--- description: "Spotlight" won Best Picture and "Mad Max: Fury Road" took home three awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association title: 'Spotlight' and 'Mad Max' Get Love From the Los Angeles Film Critics Association image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cf83ed31d6420b7/69887410e20a87480ba8e81f/spotlight-film2.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Spotlight_ and _Mad Max_ Get Love From the Los Angeles Film Critics Association  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 7, 2015 5:41 PM CUT  Spotlight. Spotlight.Open Road Films  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 7, 2015 5:41 PM CUT The Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted on its top films and performances of 2015 Sunday night, capping off a week of movie awards that has seen love showered on a diverse array of films. The association, which formed in 1975 and includes 55 of the city’s top critics, hands out 15 annual awards in addition to a special citation recognizing the body of work by an industry veteran. While LAFCA’s top honor went to _Spotlight_, which also won Best Picture at last week’s [Gotham Awards](http://time.com/4130610/spotlight-gotham-movie-awards/ "undefined"), the group diverged from other award-giving bodies (namely the [National Board of Review](http://time.com/4131668/mad-max-national-board-of-review/ "undefined") and [New York Film Critics Circle](http://time.com/4132996/carol-new-york-film-critics-circle-awards/ "undefined")) on several categories. In the acting categories, Michael Fassbender won Best Actor for his portrayal of the title character in the [non-biopic biopic](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/10/16/aaron-sorkin-doesnt-want-people-calling-the-steve-jobs-biopic-a-biopic/ "undefined") _Steve Jobs_, and Michael Shannon won Best Supporting Actor for his shady real estate agent in _99 Homes_. While Best Actress winner Charlotte Rampling’s quietly moving performance in _45 Years_ has been regularly included in early Oscar prediction lists, Best Supporting Actress Alicia Vikander nabbed her award not for her much buzzed about turn in _The Danish Girl_, but for the sleeper sci-fi hit _Ex Machina_. LAFCA also rallied around _Anomalisa_, Charlie Kaufman’s cerebral stop-motion drama about a soul-searching man, which edged out Pixar darling _Inside Out_ for Best Animation, in addition to snagging Best Score (awarded to Carter Burwell for his work on both _Anomalisa_ and _Carol_) and runner-up for Best Screenplay. But perhaps the biggest takeaway as yet another slew of honors paves the path toward Oscar was the love LAFCA showered on _Mad Max: Fury Road_, which won Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Cinematography and earned runner-up for Best Picture and Best Film Editing. Though none of these awards presage Oscar glory—nor should they be valued solely for their implications for other awards—LACMA’s love for the action flick reinforces the message conveyed last week by the National Board of Review: fiery chase scenes and high critical praise are far from mutually exclusive. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4138308/spotlight-mad-max-los-angeles-film-critics-association/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4138308/spotlight-mad-max-los-angeles-film-critics-association/"},"headline":"Spotlight and Mad Max Get Love From the Los Angeles Film Critics Association","datePublished":"2015-12-07T17:41:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:09:20.960Z","description":"\"Spotlight\" won Best Picture and \"Mad Max: Fury Road\" took home three awards and two second-place spots","url":"https://time.com/4138308/spotlight-mad-max-los-angeles-film-critics-association/","keywords":["movies","Oscars","Oscars 2016 topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cf83ed31d6420b7/69887410e20a87480ba8e81f/spotlight-film2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cf83ed31d6420b7/69887410e20a87480ba8e81f/spotlight-film2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"spotlight film","caption":"spotlight film","creditText":"Open Road Films","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4138308/spotlight-mad-max-los-angeles-film-critics-association/","name":"Spotlight and Mad Max Get Love From the Los Angeles Film Critics Association"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far)","description":"TIME movie critic, Richard Corliss lists his top films of the millennium (Thus Far). 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