2015 Calvin Awards: Best Picture

By David Mumpower

February 13, 2015

Some life coaches take their jobs more seriously than others.

In the post-superhero movie era, our second place entry resolved to take viewers back to the beginning. By casting Michael Keaton, the original star of the superhero blockbuster, this film explored what it’s like to be on top of the celebrity pyramid for a time, only to tumble once replaced by the new hotness. Know thy future, Robert Downey Jr.! Birdman is an oddly experimental AND experiential exploration of the events preceding (and following) the debut of a Broadway play starring a has-been. It’s an inimitable, electric sensation that somehow provides the viewer with the vicarious thrill of a live performance. BOP has previously named Michael Keaton as the Best Actor of the year along with Alejandro González Iñárritu as Best Director. For a time, Birdman appeared certain to win Best Picture, but its title was usurped at the last moment, ultimately causing it to lose by a mere four points. It is the closest race in the 14-year history of Best Picture at The Calvins, meaning that Birdman is effectively 1A to Whiplash’s 1.

Gone gone gone, she been gone so long, uh gone gone gone so long. The soothsayers known as Chilliwack provided the prophecy for Gone Girl in 1981, and it came to pass in 2014. Lousy husband Ben Affleck (can I get an Amen, Jennifer Garner?) treats his bride like a doormat despite the fact her family’s wealth paid for his residence. Then, Amazing Amy vanishes one day and the police begin to investigate. At least, that’s one version of events. The truth is much more unsettling, and that is why vaunted director David Fincher gravitated toward the project. His last two adaptations, The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, won Best Picture and finished 13th, so no one should be surprised by the lofty placement of Gone Girl. Even allowing for our bias toward his projects, this is a gloriously subversive movie that you must prioritize if you haven’t already watched it.




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The BOP staff’s fourth and fifth selections involve a story that takes place over 13 years and one that may take as long as a century or as little as five minutes. We’re still a bit puzzled by the math of it all. Yes, Interstellar, a realm whose fifth dimension is love, earns a place in our heart as well as fourth place for its heartfelt yet science-intensive tale of a world on the brink of extinction. Thankfully, one family’s struggles prove to be enough to say the day in the end, which feels a bit random when you think about it. Still, Interstellar actually received more first place votes than any other title this year, meaning that the BOP folks who enjoyed it experienced a tremendous personal attachment. The rest of us admired it more than loved it, which is the primary reason it “only” finished fourth. In our defense, the science is pretty wonky.

Boyhood represents the most personal of projects to Richard Linklater, and that explains why he has spent the last 15 or so years of his life trying to get it made. To be clear, that is over 25 percent of his life, which sounds impressive until you consider the situation from his daughter’s perspective. As an important co-star in Boyhood, the 20-year-old has spent the last 14 years filming and then promoting the feature. That’s 70 (!) percent of her life. Boyhood is all she has ever known, a strange thing to say about a girl. And it’s all thanks to her dad. Then again, the glowing reviews speak for themselves, and our staff was equally dazzled by this overly long but amazing exploration of a child’s formative years. Any long time reader of this site is all too aware that Linklater does little wrong in our eyes. Even so, every sane person understands that Boyhood is his masterpiece.


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