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2005 lists

Page history last edited by PBworks 18 years, 2 months ago

2005: The A Lists

 

Newish stuff I first encountered in 2005. See also my best songs and best poems lists.

 

50 favourite movies

 

A PLUS

  1. The Best of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)

    The only decent argument for liberal humanism I heard all year.

  2. King Kong (Peter Jackson)

    Beautiful, but absurd, which makes it more beautiful.

  3. Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi)

    Still the most realistic depiction of how the Kurds might see this whole war -- and he's not even a realist.

    A

  4. Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin)

    Infuriating -- not as smart as it thinks it is, merely smarter than everyone else.

  5. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Tim Burton and Mike Johnson)

    Frame by frame, it's perfect.

  6. The Big Red One: The Reconstruction (Sam Fuller)

    I thought Keira Knightley giving a good performance would be my shock of the year, but here's one from Mark Hamill.

  7. Hotel Rwanda (Terry George)

    Not forgotten, unlike Darfur.

  8. Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July)

    She's so observant and funny that I don't care how much goldfish pathos she deploys.

  9. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook)

    Fucked up. I mean, fucking fucked up.

  10. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)

    A third as good as In the Mood for Love is pretty awesome.

  11. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)

    Alright, it's deep, now let me go watch Viggo beat shit up.

  12. House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou)

    Zhang Ziyi is so much better when she's moving.

  13. The Animation Show 2005

    Say it once more: When the Day Breaks is the best animated short of the last decade.

  14. Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (Martin Scorsese)

    I wish it was all Dylan talking, but at least we have Chronicles.

  15. Cutie Honey (Anno Hideaki)

    HONEY FLASH! (Nothing happens.)

  16. Land of the Dead (George A. Romero)

    Gus Van Sant: This is how you use Asia Argento, okay?

    A MINUS

  17. Serenity (Joss Whedon)
  18. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell)
  19. The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel)
  20. The World (Jia Zhangke)
  21. The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (Adam Curtis)
  22. Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright)
  23. Head-On (Fatih Akin)
  24. Red Eye (Wes Craven)
  25. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (Jacques Audiard)
  26. Hustle and Flow (Craig Brewer)
  27. Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow Sing-chi)
  28. Butterfly (Mak Yan Yan)
  29. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black)
  30. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park and Steve Box)
  31. The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)
  32. Sin City (Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller)
  33. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (Danny Leiner)
  34. Infernal Affairs II (Andrew Lau Wai-Keung and Alan Mak Siu-Fai)
  35. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene)
  36. Being Julia (István Szabó)
  37. 13 Going On 30 (Gary Winick)
  38. Nobody Knows (Koreeda Hirokazu)
  39. Saraband (Ingmar Bergman)
  40. Dumplings (Fruit Chan)
  41. Palindromes (Todd Solondz)
  42. Walk the Line (James Mangold)
  43. Born into Brothels (Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman)
  44. Howl's Moving Castle (Miyazaki Hayao)
  45. Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-Ho)
  46. Notre Musique (Jean-Luc Godard)
  47. Cinévardaphoto (Agnès Varda)
  48. Wedding Crashers (David Dobkin)
  49. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton)
  50. Arna's Children (Danniel Danniel and Juliano Mer Khamis)

Yet to see: Cafe Lumiere, Grizzly Man, Breafast on Pluto, The Skeleton Key, The Squid and the Whale, Mysterious Skin, Good Night and Good Luck...

 

Most annoyingly overrated: Last Days.

 

50 favourite albums

 

A PLUS

  1. M.I.A., Arular

    1a. Johnny Cash, The Legend (box)

    A

  2. Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock and Roll
  3. Kanye West, Late Registration
  4. Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman, Song X (reissue)
  5. Strictly Kev, Raiding the 20th Cenutury: A History of the Cut-Up (2004)
  6. Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
  7. New Order, Waiting for the Sirens' Call
  8. Papa Wemba, 1977-1997 (2004 comp)
  9. William Parker Quartet, Sound Unity
  10. Vijay Iyer, Reimagining
  11. Todd Snider, East Nashville Skyline (2004)
  12. The Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara (comp)
  13. Amadou & Mariam, Dimanche à Bamako

    A MINUS

  14. The Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart
  15. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane, At Carnegie Hall
  16. 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: The Very Best of the Fall (2004 comp)
  17. Courtney Love, America's Sweetheart (2004)
  18. Amy Rigby, Little Fugitive
  19. Britney Spears, My Prerogative (2004 comp)
  20. Robbie Fulks, Georgia Hard
  21. Living Things, Ahead of the Lions
  22. Lyrics Born, Same Shit Different Day
  23. The Perceptionists, Black Dialogue
  24. Nas, Street's Disciple (2004)
  25. McEnroe and Birdapres, Nothing Is Cool (2004)
  26. Triage, American Mythology (2004)
  27. Rolling Stones, A Bigger Bang
  28. Gogol Bordello, Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike
  29. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
  30. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
  31. Brad Paisley, Time Well Wasted
  32. Buck 65, This Right Here is Buck 65
  33. The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday
  34. R. Kelly, Trapped in the Closet Saga
  35. Fieldwork, Simulated Progress
  36. The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
  37. Bobby Pinson, Man Like Me
  38. Blackalicious, The Craft
  39. Northern State, All City (2004)
  40. John Prine, Fair & Square
  41. Jerry Granelli, Sandhills Reunion
  42. Annie, Anniemal
  43. The Roots, The Tipping Point (2004)
  44. Damian Marley, Welcome to Jamrock
  45. Mos Def, The New Danger (2004)
  46. Rokia Traoré, Bowmboï (2004)
  47. Z-Man, Dope or Dogfood (2004)
  48. Capital D, Insomnia (2004)
  49. Clem Snide, The End of Music
  50. Bang on a Can Meets Kyaw Kyaw Naing

The list is, as usual, short of jazz and world music, since that's the stuff you have to pay for.

 

Favourite books

 

Revised because I forgot waaaay too many titles.

 

Non-fiction: Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003, A+); Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop (A); Graham Robb, Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteeth Century (2004); Alexandra Fuller, Scribbling the Cat (2004).

 

Fiction: Ian McEwan, Saturday (A); Kate Atkinson, Case Histories (2004, A); Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003); Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (2004); Mikael Niemi, Popular Music from Vittula (tr. Laurie Thompson, 2003); Alice Munro, Runaway (2004); Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (2004); Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian; Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go; Edwidge Danticat, The Dew Breaker (2004).

 

Poetry books: Durs Grünbein, Ashes for Breakfast; Christopher Middleton, Tankard Cat (2004); Jennifer Moxley, Often Capital; Juliana Spahr, This Connection of Everyone with Lungs.

 

Comics: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Gifted (Astonishing X-Men); Geoff Johns et al, Black Reign (JSA).

 

Favourite TV shows

 

A short list because TV still sucks.

 

Samurai Champloo, The O.C., SpongeBob SquarePants, Veronica Mars, South Park.

 

Best moment: "George Bush doesn't care about black people".

 

Favourite wrestling matches

 

  1. Kenta Kobashi vs Samoa Joe, Ring of Honor
  2. Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe vs A.J. Styles, TNA Unbreakable

Fuck WWE, but give credit to Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania 21; Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels, Vengeance; Money in the Bank, Wrestlemania 21; Chris Benoit vs William Regal, Velocity; Triple H vs Batista, Vengeance; Matt Hardy vs Edge, Unforgiven.

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