Where to Stream Best Picture ‘Mad Max Fury Road’ and the Rest of the National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review, traditionally one of the first of the precursor movie awards to announce their winners each awards season, went incredibly bold with their choice for the Best Motion Picture of 2015: Mad Max: Fury Road got the top prize, continuing a year of massive critical praise and sensational word of mouth for the action blockbuster. The George Miller-directed film was an early summer highlight, with its eye-popping colors and wild action setpieces. And now it’s taken first honors in the Best Picture race, a race that has been expected to be dominated by more Oscar-friendly fare like The Martian, and Spotlight.

Lucky for you, Mad Max: Fury Road is available to stream right now via Instant Video, and there would be no more exhilarating way of plugging yourself into awards season.

Across the board, the NBR made some pretty fantastic choices for its award winners. The rest of its Top 10 films included, in alphabetical order, Bridge of Spies, Creed, The Hateful Eight, Inside Out [watch on Instant Video], Spotlight, The Martian, Room, Sicario, and Straight Outta Compton.

In addition, the NBR honored their Top 10 Independent Films: ’71, 45 Years, Cop Car, Ex Machina, Grandma, It Follows, James White, Mississippi Grind, Welcome to Me, and While We’re Young.

All four of the acting winners are either in theaters now or will be soon. But you should absolutely seek out their work elsewhere, as it is abundantly available.

Best Actor: Matt Damon, The Martian

What to Stream: Damon’s performance in The Martian was a triumph of holding the audience’s attention while the whole story rests on his shoulders alone. These are qualities that Damon honed through his work on the Bourne films, the best of which was The Bourne Supremacy, the kinetic middle chapter of the original Bourne trilogy.

Best Actress: Brie Larson, Room

What to Stream: While she might seem like an overnight sensation to some, Larson has been steadily rising through the ranks of indie film actresses for a while. You could do worse than back-to-back viewings of Rampart (where she plays Woody Harrelson’s daughter) and Short Term 12 (where she plays a counselor to foster kids); both are excellent movies that show a star in the making.

Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone, Creed

What to Stream: It is a MAJOR comeback story for Stallone, especially if he can ride this great Creed publicity all the way to an Oscar nomination. For now, prepare yourself to see Creed (or to see it again; it’s that good) with a Rocky binge. My suggestion: the original Rocky (Stallone’s first brush with Oscar glory) and then Rocky IV (which sets up the Creed story).

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful 8

What to Stream: This one’s another comeback narrative, which are a specialty of Quentin Tarantino’s. Somehow, Jennifer Jason Leigh went through the 1990s being wildly acclaimed for basically everything she did, and yet she got zero Oscar nominations. This snubbery was most egregiously felt for her blistering work in Georgia, for which her co-star Mare Winningham was nominated in Best Supporting Actress. Watch the movie, it’s phenomenal.