Fanboys Anonymous

Welcome to the second annual FANBOYS FILM AWARDS! This is my attempt to counterbalance the Academy Awards bias when it comes to movies that are often ignored due to their genre.

So rather than focus on the Oscar-bait, the Fanboys Film Awards pays tribute and extends gratitude to the movies which are overlooked because they're more along the lines of science fiction, fantasy, action/adventure and so on.

The only qualification for the nominees is that they must fall somewhere into the geek culture spectrum, which means superhero films and similar genres. Everything else is not eligible for any of the categories, so you won't see A Star is Born on this list. That not only isn't what this focuses on, but it also looks like garbage pandering to me.

Also, you may notice that the awards structure isn't the same as the Academy Awards. That's because I feel this is a more efficient way of doing things and an easier list to make, rather than diving into technicalities that I'm not qualified to judge. But by all means, if you want to create your own categories, go ahead in the comments!


NOTE: All nominees were from the time frame of January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 as far as release dates. Plus, this is only one person's opinion and I admittedly haven't even seen every film that could potentially be nominated, so that's going to put a significant bias on this. You're encouraged to leave your choices for the nominees and winners in the comments below to keep the discussion going!

BEST PICTURE

WINNER = Avengers: Infinity War

EXPLANATION = You'll see that I gave Black Panther the Best Story award below. Forgive me. Overall, as much as I think that's the better film by itself, Infinity War appeals to me more as a fanboy and at the end of the day, this isn't the Academy Awards, it's the Fanboys Film Awards, so shouldn't that win out?

HONORABLE MENTIONS = A Quiet Place, Black Panther, Incredibles 2, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

BEST ACTOR

WINNER = Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa in Black Panther

EXPLANATION = I bought him as an action star, I bought him as a king, I bought him as a troubled man who doesn't know how to deal with the struggles of his position, etc.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson in Creed II

BEST ACTRESS

WINNER = Holly Hunter as Helen Parr / Elastigirl in Incredibles 2

EXPLANATION = This wasn't a strong category and I honestly had nobody in mind, so I just went with one I felt would be overlooked. Honestly, though, this wasn't any performance that I took away anything big from. I just needed to choose somebody.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = n/a

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

WINNER = Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

EXPLANATION = Suddenly, Jake Johnson is one of my favorite people to play Spider-Man, even though he played a strange otherworldly version of the character. Awesome.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Creed II, Winston Duke as M'Baku in Black Panther

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

WINNER = Danai Gurira as Okoye in Black Panther

EXPLANATION = Okoye is a character I knew nothing at all about and didn't figure I would end up enjoying a lot, but wound up being one of my favorite characters in the film and a true standout.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Letitia Wright as Shuri in Black Panther

BEST STORY

This is an alternative to Best Adapted/Original Screenplay where the execution of the overall product might not be the equivalent of Best Picture, but the idea was there.

WINNER = Black Panther

EXPLANATION = Oh man, I really wanted to give this to Avengers, but fundamentally, I have to say Black Panther was the best overall movie I saw this year as a standalone feature. Infinity War is more of a mad rush and it's fun, but it's also very simple. Black Panther dealt with much more complex themes and was executed so well.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = A Quiet Place (if that counts), Avengers: Infinity War, Creed II, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

MOST FAITHFUL ADAPTATION

Which felt like it was the most honorable to the source material it was trying to represent?

WINNER = Avengers: Infinity War

EXPLANATION = Not only was this true to the source material in as many ways as they could be, but it was also true to the expectations of the MCU precedent set before it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Aquaman, Black Panther, Creed II, Deadpool 2, Mission: Impossible - Fallout

BEST VISUALS

This examines special effects, cinematography, production design and even editing.

WINNER = Aquaman

EXPLANATION = That was the one takeaway from the film that I thought they did an impressive job with.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Avengers: Infinity War, Bumblebee, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story

BEST ACTION SET PIECE

This honors the stunt work as well as the choreography and idea of an action sequence.

WINNER = Avengers: Infinity War (battle of Wakanda)

EXPLANATION = That battle of Wakanda was awesome.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = The First Purge, Ready Player One, Mission: Impossible - Fallout

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN

This combines makeup, costumes and the CGI build of characters.

WINNER = Black Panther

EXPLANATION = I know most people will probably think Thanos alone deserves this, but this isn't just CGI, this is everything. That includes all of the attention to detail they had for the different tribes for Wakanda, the Black Panther suit itself, etc.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War, Venom

BEST MUSIC

This category examines both the score and the soundtrack.

WINNER = "Ashes" by Celine Dion from Deadpool 2

EXPLANATION = That song was the best part of the movie.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Black Panther, Ready Player One