Only two scenes this year earned multiple first place selections from our staff. This places Best Scene for 2012 among the most varied ballots in the history of The Calvins. The Battle for Hogwarts leveraged its top of the ballot popularity into a win in the category. The best scene from Rise of the Planet of the Apes is less fortunate in that it does not have the overall support needed to finish higher than eighth place. The scene in question is the one where Caesar finds his voice for the first time and thereby becomes the first of the apes to speak. The genetically enhanced monkey builds an army of simian loyalists, establishing dominance over each one. When Dodge (played by Tom Felton aka Draco Malfoy, making him unofficial king of the Best Scene category this year) intercedes once more in terrorizing the caged animals held captive under his draconian “caretaking," Caesar utters a single syllable. In the process, he evolves an entire species along the evolutionary scale. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of the best movies of the year and its best scene is a jaw dropping moment in storytelling.

The last two nominees this year feature a screwball climax that would make Robert Altman proud and a profound examination of life that would make Carl Sagan proud. Crazy, Stupid, Love is a character driven tale of a man struggling to recapture his wife’s devotion. Along the way, he befriends a lothario and bewitches a babysitter. These unrelated events tie together in a slapstick moment wherein several revelations occur simultaneously about who the lothario is dating, who the man’s son loves and who the babysitter should or should not be mailing scandalous photographs. All of this happens while confused bystanders in the family watch helplessly. BOP is always a sucker for intersecting story arcs and this is among the best of the 2000s.

Conversely, The Tree of Life is an obfuscating, almost impenetrable story about…oh, I am not going to pretend as if I know what is about. What I can say for certain is that there is a moment in the movie where legendary director Terrence Malick offers his perspective on the history of the universe. An argument could be made that a character questions the meaning of our existence and the universe answers her by telling its backstory. It is one thing to describe Severus Snape’s life to date; it is an altogether different and exponentially more ambitious process to inform the viewer on the various steps we have taken from the Big Bang to now. Included is a moment wherein an injured dinosaur is curiously studied by a healthy one, with the latter choosing not to kill/eat it. Is this the moment where living creatures developed a conscience? The first time concern was shown for another of a species? An action between dinosaur brothers that mirrors something that happens in the same spot millions of years later between human brothers? The ambiguity of the scene is total and that is what makes it so enticing to some members of our staff.

Narrowly missing nomination in a tightly contested battle this year are scenes from X-Men: First Class, The Muppets, The Help, The Adventures of Tintin, Super 8 and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The X-Men scene is the invasion of Cuba while The Muppets musical examination of self, Man Or Muppet, is our choice from it. The Help features a special pie, while The Adventures of Tintin’s inclusion is the harrowing chase through the streets of Bagghar. We liked several pieces from Super 8 (three finished in the top 20 of our voting) but our favorite was the train crash itself. Finally, the iconic Man with the Pig Tattoo scene is our favorite from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. With only another vote here or there, any of these could have earned nomination in this year’s top 10. The voting was that close from number ten to number 30.

The Calvins: An Introduction
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
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

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