"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.

Broadcast Film Critics Awards

Full list of winners below:

Cake: A New Chapter in Jennifer Aniston's Career?

Jennifer Aniston, the actress, has never been taken as seriously as she deserves to be. Her work on "Friends", though highly regarded by fans of the show, was much more difficult than many seem to realize. And many regard her work in "The Good Girl" some beautifully nuanced work that was deserving, but ignored, of an Oscar nomination. Since the end of Friends, however, Aniston has been churning out a lot of pretty low-grade comedies, ones that make money, but none that either showcase her comedic talent or challenge audiences.

So when it was announced that Aniston had taken the role of Claire in Daniel Barnz's "Cake", her die-hard fans took notice, but the incredibly small size of the film kept it from being more than a blip on peoples' radars.. that is, until last year's Toronto Film Festival. Though reviews for the film were largely mixed, Aniston received a standing ovation following the film's screening. Since then, she has been promoting the hell out of the film, distributed by the very tiny Cinelou films, and has found herself to be the recipient of nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role from the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and the Broadcast Film Critics. And on Thursday, she will probably be nominated by the Oscars alongside Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Jones and Rosamund Pike; her first career nomination.

Critic's Choice Awards: 12 Years A Slave Wins Best Picture

After a victory at the Oscars, 12 Years A Slave wins another Best Picture honor.

The fight for Best Picture isn't over yet; 12 Years A Slave is putting up a good fight against American Hustle, with Gravity hanging in the wings. 

American Hustle won another Comedy Best Picture award, but unlike the Globes, the Broadcast Film Critics have a separate award entirely for Best Picture of the year, where American Hustle was mentioned. However, Steve McQueen's epic won, giving it some much needed gas in its Oscar campaign tank.

American Hustle did win Best Ensemble however, leaving it in a good position to win the same award at the SAG awards on Saturday. 

Gravity won a bunch of technical honors, an actress award for Sandra Bullock and another award for Alfonso Cuaron. There's clear support for all 3 of these films, and it will be interesting to see how the guilds decide what their choices are.

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Nominations

12 Years A Slave and American Hustle led the pack with 13 nominations a piece. Along with the Globes, the BFCA awards are one of the first televised award show events, which help set up winning momentum and offer the winner a chance to charm potential voting bodies with their speeches/personality.

They're also very famous for trying to predict the Oscars in the main categories, and most of the time they're right

Take a look at the nominations below.