2015 Calvin Awards: Best Character
By David Mumpower
February 10, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Historically, this has been a hotly contested category with the exception of last year when Alien torched the competition. Tough break, Elsa from Frozen, I’m sure you’ll be okay in time. The most recent year is back to the normal behavior of half a dozen characters remaining in competition until the very end. Eventually, we collectively settled upon the splashy choice, Monsieur Gustave H.
In addition to being the concierge at the world famous Grand Budapest Hotel, Gustave is a collector of the finer things in life, many of which he acquires by, ahem, seducing elderly heiresses who are only a few years if not months away from their deathbed. It’s an ugly job, but some professional must provide this service. Gustave relishes it to the point of fetishism yet he still finds time to act as a mentor to protégé Zero, a bellhop whose family was summarily executed during a time of war.
Gustave teaches the boy how to behave like a gentleman and even offers a few ruminations on the art of seduction. Even after he is imprisoned, Gustave somehow manages to tutor on the art of avoiding a reputation as a candy-ass. It’s a larger than life character with the type of pomposity that has been a hallmark of director Wes Anderson’s career. Gustave is a true delight and definitely the rightful choice as Best Character of the year.
Narrowly losing in the category but still finishing strongly in second place is Terrence Fletcher. The driven music instructor from Whiplash is hard to love, because he is a total jerk. Seriously, Bill Belichick thinks Fletcher needs to be a bit nicer to people. What Fletcher does accomplish is molding the most naturally gifted musicians at Shaffer Conservatory into the best musicians in the world. Sometimes, he goes too far, which is why his teaching comes with a body count, but his drive as well as his sheer force of will make him one of the most believable trainers in the history of cinema. J.K. Simmons is in line to win an Academy Award for his performance, and our staff agrees that, warts and all, Terrence Fletcher is a mesmerizing character.
He wants to be called Star-Lord, because that sounds more majestic and even a bit cosmic. Alas, you know him as Peter Quill, a self-professed Guardian of the Galaxy. Suffice to say that Quill is a bit damaged yet his heart is in the right place. Think of him as an intergalactic Indiana Jones, except that he has a tendency to keep the various treasures he discovers. Chris Pratt just had a career-making year by starring in the one bona fide new hit of 2014. His performance as a hero hidden in a cloak of thievery won the hearts of movie lovers across the globe. Our staff was no different, and even though he probably needs some dance lessons, we are all too happy to name Star-Lord as the third Best Character of the year.
Rounding out the top five are a fictional character playing in an entirely different fictional universe than normal and a potential victim of murder who is either a helpless victim or pure evil or both. The latter description applies to our fourth favorite character of the year, Amazing Amy from Gone Girl. One day, her husband comes home to discover that she is missing, and the only clues regarding her whereabouts are provided in a diary that he did not know she wrote. Suffice to say that Amy is a woman of many secrets who is fed up with her disappointing marriage and overbearing helicopter parents.
On the other end of the spectrum is LEGO Batman, a character so vain and toothless that it feels like something created during a Superman Is Better PR campaign. Perfectly implemented as the ultimate competition for a woman’s heart, LEGO Batman punctuates several clever ideas in The LEGO Movie by sounding more like a kid’s idea of the character than the one we’ve come to know through the comic books and the sterilized Christopher Nolan version.
Entrepreneurship and leadership are the qualities possessed by our sixth and seventh favorite characters. Nightcrawler's Lou Bloom is an amoral thief seeking a better life. He stumbles upon an unusual career opportunity and while we may question his ethics, he gets results. He also knows how to deal with the competition in a way that actually makes him a bit more money while they (literally) suffer. Bloom is hard to love but impossible not to watch. Meanwhile, Caesar almost won in 2012 for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, losing by only three votes. The ape leader is less successful this time, as he manages only seventh place despite ardent support from one of our writers, who went so far as to create a virtual For Your Consideration campaign for the character as well as Andy Serkis, the actor bringing him to life. Alas, freshness matters in Best Character. We love Caesar, but he was more interesting the first time around.
The LEGO Movie, Birdman and Edge of Tomorrow feature our final three selections this year. Idiotic, excitable Emmet Brickowski is the chosen one who more or less accidentally leads his people to glory (and an entirely new world), singing "Everything Is Awesome" all the while in the instant classic, The LEGO Movie. Riggan Thomson is the polar opposite as a struggling actor who used to be a tentpole superstar on the top of the celebrity A-List. Now, he may or may not be able to fly. So, is it better to be famous for playing a superhero or be obscure but with an actual superpower? Thus is the genius of Birdman. Finally, Sergeant Rita Rose Vrataski is a bit of both as a woman temporarily blessed with the ability to repeat time, thereby becoming a war hero. After she loses this talent, someone else asks her for tutelage, which she provides in a harsh matter fairly reminiscent of Terrence Fletcher above. BOP loves taskmasters this year.
Narrowly missing selection are the titular Maleficent, Cooper from Interstellar, Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past, Doc Sportello from Inherent Vice, Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, The Winter Soldier from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and The Female from Under the Skin.
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