Imaginary Cinema Awards 2011!

Despite all the doom about the death of cinema, 2011 was actually one of the best years for genre movies in the last 30 years, almost matching such years as 1982, 1984 and 1997. While there may not have been any completely original classics (though there are a few films I have yet to see, such as Hugo), there were a whole slew of blockbuster fantasy movies that exceeded expectations. Although it’s pretty sad that even the best film of the year relied on JJ Abrams aping Spielberg for most of its emotional power.

Best Movie: Super 8
Runners-up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, X-Men: First Class, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Midnight in Paris, Rango (don’t normally include animated movies about talking animals in Imaginary Cinema, but this was so odd and beautifully animated it deserves a spot), Attack the Block, Captain America, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (I know it was a 2010 movie, but it didn’t get a proper release until last year), Thor, Contagion, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

Best Screenplay: Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)

Best Director: JJ Abrams (Super 8)

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class)
Runners-up: Alan Rickman (Harry Potter), Joel Courtney (Super 8), James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class), David Tennant (Fright Night), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: First Class)
Runners-up: Kate Winslet (Contagion), Marion Cottilard (Midnight in Paris), Katie Holmes (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark)

Best Music: X-Men: First Class (Henry Jackman)
Runners-up: Super 8 (Michael Giacchino)

Best Visual Effects: Captain America
Runners-up: Super 8, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Makeup: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

Best Costumes: X-Men: First Class
Runner-up: Captain America

Best Homage to Classic Cinema: Super 8, followed by X-Men (James Bond), Rango (spaghetti western) and Paul (a foul-mouthed version of E.T.)

Best Board Game Movie: Rock em Sock em Robots, I mean Real Steel (Battleship looks like a contender for Worst Board Game Movie for 2012)

Best Guilty Pleasure: Drive Angry 3D - Patrick Lussier tops the gratuitous nudity in My Bloody Valentine 3D with an even more gratuitous scene where Nicolas Cage has sex with a woman while shooting it out with several bad guys.

Most Pointless Remake: Conan the Barbarian
The Thing and Fright Night were pretty pointless, too, but at least they were watchable.

Most Disappointing Movie: Sucker Punch (taking the plot of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, replacing the characters with young girls and inserting random video game cut scenes – how could that fail?)

Just Ignore This Shit and it’ll Go Away Award: Transformers 3, Cars 2