David Oyelowo, Joe Morton, Keke Palmer, Bresha Webb and Gina Torres were on hand to announce the nominations in the major categories.

The NAACP Image Awards will kick off Saturday, Feb. 22 at 9 p.m. on TV One, with a red carpet show at 8 p.m.

“This has been an incredible year from the artistic community, with phenomenal contributions across the board from the music, television, motion picture, and literature genres that have the power and impact to drive social change,” said Roslyn M. Brock, chairman of the NAACP.  “The NAACP Image Awards provides an excellent venue to recognize those who make a difference through art and activism, and we are excited to honor and celebrate this caliber of talent."

“The Image Awards recognize the best that communities of color have to offer and is an exciting addition to our programming line-up -- TV One is pleased to showcase all of these achievements on our network,” said Alfred Liggins, president and CEO of TV One.

The NAACP Image Awards honors the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, and honors those who promote social justice through creative endeavors. Winners will be voted upon by NAACP members. Winners of the non-televised categories will be announced Friday, Feb. 21.

TELEVISION

Outstanding Comedy Series

"House of Lies" (Showtime)
"Modern Family" (ABC)
"Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
"The Game" (BET)
"The Soul Man" (TV Land)

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series

Andre Braugher - "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (FOX)
Cedric The Entertainer - "The Soul Man" (TV Land)
Don Cheadle - "House of Lies" (Showtime)
Dulé Hill - "Psych" (USA Network)
Kevin Hart - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series

Aisha Tyler - "Archer" (FX Networks)
Mindy Kaling - "The Mindy Project" (FOX)
Niecy Nash - "The Soul Man" (TV Land)
Tasha Smith - "Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse" (OWN)
Wendy Raquel Robinson - "The Game" (BET)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Boris Kodjoe - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
Jerry "J B Smoove" Brooks - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
Morris Chestnut - "Nurse Jackie" (Showtime)
Nick Cannon - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
Tracy Morgan - "30 Rock" (NBC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Anna Deavere Smith - "Nurse Jackie" (Showtime)
Brandy Norwood - "The Game" (BET)
Nia Long - "House of Lies" (Showtime)
Rashida Jones - "Parks and Recreation" (NBC)
Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family" (ABC)

Outstanding Drama Series

"Boardwalk Empire" (HBO)
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"Scandal" (ABC)
"The Good Wife" (CBS)
"Treme" (HBO)

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series

James Pickens, Jr. - "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
LL Cool J - "NCIS: Los Angeles" (CBS)
Michael Ealy - "Almost Human" (FOX)
Shemar Moore - "Criminal Minds" (CBS)
Wendell Pierce - "Treme" (HBO)

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series

Chandra Wilson - "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
Kerry Washington - "Scandal" (ABC)
Khandi Alexander - "Treme" (HBO)
Nicole Beharie - "Sleepy Hollow" (FOX)
Regina King - "SouthLAnd" (TNT)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Columbus Short - "Scandal" (ABC)
Guillermo Diaz - "Scandal" (ABC)
Jeffrey Wright - "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO)
Joe Morton - "Scandal" (ABC)
Michael Kenneth Williams - "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Archie Panjabi - "The Good Wife" (CBS)
Debbie Allen - "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
Diahann Carroll - "White Collar" (USA)
Taraji P. Henson - "Person of Interest" (CBS)
Vanessa L. Williams - "666 Park Avenue" (ABC)

Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special

"Being Mary Jane" (BET)
"Betty & Coretta" (Lifetime)
"CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story" (VH1)
"Luther" (BBC America)
"Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight" (HBO)

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special

Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Dancing on the Edge" (Starz)
Danny Glover - "Muhammad Ali's Greatest (HBO)
Idris Elba - "Luther" (BBC America)
Malik Yoba - "Betty & Coretta" (Lifetime)
Omari Hardwick - "Being Mary Jane" (BET)

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special

Angela Bassett - "American Horror Story: Coven" (FX Networks)
Angela Bassett - "Betty & Coretta" (Lifetime)
Gabourey Sidibe - "American Horror Story: Coven" (FX Networks)
Gabrielle Union - "Being Mary Jane" (BET)
Keke Palmer - "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story" (VH1)

Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series

Aaron D. Spears - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Kristoff St. John - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Lawrence Saint Victor - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Redaric Williams - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Tequan Richmond - "General Hospital" (ABC)

Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series

Angell Conwell - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Christel Khalil - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Karla Mosley - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Kristolyn Lloyd - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Tatyana Ali - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)

Outstanding News/ Information - (Series or Special)

"Justice for Trayvon" (BET)
"Mandela: Freedom's Father" (BET)
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" (OWN)
"The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." (PBS)
"Unsung" (TV One)

Outstanding Talk Series

"Oprah's Lifeclass" (OWN)
"Oprah's Next Chapter" (OWN)
"Steve Harvey" (Syndicated)
"The Arsenio Hall Show" (Syndicated)
"The Queen Latifah Show" (Syndicated)

Outstanding Reality Series

"Iyanla: Fix My Life" (OWN)
"Shark Tank" (ABC)
"Sunday Best" (BET)
"The Voice" (NBC)
"Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" (OWN)

Outstanding Variety Series or Special

"12 Years A Slave: A TV One Special with Cathy Hughes" (TV One)
"Black Girls Rock!" (BET)
"Key & Peele" (Comedy Central)
"Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" (HBO)
"Oprah's Master Class" (OWN)

Outstanding Children’s Program

"2013 HALO Awards" (Nickelodeon/TeenNick)
"A.N.T. Farm" (Disney Channel)
"Dora the Explorer" (Nickelodeon)
"Postcards: Mandela" (The Africa Channel)
"Wynton Marsalis: A YoungArts MasterClass" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance in a Youth/ Children’s Program - (Series or Special)

China Anne McClain - "A.N.T. Farm" (Disney Channel)
Eric I. Keyes, III - "Live Life and Win!" (Syndicated)
Fatima Ptacek - "Dora the Explorer" (Nickelodeon)
Karan Brar - "Jessie" (Disney Channel)
Zendaya - "Shake It Up" (Disney Channel)

MUSIC

Outstanding New Artist

Ariana Grande (Republic Records)
Candice Glover (19 Recordings/Interscope Records)
K. Michelle (Atlantic Records)
RaVaughn Brown (Columbia Records)
Zendaya (Hollywood Records)

Outstanding Male Artist

Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)
Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
John Legend (Columbia Records)
Justin Timberlake (RCA Records)
Robin Thicke (Star Trak/Interscope)

Outstanding Female Artist

Beyoncé (Columbia Records)
India.Arie (Motown Records)
Janelle Monáe (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
Ledisi (Verve Records)
Mary J Blige (Verve Records/Interscope)

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration

"#Beautiful" - Mariah Carey feat. Miguel (Island Def Jam)
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell (Star Trak/Interscope)
"Fire We Make" - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell (RCA Records)
"Hurt You" - Toni Braxton feat. Babyface (Motown Records)
"Suit & Tie" - Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z (RCA Records)

Outstanding Jazz Album

"Summer Horns" - Dave Koz, Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair, Richard Elliot (Concord Records)
"The Beat" - Boney James (Concord Records)
"The Messenger" - Kevin Eubanks (Mack Avenue Records)
"The Morning After: A Musical Love Journey" - Najee (Shanachie)
"The Songs of Stevie Wonder" - SFJAZZ Collective (SFJAZZ Records)

Outstanding Gospel Album - (Traditional or Contemporary)

"20 Year Celebration Volume 1 - Best For Last" - Donald Lawrence (Quietwater Entertainment/eOne Music)
"Azusa: The Next Generation" - Hezekiah Walker (RCA Inspiration)
"Best Days Deluxe Edition" - Tamela Mann (Tillymann Music)
"Good God" - Shirley Caesar (eOne Music)
"Music From the Motion Picture Black Nativity" - Various (RCA Inspiration)

Outstanding World Music Album

"Coming from a Lady" - Lady Ele (13 Black Records)
"Live At The Royal Albert Hall" - Emeli Sande (Capitol)
"Natalie Cole en Español" - Natalie Cole (Verve Records)
"Sing To The Moon" - Laura Mvula (Columbia Records)
"The Standards" - Gloria Estefan (Masterworks)

Outstanding Music Video

"Cocoa Butter" - India.Arie (Motown Records)
"Fire We Make" - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell (RCA Records)
"Made To Love" - John Legend (Columbia Records)
"Q.U.E.E.N." - Janelle Monáe feat. Erykah Badu (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
"Treasure" - Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Song

"All Of Me" - John Legend (Columbia Records)
"Blurred Lines " - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell (Star Trak/Interscope)
"Fire We Make" - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell (RCA Records)
"Q.U.E.E.N." - Janelle Monáe feat. Erykah Badu (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
"Treasure" - Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Album

"20/20 Experience - The Complete Experience" - Justin Timberlake (RCA Records)
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke (Star Trak/Interscope)
"Love In The Future" - John Legend (Columbia Records)
"Love, Charlie" - Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
"The Electric Lady" - Janelle Monáe (Bad Boy/Atlantic)

MOTION PICTURE

Outstanding Motion Picture

"12 Years A Slave" (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
"Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project)
"Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" (The Weinstein Company/Distant Horizon, Origin Pictures, Pathé, Videovision Entertainment)
"The Best Man Holiday" (Universal Pictures)

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture

Chadwick Boseman - "42" (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures)
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years A Slave" (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Forest Whitaker - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
Idris Elba - "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom" (The Weinstein Company/Distant Horizon, Origin Pictures, Pathé, Videovision Entertainment)
Michael B. Jordan - "Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project)

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

Angela Bassett - "Black Nativity" (Fox Searchlight Pictures/Mavin Pictures/Wonderful Films)
Halle Berry - "The Call" (TriStar Pictures)
Jennifer Hudson - "Winnie Mandela" (Ma-Afrika Films (PTY) LTD and Equinoxe Films Inc.)
Kerry Washington - "Tyler Perry Presents Peeples" (Lionsgate)
Nicole Beharie - "42" (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Cuba Gooding Jr. - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
David Oyelowo - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
Morris Chestnut - "The Best Man Holiday" (Universal Pictures)
Terrence Howard - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
Terrence Howard - "The Best Man Holiday" (Universal Pictures)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Alfre Woodard - "12 Years A Slave" (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Lupita Nyong'o - "12 Years A Slave " (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Naomie Harris - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" (The Weinstein Company/Distant Horizon, Origin Pictures, Pathé, Videovision Entertainment)
Octavia Spencer - "Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project)
Oprah Winfrey - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture

"Blue Caprice" (Sundance Selects)
"Dallas Buyers Club" (Focus Features)
"Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project)
"The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete" (Codeblack Films/Lionsgate/iDeal Partners/State Street)
"The Trials of Muhammad Ali" (Kartemquin Films)

Outstanding International Motion Picture

"Call Me Kuchu" (Lindy Hop Pictures LLC)
"High Tech, Low Life" (Argot Pictures)
"La Playa D.C." (Burning Blue)
"Lion Ark" (ADI Films)
"War Witch" (Item 7)

Outstanding Documentary - (Theatrical)

"20 Feet from Stardom" (Tremolo & Gil Friesen Productions)
"Call Me Kuchu" (Lindy Hop Pictures LLC)
"Free Angela and All Political Prisoners" (Codeblack Films/Lionsgate)
"Girl Rising" (The Documentary Group)
"The New Black" (Promised Land Film)

Outstanding Documentary - (Television)

"Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream" (HBO)
"Dark Girls" (OWN)
"Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic " (Showtime)
"Venus Vs." (ESPN)
"Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley" (HBO)

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)

Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón - "Gravity" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Brian Helgeland - "42" (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures)
Danny Strong - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
John Ridley - "12 Years A Slave" (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Ryan Coogler - "Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project)

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)

Jono Oliver - "Home" (The Home Film Group)
Justin Chadwick - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" (The Weinstein Company/Distant Horizon, Origin Pictures, Pathé, Videovision Entertainment)
Lee Daniels - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
Malcolm D. Lee - "The Best Man Holiday" (Universal Pictures)
Steve McQueen - "12 Years A Slave" (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)

THR

So... it really is the year of the Horse! Just landed in China to see Dark Horse at #1 on ITUNES US. What an unexpected, lovely, surprise!

— Katy Perry (@katyperry) January 9, 2014

Behold, ye fair maidens and lords and folks like that, our exclusive one-sheet below for the forthcoming horror-fantasy-comedy Knights of Badassdom, starring Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage, True Blood's Ryan Kwanten, and Firefly's Summer Glau.

The long-awaited release follows three best friends (Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn and Ryan Kwanten) and dedicated LARPers as they take to the woods to reenact a dungeons and dragons-like scenario fresh out of the mythical Middle Ages. Trouble arises after they unwittingly conjure up some serious evil in the form of a blood-lusting Succubus, from the pits of hell.

The Joe Lynch-directed film also stars Steve Zahn and Jimmi Simpson. Knights of Badassdom will be available via TUGG on January 21 and on VOD on February 11.

And yet, if there is any one viewer who can honestly say that they believed -  even for a second - that Jennifer Lawrence was ever really that woman, unhappily married for years to that man, counting the days in that house, and nearly burning down that kitchen, can he/she please stand up?

In the weeks since I first saw Hustle, I have found it increasingly difficult to resolve what is inherently fun and entertaining about the performance with what is so blatantly inadequate about Lawrence's stunt casting, not to mention the type of age-inappropriate casting it can only further enable.

American Hustle represents an interesting and fundamentally self-aware step forward in Lawrence's career. Rosalyn, although clearly not the female lead of Hustle, is a role that's all but built for scene-stealing and maximum attention, and Russell calls upon Lawrence to fully utilize the type of silly, self-deprecating, and utterly un-self-serious sense of humor that by now we are all well-acquainted with from awards shows, interviews, and red carpets, but which has heretofore gone missing in her brief but notable filmography, save for the spurts of it we saw in Silver Linings. But even in the film her most memorable, Oscar-clinching scenes were more fiery than funny. Hustle is perhaps the first movie, post-Oscar, that knows and willingly presents not only Jennifer the Bona Fide Silver Screen Star, but also Jennifer the Jokester. The Comedienne. The Ham. In essence, Jennifer As We Know Her, except in period garb; nothing less, and yet nothing much more.

This doesn't entirely feel like Lawrence's fault. It never looks like she's coasting, nor does it look like she's actively trying to hijack the movie (a la, say, the Notorious Ruby Thewes), as some detractors have suggested. Save for one utterly misguided bit of improvisatory dancing to "Live and Let Die" (ridiculous in conception more than performance) and the Slip'n Slide she does with that Long Island accent, Lawrence doesn't seem to be doing anything that Russell isn't simply requesting of her. When he asks for sex kitten, she whips off her caftan and writhes around on that marriage bed. When he asks for life of the party, she slaps the table, shakes the bouffant, and takes a tumble out of the booth, cackling till she hits the ground. When he asks for a loopy, catchphrase-spouting comic side gal, she cracks "Thank god for me" till the cows come home. She's Russell's obliging muse, and aside from feeding into the unshakably sexist treatment of Rosalyn-as-scapegoat, nothing in Lawrence's performance choices seems wrong, per se, or even remotely disastrous. I just didn't believe any of it.


What's more, the re-casting opportunities seem infinite, and I continue to fantasize about what an older, less ubiquitous actress might have done with this schematically underwritten role that nonetheless presents a lot of fine opportunities for some showy actressing from the edges. How about Marisa Tomei, an eminently gifted, highly respected, and yet bizarrely underused actress, who hasn't gotten to flex her Oscar-winning comic chops so prominently since, arguably, Mona Lisa Vito? What about Maria Bello, who is no one's first idea of a funny lady, but whose knack for both effortless sensuality and potent, forceful toughness might've made her an interesting match for the sex-wielding, long-suffering Rosalyn? Or what about (dare I suggest it?) Cameron Diaz, one of our most continually-squandered comediennes, who remains in dire need of a role that can both challenge her lazy typecasting and utilize her perky, involving, and reliably-game onscreen persona? Or, if you want to go the typecasting route, The Sopranos' Drea de Matteo would both look plausible and be age-appropriate. (My god, can you imagine that bathroom encounter?)

I must also admit that I'm more than a little frustrated with how much focus Lawrence pulls, both in the current awards conversation and in Hustle itself, from Amy Adams, whose Sydney Prosser is just as vivacious a presence as Rosalyn but whose character is ultimately a much more evocative and astutely-personified one. Lawrence gives the film humor, at times relentlessly and needlessly so; Adams gives it humanity.

Indeed, for all the hilarity that Lawrence elicits by merely bugging her eyes out while puffing away on a cigarette or popping up in a neck brace, there's a troubling lack of interiority to the performance on the whole. Lawrence problematically omits major, potentially illuminating traits about Rosalyn, including the debilitating social anxiety we hear so much about yet which is totally eclipsed by her brash exterior, or her relationship with her son, who never actually feels like her son, much less someone she lives in the same house with, or, you know, gave birth to. Say what you will about screen time and supporting characters, but in the same movie Bradley Cooper manages to find poignancy and concealed depths in what could've easily remained a surface-bound comic creation. There is always the promise of concealed depths within Rosalyn's character, but seldom the unearthing.

Lawrence's screen persona is too vital to ever be anything less than engaging, even when it's irreparably miscast or overworked. Her Rosalyn is a mixed blessing of a performance, one that we can admire Lawrence for attempting in the first place and even enjoy for its most basic elements, if not one that necessarily warrants the current over-abundance of praise andprizes it has received thus far. Lawrence-as-Rosalyn never feels like anything more than a fun but thinnish acting exercise, a giddy but gimmicky comic spectacle where a real, full-bodied person could have been.

I'm told that Taylor was at a party with Spiegel over the holidays and it was understood that they were checking each other. Nothing overt but my sources say there's no doubt she was there with him and for him and that they're seeing each other casually…so far. She knows how to pick them at exactly the right time, non? I like this about her. This is definitely not a backup dancer situation.

In a bounty year for breathtaking films made by brilliant artists, it's perhaps a little trollish to talk about "snubs." Snubs imply that someone was both undeserving and definitively worse than someone else among this year's Oscar contenders, and frankly, I'm not seeing it.

That said, if there's one man who was unfairly lost among all the bombast and big names in the Best Actor category this year, it was Michael B. Jordan, GQ's Breakout of the Year and star of Fruitvale Station, whose heartrending portrayal of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old man shot by police on a BART platform in 2009, flattened the hearts of everyone who laid eyes on it. A "snub," over the likes of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey? Perhaps not. But a damn shame, for sure.

Or is it because his performance isn't, you know, actor-y enough? That's a frequent accusation of Oscar's bias, and it's fair to say here. In the five nominations' performances, the hyperbole is already evident on-screen, anguish and anger felt by the actor before it is by the audience. There's nothing wrong with that: It's worked since the days of Laurence Olivier, and it can still tug at the heartstrings today. But the Academy can sometimes prefer it over subtlety, to the point of exclusion. As someone who still stings at the memory of Sean Penn (Mystic River) winning over Bill Murray (Lost in Translation), I might be overly quick to jump to that conclusion.

Jordan, however, is content to let the tragedy play its course. He plays a young man with grown-man problems, whose demise and notoriety are set in motion by events of unknown and unintended consequence. His past transgressions happened offscreen in another life—all we see is a genial working man, a mama's boy, the father of a young girl. And so, we spend two hours warming up to what we know to be a doomed man's life.

A whole mess of butterfly flutter and fly throughout the last day of Oscar's life—a jailhouse grudge here, a meet-cute with a young woman there—until it all comes to pass on a BART train platform on New Year's Day. A young black man is wrongfully killed by white police officers, a story that's all the more incredible for being painfully unremarkable. There will be many more days, and many more Oscar Grants. Jordan's likeability, warmth, and wit, his ability to play every moment like it's a day in the life, right up until it isn't, created a whole sunlit latticework for that brutal sledgehammer of an ending to smash right through. When Oscar's shocked and scared and yet somehow still warm and pleading, almost friendly yells of "You just shot me, bruh!" gasped out in that train station, I was a goner. I cried. My girlfriend sobbed uncontrollably. If there's any objective mark of an Oscar winner, this film and this performance incontrovertibly met it.

It's a shame that Fruitvale Station didn't find a lousier year to get released in. In Hollywood, buzz is a tangible thing that transcends merit. "Academy Award-nominated" is a label that changes careers. Michael B. Jordan will almost certainly get his one day—but in any other year, that day would've been today.