Imaginary Cinema Awards 2020

2020 was a very strange, sad year. For movies and also, of course, for the world in general. There weren’t any of the usual big blockbusters, but on the plus side there was a lot more focus on low budget and indie films. I saw a whole bunch of films I wouldn’t ordinarily see thanks to being stuck at home much of the year. So here are my picks for the best of the year in fantasy, horror and sci-fi movies.

Best Movie: Palm Springs

Runners-up: The Invisible Man, Vampires vs. the Bronx, Soul, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Color Out of Space, Onward, His House, Extra Ordinary, Freaky, Over the Moon, Possessor, Sputnik.

Best Screenplay: Palm Springs (Andy Siara)

Runner-up: Vampires vs. the Bronx (Oz Rodriguez and Blaise Hemingway)

Best Direction: Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man)

Runner-up: Richard Stanley (Color Out of Space)

Best Actor: Nicolas Cage (Color Out of Space)

Runners-up: Andy Samberg (Palm Springs), Jim Carrey (Sonic the Hedgehog), Pedro Pascal (Wonder Woman 1984), Vince Vaughn (Freaky), Will Forte (Extra Ordinary)

Best Actress: Elizabeth Moss (The Invisible Man)

Runners-up: Kathryn Newton (Freaky), Cristin Milioti (Palm Springs), Kristen Wiig (Wonder Woman 1984), Margot Robbie (Birds of Prey), Madeleine Arthur (Color Out of Space), Anya Taylor-Joy (The New Mutants)

Best Music: Soul (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste)

Runners-up: The Invisible Man, Birds of Prey, Color Out of Space

Best Sound: Color Out of Space

Best Visual Effects: The Invisible Man

Runners-up: Tenet

Best Production Design: Jingle Jangle

Best Editing: Palm Springs

Best Cinematography: She Dies Tomorrow

Best Make-up: Color Our of Space

Best Costumes: Mulan

Cutest Character That is Not Baby Yoda: Sonic the Hedgehog

Nicest film: Bill and Ted Face the Music. Perfectly enjoyable but also totally forgettable.

Nastiest film: Possessor and The Platform were both tough to watch, even though I liked them.

What the Fuck Were They Thinking? Award: Setting Wonder Woman in 1984 and not making it a critique of either Reaganism or Orwellian regimes. It might as well have been set in the present.

Surprise/Disappointment of the Year: Surprise was that the Sonic movie was decent. Disappointment was that the two big movie releases of the post-Covid period (Tenet and WW84) were both pretty much confusing messes with some good moments sprinkled in.

Guilty Pleasure: The New Mutants was cheap and cheesy, but I liked the whole Nightmare on Elm Street 3 vibe to it.

Best straight to DVD/streaming: Um, nearly all of the above.