Archive for the ‘Best of’ Category
Best of 2017
Filed under: Best of, Reflections | Tags: 2017, art exhibitions, best of, books, films, Movies, theatre
Comments (6) 
The Florida Project
Film:
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Florida Project
Lady Bird
Last Flag Flying
Last year: Manchester by the Sea, American Honey
Male Lead:
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
Steve Carell – Battle of the Sexes
Last year: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Female Lead:
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards
Bria Vinaite – The Florida Project
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
Last year: Sasha Lane – American Honey
Male Support:
Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards
Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards
Last year: Jack Reynor – Sing Street
Female Support:
Brooklyn Prince – Florida Project
Mary J Blige – Mudbound
Last year: Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Director:
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards
Last year: Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Writer:
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards
Last year: Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Editing:
Dunkirk
Cinematography:
Roger Deakins (my old boss, in my first job) – Blade Runner 2049
Last year: Vittorio Storaro – Cafe Society
Film Music:
Three Billboards
Last year: Sing Street
International Film:
The Square (Sweden)
Single/Song:
Willie Nelson – God’s Problem Child
Last year: In Tiburon – Van Morrison
Album:
Kamasi Washington – Harmony of Difference
Bjork – Utopia
Avishai Cohen – 1970
Last year: Blackstar – David Bowie, Keep Me Singing – Van Morrison
Gig:
Hothouse Flowers – Electric Ballroom
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Millennium Dome
Avishai Cohen – Barbican
U2 – Joshua Tree – Twickenham
Hollie Cook – Borderline
Last year: Imagining Ireland – Friday 29 April 2016 at Festival Hall
Play:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Girl from the North Country
St Joan (Donmar)
The Ferryman
Last year: Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park)
Art Exhibition:
Basquiat – Barbican
Last year: You Say You Want a Revolution? (V&A)
Book:
Everybody Lies – Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
M Train – Patti Smith
My Promised Land – Ari Shavit
Last year: The Sellout – Paul Beatty, Judas – Amos Oz
TV:
Stranger Things S1
Last year: Ambulance
Sport:
Lions beating & drawing with All-Blacks
Harry Kane scores his 8th hattrick of the year becoming top European goal-scorer and taking record for most Premiership goals in a year
Event:
?
Dearly departed:
- Roger Moore
- John Hurt
- Martin Landau
- Sean Hughes
- Brian Kant
- Jerry Lewis
- Christine Keeler
- Walter Becker
Best of 2016 – with links to all previous years
Best of 2016
Filed under: Actors, actress, Best of, Cinema, films, lists, Music, Reflections | Tags: 2016, american honey, american pastoral, best of 2016, casey affleck, david bowie, manchester by the sea, sing street
Comments (8) Updated 1.1.17 & 7.1.17 – put to bed 10.1.17
American Honey
Film:
Manchester by the Sea
American Honey
Sing Street
American Pastoral
The Accountant
Allied
The Nice Guys
Male Lead:
Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Ben Affleck – The Accountant
Tom Hanks – Sully
Shia LaBeouf – American Honey
Chris Pine – Hell or High Water
Brad Pitt – Allied
Ryan Gosling – The Nice Guys
Female Lead:
Sasha Lane – American Honey
Rebecca Hall – Christine
Marion Cotillard – Allied
Dakota Fanning – American Pastoral
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins
Amy Adams – Arrival
Male Support:
Jack Reynor – Sing Street
Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Nocturnal Animals
Tom Wilkinson – Denial
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Female Support:
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Hayley Squires – I, Daniel Blake
Jennifer Connelly – American Pastoral
Riley Keough – American Honey
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad
Director:
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Ewan McGregor – American Pastoral
John Carney – Sing Street
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Woody Allen – Cafe Society
Writer:
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
John Carney – Sing Street
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Eric Heisserer – Arrival
Editing:
Joe Walker – Arrival
Jennifer Lame – Manchester by the Sea
Cinematography:
Vittorio Storaro – Cafe Society
Rodrigo Prieto – Silence
Film Music:
Sing Street
Single/Song:
In Tiburon – Van Morrison
Album:
Blackstar – David Bowie
Keep Me Singing – Van Morrison
Gig:
Imagining Ireland – Friday 29 April 2016 at Festival Hall
Bruce Springsteen – Wembley stadium
Fela Kuti tribute – Bukky Leo & Black Egypt (Jazz Cafe)
Carole King – Tapestry (Hyde Park)
Play:
Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park)
Things I Know to be True – Andrew Bovell (Lyric, Hammersmith)
How the Other Half Loves – Alan Aykborn (Haymarket)
Art Exhibition:
You Say You Want a Revolution? (V&A)
Georgia O’Keeffe (Tate Modern)
opening day of the Design Museum, Kensington
Russell-Cotes gallery, Bournemouth
Graves gallery, Sheffield
Neue Pinakothek, Munich
Book:
The Sellout – Paul Beatty
Judas – Amos Oz
Read This Year:
All Fall Down – James Leo Herlihy
TV:
Ambulance
Humans 2.0
The Night Manager
Long Lost Family
Sport:
Ireland beating New Zealand at rugby in Chicago
Jack Laugher and Chris Mears winning diving gold at Rio Olympics
Event:
Commemorating the Easter Rising at the GPO in Dublin (100 years to the minute after, right on the spot)
David Bowie trip to Berlin with Noah
Dearly departed:
- David Bowie
- Muhammad Ali
- Gene Wilder
- Leonard Cohen
- George Michael
- Bobby Wellins
- Terry Wogan
- Ronnie Corbett
- Johan Cruyff
- Robert Vaughn
- Peter Vaughan
- Maurice White
-
Frank Finlay
-
George Martin
-
Sylvia Anderson
-
Arnold Wesker
Best of 2015
Filed under: Best of, lists, Reflections | Tags: films, Movies, Music, the big short
Comments (20)
The Big Short: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling
Film:
The Big Short
Grandma
Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
The Hateful Eight
Chappie
Ex-machina
Amy
Male Lead:
Steve Carell – The Big Short
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Samuel Jackson – The Hateful Eight
Oscar Isaac – Ex-machina
Female Lead:
Lily Tomlin – Grandma
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Anne Dorval – Mommy
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Greta Gerwig – Mistress America
Male Support:
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Ryan Gosling – The Big Short
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Female Support:
Jennifer Jason Lee – The Hateful Eight
Cara Delevingne – Paper Towns
Rooney Mara – Carol
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Julie Walters – Brooklyn
Director:
Adam McKay –The Big Short
Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Paul Weitz – Grandma
Xavier Dolan – Mommy
Asif Kapadia – Amy
Writer:
Adam McKay –The Big Short
Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Paul Weitz – Grandma
Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach – Mistress America
Editing:
Hank Corwin – The Big Short
Film Music:
Ennio Morricone – The Hateful Eight
Single/Song:
Long Strange Golden Road – The Waterboys
Listened to this year:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night – Nirvana
Album:
Modern Blues – The Waterboys
Van Morrison – Duets
Covered – Robert Glasper Trio
The Epic – Kamasi Washington
Gig:
The Waterboys – Roundhouse
The Waterboys – Colosseum, Watford
Van Morrison (No. 3) – Nell’s Jazz & Blues Club
Van & Tom Jones – Blues Fest – Millennium Dome
Marc Almond – Empire Shepherds Bush
Play:
Beautiful – Aldwych
Death of a Salesman – Noel Coward Theatre (Anthony Sher)
Guys & Dolls – The Savoy
Art Exhibition:
Peter Lanyon: Soaring Flight – Courtauld
Barbara Hepworth – Tate Britain
Frank Auerbach – Tate Britain
Book:
Purity – Jonathan Franzen
Read This Year:
The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Then Again – Diane Keaton
TV:
Humans
Walking the Nile
House of Cards S3
The Murder Detectives
And Then There Were None
Sport:
All Blacks in Rugby World Cup Final at Twickenham
Event:
Paris climate change agreement
Dearly departed:
- BB King
- Warren Mitchell (Alf Garnett)
- Leonard Nimoy (Spock)
- Ron Moody (Fagin)
- George Cole (Arthur Daley)
- Anita Ekberg (Sylvia, La Dolce Vita)
Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett
Best of 2014
Filed under: art, Best of, Cinema, gigs, lists, Movies, Music, theatre | Tags: best of, best of 2015, selma, the theory of everything, van morrison
Comments (9) 
20,000 Days on Earth
Film:
20,000 Days on Earth
Selma
Boyhood
The Theory of Everything
Male Lead:
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
David Oyelowo – Selma
Nicholas Cage – Joe
Tom Hardy – Locke
Benedict Cumberbtach – The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes – Grand Hotel Budapest
Female Lead:
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Male Support:
Tim Roth – Selma
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Tom Wilkinson – Selma
Female Support:
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Sienna Miller – American Sniper
Director:
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Christopher Nolan – Interstellar
Pawel Pawlikoski – Ida
Paul King – Paddington
Yann Demange- ’71
Writer:
Paul Webb – Selma
Paul King – Paddington
Wes Anderson – Grand Hotel Budapest
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Production Design:
Grand Hotel Budapest
Visual FX:
Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Michael Franti & dancer
Single:
(John Newman – Love Me Again)
Album:
Morning Phase – Beck
Tribute – John Newman
With The Artists – Rhythm & Sound
Liquid Spirit – Gregory Porter
(WomanChild -Cecile McLorin Salvant)
Gig:
Van Morrison on launch night of Nell’s Jazz & Blues Club
Michael Franti & Spearhead – Islington Assembly Hall (with D)
John Newman – Empire Shepherd’s Bush
ABC – Lexicon of Love – Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Peter Gabriel – So – Wembley Arena
Play:
A Taste of Honey – Shelagh Delaney – National Theatre, Lyttleton
Fiesta – adapted & directed by Alex Helfrecht – Trafalgar Studios
Oh What a Lovely War – Joan Littlewood & the Theatre Workshop – Theatre Royal Stratford East (Joan Littlewood centenary – with D)
Fings Ain’t Wot They Used to Be – Frank Norman – Theatre Royal Stratford East
Art Exhibition:
Egon Schiele drawings: The Radical Nude – Courtauld
John Craxton – Fitzwilliam, Cambridge
Richard Hamilton – Tate Modern
Abram Games: designing the 20th Century – Jewish Museum, Camden Town
MALBA – Buenos Aires
Museum der bildenden Kunste – Leipzig (with N)
Book: (that I read this year)
Rabbit at Rest – John Updike
Sport:
Germany crushing Brazil at the World Cup (7-1 semi-final)
Jonny May’s try for England against the All Blacks at Twickenham
Event:
Philae probe from European spacecraft Rosetta landing on a comet
Dearly departed:
Joe Cocker
Jack Bruce
Tommy Ramone
Egon Schiele – The Radical Nude
Best of 2013
Filed under: Adam Gee, Best of, films, gigs, Music, Reflections | Tags: best of, Cecile McLorin Salvant, gravity, leonardo dicaprio, ronnie scott's, van morrison, wolf of wall street
Comments (7) [work in progress]
Film:
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Way Way Back
Gravity
Male Lead:
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Female Lead:
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Judy Dench – Philomena
Male Support:
Matthew McConaughy – The Wolf of Wall Street
Female Support:
(Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine)
(Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle)
Director:
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Writer:
Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Way Way Back
Single:
Love Me Again – John Newman
Down the Road – C2C
Children Go Where I Send Thee – Nick Lowe
Where Are We Now – David Bowie
Get Lucky – Daft Punk
Nothing’s Changed – Tricky (with Francesca Belmonte)
Hang Me, Oh Hang Me – Oscar Isaac
Album:
Quality Street – Nick Lowe
Cecile McLorin Salvant – WomanChild
Big Inner – Matthew E White
False Idols – Tricky
(Lee Perry presents – Candy McKenzie (1977 reissue))
Gig:
Van Morrison at Ronnie Scott’s
Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Stadium (Darkness on the Edge of Town)
The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park
Dexys – One Day I’m Going To Soar – Duke Of York’s Theatre
Play:
Othello at Olivier Theatre
Art Exhibition:
All that is Solid Melts into Air (Jeremy Deller), Manchester
Sport:
Andy Murray winning Wimbledon
Event:
My birthday party – incorporating The Box
