Best of 2009

CounterPunch · Post by **CounterPunch** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:32 pm

So, my fellow fans, with only a select few days of the year remaining I felt it was time to ask the question, what are the bests of the year for you?

I'm thinking - Film, TV, Music, Comic, Book... any kind of category you want to talk about really... I'd prefer to hear about stuff released in 2009, but if you've discovered stuff this year you've loved, go ahead and chat bout it.

Film

I've got to say, this has actually been a pretty easy year when deciding my favourite new film, as I honestly don't think it has been THAT strong a year from the crop I've seen, but I, admittedly, have missed out on a number of films I was looking forward to seeing. Saying that, I've probably got to give the gong to District 9...

An absolutely fantastic, and creative take on the genre, with a brilliant lead performance by Sharlito Copley (amazing to think he had never really acted before). For those who don't know, Neill Blomkamp, the writer and director, was Peter Jacksons choice for directing the Halo film... I can only imagine what this guy could have done with a budget of that size...

Other honourable mentions have got to go to - Zombieland, Drag Me To Hell, Star Trek and The Hurt Locker.

TV

I'm not really someone who keeps completely up to date with TV shows, I generally don't follow English TV shows, so I kind of rely on the US, but I rarely ever follow a series when it airs... So this has got to go to 24, the only show I followed every week. By no means was s7 the best, it sagged alot in places, but it produced the exciting cliffhangers that 24 is known for.

Saying that, I just got Dexter s1 on DVD for Christmas, and my god, I have fallen in instant love with this show and will definitely look in to the next seasons.

Music

This has got to go to Mastodons album 'Crack The Skye' which, if you have not heard it, is a fantastic progressive metal album, and yes it's very metal, in sound and lyrics, wolves, moons, mythical stuff etc etc... But still, absolutely fantastic on the ears if you're in to this kind of stuff.

electro girl · Post by **electro girl** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:47 pm

For films this year I really enjoyed Inglorious Basterds and Avatar, I also saw The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnasus which was ok in a purely visual sense but just lacked that something special even with the all star cast. But my favourite was definately Inglorious Basterds as it was just all out fun.

For TV I was loving Peep Shows 6th series as well as getting into Flashforward and Misfits.

I didn't do a lot of music shopping this year, I got parts of Jack Johnsons back catalogue that I was missing for xmas but my main music purchase was The new Arctic Monkeys album. It's really good and as an AM fan I loved it but it'd not as memorable as previoys outings.

the_escaflowne_2k · Post by **the_escaflowne_2k** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:49 pm

Let's see;

Film: Either Star Trek for its "wow thats a lot better than I thought it would be when announced" or Zombieland because it was just really fun.

TV: Peep Show hit good form again, erm The Inbetweeners was pretty good for all 3 episodes I've seen.

Music: For me it's been a great year with my Electro/folk leanings, but if I narrowed it down to a minimum I'd say Florence and the Machine/Jessica Hoop/Metric (for the fantastic Fantasies album).

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:32 am

Only saw dour new films this year, so RotF beats out Wolverine Origins, Watchmen and New Moon. Which sort-of says it all for those three.

Peep Show was about the only new TV show I watched all year. There was that Doctor Who with the bus, but that was shit.

Comics about the only one I read that was new was the last Planetary. Not counting various IDW things for the obvious reason very little of it was anything other than absolute shite.

Music? Were Ladyhawke and Little Boots this year?

It's not been a great one for media in summation. Been alright for toys, though - SoC Daimos & New Tetsujin 28, RD Turn A Gundam, RotF Leader Prime/Jolt/Long Haul...

Post by **Hound** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:22 am

Well, let's see. I've actually seen a lot more films this year than I have in a long while, I've probably read more comics this year than in the past too. Music, not so much though. I think the only thing new I discovered this year was probably Lily Allen, which was good and all but nothing else. I also don't watch much TV, in fact the only TV series I've been watching is Stargate Universe, which I like, but it's the first season and so it's been pretty slow to start.

Ok so TV goes to SGU and music goes to Lily Allen.

Movies, I really liked Star Trek and I really liked Zombieland. I couldn't pick a favorite of the two but they'd probably be my favorites.

Comics goes to Blackest Night for sure. Which is sort of a cheat as it encompasses something like 20+ different titles. It's big and it's epic and it's been damned expensive but of the (hold on while I go count...) 50 comics that have come out so far only 3 of them have been less than really great and even those weren't bad they were just sort of average.

All in all it's been a pretty good year for the media I've been into. I've never been much for watching TV or really all that adventurous with music so I'm not disappointed with anything as far as that goes.

I'm really looking forward to his next year too. As far as TV, the winter Olympics is coming up and Olympic hockey is always a treat, there's the rest of SGU too. As far as comics go, Blackest Night has 3 more months to go and Marvel is doing their last big event for awhile, Siege, which looks really good from the prelude stuff I've read. As for movies, Alice in Wonderland will hopefully be really good. Isn't Iron Man 2 coming out soon? The Last Airbender is coming out too and that is the movie I'm looking forward to most of all. If it sucks I think my whole year is ruined. Heh...

Post by **Sades** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:35 am

Short version, 'cause it's almost sleeptime for me:

Film- I didn't see a whole lot of films this year but I think it'd be a tie between Up, District 9 and Zombieland for me. All for very different reasons. The boyfriend mentioned Watchmen but I have a feeling he enjoyed that a lot more than I did.

After looking at IMDB's bottom 100 films, I've developed an odd urge to go and rent It's Pat. I'm afraid.

TV- We don't watch a lot of TV anymore. And when it is on it's usually on as background noise, because we haven't watched any of the shows that are still on in so long that we've given up trying to watch weekly and have now just taken to picking up DVDs when we can afford them. Which is never. News.

Music- I'll have to root around- I haven't bought anything in aaaages myself but that doesn't mean I don't have a list of stuff I've heard and liked. I'll have to dig it up/fish videos out of youtube. Don't worry, i won't be posting them.

Here's hoping I remember/don't become too lazy to come back to this.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:22 am

Cliffjumper wrote:Only saw dour new films this year

You'll have to try and watch some good ones in 2010.

Film: Probably Star Trek. With honourable mentions for Watchmen, Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe, Paranormal Activity and Moon. Which are about all the films I've seen this year as well, being broke means I've basically only made the effort for stuff I was fairly sure I'd like, with an emphasis on stuff that's worth seeing on a big screen. Some of them were dumb as posts but all were good fun.

TV: Battlestar Galactica. Not 100% sure if any regular shows were shown this year due to me playing catchup on DVD, but The Plan means it just about counts. Dean Stockwell wins my man of the year award as well, mainly because I'm utterly convinced he had a hand in making sure his character seemed to spend all his time with randy decades younger women.

Music: The Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody. With Shakira getting a special shallow mention for coming back all... bendy.

Wildrider · Post by **Wildrider** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:48 pm

Hmm I always struggle with things like this, either by just picking the most recent thing I've seen/heard that was half decent or going too far back and picking something from 2008. In short, I'm crap at it, but here we go!

Haven't seen many films at the cinema this year. Rotf, Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, nothing really grabbed me. Out of those three, Rotf and Inglorious amused me the most, I'm a succker for Turturro and Pitt in comedy roles. But the film I wanted to see the most, but never got around to was 'Let the right one in', but as I ain't seen it can't really say much about it. Liked Terminator Salvation for the first ten minutes then shouted 'Oh **** off!' when he jumps off the helicopter into the sea.

Music, Noah and the Whale album 'First Days of Spring' is such a heartbreak album I love it, honourable mentions to Munford and Sons 'Sigh No More'(Banjos!) and a welcome return to form for Idlewild with 'Post Electric Blues', my love affair with Idlewild has carried on well into my thirties, curious.

TV series, Come Dine With Me, is the best thing on television bar none! Also enjoyed Jamie Oliver in America far more than I expected. Finally watching season 4 of BSG does that count? Possibly the most satisfying TV series I've ever seen.

Books? Can we include books? Slightly more abstract, never seen 'Public Enemies', but read the factual book on which it was based while in hospital and loved it, likewise read David Simon's 'Homicide'. I have a habit of reading source material/inspiration and disregarding their populist remakes, hmm still not seen 'The Wire' either.

Oh well!

the_escaflowne_2k · Post by **the_escaflowne_2k** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:40 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:
Music? Were Ladyhawke and Little Boots this year?

Ladyhawkes album was late 2008, not sure about Little Boots.

Out of curiosity anyone here catch Looking for Eric as that was this year and I was sorely tempted to see it.

Bookwise I can't think of any newly published books that stand out but I did read The Great Gatsby for the first time and was really taken by it. I was also impressed War & Peace in that I both enjoyed and finished it which is rare for me when reading book written in 1800s let alone one of its length, don't think I'll be going for a re-read again anytime soon though.

CounterPunch · Post by **CounterPunch** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:12 am

Oh god, another contender for film would be Let The Right One In, with more special mentions going to - Up, Slumdog Millionnaire and Basterds.

Up provided me te biggest tearjerker of 2009, with the opening sequence having me bawl my eyes out.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:56 pm

Music? The new Arctics album was shit, the new Muse album disappeared up Matt Bellamy's arse after about four tracks, the Kasabian album completely fails to capture the sheer awesomeness of their live show.

Without going off and checking what else has actually come out this year, it's probably down to the new albums from Editors, The Prodigy and Simian Mobile Disco. But the best thing of the year has been Journal for Plague Lovers by the Manic Street Preachers.

TV - the last [half] season of BSG is all that really mattered. Though Peep Show was obviously as decent as ever.

Films? I didn't get to see Coraline, In the Loop or Moon. Let the Right One In gets disqualified on the grounds of being released in 2008 (Slumdog only got a minor release in 2008, so counts as this year - see how easily I bend reality to suit my will).

Gran Torino, Up, Harry Brown, The Hangover, Zombieland and District 9. In about that order.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 3:20 pm

Oh, I nearly forgot the real musical event of the year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3_EXxwDpq0

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:00 pm

Best bit is at 0:48, where Mike Shinola's dad just seems to stop and think "What the **** am I doing with my life?".

Or just the way Stanley seems to be actually experiencing a stroke the whole video.

Or Rubens Barrichello rocking out on the guitar.

Sod it, it's all great. Can even Stanley have that little self-awareness? Yes. Yes he can.

Post by **Sades** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:02 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3_EXxwDpq0

ahahahahah-sorry-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA HA HAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It's like Linkin Park about 20 years from now trying to be 18 again.

Music- Starsailor, I guess. Oh, I believe that new Trews stuff was this year. T'be honest this year I've been listening to a lot of stuff from about two years ago, and a lot of old Tea Party/Starsailor lately. Ladyhawke was this year for us I think, so that counts.

I'm trying to remember all the awesome shit I was shown/listened to when I worked at the music store but it's not ****ing coming back. I don't think half of it was this year, anyway.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:04 pm

Am I allowed this for music? Pushing for it as a wedding theme.