telling us, it's that there's a lot of love for a lot of different films. It's still anyone's game to win at this point.

Take a look at the winners from all three groups below.

First Round of Industry & Critics' Awards: What Do They Tell Us?

It's that time of the year. After consistent guessing and predicting, we are finally starting to get a look at what films truly have the heat going into the Oscar race... at least for right now.

With the Independent Spirit Awards announcing their nominees last week, the Gotham Awards awarding their winners a few days ago, and now announcements from The National Board of Review and The New York Film Critics Circle, things are starting to fall in place... well sort of.

To be fair, these precursors do not decide the Oscars. If you remember back in 2010 when "The Social Network" won every critics award for Best Picture there was, and then went on to lose the Producer's Guild, SAG Ensemble Award and the Oscar, that fact is all too clear in your mind. But again, why these awards are important is because they show what films have heat and what films don't. They can sometimes translate into Oscar success ("The Artist" in 2011, for example) but in a mixed bag of a year like this one, where there is no clear consensus, it's a total toss up.

So, let's examine the first round of winners, shall we?

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.

BAFTA Winners: Boyhood Makes a Comeback!

"Birdman" may have sailed to frontrunner status with wins at the PGA, DGA and SAG, "Boyhood" hit the ground running at the BAFTA's, winning in Supporting Actress, Director and Picture. Birdman, on the other picked up a win with Cinematography, with Eddie Redmayne (expectedly) walking away with the Best Actor trophy. He is the favorite to win the Oscar at this point.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" also picked up some major wins; it's clear that the enthusiasm is spread between these three films; but which one is going to end up on top come Oscar time?

Take a look at the full list of winners below.

"Birdman" Poised to Win Best Picture

In what must be the most unexpected surge towards Best Picture in recent history, director Alejandro González Iñárritu picked up the big win at last night's DGA awards, fresh off of his film's wins with the PGA and SAG a few weeks ago. Though it certainly seemed like this would b Richard Linklater's trophy to lose, "Birdman" has solidified itself as the film to beat for the top prize with the Oscars in a few weeks.

SAG Winners

Full list of winners below.

Broadcast Film Critics Awards

Full list of winners below:

*Yawn* DGA Nominations

Ava DuVernay was left off of the DGA shortlist this morning in favor of Clint Eastwood and Morten Teldum. 

In hindsight, awards don't mean anything. Year after year great films are produced and go unnoticed by voters in favor of mediocre awards-bait.

But what's so disappointing, is that a film that is not only great (the best of the year) on ever level, but socially relevant, is being shut out of awards contention. And as I sit here typing these words, maybe that's why "Selma" is being snubbed by all of the guilds (PGA, SAG and now the DGA).

Recap: Last Night's Golden Globes

Margaret Keane's best "Big Eyes" painting was in attendance at last night's ceremony.

If there's anything learned watching last night's Golden Globes, it's that the HFPA really is into doing their own thing. Several categories went in a completely different direction, awarding the underdogs in their respective races. It seems like the Globes are really trying their best to distance themselves away from the organization that nominated "The Tourist" back in 2011, especially in regards to the television categories.

"Selma" Snubbed Again at the BAFTA's

It's honestly mind-blowing to me that the year's best film is having such a hard time with awards season. Though I suppose a lot of the blame has to be placed upon distributor Paramount for the lack of screeners being released to voters, and the hackneyed release (though that apparently has to do with how late team "Selma" was in finishing the final cut of the film).

Still, the fact that BAFTA did not give the film a single nomination is a clear snub. Instead, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" showed some very robust, and unexpected strength and managed 11 nominations, the most for any film this year.

"The Theory of Everything" predictably did very well with BAFTA, while "Boyhood", "The Imitation Game" and "Birdman" continued their status as top-tier contenders.

See the full list of nominations (and commentary) below.

PGA Nominees: Selma Snubbed

When it comes to predicting the Oscar's Best Picture line up, the Producer's Guild is the most important precursor there is. They're usually pretty accurate, though there are often 1 or 2 that miss with Oscar (last year's "Blue Jasmine", 2012's "Skyfall", 2011's "Bridesmaids").

The biggest surprise looking at this year's list of nominees, is in the inclusion of Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" and Dan Gilroy's "Nightcrawler"  and the exclusion of Ava DuVernay's "Selma". In the case of Nightcrawler, the film seems to be beloved by many; Jake Gyllenhaal's performance has received substantial acclaim and the film itself is popping up in many other Best Picture lists, but it's always been perceived as an Oscar play for Gyllenhaal and not a serious Best Picture play. American Sniper, on the other hand, has received some positive reviews (mainly for leading man Bradley Cooper) and won big with the NBR, but hasn't really popped up anywhere else. Eastwood always registers better with the Academy, however, so I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

But the fact it made it in over the universally acclaimed Selma, is shocking to me, and hopefully not telling of what's to come with Oscar. Both films have yet to expand in wide release, but have been doing very well at the box office. If anything, I think Selma will eventually edge out Nightcrawler come Oscar morning.

Despite raking in some major money over the holidays, neither Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" or Rob Marshall's "Into the Woods" could find any love here. In the case of Jolie, her film failed to live up to the monumental expectations dumped upon it as the frontrunner from the moment it was announced. Woods, on the other hand, received some great notices, but not as a Best Picture play. That shouldn't keep it from receiving attention for Meryl Streep and the craft/tech work.

The big winner though, is "The Grand Budapest Hotel", which has been receiving just about every nod it needed to overcome its early release date, including SAG, the Globes and now the PGA. I think it has what it takes to be one of the film's with the most nominations. And "Whiplash", once seen as a vehicle for eventual Best Supporting Actor winner J.K. Simmons, could squeak in on passion as "the little indie that could". It'll be interesting to see what eventually ends up on Oscar's shortlist.

See the full list of nominees below.

Golden Globe Predictions: Boyhood vs. Selma?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this has been the strangest Oscar season in recent history. All of the contenders have been seen, and though "Boyhood" cleaned up the critic's awards, we still don't have a true frontrunner (remember, critics don't vote for the Oscars, just ask "The Social Network"). Next Sunday, the first major awards group from phase 2 (post-critics) will announce their winners: The Golden Globes. 

In recent years, the Globes have become a pretty substantial precursor, at least in predicting the nominees (sometimes you can win a Golden Globe and it doesn't really do much for winning momentum, ex: Jessica Chastain of "Zero Dark Thirty"). This year especially, the Globes seem to be trying to establish themselves as a serious awards body; gone is the group who nominated Angelina Jolie for just about anything ("The Tourist"); she and "Unbroken" were completely shut out this year in favor of non-household names such as Ava DuVernay ("Selma"). 

Speaking of DuVernay, her film is picking up a lot of (deserved) steam in this race, giving "Boyhood" quite the run for its money, heading into phase 2. That late release date barred its inclusion from many of the critic's awards and SAG, but its recognition at the Globes, the worldwide acclaim and assured box office success should give it all it needs to clean up nomination-wise at the Oscars in the coming weeks. If Richard Linklater and company have anyone to worry about at the Globes next Sunday, its team "Selma". 

Read my predictions, complete with commentary, below.

Critics, Globes & SAG: What Do They Tell Us?

I can't remember the last time an Oscar race was so unpredictable; though "Boyhood" is the "critical favorite" of this year, I don't know if it's our Best Picture winner yet. "Birdman" is the film that's getting the most notices in many of the other craft categories, while "The Theory of Everything" and "The Imitation Game" are playing well for Academy members, and showed surprising strength over more ensemble-like fair such as "Into the Woods" with the Screen Actors Guild. Then there are critical favorites like "Nightcrawler" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" that are winning traction outside of the categories they were originally predicted in. Waiting in the wings, is Ava Duvernay's MLK biopic, "Selma", which is poised to one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, not to mention, it's Academy friendly material that appeals to the zeitgeist. In other words, it's a real toss up.

Let's see who is up and who is down after the busy week.

Golden Globe Nominations

See the full list of Film nominees below.

21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations

Full nomination list (and reactions) below.