Rated…

As 2008 draws towards its close, and various different polls pop up with the best or worst things from the year, I thought I too would add my thoughts as to the ‘best’ things from the year that was. There will be a ‘slated’ later in the week.

Best Film:-

The Dark Knight. Which is odd given I was really disappointed by the ending. There was a real opportunity to develop Two-Face into a serious bad-guy in a subsequent film but instead the writers and directors tagged an additional half an hour onto the end and killed him straight away. This aside, I think this film was pretty good, Ledger’s turn as the Joker was impressive, Bale has that cold calmness required of a Batman actor, and generally anything with Morgan Freeman should be considered good. Rumours abound of Johnny Depp playing the Riddler in the next film, which should be pretty impressive.

Best Album:-

Slipway Fires by Razorlight. I haven’t bought many albums this year, but this one has just been on repeat in my car pretty much since I got it. It might be a short album, but musically and lyrically I have to say I am loving the third offering from Borrell and co. Opening with Wire to Wire and closing with The House, the whole album is pretty damn good. Go get it if you haven’t already.

Best Single:-

Parallel Worlds by Elliot Minor. Played an awful lot by Kerrang, this song has something really catchy about it, be it the lyrics or the music. Well worth a listen, as is some of their other stuff.

Best Sporting Moment:-

There were a fair few this year, as SPOTY pointed out on Sunday (which I will admit I was wrong about).  For me though the sheer drama of Lewis Hamilton’s win in Brazil was second to nothing. It had everything you want from a good sporting contest, unpredictability, drama, tension, excitement. I’m not a huge fan of Formula 1 normally, but found myself glued to the TV screen as the race unfolded, biting my nails down to the knuckle.

Best News Story:-

This one. Having watched a repeat of Top Gear recently where this was highlighted, I then preceeded to have a discussion with my housemate about cameras. Fortunately for me, he doesn’t drive, so his argument of “if you weren’t breaking the law there would be no problem” held little weight.