The first batch of awards were finally handed out with the National Board of Review and Gotham Awards picking two very different films as the Best Films of the year.

The Gotham Awards started off the awards season celebrating the best films of the year on Nov. 30 and giving their Best Film Award to "Spotlight."

The film about the team that uncovered the Catholic Church scandal also went home with the Best Screenplay award as well as the Best Ensemble award. The film beat out "Carol," which was also a front-runner for the award.

One of the biggest winners of the night was without a doubt "Tangerine," which stars Latina Transgender actress Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Tyler. "Tangerine" won the Audience Award and Tyler won the Breakthrough Performance Award.

The Best Actress award went to Bel Powley for "Diary of a Teenage Girl." The award was a huge surprise, especially since Cate Blanchett and Brie Larson were front-runners and also Oscar contenders.

The Best Actor award went to Paul Dano for his performance in "Love and Mercy." The actor has been generating Oscar buzz for his role for a number of months and this win boosted his chances for an Oscar nomination come January.

One of the biggest losers of the night was "Carol," which went home empty-handed. The film, starring Cate Blanchett, was up for three awards but lost every single one.

"Mr. Robot" won the inaugural TV award beating out "Transparent" and "Jane the Virgin."

The Gotham awards are an important precursor as many Oscar contenders are nominated and end up being nominated for major Oscars. For example, last year "Birdman" won the Best Feature award before going on to conquer the Oscars while "Inside Llewyn Davis" got a big boost beating out eventual Oscar winner "12 Years a Slave." "Moonrise Kingdom" and "The Tree of Life" also got big boosts before getting Oscar nominations.

At the National Board of Review "Mad Max: Fury Road" took home the Best picture award surprising most pundits who expected "Spotlight" to run away with critics. The Best Director award went to Ridley Scott for "The Martian" while Matt Damon won the award for Best Actor for his role in the film. The film also won the Adapted Screenplay award for Drew Goddard.

After a loss at the Gotham's Larson went home with the Best Actress award for her work in "Room," bringing her back to the forefront as the Oscar front-runner.

Quentin Tarantino's new film "The Hateful Eight" won the Best Supporting Actress award for Jennifer Jason Leigh and won Best Original Screenplay.

Sylvester Stallone continued to gain buzz for his role in "Creed." The actor won the Best Supporting Actor award.

The animated film "Inside Out" scored the Best Animated Film award while "Son of Saul" won the Best Foreign Film accolade.

The two days were not successful for Latinos but "Sicario" went home with the spotlight award for Outstanding Collaboration and was among the top 10 films at the NBR.

The National Board of Review is one of the prime precursor awards as it is the first of many to hand out awards. Last year however, "A Most Violent Year" scored big awards and ended up not getting a single Oscar nomination. The last time the group has synced up with the Oscars was in 2008 with "Slumdog Millionaire" and in 2006 with "The Departed."