The 4th Annual Burning Max Awards!

(Thank you to Nebbit, Holden Pike and Movie Dan, for their participation and efforts)

Hey gang,

Globes, Oscars, Razzies, Sags....how about the Maxis?!

A few of you who know me from MJ.com or even from here when I pop in now and again, know that I adore movies like all of you, love 'em in and out. A place in my heart goes toward the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre (no matter how bad or good)...yes, I know...a lot of those films are trite, they're remakes, not to be taken seriously, and etc, etc.

Well every year at my website, I hold the "Burning Max Awards" aka ('The Maxi's' hahahaha), where films in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre only are nominated in the respected Oscar categories...ex: Picture, Actor, Actress, Cinematography, Costume Design, etc. Myself with nine other judges, see each genre film of the entire year and then submit our choices (5 picks for each category)...and the majority is the final nominations. But the fan base/visitors cast the ballots. This is pretty much like the Saturn Awards, in which yours truly is a member of.

I am an (self-proclaimed) underground film enthusiast and historian, but I also enjoy this genre very much and hold it in high regard, something most film enthusiasts don't do, not anymore anyway. I am sort of a booster for the genre as well as exploitation, B and independant films!!

So take a gander, have some fun and e-mail me ([email protected]) or PM me your ballots....

...and remember, it's all in good fun!

Here's the link:
http://www.burningmax.com/bmawards.html


Thanks,
-Uncle Jay

Yeah, and boy am I glad I took the time to compile some interesting choices. Dude, had I known you were just going to go with the blind fanboy choices like Jessica Alba in The Fantastic 4 and Jennifer Garner in Elektra, I wouldn't have wasted my time. Really, does even the most ardent, retarded Star Wars fan think Natalie Portman was doing even acceptible acting in Episode III, much less among the best of this or any year? Hayden Christensen? Really?!? And how dare you completely shut-out Serenity and A History of Violence, especially in favor of ***** like Star Wars III and The Fantastic frippin' Four.



Thanks for nothing, Jay. In case I haven't been clear in this mini-rant here, don't ask me for my input next year, as you'll clearly ignore it anyway. Jennifer Garner in Elektra?!?! Yes, I know you think you'll get higher traffic on your site now because all the fourteen-year-olds with boners will vote for their favorite webgirl pin-up, but then why not just include additional categories like "hottest girl in a costume" rather than sully any kind of "acting" slots with such empty and dull "performances"? For shame, man. For shame.

I was going to fire this all off in a private message to you, but as you saw fit to include my name in your original post, I want to just as publically disassociate myself from it. What a bad joke.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

If i could be bothered to count, i'd say you have about 10 different films there, and most shouldn't be nominated for any good awards. And Haute Tension/High Tension/Switchblade Romance was made in 2003 so the hell it's doing in there at all. I still don't get why people like Episode 3, take away the special effects and what do you have?

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The effects were ***** too. That battle on the lava was just horrednous. The effects on the first season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" were better, and the scenarios the average eight-year-old comes up with for his action figures are more plausible.

Just blind fan loyalty, and nothing more.

thanks uncle jay.....kind of sweet!

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IF I HAVE GONE AWAY.....DON'T ASK WHY!!......
JUST LOOK AT THE SKY....AND SAY GOODBYE!....

I watch a lot of **** and I know I'm watching a lot of **** and even I think that list is pathetic. Wow.

Am I missing something here? I hope that list was a joke...

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Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

A few idiots i know try validate the film being good with the argument, it links the trilogy. Links it to what? The 3 first **** films, yeah. And it doesn't even maintain much continuity. All the links were just thrown in at the end, like Liam Neeson training Obi. And why the fudge can R2 fly in 3 and not the later ones? Technology seems to have got worse in the future...

The didn't even have Vader kicking ass

As Holden says, is it more than a coincidence Sith is an anagram of shit?


Btw, OG, in a non sucking up way- i really dig your site.

Well, it's like I said in case you didn't read it correctly...THERE WERE NINE OTHER JUDGES, mostly from other websites. These weren't my personal, specific picks...majority ruled here!!! But again, this is strictly for sci-fi/fantasy/horror flicks...jeez, this isn't to be taken seriously...it's all in good fun. So ****in' relax!!!

But this is exactly what I mean, this genre gets NO RESPECT whatsoever, what happened to going to the movies for fun,...does everything have to OSCAR-WORTHY MATERIAL??!! This genre has built in cons, no pros at all!! That's the problem, fine-wined film enthusiasts expect perfection and if they happen to catch a genre flick that they like, it called a "pleasant surprise." So what if someone like Jessica Alba gets some recognition by fans of the genre, all hell does not need to break loose and furthermore not be anal retentively torn apart as a result. That's ridiculous, sure, I would've like to have seen Celine De France for "High Tension" or even Jennifer Connelly for "Dark Water"...but hey, that's the way it went. Why am I the bad guy?

Bottom line is...to heckle at this genre has grown tiresome. "Metropolis", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "Planet of the Apes", "2001", "Solaris", "Star Wars", "Alien", "Forbidden Planet", "The Terminator"....with the exception of "Lord of the Rings", we haven't seen masterworks like those mentioned of the genre in quite sometime. It's sad, but hey, fans of the genre need to work with what's offered.

Point fingers and rip me apart all you want...it's was nothing more than fun. I'm trying to support a genre that FILM ENTHUSIATS PISS ON ALL THE TIME!!!

-UJ

No, you want it both ways, Jay. You want the genre to be supported and taken seriously and bemoan the fact that bodies like the Academy don't generally give them their due, but then when you offer up movies you know are horrible you say that the genre is supposed to be fun and who cares if they aren't that good and why is everybody so uptight? No wonder film enthusiasts piss on the genre all the time, because genre fanboys try to pass off anything with spaceships or swordplay as worthy of praise no matter how good or bad it is. If you really want the genre to be taken seriously, then stop holding up ***** like it is gold.

The point is you sent me a long e-mail saying you didn't want your list to be full of the kind of crap that your list is now full of. I took time to point out some genre films and performances that one wouldn't have to preceed with a "Well, it's stupid junk, but it's kinda fun if you don't look at it at all critically, so what about...". And yet you chose a whole lot of garbage to fill out that list anyway. Garbage by any definition.

On a personal level with the time I put into it, I feel like you came to me and said your living room is dull and boring and you're sick of looking at it, so please design me a interesting and artistic mural for the walls. After doing as instructed, I now come over for the housewarming to find you decided to just go with dull beige paint on the walls and be done with it. I don't really give a crap what your walls look like, but don't specifically ask me for something and then completely go another direction like we never had the conversation...and be shocked that I would notice and voice an objection.


You and your other judges are the ones who need to work with what's offered, by looking beyond the three or four films that get all the press and attention to find the great stuff that is being made today. That's what's sad, that a really fine, well written, well acted, well produced movie like Serenity that is everything the genre aspires to be - including a whole lotta fun, is ignored in favor of the dullest and most insulting dumbed-down crud thrown onto the screen.


Like I said, I disavow any participation with a list that includes the likes of Elektra, Fantastic 4 and Star Wars III, all examples of exactly what is wrong with the state of the genre. Your little awards could have tried to show what truly good and great movies and performances genre films had to offer this year and still have been fun. Instead you padded it with the same old crap, and now you're getting defensive when we note the stink.

Well Holden, unless you sleeping with me, your analyzed critique of me is dead wrong. I had some fun, with people that like a genre that is dispised by tight-assed film goers. That's it. You want to take it a step further and compare it to the greatest films of all time. That's were your comparisons lie.

You know as well as I, that no film in that list is comparable to films like "Casablanca", "Citizen Kane" or "The Godfather" or moreso genre films like "Blade Runner", "Metropolis", "2001", "Solaris" or even the very first "Star Wars", but Jesus Christ, lighten up.

Look, it's only something for fun, you want to make a tight-assed issue of out this and go completely overboard with your melo-dramatic, anal-rententive film expertise, go ahead...I'm sure there are plenty of brown-nosing pissants here that will follow the lead of the great Holden Pike...really man, you need to pipe-down with your know-it-all antics, you come across as a real prick.

Don't even bother replying...I'm done here...but I'm sure your cronies want to read what you have to say back, so post away!

UJ

I think awards for genre pics is a fun idea, King Kong and Sin City deserve some kind of recognition at least within the ranks of fans of genre pics, as they seem to be frozen out of 'real' awards ceremonies.

But, as Holden, Pyro and OG have pointed out, how will genre movies ever be taken seriously when fans continue to make no distinction between good movies and crap with hot girls in skimpy costumes?

I wonder if the people who compiled the nominations even watched Serenity. Better script writing, acting and effects than the entire Star Wars prequel debacle.

I know you'll come back and read this thread many times, so to say you're done is a little exagerated and we all know it. Curiousity is a bitch.

I'm not saying this in defense of Holden, the man can certainly defend himself, but you took his words far too personally and missed the entire point of his post(s):

If you (or your fellow 'judges') were real champions of the genre, you'd already be looking past the jokes you nominated and speak up for flicks that really deserve the accolades. But if you want to just jack the MTV Movie Awards nominee list, that's fine.

Jessica Alba should never be nominated for anything outside of an award for "Most Sterile Beauty Who Some How Has Zero Sexuality". And especially not for acting, if that is what you can call what she tried to pull off in the unforgivingly horrible Fantastic Four.

Thanks, man. Spread the word. There is a lot more I'd like to do with it, so it can only get better.

Peter Jackson deserves an award all to himself. He's done a great deal to bring credibility to the fantasy genre.

Credibility for comics to movies: Spiderman and XMen.

And special awards to Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart for the immense credibility they brought to their projects.

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My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.