And now we reach the final award of the Calvins, that for Best Picture of the year. 2005 was something of a mediocre year at the movies, and judging from this year's box office, you largely agreed. Many films that were expected to break records fell short, and many critically acclaimed films missed the mark with audiences. All five Oscar nominated films look to fall short of the $100 million mark in domestic box office. Still, even in this environment, several films stood out that we could get behind.

Our Grand Prize goes to a film that in all probability shouldn't even exist. The Fox network's poor treatment of all of its series is legendary; merely getting cancelled before your time doesn't even rate when telling sob stories. So, when we say that Joss Whedon's series Firefly was royally screwed over, it means something. Shown out of episodic order in TV's Death Slot, shoddily promoted and with crucial plot points revealed, Firefly never got a fair shot. But then a remarkable thing happened; the new medium of DVD box sets proved there was life in the concept. And so we got a big screen adaptation of a failed TV series, almost precisely the opposite path of Whedon's first success, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

And what a movie we got. Serenity, named after the ship from the show, continued the series' retro-futurism, positing a solar system that contrasted pioneer planets with just basic necessities and gleaming central worlds. Following a ragtag group of rebels, Serenity gave us an intelligent, funny and deep Universe, with sinister government conspiracies, thrilling action and a cynical streak a mile wide. Accuse us of fanboyism all you want, but there was no more satisfying experience at the movies this year. That this movie even existed is a triumph, and that it was so entertaining is the cherry on top of the sundae.

It's a bit of an upset that it won, given our second place finisher, Good Night, and Good Luck, which took home the most awards total in this year's Calvins. This is to take nothing away from George Clooney's brilliant political film, which lost by a single vote. At the height of Communist paranoia, in the middle of the Cold War, Edward R. Murrow dared to take on Communist-Witch Hunter Joseph McCarthy through this weekly news broadcasts, on the principle of free speech. This film details that battle and how close the battle for freedom of the press came to being lost, and how important the issue remains today.

The voters here are an idiosyncratic bunch, which is highlighted by the transition to our third place finisher, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The first feature-length film involving Aardman Studios' signature characters, this film was a delight from start to finish, filled to the brim with good-hearted adventure. Like Chicken Run a few years ago, Wallace and Gromit combined inspired lunacy with old-fashioned storytelling to create something delightful.

Fourth spot goes to the reboot of the Batman franchise, Batman Begins. After the horrors of what Joel Schumacher did to the series, just about anything would have been an improvement, but this edition of the Caped Crusader offered a grittier, more realistic vigilante (if that makes any sense), with some of the best action sequences of the year, stellar acting and ... what's this? A plot? Couldn't be. Like the run of some of the recent Marvel adaptations, it's amazing what can happen when you take a comic seriously.

This segues nicely into our fifth place finisher, Sin City, which was adapted from Frank Miller's ultra-violent graphic novel series. Unlike virtually anything that's been seen on screen before, this film took film noir and pulp traditions and ratcheted them up to 11, reaching down into the darkest realms of human behavior. And yet, at the same time, each segment of this anthology film gives us hope, as its characters act out of love and the belief that human beings can transcend their primal, most base instincts.

Our social conscience shows up again for the sixth place film, The Constant Gardener. Based on a John Le Carre novel, this is a globe-trotting thriller about pharmaceutical companies and a cover-ups over medical research. Sprung into action by the mysterious death of his wife, a British diplomat pursues this conspiracy over two continents, out of guilt and a sense of honor. A tightly honed and angry story, The Constant Gardener was one of the more stunning and enlightening films of the year.

Seventh spot goes to one of the more unlikeliest candidates for this list in some time, Hustle & Flow. Stop me if you've heard this one: DJay, a small-time Memphis hustler and pimp, has a dream for more than just the life he has right now with a stable of girls. He wants to create, and he thinks his stories of the street are worth telling. Amazingly, he's pretty good, and he catches the attention of an old friend with recording equipment who recognizes his raw talent. This film follows his creative process and shows us the redemptive power of art, as DJay builds towards a meeting with a local boy made "good". Terrence Howard was simply stunning in this film, which was one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.

The Harry Potter films continue to grow more popular with this group, with The Goblet of Fire, the fourth film of the series (and adapted from arguably the best book of the bunch) coming in for eighth spot, the first to crack our top ten of any year. As young Mr. Potter is thrust into the tri-Wizard tournament and begins to face his destiny, this series reached new heights of thrills, wonder and fantasy.

A certain couple has been in the gossip pages so much of late that it's possible to forget they've actually been in a movie or two. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie made headlines even before Mr. & Mrs. Smith came into theaters this summer, where it was one of the most enjoyable blockbusters of the year. The conceit of the film, married assassins hired to kill each other, isn't completely original, but seldom has it been executed (ha, I kill me) in such an enjoyable and exciting way. The chemistry between the two onscreen as they battle to the death, then team up to save their skin together, worked brilliantly as metaphor, but also was a slam-bang good time at the theater.

The final spot in the top ten sees a tie between two end of year buzz films, Capote and Grizzly Man. The former is a biographical film about renowned author Truman Capote and his struggles to write his masterpiece of crime-writing, In Cold Blood. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of the flamboyant writer was the anchor of the film, but Capote also showed us how creation can consume a person, and how staring into the abyss can take your soul. Grizzly Man is about an obsession of another sort. Directed by Werner Herzog, the documentary looks into the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, who lived among wild Grizzly bears for several summers, until he was killed and eaten by one. Based on footage he filmed in these years, Treadwell's deliberate withdrawal from human society became both his strength as a person and his fatal flaw. It's a brilliant look into the power of delusion. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)

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