The same year that Bigelow won for Best Director, our third place finisher this year placed...third. Quentin Tarantino is consistently a favorite of the BOP staff, having taken that third spot for Inglourious Basterds. He also has another third place finish for Kill Bill Volume 1 and a ninth spot for Kill Bill Volume 2. We appreciated the way that Django Unchained felt playful and entertaining even as it toyed with weightier ethical issues. There aren't many directors working today who can examine slavery and racism while paying homage to genre pictures. We're hearing that Tarantino's next film may tie thematically to both Basterds and Django, and if true, it ought to be a hell of a ride.

Fourth place goes to Ang Lee, who presents a truly luscious-looking parable in the form of the adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi. This movie employs the best use of 3D effects besides Avatar, and one of the most impressive aspects of the film is the way that Ang brings the animals to life even as most of them were rendered on a computer. It would have been easy to try to "humanize" them in some way, but this never happens. Richard Parker the Tiger is cruel and vicious, and there is never a moment in the film where we are allowed to believe that Pi should let his guard down. Some are bothered by the ambiguity of the ending, but there can be no arguing that the film is an ambitious take on a book that should have been all but impossible to film. Somehow, Ang succeeded.

Next up is David O. Russell, who surprisingly has only a ninth place finish (for The Fighter) so far in our Calvin Awards history. We admire Silver Linings Playbook for humanizing the plights of people who must contend with mental illness. People want to believe that solutions are easy, but as Silver Linings Playbook illustrates, life is more often full of shades of grey (go away, E.L. James fans). With The Fighter and now this film, Russell has shown a propensity to look at mental health issues in a sympathetic way is admirable.

Sixth and seventh go to a guy who directed the biggest box office opener ever and a helmer who adds another masterpiece to his storied career. BOP fave Joss Whedon, creator of such classic shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, was handed the reins to The Avengers, a film that brings together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. This could have been truly awful, but Whedon found the way to bring these disparate personalities together in a way that really worked. Seventh goes to Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. You might have expected Spielberg to direct the bigger, brassier, more exciting project, but instead he examines a slice of the life of our 16th president and allows the supporting players to shine. This movie could have been dry and deadly dull, but Spielberg delivers a film that is truly engrossing.

Rounding out are top ten are a couple of Andersons and a Mendes. The first of our Andersons is Wes, who brings his vibrant storytelling abilities to a coming-of-age romance between two teens. As always, the detail in the film is exquisite, and the performances he elicits from his unknown young performers is impressive. Then we have Paul Thomas Anderson, who delivered a divisive film in The Master, one that has both ardent supporters and voluble detractors. Challenging and ambiguous, it's a journey into a dark heart that doesn't necessarily provide easy or satisfactory solutions. Finally, Sam Mendes took on the Bond franchise and delivered a movie with fabulous action sequences, marvelous cinematography, and yet still had an emotional core to it that has rarely been seen in the series.

Just missing the top ten this year were Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises), Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski (Cloud Atlas), Rian Johnson (Looper) and Robert Zemeckis (Flight).

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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
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

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