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Our second selection for Best Overlooked Film is The Way Way Back. This coming of age story focuses on Duncan, a teenager whose mother’s boyfriend describes him as a three out of 10 on the date-worthiness scale. Duncan grudgingly agrees to spend the summer at a Cape Cod beach house yet it proves to be a seminal time in his life. He meets a girl and befriends a middle-aged slacker who hires him at a water park. Written by the same people who created The Descendants, The Way Way Back is a sentimental examination of an awkward phase that all of us experienced growing up. And Sam Rockwell has never been better than in this role as the slacker who becomes the champion of an insecure boy.

Another coming of age story about a teenager is our third selection. The Spectacular Now is a much more adult production, though. In fact, BOP’s Sean Collier has noted that if the characters were aged 10 years, the story would require virtually no alteration. It is not the run of the mill high school drama. Instead, it examines the repercussions of a man struggling to deal with his alcoholism and the myriad ramifications of it throughout his life. Oddly enough, The Spectacular Now is quite romantic anyway. The alcoholic meets a much less popular and fortunate girl whose sunny optimism regarding life bleeds into his natural pessimism. He discovers new purpose and new focus, thereby becoming a better version of himself. In this regard, The Spectacular Now is the most romantic movie of the year.

Rounding out the top five are a pair of titles from beloved auteurs. Her is the latest release from the always eclectic Spike Jonze. It tells the story of a man who falls in love with a Siri-like artificial intelligence program. Later, he discovers that she is a bit too user-friendly for his tastes. Her is stunningly inventive yet somehow a very reasonable supposition about the future of technology.

Inside Llewyn Davis is the polar opposite of the quasi-futuristic Her. It is a stubborn throwback to the early 1960s music scene. The titular protagonist is a talented but poor musician who has no dwelling of his own, so he stays on the couches of various friends and exes until he wears out his welcome. Along the way, he meets a cat, takes an uncomfortable car ride with an angry jazzman and jams in a studio session with Justin Timberlake. Inside Llewyn Davis is an esoteric title that offers sublime acting, wonderful music and an absolutely confounding ending that has been the source of constant debate among our staff.

Exotic fare finishes in sixth and seventh place on our list. Sixth place goes to Before Midnight, the third story in the romantic saga of Jesse and Celine. This time, they are a full-fledged couple from the start, complete with children of their own. In fact, they are enjoying a family vacation in Greece. And like most couples, they fight on vacation. The scenes can be hard to watch for any viewer, but it is an especially engrossing turn of events for those of us already emotionally attached to the Before Sunrise/Sunset star-crossed lovers.

Another pair of star-crossed European lovers finished seventh. Blue Is the Warmest Color is the theatrical adaptation of Julie Maroh’s comic book. It tells the story of a high school student’s gradual sexual awakening. Eventually, she begins a long term lesbian relationship with a woman who defends her at a gay bar. They develop an artist/muse dynamic over years of dating yet their coupling falters due to one’s lingering insecurity about her homosexuality. Blue Is the Warmest Color is a challenging three-hour subtitled movie featuring a seven and a half minute lesbian sex scene, making it the most befuddling release in recent memory for most dudes. We know that some of you will just Google the sex scene, but we strongly recommend the movie in its entirety. There is marvelous storytelling in this feature.

The rest of our top ten is comprised of releases from a couple of BOP favorites and a movie that earned only a million at the box office. Eighth place goes to About Time, the latest romantic comedy from genre master Richard Curtis. It is a creative take on the Groundhog Day premise that also has a touching Field of Dreams streak. Our ninth selection is Much Ado about Nothing, the movie Joss Whedon wanted to make so much that he filmed it in his backyard. It is a light, spirited film that will bring joy into your heart when you watch it. Finally, we know from the box office that you did not watch Short Term 12. You absolutely should. It is a riveting exploration of the difficulty in nurturing troubled teens.

Narrowly missing nomination this year but still absolutely worthy of a viewing are Mud, Nebraska, All Is Lost, In a World…, You’re Next, Upstream Color, The Act of Killing and Enough Said. All of them are terrific. You're Next is the most likely to become a cult classic if you have to pick one.

2014 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
Best Videogame
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture

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