Last year saw some hot contenders but 2018 took on a life of it's own with the sheer volume of releases I managed to see.
When it comes to categories I've thrown genre out the window because let's face it we've all seen movies and wondered how they got classified that way.
You know what my waffling is like so I've split out some of the bigger categories into their own posts so just click in their headings to see what won!
Best Surprise Film
Cineworld Unlimited Screenings
Outstanding Performance
The "Why Would You Do That To Me?!" Award
Based On A Book
To save this category being dominated by Marvel and DC I've given comic books a little break for this one. Out of all the films I've seen this year 8 have scored 4.5 or higher in the book category. I've not taken accuracy to the source material into account, this is purely about how enjoyable the film was.
The Winners:
Three films came out with 5 stars...
The Meg (obviously) was an enjoyable shark-fest, it was funny, had good effects and some gigantic action scenes that suited its similarly enormous main character... the shark, not Jason Statham.
The Hate U Give was a powerful story with some tremendous actors across the board.
Ready Player One was a collection of everything nostalgic that geeks love.
All three are completely different and would never be in the same category normally so picking a winner seems cruel. So I'm not going to. Joint first place!
The Loser:
The Leisure Seeker took an early lead for this spot. The story is an important one and the names on the cast list should have saved it from this bottom spot, but they couldn't. The film felt so much longer than its billed time and the only reason I stayed to the end is because if I don't then I don't have a right to moan about it afterwards. The only thing that kept it being alone down here was the more recent entry of First Man. It was disappointing because the subject matter should have been so much more exciting... it's space for crying out loud! But a particularly bland story line and some less than exciting performances gave it this joint honour.
Films In A Franchise
This year saw a lot of "if it ain't broke don't fix it", some good, some not so good, most mediocre.
The Winner:
Of course the winner's podium is dominated by Marvel, it was a particularly strong year for them. Marvel incarnations take up half of the spots in my top listing with DC managing to snatch a place at the very last minute. But, drum roll please... I'll wait, I know you aren't doing it... the winner is...
Ant-Man And The Wasp. I've got a blu-ray review coming to tell you why it's my favourite but it basically just boils down to amazing effects and Michael Peña.
The Loser:
Again we have a joint "winner" of this loser slot. First there's The Strangers: Prey At Night. I am so glad I didn't even know there was a first one or I might have attempted to watch it too. Predictable... just so predictable, and not in a good way. Tomb Raider teeters on the edge of the podium too. After so any years since Lara Croft first hit our screen I was ready for this new incarnation. What we were given was sorely lacking. Jolie's portrayal wasn't exactly a masterpiece but the whole ensemble brought something to the screen, sadly that was not the case here.
Based On A True Story
Here's another one that comes with the caveat that I'm not taking into account how accurate it is to what actually happens... it says "based on" for a reason.
The Winner:
This isn't an easy pick. I have four films that came out top and each one has something tremendous to offer the audience. Darkest Hour showed us a great performance by Gary Oldman and he proves that he really can turn his hand to anything, Bohemian Rhapsody gave me that goosebump moment that you want to get when listening to music, and Viggo Mortensen in Green Book absolutely blew me away. But I'm siding with...
Sgt Stubby: The Unlikely Hero. I nearly didn't see this as it was only showing as a Movies For Juniors screening. But the completist in me wouldn't let me not see it, and I'm so glad that she made me go! This is a wonderful portrayal of a harrowing part of history. Not only that but it's tastefully done for children. I was bawling my eyes out. Just such a good film.
The Loser:
Oh hey again, First Man... you know what you did. Joining it on the podium is King Of Thieves. There's a deep sigh that accompanies that one. A fascinating story and an amazing collection of actors all brought together in a terribly scripted and entirely disappointing movie.
The Daaaaaaaaamn Award
This is the award that is entirely based on the amount of drooling encountered while watching films at the cinema. Take your pick, I'm not going to play favourites.
Jason Statham for The Meg | Dwayne Johnson for basically everything | Parzival from Ready Player One | Blake Lively for A Simple Favour | Josh Brolin for Deadpool 2 (or Infinity War depending on your tastes) | Rupert Graves for Swimming With Men | Sterling K. Brown for Hotel Artemis | Chris Hemsworth for Bad Times At The El Royale | Frozone from The Incredibles 2
The Stan Lee Marvel-lous Award
The day finally came where we had to say goodbye to the wonderful Stan Lee. Cameos will never be the same again. To celebrate the legacy of Marvel I'm putting in an award for the best moment in this year's Marvel offerings.
Of course I really want to pick a Stan Lee cameo, but that one probably goes to DC for Teen Titans GO! To The Movies, so I'm keeping it more general.
The Winner:
Michael Peña for his jukebox moment in Ant-Man And The Wasp. Such a funny sequence and no one else could have made it a success.
Well that's it for my award season. It was a great year for films and with five films already booked in for January it looks like 2019 is looking to take the reins pretty fast.
Let me know what your top picks for this year were in the comments or come over to Twitter or Facebook and join the discussion.
*Formerly known as the Emma Awards because I didn't want to go with the pun... but f*** it.
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