2005: Favorites in Review

Favorites of 2005

Every year, although I'm hardly Roger Ebert, I like to review things. Why? Because I can. There are things I've enjoyed -movies, restaurants, books, comics- that I really want to tell people about because -frankly- they're too much fun to keep to myself. I really wish all of my friends could join me in these experiences and see them through my eyes ... not because my taste is superior to theirs but because I felt so good experiencing these things that I wish they could feel that way, too.

So, without further ado (what is an "ado" anyway?), here are my picks for 2005:

Film 2005
In 2005, I saw only 56 films that I'd never seen before: the least amount of new movies that I've seen in recent memory. Still, there were many good films, a few bad experiences, but -overall- a lot of fun. Those films, in chronological order, were:

"Tokyo Godfathers", "Elektra", "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism", "Manchurian Candidate, the" (2004), "Constantine", "Steamboy", "Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter", "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed", "Left of the Dial", "Sin City", "Amadeus", "Jackie Brown", "Kung Fu Hustle", "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", "House of Flying Daggers", "Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World", "Coffee and Cigarettes", "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith", "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle", "Batman Begins", "M", "Night Watch", "Howl's Moving Castle", "City Lights" (1931), "Babí léto" (Autumn / Spring), "Dawn of the Dead" (2004), "My Fair Lady", "the Brothers Grimm", "Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko" ("Pom Poko"), "the 40 Year Old Virgin", "Trekkies 2", "Corpse Bride", "La Cage aux Folles", "Serenity", "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit", "MirrorMask", "the Bank Dick", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", "Good Night, and Good Luck.", "RENT", "12 Days of Christmas Eve", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "War of the Worlds", "Eating Out", "Crash", "Mindhunters", "Fantastic Four", "Unleashed", "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe", "Robots", "King Kong", "the Yes Men", "Comic Book: the Movie", "Brokeback Mountain", "American Splendor", "Sideways", and "Land of the Dead"

Now, out of these films, I only saw 31 2005 releases and managed to miss quite a few that I wish I could have seen. Still, that said, here's what I've got for my list. Surprisingly, there was not one of these new films that I saw which I would consider "Bad". There were several "Disappointing/Poor" movies and several which were "Slightly Disappointing" but -well- that's the way it goes...

Ranking the Films of 2005 (with "1" being my favorite):

1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
2. Sin City
3. Crash
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. RENT

6. Good Night, and Good Luck.
7. King Kong
8. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
9. Batman Begins
10. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
12. Serenity
13. the 40 Year Old Virgin
14. Unleashed
15. War of the Worlds

16. MirrorMask
17. Corpse Bride
18. Kung Fu Hustle
19. Land of the Dead
20. Howl's Moving Castle

21. Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World
22. Left of the Dial
23. the Brothers Grimm
24. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
25. Constantine

26. Robots
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
28. Steamboy
29. Elektra
30. Fantastic Four

31. Mindhunters

# 1-6 : Excellent (Incredibly Good)
# 7-19 : Solid (Very Good)
# 20-29 : Fair (Good - Slightly Disappointing)
# 30-31 : Disappointing / Poor
# : Bad

The best surprises of the year, despite them being kinda low on the list, were "Constantine" and "Elektra". I had very low hopes for those two but they surprised me... On the other hand, I was very disappointed in "Fantastic Four" and "Mindhunters", the latter having great potential but losing me on the suspension-of-disbelief violations...

Restaurants 2005
I only visited 38 new restaurants this year but, impressively enough, several of them were simply stunning. One of them was horribly disappointing. In order, I dined at: "Saint Clair Broiler, the", "Gardens of Salonica", "Erté", "Rock Bottom Brewery" (Des Moines, IA), "Cuisine of India" (Des Moines, IA), "the Little Chef", "Mystic Lake Casino: Four Seasons Buffet", "Kafé 421", "My Le Hoa", "Mexico y Mexico", "Chianti Grill", "Tanpopo Noodle Shop", "Trattoria da Vinci", "Tomfooleries Restaurant & Bar" (Kansas City, MO), "Gengis Khan" (Kansas City, MO), "Copeland's", "Conga Latin Bistro", "Longfellow Grill", "Q Cumber's", "Nine Mile Grill", "Athens Cafe", "Saigon Star", "PetersOn's Bacon & Egg Cafe", "Evergreen Taiwanese Restaurant", "Maggiano's", "IKEA", "The New 500 Club", "Muffuletta's", "Quang", "Curran's Family Restaurant", "Biaggi's", "Manchu Wok", "Epic Restaurant", "Barley John's Brewpub", "Luna Rossa", "Molly Quinn's", "Punch Neapolitan Pizza", and "Antoine's Creole Maison Restaurant".

But, easily, my favorites were:

1. "Muffuletta's"
2. "Kafé 421"
3. "Tanpopo Noodle Shop"
4. "Conga Latin Bistro"
5. "Luna Rossa"
6. "Antoine's Creole Maison Restaurant"
7. "Barley John's Brewpub"
8. "Biaggi's"
9. "Chianti Grill"
10. "Trattoria da Vinci"

The most disappointing (with one of them, downright bad), though, were:

3. "Maggiano's"
2. "Mancini's Char House"
1. "The New 500 Club" (just awful)

And, yes, I listed "IKEA" up there ... after all, they have a restaurant with some really good Swedish meatballs: a Narn delicacy!

Now, this year, I didn't keep track of my comic books very much nor did I see enough plays nor play sufficient numbers of new games to really feel like rating those, so -well- I'm afraid all people get this year are my picks for movies and comic books...

I hope that's all-right...

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)