In retrospect, last year was an absolutely amazing year for genre films. Both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises exploded at the box office; The Hunger Games birthed a new beloved big screen sci-fi franchise, Skyfall ended up being one of the best James Bond movies in the history of the series, and films like The Cabin in the Woods and Cloud Atlas awed us with inventiveness, ambitiousness, creativity and beauty. Unfortunately, major award groups have a big issue with awarding genre films any recognition and, as a result, the sci-fi, action, horror and fantasy movies of 2012 were all but completely ignored when it came time to start handing out gold statues. But that's why the Saturn Awards exist.
While it's somewhat strange to have an award show six months after the end of the year that it's celebrating, the folks over at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films have announced their winners for their favorite movies of the year. In addition to being the box office king of 2012, Joss Whedon's The Avengers was the big winner of the voting, taking home four prizes in total: Best Supporting Actor (Clark Gregg), Best Direction (Joss Whedon) and Best Special Effects (Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick). In the top categories it was declared that Ang Lee's Life of Pi was Best Fantasy Film, Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods was the Best Horror/Thriller Film, and Sam Mendes' Skyfall was the Best Action/Adventure Film.
You can see a full list of the movie, television, and home entertainment awards below.
FILM AWARDSBest Science Fiction Film: Marvel’s The AvengersBest Fantasy Film: Life of PiBest Horror/Thriller Film: The Cabin in the WoodsBest Action/Adventure Film: SkyfallBest Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Killer Joe)Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games)Best Supporting Actor: Clark Gregg (Marvel’s The Avengers)Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises)Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi)Best Director: Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers)Best Writing: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)Best Production Design: Dan Hennah (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)Best Editing: Alexander Berner (Cloud Atlas)Best Music: Danny Elfman (Frankenweenie)Best Costume: Paco Delgado (Les Miserables)Best Make-Up: Heike Merker, Daniel Parker, Jeremy Woodhead (Cloud Atlas)Best Special Effects: Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick (Marvel’s The Avengers)Best Independent Film Release: Killer JoeBest International Film: HeadhuntersBest Animated Film: FrankenweenieTELEVISION AWARDSBest Network Television Series: RevolutionBest Syndicated/Cable Television Series: The Walking DeadBest Presentation on Television: Breaking BadBest Youth-Oriented Series on Television: Teen WolfBest Actor on Television: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Kevin Bacon (The Following) – tieBest Actress on Television: Anna Torv (Fringe)Best Supporting Actor on Television: Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad)Best Supporting Actress on Television: Laurie Holden (The Walking Dead)Best Guest Star on Television: Yvonne Strahovski (Dexter)HOME ENTERTAINMENT AWARDSBest DVD/BD Release: TouchbackBest DVD/BD Special Edition Release: Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s CutBest DVD/BD Collection Release: Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential CollectionBest DVD/BD Television Series Release: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1 & 2SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS FROM THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE FICTION,FANTASY & HORROR FILMSThe Lifetime Achievement Award: William FriedkinThe Dan Curtis Legacy Award: Vince GilliganThe Visionary Award: Richard MathesonThe Life Career Award: Jonathan Frakes
While I agree with many of these choices and disagree about others, the one I must say I'm happiest to see is Alexander Berner winning for editing the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer's Cloud Atlas. That movie successfully weaved six completely different stories together into one narrative, and the editing was an absolutely essential part of what made the movie as incredible as it was. The Academy Awards totally snubbed it, not even giving it recognition with a nomination, so it's great to see that at least one organization can appreciate how awesome that film was.
But what do you think about the Saturn Awards' choices? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
