Best Of . . . ?

This blog is something of an oxymoron. It's purportedly a pop culture blog, in which I write about movies, TV, music and any other pop culture ephemera that hold my somewhat easily distracted interest. And yet, as the father of twenty-one month old twin girls, my weekly dosage of current pop culture is in reality pretty thin on the ground. To wit; the thought occurred to me to write up a post of the year's ten best movies. And then I remembered that I only went to the theater twice, I think, this year (Revenge of the Sith and Pride and Prejudice). Any year's-best list I tried to trot out would no doubt be mightily hampered by the fact that I haven't seen much of what any specific category had to offer in 2005.

So. What follows is in no way, shape, or form a "Best Of" 2005 (the misleading title to this post notwithstanding), but much more narrowly and honestly a "Favorites" list--the 10 pop culture/entertainment products that I loved the most in 2005. In no particular order:

1. Star Wars - Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith
I actually just saw this again, on DVD, and was struck anew by how daring, and contradictory, the story Lucas told in these prequel films actually was. I, for one, and most other Star Wars fans too, I'd reckon, were expecting some big, world-changing event to have happened to Anakin to turn him from the good Jedi he was to the bad Sith he became. We were all expecting some huge story point to explain the creation of Vader. Indeed, over the years I expounded in several venues my own pet theory for what might have turned him (1). Instead of one clear event, though, what Lucas gave us was a very gradual, imperceptible drift from Anakin to Vader--suggesting that the line between good and evil is not completely clear. What I love about this is how wonderfully it addresses a longstanding criticism of the Star Wars films and the fantasy genre in general--that the bad guys are always cartoonishly bad, with no shadings or grays to their all-consuming evil. The prequel trilogy makes a strong case that the line between a good man and an evil one isn't in any way clear, but vanishingly thin.

2. Star Wars - Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith (score)
Williams best Star Wars score since Empire, full of lushly dark, ominous, tragic music that fit the story completely perfectly. A triumph coming after his Episode II score, which aside form the wonderful love theme was very recycled and uninspired.

3. Battlestar Galactica
Haven't seen any of season two yet, but season one was wonderful--engaging stories, well-shaded characters, and a refreshing take on a sci-fi universe. And Katee Sackhoff is one of the casting finds of the year--pretty in a very non-traditional way, and a very rare instance of that now-cliche character--the pretty girl who kicks ass--who actually looks like she could kick ass. I love me my Buffy, but I wouldn't be frightened is Sarah Michelle Gellar attacked me. Sackhoff not so much.

4. U2 Vertigo - Live from Chicago
I didn't get to see the band live this tour (first missed tour since I got into them in the late 80s), so this DVD of their stint in Chicago has been a godsend. City of Blinding Lights kills as an opener.

5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Rowling continues to spin one hell of an epic story--stuffed to the brim with interesting characters and twisty plots all inhabiting a wonderfully realized world.

6. The Light in the Piazza
A gorgeous score by Adam Guettel. I still have faint hopes of seeing this on stage before it closes. Guettel's next score will be for a musical adaptation of The Princess Bride. I can't wait.

7. No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7)
The soundtrack to the Dylan doc is better than the doc itself. The highlight for me is Dylan's very early, stark-yet-somehow emotive take on Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."

8. Crash
What I loved perhaps most about this film is how it took a sensitive, volatile topic (race); refused to dumb it down or metaphorize it; dealt with it through very, very real-sounding characters; and yet still did it all within a defiantly "Hollywood" sensibility--this wasn't a dark, post-modern indie film, or a dry, scratchy plotless film all about character, but a bold bit of old-fashioned, too-many-coincidences-to-be-actually-credible storytelling, in the best possible sense of the word. The film made you think, and hard, about race and how you react to other races, but it also delivered Potter-esque twists and turns worthy of Dickens.

9. Bob Dylan live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, April 19
First time I've ever seen Dylan live (and only concert attended this year). Seeing him ensconced behind an electric keyboard for nearly the entire show was odd, but the musicianship and daring were inspiring.

10. Lost
The mix of storytelling, world-building, and character development has been near-perfect so far, and I only hope they can keep it up. I'm jonesing for a new episode hard.

Until Whenever

(1) The short version: When Kenobi is killed in the original film, the music we hear at that moment isn't the Force Theme, isn't Luke's theme, but is, oddly, Lea's theme. Why? My theory centered around the notion that there was a buried reason for this musical blip in Williams' otherwise strong use of motifs--that he was clueing us in to the hidden truth that Ben was Lea's father, not Anakin. My theory was that Lucas was holding this final surprise for the eventual Episode III, and that basically, Anakin and Padme would have spent the night together before the final and defining battle of the Clone Wars (conceiving Luke); that in the battle the next day, Anakin would be thought to have been killed; that Ben Kenobi would personally bring this news to Padme that day; that in their mutual grief they would comfort each other, ahem, physically; and that Anakin would turn up miraculously alive, witness the betrayal and go nuts. Seems I was wrong.