angusabranson

OK, so when I originally mentioned Top Ten I really meant Top 15. I had to extend this years charts by 5 due to the quality of films and bands I’ve seen this year. Certainly music-wise I’ve seen a lot more really amazing shows this year which would have pushed some of last years contenders completely out of the charts had they been a year later! Anyway, on to the countdown…

Top 15 Films of 2005
15. War of the Worlds
14. Fantastic Four
13. Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
12. Closer
11. The House of Flying Daggers
10. Howl’s Moving Castle
9. Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire
8. The Island
7. Night Watch
6. King Kong
5. Batman Begins
4. Serenity
3. Sin City
2. Vanity Fair
1. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

I really struggled with the order of the Top 5 this year. Last year’s Top Three were very close (Finding Neverland, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and Lost in Translation) but this year any of the my five favourites could have hit the top spot! Vanity Fair led the pack for most of the year and films 5 through 3 were absolutely superb too but in the end the 2005 Number One spot had to be Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. When I originally saw this film I hadn’t laughed that much in ages. It completely caught me and wrapped me in its magic. Special mention has to go to Closer. Although it only got into the #12 spot it was a very powerful film and one I liked a hell of a lot. Parts of it did strike too close to comfort though and I must admit I’ve yet to break open the DVD seal for a second viewing.

Worst films of 2005 in descending order have to be:
3. DOOM
2. Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
1. Merchants of Venice

 The biggest diappointment was Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe which I had originally though may be vying for a top 5 position. In the end it had to settle for a lowly #19.

I saw 34 films this year at the cinema (same as last year actually). Vanity Fair, Constantine, Sin City, War of the Worlds & Charlie & The Chocolate Factory I saw twice (different friends) . The above list is only taken from films I actually saw on the 'Big Screen'.

Top 15 Live Bands of 2005
15. Skinny Puppy/The Editors (tied)
14. Infidels
13. The Bravery
12. Goldfrapp
11. The Killers
10. Franz Ferdinand
9. Nouvelle Vague
8. Fischerspooner
7. Kaiser Chiefs
6. Ladytron
5. Nine Inch Nails
4. Pop Will Eat Itself
3. Dead Can Dance
2. The Levellers
1. Apocalyptica

Bands, bands, bands. I went to a fair few gigs this year and managed to see 54 live acts this year! Yay!!! Obviously going to Glastonbury Festival helped boost the total quite a bit, despite the rain and lightning and leaving on Sunday morning after all voting in favour of a country pub lunch over seeing more bands and struggling home with 130,000 other people at the end of it all! :p

Choosing the Top 15 was very hard as I did manage to see a lot of very good acts this year. Some really great bands just missed out (like Kasabian, Sons & Daughters, Lacuna Coil and Ilham Al Madfai) and choosing the top 10 was harder still. In the end Apocalyptica just won out. They were supporting Rammstein and totally blew them away! I saw The Levellers twice and whilst both gigs were really good fun it’s the Glastonbury show that gets them second place this year. I’m very, very pleased with my gigging this year and certainly aim to try and continue the trend in 2006.

Last year I said that “Choosing the worst bands of the year is always tricky. You usually don't remember them very well.” Well, this year I have no problems choosing the worst bands of the year. In fact THE WORST live band of the year that I’ve seen won this category by miles! They were really, really THAT bad.

Worst bands of 2005 in descending order have to be:
3. Short Wave Set
2. The Cribs
1. Babyshambles

I’ve dropped the Top Three Clubs of 2005 category as overall the vast majority of the clubs I’ve been to this year have been pretty crap (Slimelight, Sin City, Club NME at KOKO, etc). The only one worth mentioning is the fabulous B-Movie. I hope to get to both B-Movie, and other new clubs, more in 2006 as 2005 was rather “Club Lite” for me for a variety of reasons. Maybe this category will be resurrected in a years time.

Anyway, that’s my Top 15’s for 2005. Looking forward to more fun in 2006!

(Last years Top Ten)