Box Office Prophets proudly announces
...the 2006 Calvin Awards
2005 was a brutal year for cinema as a whole. Box office ticket sales were way down, critical negativity was way up, and consumer apathy reached historic levels. Quality titles were drowned in a sea of horrible horror films, Academy Awards contenders that proved to be pretenders, and a slew of summer disaster flicks…and not the monument porn type of disasters that have made Roland Emmerich rich. After all, Stealth and The Island lost more than the gross national products of several developing countries. Face it, even the sunniest of movie evaluators would have trouble heaping superlatives on 2005’s titles as a whole.
Our intrepid columnists at BOP were undeterred by the challenge, though. We embraced the tricky task of discovering the best cinema had to offer in 2005. We wear the degree of difficulty as a badge of honor. The year in review saw the release of some good films. No, we are not joking. There were at least 12 of them…maybe even 15. Okay, there were over 300 releases during the calendar year, so the percentage of good movies is ridiculously low. Even so, we are not going to let a historically unprecedented Hollywood dry spell get in the way of our fifth annual Calvins Awards.
What did we discover in our quest for the best in a season of the worst? 2005 saw the release of the final chapter in the Star Wars saga, the middle film in the seven title Harry Potter series, and the beginning of a new franchise in The Chronicles of Narnia. There were hallmark moments in movie-making such as the CGI sensation of Sin City. Previous unknowns such as Terrence Howard, Steve Carell, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher, and Chris Evans exploded into the public consciousness. Hollywood veterans old and young alike such as David Strathairn, Reese Witherspoon, and Felicity Huffman finally found the roles they were predestined to play. And George Clooney proved that in an era of instantly forgettable reality stars, true talent still shines through.
We were as critical of 2005 releases as any site on the Internet, but even we found a lot to celebrate. Of course, we also have hedged our bets by introducing a few new categories that have nothing to do with movies. We figured that since we were having you, the readers, vote for Best CD, Best Videogame and Best Television Show, we owed you the courtesy of offering our opinions on the subject matter. Also, we threw in Best Cinematography just because we can. As was the case in 2005, we will post our individual ballots as well as your Reader’s Choice selections next week. In the interim, there will be 21 Calvins Awards distributed. We hope you enjoy our selections and as always welcome debate on the subject. But we’re right and you’re wrong. FYI.
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