Celebrate the Genre Goodness with the Saturn Awards

Did you know that there's an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films? Yep, there is, and every year they hand out their very own awards! Known as "The Saturn Awards," they pay homage to the very finest genre films of the last calendar year -- and I'm very psyched to share their picks with you. Fair warning, though: These Saturn guys take their stuff pretty seriously, and their nomination list is pretty darn thorough. The winners of the 33rd Annual Saturn Awards will be announced on May 10 at a presentation hosted by Greg Grunberg and ... Jeffrey Ross?

BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILM

Children of Men
Déjà vu
The Fountain
The Prestige
V For Vendetta
X-Men: The Last Stand

(Children of Men should win this award by 15,000 votes.)

BEST FANTASY FILM

Charlotte's Web
Eragon
Night At the Museum
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Stranger Than Fiction
Superman Returns

(I'll go with POTC2, cuz you know how shameless I am where this series is concerned.)

BEST HORROR FILM

The Descent
Final Destination 3
Hostel
Saw III
Slither
Snakes on a Plane

(Solid nominees; obviously my vote goes to the female spelunking misadventure.)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM

Casino Royale
The Departed
Flyboys
Mission Impossible III
Notes on a Scandal
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

(What a weird category. A Judi Dench drama comepeting against a WWI flick, a Scorsese crime drama, James Bond, Ethan Hunt and an arthouse horror flick?)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Cars
Flushed Away
Happy Feet
Monster House
Over the Hedge
A Scanner Darkly

(I'm guessing the Saturn folks give it to the Linklater flick ... or maybe the one with "monster" in the title.)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Apocalypto
The Curse of the Golden Flower
Fearless
The Host
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pan's Labyrinth

(Another strange mix. I say they'll give it to The Host.)

BEST ACTOR

Daniel Craig -- Casino Royale
Tom Cruise -- Mission Impossible III
Will Ferrell -- Stranger Than Fiction
Hugh Jackman -- The Fountain
Clive Owen -- Children of Men
Brandon Routh -- Superman Returns

(Some very solid picks in addition to Cruise and Routh; my vote goes to Mr. Owen.)

BEST ACTRESS

Kate Bosworth -- Superman Returns
Judi Dench -- Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal -- Stranger Than Fiction
Shauna MacDonald -- The Descent
Natalie Portman -- V For Vendetta
Renee Zellweger -- Miss Potter

(Someone explain to me how Scandal is a genre film. Having said that, my vote goes to Portman. She shaved her head and everything!)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Ben Affleck -- Hollywoodland
Kelsey Grammer -- X-Men: The Last Stand
Philip Seymour Hoffman -- Mission Impossible III
Sergi Lopez -- Pan's Labyrinth
James Marsden -- Superman Returns
Bill Nighy -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

(Lopez. Period.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett -- Notes on a Scandal
Eva Green -- Casino Royale
Rachel Hurd-Wood -- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Famke Janssen -- X-Men: The Last Stand
Parker Posey -- Superman Returns
Emma Thompson -- Stranger Than Fiction

(Scandal again!?!? My vote actually goes to the young Ms. Hurd-Wood.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER ACTOR

Ko A-Sung -- The Host
Ivana Baquero -- Pan's Labyrinth
Jodelle Ferland -- Tideland
Tristan Lake Leabu -- Superman Returns
Mitchel Tate Musso -- Monster House
Edward Speleers -- Eragon

(So what's the cut-off age for "younger"? Rachel Hurd-Wood is only like 16! My vote here goes to Jodelle Ferland. Didn't care much for the movie, but the gal was pretty great in it.)

BEST DIRECTION

J.J. Abrams -- Mission Impossible III
Alfonso Cuaron -- Children of Men
Guillermo del Toro -- Pan's Labyrinth
Mel Gibson -- Apocalypto
Bryan Singer -- Superman Returns
Tom Tykwer -- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

(Wow, tough call. It's between Cuaron and Gibson ... and hell, maybe Tykwer, too!)

BEST WRITING

Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinget, Tom Tykwer -- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Guillermo del Toro -- Pan's Labyrinth
Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris -- Superman Returns
Zach Helm -- Stranger Than Fiction
Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis -- Casino Royale
Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowksi --V for Vendetta

(Odd that the Children of Men team didn't net a nod. I'm sticking with Del Toro -- or Mr. Helm.)

BEST MUSIC

David Arnold -- Casino Royale
John Ottman -- Superman Returns
Douglas Pipes -- Monster House
John Powell -- X-Men: The Last Stand
Trevor Rabin -- Flyboys
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil -- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

(Wow, if The Fountain deserved a nomination for sure, it was in this category. I'll go with the Bond score.)

BEST COSTUME

Joan Bergin -- The Prestige
Yee Chung-Man -- Curse of the Golden Flower
Penny Rose -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Judianna Makovsky -- X-Men: The Last Stand
Nic Ede -- Flyboys
Sammy Sheldon -- V For Vendetta

(Not much of a contest here: Golden Flower. And what's with all the Flyboys nominations?)

BEST MAKE-UP

Howard Berger, Gregory Nicotero, Mario Michisanti -- The Hills Have Eyes
Paul Hyett, Vickie Lang -- The Descent
David Marti, Montse Ribe -- Pan's Labyrinth
Todd Masters -- Slither
Ve Neill, Joel Harlow -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Gregory Nicotero, Scott Patton -- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

(Wow, finally some more love for Slither. Cool.)

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

John Bruno, Eric Saindon, Craig Lyn, Michael Vezina -- X-Men: The Last Stand
Jeremy Dawson, Dan Schrecker, Mark Soper, Peter Parks -- The Fountain
Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Patrick Tobach, Dan Sudick -- Mission Impossible III
Karin Joy, John Berton, Blair Clark, John Dietz -- Charlotte's Web
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, Allen Hall -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover, Jon Thum -- Superman Returns

(Pirates all the way. Kraken good stuff.)


...and then there's a whole bunch of TV categories, all of which you can see right here, but I'll skip ahead to the DVD awards!

BEST DVD RELEASE

Bambi II
Beowulf & Grendel
The Butterfly Effect 2
Hollow Man 2
The Sci Fi Boys
2001 Maniacs

(I assume they mean "direct-to-video" titles. They just gotta.)

BEST DVD SPECIAL EDITION RELEASE

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Extended Edition)
Final Destination 3 (Thrill Ride Edition)
Old Boy (Ultimate Collector's Edition)
King Kong (Deluxe Extended Edition)
Saw II (Unrated – Special Edition)
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

(Gotta be Donner's Superman cut. We've been waiting so long to check it out.)

BEST DVD CLASSIC FILM RELEASE

Forbidden Planet
Free Enterprise
Gojira (Godzilla)
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Searchers
She
This Island Earth

(Free Enterprise is a "classic"??)

BEST DVD COLLECTION

The Boris Karloff Collection
The Exorcist – The Complete Anthology
The Premiere Frank Capra Collection
Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection
James Bond Ultimate Edition (Collections 1 – 4)
Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition

(Very tough call. They're all pretty excellent!)