2009 Calvins: Kim Hollis's Ballot

March 2, 2009

Even with the writers' strike, I thought that 2008 was quite a solid year for film. Granted, a third of my top ten was comprised of animated movies, but that's pretty much par for the course where I'm concerned. I like cartoons. What can I say?

My favorite movie of 2008 – by far – was WALL-E. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's in the running for my favorite Pixar film ever, but I think that's a judgment that needs time before I come to any real conclusions. It was a gorgeous film, part romance, part science fiction, all heart. It was simply impossible not to fall in love with both WALL-E and EVE, and I'm not ashamed to say that I cried twice during the movie.

For Best Director, I selected Danny Boyle, who has cleaned up in general during awards season, culminating in an Academy Award. I've long been an admirer of Boyle's work, and felt that he did a lovely job of bookending an earlier film, Millions, with the story Slumdog Millionaire offered. Even when Boyle is not so good, as in Sunshine, there's still a lot to appreciate.

In the acting categories, I was pretty mainstream, frankly. Like everyone else, my favorite performance of the year came from Heath Ledger as he reinvented the Joker. For me to say this, though, is kind of a big deal, as I've never really liked Ledger in much of anything in the past. When he was cast as the Joker, I was incredibly disappointed. But I was wrong. Oh so wrong. Considering that I'm a huge Batman fan, the fact that he was able to sell me and turn in what I consider to be perhaps the most iconic portrayal of a villain ever, I think I owe him a posthumous apology.

In the other acting categories, I most preferred Frank Langella, who slides easily into Richard Nixon's skin in Frost/Nixon, as Best Actor. I loved Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, too, but Langella just blew me away. The best female acting performance I saw this year came from Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married. I was unmoved by Kate Winslet in The Reader (and I'm a huge fan) and I thought that something about Meryl Streep's performance in Doubt was off. For Supporting Actress, I was most impressed by Penelope Cruz in her small role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, as she had me utterly convinced that she was insane in the most charming way.

Finally, there was a movie that I really, really hated this year. In fact, I hated it so much that I named it my Worst Picture and gave its lead actor Worst Performance. That movie was Semi-Pro, which was totally painful to watch. I knew it would be bad from the moment I saw an extended clip on MTV – it was pretty much comprised of vomiting. And even though I'm one of Ferrell's biggest supporters, I just couldn't abide him in this film. I'm not sure I've forgiven him for it yet.

See more individual ballots and complete results at the 2009 Calvin Awards page

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