Last weekend, The Hollywood Film Awards handed out the official first awards of the season and had many pundits and critics questioning the validity of the awards.

The reason was due to the fact that, while the awards ceremony has been in effect for 17 years, CBS televised the first show ever and made it somewhat of a surprise by not announcing the awards earlier.

However, the ceremony was a big fiasco which showcased various celebrities inebriated while they presented or received awards. It almost seemed as if celebrities could not take the whole thing seriously and it lacked any tension or surprise.

And yet, for the studios, this was a publicity stunt that showcased what they want out of the Oscar race. The Weinstein Company definitely benefited from the whole show as it won the most awards for its Oscar contender "The Imitation Game." Not only did the film win the Best Actor award for Benedict Cumberbatch, but it also took home the Best Supporting Actress award for Keira Knightley and the Best Director award for Morten Tyldum. The film also won the Best Score award. It definitely placed the People's Choice winner at the top of many people's lists to see and it also showed Harvey Weinstein's strength when it comes to awards.

"Gone Girl" won the Hollywood Film Award, or Best Picture, and the Hollywood Screenwriter award went to Gillian Flynn. Pundits questioned the Best Picture decision since many believe that "Gone Girl" is not even a Best Picture contender.

Other questionable awards came from the Breakthrough Director award for Jean-Marc Vallee. The director had his big breakout last year for "Dallas Buyers Club," but somehow ended up in the list for his film "Wild," which has not been received as enthusiastically.

Shailene Woodley received a Breakout award for "The Fault in Our Stars." However, Woodley had her big breakout role in 2011 for "The Descendants." This seemed like more of a publicity stunt and a celebrity stunt to get TV audiences to watch.

Even more questionable was the inclusion of "Supermensh" for Best Documentary. Not only is the film not on anyone's radar but it also was not a breakout film when it was released.

Robert Duvall has also not been on radars for "The Judge." However Warner Bros. managed to get him the Best Supporting Actor award at the ceremony. It is still questionable if the performance in the film will resonate with the Academy, especially after the film flopped at the box office and scored mediocre reviews.

However, Julianne Moore reaffirmed that she is in the Oscar race for her work in "Still Alice." The ceremony also gave audiences the first chance to see footage from the film which is not released until next year.

"Foxcatcher's" ensemble also continued to make headlines and won the Best Ensemble award while Michael Keaton received a Career Achievement award. Jack O'Connell also received a New Hollywood award for a film no one had seen.

All in all, the Hollywood Film Awards gave a little taste of what many people can expect from awards season and what they should be seeing. However, with no nominees, many films went missing.

The Hollywood Awards are known as predictors of the Academy Awards, but they hardly choose the correct winners. If audiences are looking for true precursors, this is definitely not the place to look.

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