Best of 2005

Movies – I saw a total of 3 movies in theaters in 2005, long live the home theater

1) Sin City – I’m still in awe that they actually pulled this off and did it so well

2) Star Wars Ep III – the series closes out on a high note

3) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children – this is the movie Squaresoft should have released theatrically instead of Final Fantasy: Spirits Within. Absolutely stunning CG and a fine continuation of the story from the original game.

4) Sympathy for Lady Vengeance – It’s no Oldboy, but it’s a satisfying conclusion to the Vengeance trilogy and another testament to the greatness of Chan-Wook Park

5) Batman Begins – The final act didn’t quite live up to the rest of the film, but the whole buildup and creation of the legend was handled far better than any of us could have dared to hope

*Worst movie of the year: War of the Worlds. Where did it all go wrong, Spielberg? Please, please, please fire your cinematographer already, I’m so sick of your washed out, muted movies…color is your friend, embrace it. Please write something yourself or hire writers who understand logical plotlines. Please don’t use Dakota Fanning ever again. Please tell Tom Cruise that construction workers don’t wear couture jeans. Please don’t ever make me want to gouge my eyes out again by allowing the whiny son to miraculously survive. Please explain why aliens would be focusing so much of their efforts on sparsely populated farmland while Boston went mostly unscathed. Please give me back my two hours.

Music

1) Gorillaz – Demon Days – Dan the who? Danger Mouse made the change in producers a non-issue and steered this project to unbelievable heights

2) Beck – Guero – Sure, it’s derivative of his past work, but his fluff is still better than most artists, plus it’s an incredible listening experience in 5.1

3) The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan – superb

4) Boards of Canada – The Campfire Headphase – not much different from the rest of their catalog, which is fine by me

5) Morcheeba – Get Mashed – not an official release, but a gem of a mash-up mix courtesy of one of the Morcheeba guys and a bunch of sampled and live rappers
TV

1) The Office – I love the UK original and desperately wanted to despise this, but it’s just too damn good. The sexual harassment episode is a classic for the ages and the Christmas episode isn’t far behind.

2) Battlestar Galactica – Lagging a bit in the first half of season 2, but still the best drama out there.

3) The Simpsons – Still looking for that drop in quality, still not finding it.

4) LOST – This has very little chance of making the list in 2006, it’s taken a big hit this year with the ridiculous waste of time on the other tribe and is dangerously close to getting dropped off my viewing list. I get my fill of tribal mergers on Survivor, thanks anyway.

5) Curb Your Enthusiasm – not the best season, but not the worst either (first half of last season wins that distinction). P-p-p-prick!

Comics

1) Girls – There’s no monthly title I look forward to more than this one, so they must be doing something right

2) Y: The Last Man – Getting closer to the conclusion, still essential reading

3) Astro City – Welcome back, old friend

4) The Walking Dead – Has lost some steam with the long stay in the prison and suffers from too many characters even with zombies killing them off all the time, but still a fun read

5) Usagi Yojimbo – 20 years long, 20 years strong.

Graphic Novels

1) Watchmen: Absolute Edition – absolute perfection

2) Pyongyang – fascinating peek behind the curtain of North Korea

3) Demo – finally collected, worth reading

4) Wimbledon Green – Seth delivers again, not his best work as he readily admits but a quick and entertaining look at the passion of comic collectors

5) The Fountain – Still not sure how this will translate to film, but kudos to Aronofsky for making it happen here first in a lush, deluxe graphic novel format.

Video Games – I hardly played at all this year, but if I had these would have been the games:

1) Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360)

2) Half Life 2 (Xbox)

3) Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory (Xbox)

4) Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

5) Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

Bring on 2006!