DIVERSITY DOMINATES AT SAG AWARDS; SPOTLIGHT WINS ENSEMBLE CAST

We have ourselves an Oscar race! The feeling that The Big Short could have the Best Picture category locked down after its PGA award a week ago was upset tonight by closest rival Spotlight's Ensemble Cast prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards. SAG rarely gives this award to a film that doesn't win one of its four individual acting categories, but this was far from the biggest surprise of the evening: Idris Elba's Supporting Actor win for Beasts of No Nation (one of two for Elba, including a TV award for Luther) makes him the first person in history to win a SAG award for film without a corresponding Oscar nomination. Pair that with the fact that only one TV award for which no POC were nominated went to a white person, and you have quite the statement to the Academy... Check out SAG's film nominations here, and their film awards below:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Brie Larson (Room)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Billy Crudup, Brian d'Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery and Stanley Tucci (Spotlight)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Mad Max: Fury Road

2015 INTERNET FILM CRITIC SOCIETY AWARDS

You likely haven't heard of the Internet Film Critic Society, but then they likely haven't heard of you either, so it's cool. They've chosen Spotlight as their Best Drama of 2015, which looks kinda like a Best Picture prize, until you see all the other awards which also look like Best Picture prizes. These aren't exactly the most radical choices from IFCS. Check them out:

Best Director

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Actor

Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

Best Actress

Brie Larson (Room)

Best Action Film

Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Comedy

The Big Short

Best Drama

Spotlight

Best Experimental Film

Anomalisa

Best Horror or Science Fiction

Ex Machina

Most Underrated Film

Chi-Raq

Worst Film

The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence)

IOWA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS: SPOTLIGHT WINS BEST FILM

As we approach Thursday's Oscar nominations announcement, the mainstream American critics groups enter their final phase. The Iowa Film Critics Association is next, naming Spotlight their favourite film of 2015; it takes three of their 11 awards. After her shock Golden Globe win yesterday, Kate Winslet makes it a double, winning only her second award for Steve Jobs, and her screen partner Michael Fassbender also takes home an award from the IFCA. Check out their top three picks across each of their categories below:

Best Film

1. Spotlight

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Steve Jobs

Best Director

1. Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

2. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

3. Danny Boyle (Steve Jobs)

Best Actor

1. Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

2. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

3. Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)

Best Actress

1. Brie Larson (Room)

2. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

3. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)

2. Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

3. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

2. Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl / Ex Machina)

3. Rooney Mara (Carol)

Best Score

1. Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)

2. Howard Shore (Spotlight)

3. Michael Brook (Brooklyn)

Best Song

1. 'See You Again' (Furious 7)

2. 'One Kind of Love' (Love & Mercy)

3. 'Simple Song #3' (Youth)

Best Animated Film

1. Inside Out

2. Anomalisa

3. Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Documentary

1. Amy

2. Where to Invade Next

3. Listen to Me Marlon

Best Film yet to Open in Iowa

45 Years

ROOM IS THE VANCOUVER FILM CRITICS CIRCLE'S CANADIAN FILM OF THE YEAR

After no film won more than one international award each with the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, voters made their true favourites much clearer with yesterday's Canadian category awards. Only four films were honoured over the 11 national categories, and Room built upon its existing win for Brie Larson in the main Best Actress race with further wins for Film, Actor, Screenplay, and another win for Larson in Actress in a Canadian Film. Check out the nominees here and the existing winners here, and the new winners below:

Best Canadian Film

Room

Best Canadian Documentary

Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World

Best British Columbia Film

Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World

Best Director of a Canadian Film

Andrew Cividino (Sleeping Giant)

Best Actor in a Canadian Film

Jacob Tremblay (Room)

Best Actress in a Canadian Film

Brie Larson (Room)

Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film

Nick Serino (Sleeping Giant)

Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film

Tara Pratt (No Men Beyond This Point)

Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film

Emma Donoghue (Room)

Best First Film by a Canadian Director

Sleeping Giant (Andrew Cividino)

Best Director of a British Columbia Film

Charles Wilkinson (Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World)

2015 BAFTA RISING STAR NOMINEES

Ahead of Friday's BAFTA nominations, those in line for this year's Rising Star award have been announced. Five up-and-coming actors have been selected for the special BAFTA category, which is voted upon by the British public. It's a neat move by the British Academy, inviting public sentiment to play a part in their annual choice of award winners, though some questionable local picks in the past have inspired a more recent shift toward international stars, as BAFTA tries to maintain its relevance on a global scale. Last year's winner was Jack O'Connell. Check out the five nominees for this year below; one will win a BAFTA on the 14th of February.

Rising Star

John Boyega

Taron Egerton

Dakota Johnson

Brie Larson

Bel Powley

NORTH TEXAS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION CHOOSES THE MARTIAN AS BEST PICTURE OF 2015

Ridley Scott's The Martian continues to prove its place in awards season 2015-16 with top award wins from the North Texas Film Critics Association. Although it doesn't take any other titles from the group's admittedly limited slate, the sci-fi / comedy / drama / thriller / who-knows-what-genre did pick up both Best Picture and Best Director. Check out their choices below:

Best Picture

The Martian

Best Director

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress

Brie Larson (Room)

Best Supporting Actor

Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Best Animated Feature

Inside Out

Best Documentary

Amy (Asif Kapadia)

Best Foreign Film

Son of Saul (Nemes Laszlo)

SCI-FI SUCCESSES WITH UTAH FILM CRITICS AWARDS

Another critics group, another Best Picture win for Mad Max: Fury Road. The action epic beat out its sci-fi companion The Martian to the top award with the Utah Film Critics Association, also winning two others. The Martian could only bag one award, claiming the runner-up position in a further three categories. And there's a particularly inspired choice for Best Supporting Actress! Take a look at the UFCA's Spotlight-less winners, and their runners-up, below:

Best Picture

1. Mad Max Fury Road

2. The Martian

Best Directing

1. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

2. Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Best Actor, Male

1. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

2. Matt Damon (The Martian)

Best Actor, Female

1. Brie Larson (Room)

2. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

Best Supporting Actor, Male

1. Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

2. Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina)

Best Supporting Actor, Female

1. Rose Byrne (Spy)

2. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Original Screenplay

1. Inside Out

2. Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. The Martian

2. Brooklyn

Best Cinematography

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. The Revenant

Best Animated

1. Inside Out

2. Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Documentary

1. The Hunting Ground

2. Amy

Best Non-English

1. Timbuktu

2. Son of Saul

REVIEW - ROOM (LENNY ABRAHAMSON)

Some people just have it. Jacob Tremblay just has it. Room is a film about human emotion, in terms that are plain, in a setting that is extraordinary. It manipulates its audience as the best films do but with extra potency, given our limitless fascination with observing apparently average people in undeniably remarkable situations. The success of Room is predicated, thus, upon the success of how it communicates its heavy, highly-charged strain of human emotion, its transmutation of the emotional into the emotive. The burden is largely on the shoulders of its actors, and the film is a success because they are a success. Brie Larson is utterly convincing as the captive young mother betrayed into a life of endless turmoil endlessly shifting; Jacob Tremblay is better still as her son, handling a most complex of roles with amazing sensitivity. You watch him navigate a part that most actors ten times his age would struggle with, respond with honesty and vitality to circumstances neither you nor I, never mind him, could be expected to make sense of, and conclude that he just has it in him. These two succeed, and Room requires them to - otherwise, the key creative principals appear to step back, whether out of good judgement or a lack of innovation. Emma Donoghue's screenplay is so finely attuned to its characters that it leaves little scope for Lenny Abrahamson to construct a film around anything but those characters. We grow to care for them, to the point where the film could have taken several more jolting narrative turns to little effect, but almost never truly feel for them. Emotive it may be, but only on occasions - elsewhere, Room is simply a work of appreciation for two outstanding acting performances.

VFCC VOTES SPOTLIGHT BEST FILM OF 2015

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle has spoken, and chimed in with their counterparts across North America by declaring Spotlight the Best Film of 2015. Their uncontroversial choices include a Best Actor win for Steve Jobs' Michael Fassbender and a Best Actress win for Brie Larson in Room; Lenny Abrahamson's film is nominated in six categories with the VFCC's Canadian awards, the winners of which are due to be revealed at a ceremony on the 6th of January. For the group's nominations, click here, and for their international award winners, see below:

Best Film

Spotlight

Best Director

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Actor

Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

Best Actress

Brie Larson (Room)

Best Supporting Actor

Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

Best Supporting Actress

Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Screenplay

Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa)

Best Documentary

Amy

Best Foreign Language Film

The Assassin

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD WINS FIRST AWARD OF SEASON - NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW

The National Board of Review often bestows its top award of the year on a film based on a literary source; this year, they chose a film based on a legacy of action films and a genius filmmaker's imagination. Mad Max: Fury Road is the (slight) surprise winner of the NBR's Best Film award, joining other less-than-expected choices on their list such as Sicario and Straight Outta Compton on their Top 10 list, major showings for late-breakers Creed and The Hateful Eight, but not for Joy nor The Revenant, and no love for critics fave Carol. Last year, this group chose A Most Violent Year as their Best Film pick - a film that went on to secure zero Oscar nominations total. Check out their full list of winners and other citations below:

Best Film

Mad Max: Fury Road

Bridge of Spies

Creed

The Hateful Eight

Inside Out

The Martian

Room

Sicario

Spotlight

Straight Outta Compton

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 Ensemble

The Big Short

Best Animated Feature

Inside Out

Best Documentary

Amy

Best of Enemies

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

The Diplomat

Listen to Me Marlon

The Look of Silence

Best Foreign Language Film

Son of Saul

Goodnight Mommy

Mediterranea

Phoenix

The Second Mother

The Tribe

Best Independent Film

'71

45 Years

Cop Car

Ex Machina

Grandma

It Follows

James White

Mississippi Grind

Welcome to Me

While We're Young

Best Directorial Debut

Jonas Carpignano (Mediterranea)

Best Breakthrough Actor

Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation)

Jacob Tremblay (Room)

NBR Freedom of Expression Award

Beasts of No Nation

Mustang

Spotlight Award for Outstanding Collaborative Vision

Sicario

William K. Everson Film History Award

Cecilia de Mille Presley

TRAILER #2 FOR ROOM

Early buzz (that is, prior to any official screenings of the film) on Lenny Abrahamson's Room wasn't too hot, but reactions to the drama adaptation after its Telluride premiere a few days ago were considerably warmer. Particular praise, as you'll see in the trailer above, for the film's leads Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay, has emerged as Room makes its way around the festivals this season: alongside Telluride, we have Toronto, Aspen, Vancouver, Mill Valley and London fests on the way. Released theatrically in the US on the 16th of October and in the UK on the 29th of January. This is trailer #2 - trailer #1 is here.