NBR awards Michael with the Spotlight Award!

The National Board of Review announced its 2011 winners this afternoon and although Michael Fassbender was not voted as Best Actor, they gave him the consolation prize of The Spotlight Award. They also listed his work in all four of his film this year, 'A Dangerous Method', 'Jane Eyre', 'X-Men', and 'Shame'. I visited the NBR website to gather more information about the Spotlight Award and it appears that previous years winners also went on to be nominated for Oscars for their roles. There will be a special dinner event where they will be presented with their award and photo ops. So although Michael did not win Best Actor and the NBR felt that A-lister George Clooney was the best of the year, it's nice that they noted Michael for something.

Shame was also listed in the Top 10 Independent Films, so that is a nice honor too. This is an improvement over the NYFCC from the other day, and it's funny how the NBR was nearly 180 degrees different than the NY critics. To me, that gives me the impression that there is no clear favorite so far, and with The Artist completely shut out, which is puzzling to me, makes me wonder if there really is a different line of thinking between critics and the Academy. As last year proved, AMPAS don't care what the critics think, and if Michael doesn't win the top prize from the critics, his hopeful nomination from the academy will be the better reward. The Los Angeles Film Critics are next and people have been telling me that they may be much more receptive to Michael and Shame.