Welcome to the fifth annual FANBOYS FILM AWARDS!
Last year was a mess with COVID-19 killing off most movie releases, so there wasn't much to talk about. This year, however, saw a bit of a return to normal with more films coming out, even though it was nowhere near the volume it normally would be in 2019 and beforehand.
Therefore, we're combining the way we did things last year and the years prior. This list will be half a general breakdown of the movies I've seen this year and half an actual awards competition.
I invite everyone to join in on the fun by leaving their own lists and thoughts in the comments below to tell us what you watched this year!
FILMS THAT CAME OUT IN 2021 THAT I WATCHED:
A Quiet Place II
Army of the Dead
Batman: Soul of the Dragon
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two
Black Widow
Free Guy
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Godzilla vs. Kong
How It Ends
Injustice
Jungle Cruise
Justice Society: World War II
The King's Man
Last Night in Soho
Luca
Marvel's Eternals
The Matrix Resurrections - I haven't actually watched this yet as of publication
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms
No Time to Die
Nobody
Old
Red Dot
Red Notice
Ron's Gone Wrong
Rumble
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Stowaway
The Suicide Squad
The Tomorrow War
Things Heard & Seen
Vacation Friends
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Zack Snyder's Justice League
FILMS THAT CAME OUT BEFORE 2021 THAT I WATCHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2021:
Fast Color (watched 12/5/2021)
Into the Wild (watched 11/29/2021)
Look Away (watched 11/27/2021)
Mulan (watched 1/21/2021)
No Holds Barred (watched 6/4/2021)
Run (watched 11/16/2021)
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (watched 5/8/2021)
Soul (watched 1/1/2021)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (watched 7/12/2021)
BEST / FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
Overall, I think the movie I'd rank the highest for "best" movie (not "favorite") would be either Shang-Chi, The Suicide Squad or Justice League. None of them are Oscar caliber material for Best Picture, mind you, but I didn't see any dramas that better suit that kind of category.
Spider-Man had to be the movie I had the most overall fun with. However, I really enjoyed Vacation Friends for what it was worth, as one of the biggest surprises.
WORST / LEAST FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
Talk about some awful movies. Yeesh. The absolute worst of the worst this year has to go to either How It Ends or Space Jam. Those are just two films I actively hated damn near every minute of.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon was very disappointing, but I had even higher hopes for Eternals and that was the biggest let down. I don't even know how they put out such a bad movie after having such a great track record with the MCU properties (minus the Disney+ shows, that I'm not as fond of; although, Hawkeye's been good).
Things like Jungle Cruise and The Tomorrow War fell flat. I was disappointed in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but I didn't have high hopes based on the first film. Army of the Dead could have been a lot better.
BEST ACTOR
WINNER = Bob Odenkirk (Nobody)
EXPLANATION = Surprising pick? Shocked I didn't go with Daniel Craig? To be honest, I'm kind of shocked about it, too, but Odenkirk sold me on his character in a lot of ways.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Daniel Craig (No Time to Die), Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Ralph Fiennes (The King's Man)
BEST ACTRESS
WINNER = Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place II)
EXPLANATION = At no point was I taken out of her performance.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER = John Cena (The Suicide Squad)
EXPLANATION = Peacemaker was the best part of the movie and stole the show, to the point that he's getting his own show. Very very very very close second was Rhys Ifans as Rasputin in The King's Man, which was crazy awesome.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Tony Leung Chiu-wai (Shang-Chi), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home), David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad), David Harbour (Black Widow), Rhys Ifans (Grigori Rasputin)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WINNER = Florence Pugh (Black Widow)
EXPLANATION = Yelena Belova was the best part of the movie in many ways. I went from being skeptical about a replacement Black Widow to being totally on board with her being our BW going forward in the MCU. Very close #2 to Ana de Armas for stealing the show with Paloma.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Ana de Armas (No Time to Die)
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 = Ron's Gone Wrong
EXPLANATION = Ultimately, I think this one resonated the best with me as far as an overall tight story.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Batman: The Long Halloween, Injustice, Shang-Chi, Nobody
MOST FAITHFUL ADAPTATION
Which movie felt like it was the most honorable to the source material it was trying to represent?
WINNER = Batman: The Long Halloween
EXPLANATION = This felt like picking up a comic book.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = The Suicide Squad, Zack Snyder's Justice League
BEST VISUALS
This covers special effects, cinematography, production design and even editing.
WINNER = Spider-Man: No Way Home
EXPLANATION = The Doctor Strange battle alone wins this, right?
HONORABLE MENTIONS = A Quiet Place II, Free Guy, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Godzilla vs. Kong (major shout out), Shang-Chi, Zack Snyder's Justice League (major shout out)
BEST ACTION SET PIECES
This honors the stunt work as well as the choreography and idea of an action sequence.
WINNER = The Suicide Squad
EXPLANATION = While the fight choreography was great in Shang-Chi and there were some grandiose sequences in Justice League, as well as the super fun finale of Spider-Man and the epic fights in Godzilla vs. Kong, I think Suicide Squad had the overall best action for nailing the most scenes.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Godzilla vs. Kong, Injustice, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man, Justice League
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN
This combines makeup, costumes and the CGI build of characters.
WINNER = Spider-Man: No Way Home
EXPLANATION = Quantity. All those CGI characters and de-aging, and all of it looked great. Very close #2 would be The Suicide Squad
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Godzilla vs. Kong, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man, The Suicide Squad, Justice League, Eternals, The King's Man (for Rasputin)
BEST MUSIC
This category examines both the score and the soundtrack.
WINNER = No Time to Die
EXPLANATION = Using the music from On Her Majesty's Secret Service? Come on!! So good! The main theme is awesome. The iconic James Bond theme, of course, has always been amazing. Hans Zimmer even got some of his trademark flair in the end sequence.
HONORABLE MENTIONS = Zack Snyder's Justice League, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The King's Man
TELL US YOUR LIST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
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