LOS ANGELES -- Oh, what a day ... what a lovely day!
The National Board of Review named Mad Max: Fury Road as the best film of 2015, the first major prize of the movie awards season and a certain turbo boost for the Oscar chances of George Miller's visual masterwork.
It was a bit of an unexpected twist for Miller's many-years-in-the-making fourth installment of the series that debuted in 1979 with Mel Gibson in the title role. The new film was much beloved, with a sterling 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and more than $375 million at the worldwide box office.
But genre films rarely get into the awards conversation -- Avatar was the last such film to have a fighting chance at some heavy hardware. With the nod from the National Board of Review, Fury Road at least enters the conversation that's been taking shape over the past few weeks as prestige holdouts The Revenant, Joy and Hateful Eight screen for critics and Academy voters.
The NBR is by no means a reliable harbinger of Oscar attention: Last year, the 120 or so New York-based film buffs who vote for the award chose A Most Violent Year as their Best Picture, with stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain wearing its laurels, too. None was Oscar-nominated. But the award does serve as a conversation-starter, as it's traditionally announced before verdicts from critics groups, guilds and other Academy Award predictors.
Here's the complete list of the NBR's choices for 2015:
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 Martian
Best 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