Our third selection in Best Picture is our other big winner of the year, 12 Years a Slave. While the Steve McQueen movie did not have the total ballot support of Gravity, it actually did slightly better in other categories. 12 Years a Slave earned our trophies for Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), Best Cast and Best Breakthrough Performance (Lupita Nyong'o). 12 Years a Slave also received the second most first place votes this year. Admittedly, this feat is similar to Tom Brady’s finishing in second place in the NFL MVP voting by getting the one first place vote that did not go to Peyton Manning. Still, there was support for 12 Years a Slave on over half the ballots this year plus all of the championing in other categories. We as a group view it as the worthiest 2013 release that was not named Gravity or directed by Spike Jonze.

Our other nominations in the top five this year share opposite ends of the box office spectrum. The Wolf of Wall Street has become the most popular box office hit of Martin Scorsese’s illustrious career. A movie about a guy who gets all the money has in fact gotten all the money. Our staff has debated the mixed message of The Wolf of Wall Street quite a bit. What no one will dispute is that it is the funniest movie Scorsese has ever made.

Meanwhile, almost nobody watched The Spectacular Now in theaters as demonstrated by its modest North American box office total of $6.9 million. Everyone missed out, and they should all be renting or (better yet) buying the movie on home video right now. It is a masterpiece of subtle storytelling. I have no problem stating that this may be the best teen romance since Say Anything..., a movie that happens to be my wife’s favorite film. I would not dare compare The Spectacular Now to such a cult classic unless I believed completely in its overriding quality.

Our sixth and seventh selections this year are a pair of movies that performed very well overall at The Calvins. Inside Llewyn Davis, the latest release from the Coen Brothers, received nominations for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Breakthrough Performance, Best Character and Best Use of Music (natch). The Academy Awards largely ignored this masterful celebration of 1960s era musicians and their struggles. Our staff was mesmerized. We were similarly celebratory of Blue Is the Warmest Color, our seventh favorite title of the year. We named both thespians among our favorites in the Best Actress category and selected the protagonist in Best Character. We also named it one of the Best Overlooked Films of the year as well. Blue Is the Warmest Color is a difficult movie due to its three hour run time and subtitles. Clearly, our staff believes it is worth the effort and wants you to know that.

The rest of our selections for Best Picture this year are Before Midnight, Frozen and Rush. In 2005, Before Sunset was our second favorite movie in the Best Overlooked Film category. We did not, however, nominate it for Best Picture as it finished 15th that year. As such, Before Midnight has outperformed its predecessor with our staff. With regards to Frozen, which claimed the Best Use of Music category, our staff has been every bit as susceptible to its charms as the rest of the free world. The phrase “instant classic” is too easily utilized but it is an appropriate statement for Frozen, the best Disney Animation movie of the past 20 years. Finally, Rush is the latest cinematic re-telling of a real life sporting event. And the story would feel utterly unrealistic had it not actually happened. Our staff held our breath as a driver with part of his head melted off somehow managed to compete during an F-1 race. It really puts all of these wussy knee ligament injuries in perspective.

Please peruse the list graph below to see the list of our 25 favorite movies of the year. Films worthy of nomination that narrowly missed selection include Captain Phillips, Fruitvale Station, Upstream Color, American Hustle, The Way, Way Back, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, World War Z, Nebraska, The World’s End, Iron Man 3, Stoker, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Frances Ha, Philomena and Spring Breakers.

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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