2005 Film

55 films this year, 16 in the cinema (wow - that's a lot of cash to the cinema), 20 of them count as 2005 films (a couple snuck in because they weren't released in the UK until January, but will be shown as 2004 on imdb and the like) and 35 films that I'd never seen before. I'm pretty pleased with that tally actually, I expected there to be less new films on there. Reviews can be found here.

A Knight's Tale - 8/10
Batman Begins - 8/10
Bend it Like Beckham - 8/10
Big Fish - 7/10
Broken Flowers - 3/10
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - 6/10
Closer - 7/10
Dead Poets Society - 6/10
E.T. - 7/10 Fantastic Four - 4/10 Garden State - 7/10
Good Will Hunting - 8/10
Goodfellas - 7/10
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 6/10
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - 6/10
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 6/10
Howl's Moving Castle - 8/10
I Heart Huckabees - 3/10
Ice Age - 7/10
It's a Wonderful Life - 7/10
Jerry Maguire - 5/10
King Kong - 7/10
Kingdom of Heaven - 5/10
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - 8/10
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - 8/10
Mr & Mrs Smith - 6/10
Ocean's Twelve - 5/10
Out of Sight - 7/10
Ring of Bright Water - 6/10
Robots - 3/10
Serenity - 7/10
Shrek - 7/10
Sideways - 8/10
Spirited Away - 6/10
Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace - 6/10
Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones - 5/10
Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith - 7/10
The American President - 6/10
The Bourne Identity - 6/10
The Bourne Supremacy - 6/10
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch... - 6/10
The Constant Gardener - 8/10
The Island - 8/10
The Ladykillers (1955) - 4/10
The Others - 8/10
The Producers - 8/10
The Producers (2005) - 6/10
The Village Thunderbirds - 3/10
Toy Story 2 - 7/10
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - 5/10
Who Framed Roger Rabbit - 6/10
Wimbledon - 7/10
X-Men - 7/10
X2 - 9/10

Best 2005 film - looking at the ranks I gave films when I reviewed them there were 5 films with 8/10 - Batman Begins, Howl's Moving Castle, Sideways, The Constant Gardener and The Island, they're a pretty wide range of genres there rated highly for different reasons. The 'best' film was probably the Constant Gardener, it was beautifully acted and filmed with a meaningful plot that still managed to be interesting. Most enjoyable I think was Sideways (technically a 2004 film), touching and hilarious.
Honorable mention - Serenity. This film got bumped to a 7 for rather selfish reasons. Having looked forward to a film for so long it was never going to be everything that I hoped it could be and there was no way it could make up for not having had 30 or so episodes over the last couple of years. Plus he [you know which spoiler]! I need to see the film a 2nd time to give it a fairer review.
Please god don't make me watch this again - Broken Flowers, Fantastic Four
Best Surprise - Howl's Moving Castle - a beautifully animated fairy tale that manages to avoid being too sappy and actually made me laugh out loud.
Back to the edit suite - King Kong - there's a great film buried in here, but it desperately needs 1/2 hour trimming off, probably achievable by losing 2 seconds off of each meaningful look. I also found Harry Potter horribly boring.
Notable Acting - Christian Bale was a near perfect Batman and Bruce Wayne, Natalie Portman stole the screen in both Closer and Garden State (not so much in Star Wars but not like she had much to work with). Nathon Fillion continued to be brilliant in Serenity, the 4 leads in Sideways and Closer both worked very well together and the kids from Narnia put the Harry Potter crowd to shame.
Best Soundtrack/score - the only score I seem to have boughht this year is Battlestar Galactica so I guess nothing particularly stood out, maybe because I didn't see anything with a John Williams soundtrack ;0)
How did I manage to miss - War of the Worlds, Sin City

Looking at the whole list of films I've watched this year:
Can't believe I haven't seen this before - Goodfellas (although I don't think I'd rate it as highly as others seem to), It's a Wonderful Life (I'm sure I've seen it when I was younger, but didn't really remember it)
That actually was as bad as it sounded - Thunderbirds - "re-imagining" is one thing, but you should at least have the decency to make a decent film. Robots.
I've watched this film a ridiculous number of times but still love it - Knight's Tale, X-Men (1 and 2), Master and Commander

Looking ahead to 2006 - Brokeback Mountain, Memoirs of a Geisha, Ice Age 2, Syriana, X3, Pirates of the Carribean 2, Cars, Jurassic Park IV? Indianna Jones IV?

2005 Books

I aimed to do a bit more reading this year and managed to make it to 50 books, this probably doesn't seem much to some people, but I read quite slowly and only tend to read during my work lunch break. Of those 50 though all of them are new not re-reads. Reviews can be found here

Very few of the books on the list are 'new' for 2005 (5 in fact) although there's a couple more that were new in paperback.

P.W. Atkins - The Periodic Kingdom
Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory
Bill Bryson - Mother Tongue
Bill Bryson - Notes from a Small Island
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game
C.J. Cherryh - Wave Without a Shore
Arthur C. Clarke - Prelude to Space
Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter - A Time Odyssey 1: Time's Eye
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
Max Allan Collins - CSI: Binding Ties
Andrew Crumey - Mobius Dick
Keith R.A. DeCandido - Serenity Novelisation
Peter Dickinson - Tears of the Salamander
Gordon R. Dickson - The Dragon and the George
J.M. Dillard - Star Trek Enterprise - Surak's Soul
Alan Dean Foster - Nor Crystal Tears
Jasper Fforde - The Big Over Easy Jostein Gaarder - Sophie's World Francis Gilbert - I'm a Teacher, Get Me Out of Here
Simon R. Green - No Haven for the Guilty
John Courtenay Grimwood - The First Arabesk 1 - Pashazade
John Courtenay Grimwood - John Courtenay Grimwood - The First Arabesk 2 - Effendi
John Courtenay Grimwood - John Courtenay Grimwood - The First Arabesk 3 - Falaheen
Joanne Harris - Chocolat
Robert Harris - Pompeii
Reginald Hill - A Clubbable Woman
Eric Idle - The Road to Mars
Ursula K Le Guin - Left Hand of Darkness
Jack McDevitt - Chindi
Juliet E. McKenna - Aldebreshin Compass 3: Western Shore
Juliet E. McKenna - Turns and Chances
Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels - Star Trek - The Sundered
David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye
Terry Pratchett - Discworld 29 - Thud!
Justina Robson - Natural History by J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter 6: The Half Blood Prince
Mary Doria Russell - Children of God
Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow
Clifford D Simak - City
Dan Simmons - Olympos
Aaron Sorkin - The West Wing Script Book: Season 3 & 4
Francis Spufford - The Child that Books Built
Brian Stableford - Genesys 1 - Serpent's Blood
Brian Stableford - Genesys 2 - Salamander's Fire
Jules Verne - The Mysterious Island
James White - Sector General
Connie Willis - To Say Nothing of the Dog
Simon Winchester - The Map that Changed the World

Best Book I read this year - Without hesitation this one is The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel, it's an amazing collection of character studies that was simultaneously horribly painful to read and completely compelling.
Honorable Mentions - Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game, Banks: The Wasp Factory, Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Clifford D Simak: City
Most enjoyable book of the year - Jack McDevitt: Chindi, Niven and Pournell: The Mote in God's Eye, Joanne Harris: Chocolate, Dan Simmons: Olympos, Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog
Disappointment of the year - Harry Potter 6 was an enjoyable read but the lack of plot and abundance of cliche was a disappointment, the lack of a new Dalziel and Pascoe was annoying.
Can someone explain the fuss about - Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - it was ok but I just felt it was an interesting concept not really done justice by mediocre story telling
Struggle to finish - Strange and Norrell: a great book but boy was it slow going
Worst book - Mobius Dick by Andrew Crumey - pretensious and irritating

Best non-fiction - I've read 7 non-fiction books this year and most of them have been pretty poor. The standout was Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder which probably only really 1/2 counts as non-fiction. It's a beautifully structured book that introduces the history of philsophy through examples both obvious and hidden. It's hard going at times, but definately worth reading.
Worst non-fiction - A toss up between Simon Winchester's Map that Changed the World (cheesy and hackish) and Francis Spufford's The Child that Books Built (clumsy autobiography littered with pop-psychology and waffle)

2006 - I've got a shelf of books still waiting to be read first up are probably Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Clarke and Baxter's Time's Oddysey Book 2. There's quite a few things I keep spying on tables in Waterstones and I'd like to read a bit more non-fiction to prevent brain rot. I'd also like to read some more of the classics that I've never got round to... particularly the nice short ones ;0)

2005 Television

It appears I've watched about 30 seasons of tv this year, that is a truly scary number of episodes of stuff especially considering stuff that doesn't make it onto this list (eg a few episodes of random stuff and rewatching episodes with commentaries). Reviews can be found here.

Angel - Season 5
Angels in America - miniseries
Boston Legal - Season 1
Battlestar Galactica - Season 1
Buffy - Seasons 3 and 4
Carnivale - Season 2
CSI - Season 4 and 5
CSI Miami - Seasons 1 and 2
Desperate Housewives - Season 1
Dr Who - Umm... let's call it Christopher Ecclestone series.
Earth 2 - Season 1 Enterprise - Season 4
ER - Seasons 3 and 4
Firefly - Season 1 (again)
House MD - Season 1
The Inside - Season 1 (what there was of it)
Law and Order - Season 1
Law and Order Criminal Intent - Season 1
Lost - Season 1
Monk - Season 1
SG1 - Season 8
The Shield - Seasons 1 and 2
Stargate Atlantis - Season 1
The West Wing - Season 6
Will and Grace - Season 5

Some of these seasons I actually watched half of last year, but they carried over. I'm also currently half way through CSI: NY - S1, Battlestar - S2, SG1 - S9, Atlantis - S2, House - S2, Boston Legal - S2, Lost - S2 and I must get round to watching the last couple of episodes of 4400 season 2.

Most pleasant surprise - Dr Who. I've never been a huge Dr Who fan, I've watched it when it's on and enjoyed it but never been hugely invested. The new series was all the things that I remember Dr Who being - fun to watch but basically a childrens show, but I was impressed at how respectfully the show was treated and that it was good enough to win praise from Dr Who fans. A great series for a Saturday night.
Well that was kind of inevitable - Cancelling Carnivale - I'm still not sure what I think about the series, it was certainly different and interesting, but without the 3rd season to conclude the epic plot it almost feels like the first two seasons were worthless. The cancellation of Tim Minear's series about the FBI was inevitable, I liked the first few episodes and thought it had potential. Ah well. I can't say that I'll mourn the passing of Enterprise - it had a lot of good moments and ideas, but there were just too many poor choices to forgive. Hopefully Trek will come back brighter and stronger in a few years.
I'm still bitter that Angel was cancelled. The final season took so long to appear on dvd that I got to spread my indignation at the cancellation over several years. Particularly frustrating was the fact that S5 was a great season with an interesting reinvention of the series fighting evil from the inside. The final episode was perfect for the series. "I kinda want to slay the dragon."
I know I'm late to the party but - The Shield is great. It's the very definition of gritty, you have to keep reminding yourself not to like the characters because they've all done some pretty horrible stuff but you can't help feeling for them. Another example of why it's a good thing that there are channels in the US that the censors have less impact on.
Pleasant Surprise - Boston Legal - I wasn't expecting this to be so amazingly funny. It's delightfully quirky and occasionally powerfully poignient in a way that West Wing ceased to be. I was surprised at how well the Tarantino episode of CSI worked, he clearly knows the series well and the merging of styles worked surprisingly well.
Guilty Pleasure - Desperate Housewives. It's the only show in a long time that I've actually watched on tv weekly. It's completely trashy but I love it.
Points for effort - The West Wing and CSI both tried something a bit new. The West Wing has to start moving in the next administration if it wants to stay on the air hence this season (and presumably S6) are trying to tell two stories and not always succeeding. The campaign trail has moments of excitement, particularly towards the end of the season but I'm not sure that I want to watch these characters every week. CSI tried mixing it's teams up and introducing new characters and situations with limited success, I suspect S5 will just go down in history as "the season with the Tarantino episode" in it.
Actor standouts - James Spader (deliciously weird) and William Shatner (gloriously eccentric) in Boston Legal, Hugh Laurie (cruelly sarcastic) in House M.D., David Hewlett (superbly snarky) in Atlantis, Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross (managing comic and dramatic sometimes simultaneously) in Desperate Housewives
Best dvd - The Shield dvds were superb with a commentary on every episode of S1 and the discussions all chaired by the series creator providing a more structured format. The Atlantis R1 dvd had a huge amount of content on it and again reflected the fun element of the series. The first half of Lost S1 had a good selection of specials on it, but loses points because 1/2 season sets are just too annoying.
Best show - Including the influence from 1/2 seasons not appearing on this list Battlestar Galactica easily wins this prize. Lost would have run it a close battle if not for the fact that Season 2 is relatively poor and just not living up to the promise of the superb first season. Battlestar manages to be excellent sf and good tv - there's shumour, fascinating characteres accompanied with brilliant acting, arc plots, political comment and huge space battles. Everything is superb from the score through to the podcasts on each episode by the creator.

2006 - I'm counting the days until Battlestar Season 2 appears and look forward to new episodes of House, Dr Who and Boston Legal. Lost and SG1 are both in the middle of mediocre seasons that I'll continue watching but not get excited about. I'm looking forward to the new season of Desperate Housewives and will pick up the next seasons of Shield, L&O: Criminal Intent, West Wing, CSI and CSI NY on dvd when they appear/drop in price. I don't think I'll bother with CSI Miami S3, Horatio is just too annoying. I've also got Yes Minister 1-3 and Will and Grace S6 on the shelf downstairs and am a few episodes in to Veronica Mars S1 at the moment. I've had Prison Break and Without a Trace recommended to me. I'm really looking forward to Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip, the new series from Aaron Sorkin due next year.