Last Year's Good Things

So, I procrastinate for a month, then realise 2007 wasn't massively interesting anyway. Still, one to keep promises and all that. It's worth noting I'm writing this with man-flu, which means my judgement will probably be clouded and somewhat grumpier than normal. Oh well.

Onwards, then. Usual categories of Denby interest. Winner, and runner-up. Here we go.


ALBUMS
2006's brilliant double-whammy tie of Joanna Newsom's 'Ys' and Guillemots' 'Through the Window Pane' set things up nicely for 2007, but unfortunately things aren't as strong this year. Radiohead's long-awaited self-released effort was very good, but ultimately fell slightly behind its predecessor 'Hail to the Thief'. Likewise, Oceansize's 'Frames' failed to match the beauty of 'Everyone Into Position'. 'The Bedlam in Goliath' by The Mars Volta didn't come out until this month, despite my having picked up a sneaky copy a couple of months back. Napoleon IIIrd's debut offering is bang at the top, but he's a mate, so it's a bit iffy. So it's Kate Nash.

Fuck. That wasn't supposed to happen.

But then, neither was she. Exploding out of nowhere in the earlier half of 2007, Nash released a string of startlingly good pop tunes. The album, Made of Bricks compiles them. There's a couple of naff ones in the mix, but the good ones make up for it. It's like Lily Allen with twice the talent and voice. It's lovely, it's upbeat, and it puts me in a good mood. I really like that in music these days.

Napoleon comes second. But really he won.

Runner-up: Napoleon IIIrd - In Debt To


SINGLES
He's talking at me, he's like, "blah, blah, blah, blah..." But I'm not listening, I'm like, "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah..." - Middleman, and everyone who's ever heard the song, 2007, and forever and ever for all eternity.

Runner-up: Kate Nash - Birds


FILMS
Ooh, a tough one. I missed out on The Darjeling Limited, like a tosser, because I forgot to go see it before its run ended, and my internet's too iffy to download big files. I Am Legend started incredibly, and the first hour would have probably taken the title easily if it weren't for the horrible Hollywood ending. The Golden Compass did things the other way round, with a poorly-paced and nastily glossed opening blossoming into a fantastically epic finale. Oddly, then, we're faced with two pretty straightforward American family comedies as the front runners. Even odder, they're both cartoons.

The Simpsons Movie was always going to be great, and it was always going to disappoint everyone. Pretty standard clause for such a major release from such a fantastic team of writers and animators. Ratatouille, far less prolific until release, was an entirely ordinary Pixar dealie that just happened to do everything loads better than anything else of its kind. Paris, in animated form, has never oozed so much atmosphere and clarity. It's a tough one, and I've reserved judgement until right now. Errm... yeah, The Simpsons Movie it is. Both deserve it, really.

Runner-up: Ratatouille


VIDEOGAMES
I'm breaking the rules to fit a 2006 game into the 2007 list. I'll justify it thusly: I wasn't fortunate enough to play this in the final couple of weeks of last year. In the big Christmas rush I forgot myself, and made little effort until remarkably recently to play this game. And anyway, in every sense of the title, this really was one of 2007's Good Things, a provider of some fabulous times with friends this year. While the shadowy, liquidised suburbs of almost-amazing shoot-em-up Bioshock came close to swaying me back to my senses, I've gone for the 2006 game, just to annoy everyone.

Clearly, it's Wii Sports.

Perhaps the most finely chosen launch title on any platform, ever, Sports succeeds where other games fail by deadening the gap between 'games' and 'real life'. The amount of nights out that have ended by drinking far too much in front of a Wii at 5 in the morning, just trying to prevent reality emerging that little bit longer, is more than I can count, and all were fabulous. Sports makes people run around the living room like a twat, smashing lights and vases and each other in a bizarre attempt to beat up a small blob on a TV screen. It's fabulous. It was released last year, but I don't care.

Runner-up: Bioshock