Musical remake, A Star is Born and The Avengers: Infinity War were among the winners of the annual Empire Film Awards this week. The Marvel blockbuster won Best Film, while the tragic love story starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga – the current favourite for the Academy Award for Best Picture – landed trophies for its two stars as well as ‘Best Onscreen Couple’.
Meanwhile, the hugely successful Black Panther was the movie that Aussie fans found most disappointing, beating Deadpool 2 and Ocean’s 8 to the least coveted award. The Most Underrated release was Solo: A Star Wars Story, which proved a box office flop.
More than 4,000 Empire magazne readers voted in the poll, which also covered the cream of Australian cinema. Indigenous thriller Sweet Country was judged the best Aussie film while Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and Hereditary star Toni Collette collected the acting accolades. Nash Edgerton’s comedy drama Mr Inbetween was named best Australian TV Show.
Empire editor James Jennings commented, “Having a huge superhero franchise like Avengers: Infinity War and a small-scale drama, Sweet Country take out Best Film and Best Australian Film respectively shows that Empire readers appreciate a wide range of movies. The votes indicate that A Star Is Born is rightly the big award season favourite, but we were shocked that Black Panther, the highest-grossing solo superhero film of all time, was seen as a let-down.”
The full list of winners:
Best Film: Avengers: Infinity War
Best Actor: Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Best Actress: Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Best Screen Couple: Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Best Scene: Bad Times At The El Royale (Cynthia Erivo takes down Chris Hemsworth)
Best Line: Drax in Avengers: Infinity War (“I’ll do you one better: WHY is Gamora?”)
Best TV series: Barry
Best Aussie Actor: Chris Hemsworth
Best Aussie Actress: Toni Collette
Best Aussie Film: Sweet Country
Best Aussie TV series: Mr Inbetween
Most Overrated Film: Black Panther
Most Underrated Film: Solo: A Star Wars Story
Biggest Disappointment: Venom
Best Film-Related Thing: Time’s Up Movement
Best Film-Related Thing: The Death of Stan Lee
The Nicolas Cage Award for Overall Excellence: Nicholas Cage, Mandy
Photo Credit: Andrea Raffin, Tinseltown, Jeff Bukowski, Denis Makarenko, Feature Flash Photography, Rene Teichmann, Kathy Hutchins