2009 Calvin Awards: Best Picture
February 13, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Looking at the above, two things are obvious. The first is that our group has always had eclectic taste about what the best movies are, frequently shunning end-of-year awards contenders for much less storied releases. The other is that no film has ever won in a blowout, but even by our standards, this year's competition was close. In point of fact, voting came down to the wire with the score exactly tied prior to the delivery of the final ballot. Unfortunately for this year's second place finisher, the voter in question did not have that film in their top ten. This skews the results a bit to belie the scoring as much less hotly contended than is the case, but make no mistake on the point. No one at BOP knew who the winner was going to be until minutes prior to the end of voting. Even for us, that's a first.
And the winner is...WALL-E. While the voting was tight, the voices of the people were clearly heard on this one. WALL-E was nominated on 90% of the Best Picture ballots this year and was named the number one film on over a quarter of them. The only reason this competition was even close was because the second most popular film of the year was ranked higher on the lists of almost everyone who voted for both films. WALL-E was the populist choice as well as the one that more people thought was the best movie of the year, but the other film had its fair share of (wildly aggressive) supporters as well.
In the end, what swayed our staff to name a Pixar movie as the best of the year for the first time were those magical first 45 minutes. By now, the conversation borders on overdone, but the silent movie portion of WALL-E is in the discussion for most gripping storytelling segment of the 2000s and arguably going even further back than that. Pixar's bold decision to let the animated pictures each tell their thousand words allowed the movie to feel more timeless and otherworldly despite its largely (scorched) Earth-bound focus. WALL-E emphasizes all of Pixar's strengths at once. It is ostensibly a movie for children; it is also somehow a stirring science fiction epic in the Galaxy Quest mold with regards to humor, and there are strong romantic comedy elements thrown in to boot. It is a tour de force accomplishment of storytelling that is the perfect capper on a historically unprecedented run of movie greatness by one studio.
First at the box office but second in our hearts this year is The Dark Knight. Yes, we know that the cards and letters are going to fly in from a certain segment of people. These are the same people trying to boycott the Oscars since it didn't get a Best Picture nod as well as those who are trying to guarantee that no one else ever plays The Joker again in a movie, retiring the role with Heath Ledger's performance. Good luck with that. For our part, we found The Dark Knight to be the rare big budget blockbuster that not only matches but in fact easily exceeds expectations. This has been readily apparent throughout the announcement of this week's awards, particularly Heath Ledger's record-shattering win total and its finishing in first *and* second in Best Scene. By now, everyone knows what there is to love about The Dark Knight, so we won't belabor the point other than to say that it barely lost a virtual coin flip to be our overall favorite movie of the year.
Slumdog Millionaire and Iron Man are our third and fourth favorite movies of the year. This was also a hotly contested battle with a lot of fervent support on both sides. In the end, the novelty and creativity of Slumdog Millionaire's rags to riches story (okay, when I put it that way, it doesn't sound so novel) of a trio of Indian orphans whose lives occasionally intersect wins out. Director Danny Boyle does a phenomenal job in handling all of the moving parts in this story, getting optimal performances from several children along the way. Iron Man is a much different style of movie, a kick-ass comic book come to live onscreen. While the Marvel release had its thunder stolen a bit by the DC property, Batman, I am one of the few at BOP who considers Iron Man to be the superior film and it was in fact my favorite of the past year.
A pair of titles that have cleaned up at The Calvins this year, Frost/Nixon and In Bruges, are our choices for fifth and sixth best films of the year. Frost/Nixon's timely release on the heels of the most carefully watched presidential race in American history captivated us. While we recommend Michael Sheen go out and find a project where he will be the star for a change, we love that he followed up The Queen, a project where he went toe to toe with Helen Mirren, with this one wherein he was magnificent yet still outshined by Frank Langella. In Bruges, our choice for Best Overlooked Film of 2009, is a similar form of anti-buddy movie wherein Brendan Gleeson hangs out at a hotel with Colin Farrell and awaits the order to assassinate him. While we have all had the same fantasy about murdering Colin Farrell, Gleeson surprises us by developing a conscience midway through the movie, making his ethical choices murky at best. In Bruges is a magnificent cinematic accomplishment that makes us root for a pair of killers, the best of its ilk since 1994's Leon aka The Professional.
The power acting performances of the year according to most critics, The Wrestler and Milk, are our choices for seventh and eighth best movie of the year. As was the case in the Best Actor category, we like The Wrestler just a touch more than Milk. I think the explanation for this may be traced back to one actor: Diego Luna. He returns the only poor performance in either movie. Otherwise, the acting in each is truly sublime in both releases. Give the Academy a lot of credit this year. They got most of the nominations right.
The Visitor and Kung Fu Panda are our final selections in the Best Picture category. The Visitor is a heartbreaking tale of a widower and the illegal immigrants he accidentally meets who change his life. Its release was unheralded, but it is already available on Starz as well as Netflix Now Playing if you want to give it a shot. You will not be disappointed. Meanwhile, you know all too well what Kung Fu Panda is. BOP has been championing this movie since pretty much the day it was announced in Variety all the way back when it was an Adam Sandler project. The concept of a fat panda who learns that he is a martial arts champion always appealed to us and we were thrilled to discover that the movie is more than just a funny idea. Instead, it's a surprisingly spiritual family film that examines the burdens of expectations and the zen-like state of bliss that comes from the one-two punch of self-awareness and self-confidence. Plus, there is one scary-ass tiger voiced by Al Swearengen. What's not to love?
The problem with only doing ten selections in the Best Picture category is that so many great movies wind up being excluded. Below is a list of BOP's top 25 selections for Best Picture of the 2009 Calvins. All of these titles are highly recommended by our staff. (David Mumpower/BOP)
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Director
Best DVD
Best Overlooked Film
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture