The National Board of Review (NBR) named Mad Max: Fury Road the best film of 2015 Tuesday, surprising many who thought the group of 120 New York film fans from would pick a "less action-oriented film," The Wrap reports. The film, directed and produced by George Miller, stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy in the Mad Max series' fourth installment depicting a rebellion against a tyrannical ruler in post-apocalyptic Australia.
While the win is certainly a victory for Mad Max, "don't take this as a sign that Mad Max is all of a sudden guaranteed to be a gate-crasher at the Oscars," writes Kevin Lincoln at Vulture:
Last year the NBR made the genuinely idiosyncratic decision to recognize A Most Violent Year as the best film of 2014, a decision that didn't quite set the dominos falling for J.C. Chandor's mostly under-the-radar '80s crime epic. The year prior they went with Her, which at least snagged an Academy nomination. [Vulture]
This year, NBR selected Ridley Scott as Best Director and Matt Damon as Best Actor for The Martian. Best Actress went to Brie Larson for Room. See the full list of winners at Variety.
