Lists, 12/27.

So there will be a "Movie Club" at Slate this year, either the last or the last hosted by David Edelstein, who's leaving Slate for New York. Looks like a sharp group, too, whose conversation will likely be less rowdy than last year's brawl: Scott Foundas (LA Weekly; click his name for his Village Voice "Take 7" ballot), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader; "Take 7") and AO Scott (New York Times). Those who caught Edelstein's top ten on NPR last week won't find too many surprises in his current list, though he has expanded it to 20.

"In this past year we have managed to watch and review over 3,500 DVD releases, and trying to pick our favorite 20 from that pool was a difficult task." But the staff at DVD Talk have not only managed to pull it off (and pull a few surprises as well; Lost: The Complete First Season comes in at #1), they've compiled fifteen lists in all. I've already mentioned three: undistributed films, anime and DVD Savant's choices. The others:

• Svet Atanasov writes up ten foreign releases; #1: Criterion's package of three war films by Andrzej Wajda.

• Criterion nabs the #1 spot on the docs list as well; Randy Miller III likes what they've done for Hoop Dreams.

• Preston Jones compiles the indies list, placing Murderball at the top.

• Mainstream Hollywood? Aaron Beierle might have wanted to surprise you, but just can't in a year that saw Serenity out on DVD just in time to make the list.

• The Twilight Zone (The Definitive Edition) tops das Monkey's TV DVDs.

• G Noel Gross puts High Tension at the top of his "Best Schlock 2005" list.

• Bill Gibron selects a "Top 10 Obscure Outsider Homemade Movies on DVD That You Probably Never Heard Of in 2005"; #1: Plaga Zombie: Mutant Zone.

• Some people like to watch sports. Like Holly Ordway.

• The porn list has been renamed; Don Houston and Goldenmuse choose 20 adult DVD's with Goldenmuse adding ten more "Ladies Choice" titles.

• DVD Talk calls spruced-up re-releases "double-dips" and lists the best and worst of them: "[I]t's worth mentioning that Warner Brothers is responsible for four of the Top 10 best double-dips and none of the disappointments, while Universal is to blame for five of the disappointments, and none of the best double-dips. Congratulations and jeers go out accordingly."

• Josh Zyber's best packaging list is a fun one to look at.

• And this is always a fun one: Stuart Galbraith IV's "Top 10 DVDs (Probably) Not on Any Other Top 10 List in 2005."

Updates: Salon's Heather Havrilesky on the best and worst TV of the year.

In the Guardian, Terry Jones presents his awards, "And first is the Gary Glitter Cup for Self-Restraint, to Tony Blair.... Over the past two years, Tony has seen all his Iraq policies turn into unmitigated disasters.... Tony must be finding it difficult to sleep. Yet he is able to get up in the morning unassisted!"

Another update: Dave Kehr posts "the list of the latest 25 films to be named to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress."

Posted by dwhudson at December 27, 2005 2:54 AM