2015 Calvin Awards: Best Scene
By David Mumpower
February 10, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
While there was a consensus in group think about the top choices, the battle for number one was much more contentious than last year, when Gravity’s opening scene almost doubled the already legendary Let It Go sequence from Frozen. The battle for first place this year was hotly contested until the final few votes, when Whiplash pulled ahead of its two chief competitors. Ergo, the Final Drum Solo from Whiplash is BOP’s choice as Best Scene of the year.
“I know it was you.” The driving story of Whiplash involves a driven music teacher named Terrence Fletcher who sees something in the talented but inexperienced Andrew Neiman. The two of them engage in a tumultuous relationship wherein Fletcher attempts to motivate Neiman to be his best. Suffice to say that Fletcher is an unapologetic task master whose behavior eventually alienates the dispirited teen.
By the end of the film, their association is adversarial, yet they agree to perform together in a live show outside the school sanctioned environment. Without spoiling what transpires, the tempestuous nature of their dynamic is on full display for strangers as their battle of wills reaches endgame. There are two amazing moments during this final performance that embody the underlying story of the entire film, each of which is plausible as well as emotionally resonant. Whiplash features one of the best denouements of the 2000s, somehow crafting a satisfactory resolution to a seemingly impossible schism. While the choice was not easy, our staff eventually reached a consensus that the Final Drum Solo is the Best Scene of the year.
“Prison break? That's illegal, you know?” The leader from early in the voting process until the final week is forced to settle for second place. The demonstration of Quicksilver’s mutant ability set to the music of Time in a Bottle is our choice for penultimate scene of the year. Introduced as a disaffected teen recruited by Wolverine and Magneto, Quicksilver seems like little more than a brash teen right up until gunfire breaks out at a Trask facility. Quicksilver leaps into action, eventually altering the course of bullets that would otherwise strafe Charles Xavier.
Of course, time moves more slowly for the speedy teen, so he also engages in a few extracurricular activities. Before the bullet can find its mark, Quicksilver has time to sample some coffee, steal a dude’s hat and force a security guard to punch himself in the jaw. He is a rebellious teen in love with his own abilities, after all. While Disney has cornered the market on Marvel characters done right, X-Men’s implementation of Quicksilver is all but certain to supersede anything Joss Whedon does with the character in the upcoming The Avengers: Age of Ultron. And if you know anything about this site, praising something as better than Whedon is basically the highest compliment we can give.
“So, do you like weather?” With regards to our third favorite scene of the year, everybody has been there. You’re suffering through that awkward brunch with your significant other as your parents meet each other for the first time. The conversation is stilted, and all parties are silently sizing up one another. Then, it becomes obvious that one of them is an undercover police officer and another is his commanding officer who suddenly has that epiphany that the nerdy employee that he hates is having sex with his beloved art major daughter.
Yes, this is a real subplot of 22 Jump Street as Jonah Hill’s character discovers an even scarier stare than the Eye of Sauron when Ice Cube starts to shoot him…a withering glance. You half-expect Ice Cube to actually shoot him as well, and a gun does get pointed at him at one point. Of course, the best moment is saved for Channing Tatum a few seconds later, as the light bulb goes off and he appreciates the cause of conflict between his two co-workers. The whole thing ends with a totally justified Taser to a sensitive area, thereby becoming a bit of wish fulfillment for every father of a sexually active daughter. There are three scenes in 22 Jump Street so uproarious that they earned placement in our top 15. This one is far and away the best as well as the funniest/third Best Scene of the year.
“Hello, Mr. Collins. I’ve missed you.” For many, Gone Girl is a difficult movie to love. It is a convoluted story of loathsome people behaving horribly. I’m not sure what it says about BOP’s staff how readily we embraced it, but it has proven to be a strong performer in most major categories this year, earning a total of 11 selections. And nothing better exemplifies the unholy union between Gone Girl’s primary characters than the Box Cutter scene, which doesn’t even feature one of them. It is impossible to describe this scene without spoiling the entire resolution of the film. Suffice to say that what Amazing Amy wants Amazing Amy gets. Consequences be damned.
“Are you ready for the last act, to take a step you can’t take back?” Our fifth selection in Best Scene is a curtain call of sorts for director John Carney, whose previous work on Once earned a second place finish in this category in 2008. Nobody does a better job of examining and revealing the creative process than Carney, as is demonstrated yet again in Begin Again. As world-weary music executive Dan Mulligan drinks away the sorrow of career frustration, musician Gretta James plays her latest composition. An established hit-maker, Mulligan sees the music in a literal sense, imagining the instrumental accompaniments needed to make the song great. This scene is movie magic at its finest, incorporating song and story seamlessly.
Everything is awesome during a prison break, at least if we combine our sixth and seventh favorite scenes of the year. The higher spot goes to The Lego Movie for its reveal of The Lego Universe while dim-witted everyman Emmet prepares for another day on the job. The combination of catchy lyrics and splashy colors instantly engages. The prison break occurs in The Grand Budapest Hotel when man of action Gustave H. cashes in on some favors and friendships to escape the Checkpoint-19 Criminal Interment Camp. High drama has never felt so idiosyncratic and silly.
Our final selections this year involve ship docking, lip synching, and a shocking turn to live action. Interstellar had four different candidates in the Best Scene category this year, and that probably caused split votes that prevented any of them from higher placement. The emergency docking sequence at extreme velocity aka “No Time for Caution!” earned a spot in eighth place. Right behind is Bill Hader and (eventually) Kristen Wiig’s lip-synching of Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now in Skeleton Twins. Finally, the reveal of the real (?) world in The LEGO Movie completes our list of selections in Best Scene for 2015.
Narrowly missing the list are the fight in the darkness in Snowpiercer, the Bloody Sunday re-creation in Selma, the elevator fight in Captain America, the bath house gun fight in John Wick, and two more scenes from 22 Jump Street. Those are the closing credits montage about future sequels and the kiss/fight between Schmidt and Mercedes. Stating the obvious, it was a tremendous year for memorable cinematic scenes.
2015 Calvin Awards
Calvins Intro
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture