REVIEW OF 2015 - BEST PERFORMANCE

1. Rooney Mara (Carol)

2. Nina Hoss (Phoenix)

3. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

4. Margherita Buy (Mia Madre)

5. Jacob Tremblay (Room)

6. Ben Mendelsohn (Mississippi Grind)

7. Cate Blanchett (Carol)

8. Emmanuelle Bercot (Mon Roi)

9. Ian McKellen (Mr. Holmes)

10. Emory Cohen (Brooklyn)

11. Jane Fonda (Youth)

12. Kwon So Hyun (Madonna)

13. Ben Vereen (Time Out of Mind)

14. Deragh Campbell (Stinking Heaven)

15. Angela Bassett (Chi-Raq)

16. Regina Case (The Second Mother)

17. Tallie Medel (Stinking Heaven)

18. Ralph Ineson (The Witch)

19. Lea Drucker (The Blue Room)

20. Mya Taylor (Tangerine)

21. Karim Pakachakov (Under Electric Clouds)

22. Elmer Back (Eisenstein in Guanajuato)

23. Giovanni Pucci (Mon Roi)

24. Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation)

25. Tom Courtenay (45 Years)

26. Shu Qi (The Assassin)

27. Conor McCarron (Catch Me Daddy)

28. Carey Mulligan (Suffragette)

29. Christopher Plummer (Remember)

30. Duane Howard (The Revenant)

2015 ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Kudos to the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Their picks for the best in film of 2015 may not be game-changing fare, but they make some wise choices that set them out from the pack, choices like Charlotte Rampling for Best Actress in 45 Years, and Phyllis Nagy for Best Adapted Screenplay for Carol. Well deserved, ladies! Alas, Spotlight still takes top honours, but baby steps in the right direction are, at least, still in the right direction. Have a look at the AWFJ's nominations here, and their winners below:

AWFJ EDA 'Best Of' Awards

Best Film

Spotlight

Best Director (Female or Male)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress

Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)

Best Screenplay, Original

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Best Screenplay, Adapted

Phyllis Nagy (Carol)

Best Cinematography

Edward Lachman (Carol)

Best Editing

Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Film Music or Score

Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)

Best Ensemble Cast

Spotlight

Best Animated Film

Inside Out (Ronnie del Carmen and Pete Docter)

Best Documentary

Amy (Asif Kapadia)

Best Non-English-Language Film

Son of Saul (Nemes Laszlo)

EDA Female Focus Awards

Best Woman Director

Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl)

Best Woman Screenwriter

Emma Donoghue (Room)

Best Breakthrough Performance

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl / Ex Machina / Testament of Youth)

Best Female Action Star

Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Female Icon of the Year Award (a woman whose work in film and/or in life made a difference)

Chantal Akerman - In Memoriam for being a great filmmaker and an inspiration

EDA Special Mention Awards

Actress Defying Age and Ageism

Charlotte Rampling

Lily Tomlin

Best Depiction of Nudity, Sexuality or Seduction

Anomalisa

Carol

Movie You Wanted to Love, but Just Couldn't

The Danish Girl

Actress Most in Need of a New Agent

Emma Stone (Aloha)

Most Egregious Age Difference between the Lead Character and the Love Interest

Katarina Cas (born 1976) and Al Pacino (born 1940) (Danny Collins)

SPOTLIGHT WINS NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS AWARD

The National Society of Film Critics shocked Oscar watchers today by announcing Tom McCarthy's Spotlight the best film of 2015. NSFC published its vote counts for its top three in each category, highlighting those unequivocal winners like Charlotte Rampling, Mark Rylance and Kristen Stewart in the acting categories, and the much closer races. Particularly tight was the Best Director race, while low figures in Best Actor go to show just how uncertain that category has been this year. There were welcome citations, like 2nd place for The Assassin's Lee Ping Bin in Cinematography, and less welcome ones, like Amy winning yet another Documentary prize with a no-show for The Look of Silence. Amy's win and Spotlight's were unusually mainstream picks for the normally arthouse-friendly society - last year, it chose Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language 3D. Have a look at all their picks for 2015 below:

Best Picture

1. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) - 23
2. Carol (Todd Haynes) - 17
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) - 13

Best Director
1. Todd Haynes (Carol) - 21
2. Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) - 21*
3. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) - 20

Best Actor

1. Michael B. Jordan (Creed) - 29
2. Rohrig Geza (Son of Saul) - 18
3. Tom Courtenay (45 Years) - 15

Best Actress

1. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) - 57
2. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) - 30
3. Nina Hoss (Phoenix) - 22

Best Supporting Actor

1. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) - 56
2. Michael Shannon (99 Homes) - 16
3. Sylvester Stallone - (Creed) - 14

Best Supporting Actress

1. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria) - 53
2. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) - 23
3. Elizabeth Banks (Love & Mercy) - 17
=  Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs) - 17

Best Screenplay

1. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight) - 21
2. Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa) - 15
=  Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short) - 15

Best Cinematography

1. Edward Lachman (Carol) - 25
2. Lee Ping Bin (The Assassin) - 22
3. John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road) - 12

Best Non-Fiction Film
1. Amy (Asif Kapadia) - 23
2. In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman) - 18
3. Seymour: An Introduction (Ethan Hawke) - 15

Best Foreign Language Film
1. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako) - 22
2. Phoenix (Christian Petzold) - 20
3. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao Hsien) - 16

Film Heritage Award
Association Chaplin (for supervising the digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin's Essanay Films)
The Criterion Collection and L'Immagine Ritrovata (for the restoration and packaging of the reconstructed version of The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Michelle Materre and Jake Perlin (for the series Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-1986)

Special Citation
One Floor Below (Radu Muntean)

*Lower placement due to featuring on fewer ballots

2015 VILLAGE VOICE FILM POLL RESULTS!

A belated post recognising the Village Voice's excellent picks for the best in film this year. The publication's critics convened to make choices across a variety of categories and posted the results online: Mad Max: Fury Road was top for Best Film and Director, while there were surprising but strong wins in the acting categories for Son of Saul's Rohrig Geza and 45 Years' Charlotte Rampling. The lists were long, so I've edited them to the top ten in each (Screenplay edited to include the ten highest-ranking original works and the ten highest adaptations), as only these ten will count toward the SOS Critics' Tally.

Best Film

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Carol

3. Spotlight

4. Phoenix

5. Tangerine

6. Anomalisa

7. Inside Out

8. Clouds of Sils Maria

9. Brooklyn

10. The Assassin

Best Director

1. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

2. Todd Haynes (Carol)

3. Hou Hsiao Hsien (The Assassin)

4. Nemes Laszlo (Son of Saul)

5. Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

6. Aleksei German (Hard to Be a God)

7. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

8. Evan Johnson and Guy Maddin (The Forbidden Room)

=  Spike Lee (Chi-Raq)

=  Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu)

Best Actor

1. Rohrig Geza (Son of Saul)

2. Michael B. Jordan (Creed)

3. Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

4. Peter Sarsgaard (Experimenter)

5. Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

6. Ben Mendelsohn (Mississippi Grind)

7. Christopher Abbott (James White)

8. Tom Courtenay (45 Years)

9. Matt Damon (The Martian)

10. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress

1. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

2. Nina Hoss (Phoenix)

3. Brie Larson (Room)

4. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

5. Cate Blanchett (Carol)

6. Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

7. Rooney Mara (Carol)

8. Bel Powley (The Diary of a Teenage Girl)

9. Juliette Binoche (Clouds of Sils Maria)

10. Arielle Holmes (Heaven Knows What)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

2. Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

3. Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)

4. Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

5. Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina)

6. Emory Cohen (Brooklyn)

7. Benicio del Toro (Sicario)

8. Jacob Tremblay (Room)

9. Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

10. Liev Schreiber (Spotlight)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)

2. Rooney Mara (Carol)

3. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

4. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

5. Mya Taylor (Tangerine)

6. Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

7. Cynthia Nixon (James White)

8. Elizabeth Banks (Love & Mercy)

9. Jada Pinkett Smith (Magic Mike XXL)

10. Rose Byrne (Spy)

Best Screenplay

1. Spotlight

2. Carol

3. Mistress America

4. Anomalisa

5. Ex Machina

6. The Big Short

=  Chi-Raq

=  The Duke of Burgundy

=  Steve Jobs

10. 45 Years

=   Brooklyn

=   Clouds of Sils Maria

=   The Diary of a Teenage Girl

=   The End of the Tour

=   The Hateful Eight

16. Bridge of Spies

=   Inside Out

=   Love & Mercy

=   Timbuktu

20. Amour Fou

=   The Assassin

=   Bone Tomahawk

=   Dope

=   Experimenter

=   The Fool

=   The Forbidden Room

=   Gemma Bovery

=   Grandma

=   Heart of a Dog

=   Heaven Knows What

=   Jauja

=   Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

=   Mad Max: Fury Road

=   Phoenix

=   The Princess of France

=   Results

=   La Sapienza

=   Tangerine

=   Trainwreck

Best Animated Feature

1. Inside Out

2. Anomalisa

3. Shaun the Sheep Movie

4. The Boy and the World

5. When Marnie Was There

=  World of Tomorrow

7. Cheatin'

=  The Good Dinosaur

=  Mad Max: Fury Road

=  Minions

=  The Peanuts Movie

=  Unfriended

Best Documentary

1. The Look of Silence

2. Amy

3. Listen to Me Marlon

4. In Jackson Heights

5. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

=  Heart of a Dog

7. Approaching the Elephant

=  Call Me Lucky

9. Best of Enemies

=  The Hunting Ground

Best Undistributed Film

1. Chevalier

2. Right Now, Wrong Then

3. 88:88

=  The Academy of Muses

=  Cosmos

=  Embers

=  How Heavy This Hammer

=  The Lobster

=  One Floor Below

=  Pervert Park

=  Uncle Kent 2

Best First Feature

1. The Diary of a Teenage Girl

2. The Mend

=  Son of Saul

4. Ex Machina

5. Mustang

6. James White

=  The Tribe

8. Approaching the Elephant

=  Appropriate Behaviour

10. Bone Tomahawk

=   Court

=   The Gift

Movie Everyone Is Wrong About

1. Jupiter Ascending

2. Sicario

3. Aloha

=  The Big Short

=  Mad Max: Fury Road

=  The Revenant

7. By the Sea

=  Crimson Peak

=  Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

10. Anomalisa

=   Burnt

=   Carol

=   Chappie

=   Creed

=   Ex Machina

=   The Hateful Eight

=   Steve Jobs

=   The Tribe

=   Tomorrowland

Worst Film

1. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

2. Jurassic World

3. The Cobbler

4. The Human Centipede III (Full Sequence)

5. Entourage

6. Youth

7. Chappie

8. Jupiter Ascending

9. Son of Saul

10. The Danish Girl

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD WINS AT FLORIDA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS

The Florida Film Critics Circle's batch of fine nominations turned into a batch of fine winners yesterday. The group's final voting saw nomination runner-up Mad Max: Fury Road edge ahead of leader Carol and Oscar frontrunner Spotlight to win the circle's Best Picture award alongside three other category victories. Among their other choices for both winners and runners-up were some excellent choices, including The Assassin, Tangerine and Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years. Check out their picks below:

Best Picture

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Spotlight

Best Director

1. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

2. Todd Haynes (Carol)

Best Actor

1. Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

2. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress

1. Brie Larson (Room)

2. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina)

2. Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)

2. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Best Original Screenplay

1. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

2. Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig (Mistress America)

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

2. Phyllis Nagy (Carol)

Best Cinematography

1. John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)

2. Edward Lachman (Carol)

Best Art Direction / Production Design

1. Carol

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Score

1. Love & Mercy

2. Carol

Best Ensemble

1. Spotlight

2. Tangerine

Best Animated Film

1. Inside Out

2. Anomalisa

Best Documentary

1. Amy

2. Heart of a Dog

Best Foreign Language Film

1. The Assassin

2. Mommy

Pauline Kael Breakout Award

1. Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

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

INDIEWIRE'S 2015 CRITICS POLL RESULTS - MAD MAX: FURY ROAD IS FILM OF THE YEAR

Who'd have guessed that Mad Max: Fury Road would top another critics poll? Everybody. The many, many journalists on the IndieWire network have named George Miller's new film the best of 2015, and Miller the best director of the year too. Have a look at their picks below, with Best Film above the cut and other categories after:

Best Film

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Carol

3. Spotlight

4. Inside Out

5. Phoenix

6. Brooklyn

7. Anomalisa

8. The Assassin

9. The Look of Silence

10. Son of Saul

11. Ex Machina

12. Clouds of Sils Maria

13. Tangerine

14. 45 Years

15. Room

16. The Duke of Burgundy

17. Timbuktu

18. Arabian Nights: Volume 1 - The Restless One / Arabian Nights: Volume 2 - The Desolate One / Arabian Nights: Volume 3 - The Enchanted One

19. Creed

20. Hard to Be a God

21. Taxi

22. Heaven Knows What

23. It Follows

24. The Tribe

25. Sicario

26. The Forbidden Room

27. In Jackson Heights

28. The Martian

29. Mistress America

30. Steve Jobs

31. The Mend

32. Jauja

33. The Diary of a Teenage Girl

34. Chi-Raq

35. Heart of a Dog

36. Horse Money

37. Magic Mike XXL

38. Amy

39. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

40. The Big Short

41. Eden

42. Experimenter

43. About Elly

44. The Revenant

45. The End of the Tour

46. Bridge of Spies

47. Queen of Earth

48. Li'l Quinquin

49. Mustang

50. Love & Mercy