For the second year in a row, Mr C’s top five lists have been limited to songs rather than both music and films - and that’s partly because we spent a lot of the year watching 80s movies, and partly because he could only think of Black Panther as a stand out watch. I don’t think film-land is so bad but hey, this is his space to get listing so please find below, Mr C’s thoughts on the year in music, followed by the top five songs from the past twelve months, and finally the shortlist from which he was choosing.

This annual tradition has had its ups and downs. Initially, Mr C enjoyed the process of selecting his top five songs and films of the year gone by. Then he started agonising over the choices and gradually began to hate this time of year. But I care not! It’s a tradition and we’re doing it for 2017 just like all the years gone by. This time, to appease him and because we really weren’t inspired by cinema so much, I’ve said just songs, not films.

Anyone who has been following this site for a while will know that at the end of each year, I like to hand over the reigns to Mr C to share his top five songs and films of the previous twelve months. Last year was an absolute disgrace as he was unable to narrow down his shortlist to five and after a full month of arguing about it, we ended up with top tens instead.

As previously mentioned, Mr C was unable to narrow his shortlist of top songs down to just five. And by the time we got to talking about films we were both pretty exhausted by the whole subject. So, I let him get away with expanding his list to ten films as well! I’m such a pushover. Anyway, these are in alphabetical order with links to my Film Watch reviews for a bit more of an insight.

Now, normally at this point in the year, I hand over a portion of my site to Mr C, allowing him to pick his top five songs and top five films that we consumed in the previous twelve months. It’s a joyous process for me - throughout the year, we keep a note of potential contenders and then I get to watch him writhe in agony as he tries to finalise his top five lists. Unfortunately, this year, the internal debates within him went on for so long that I had to put my foot down and demand a decision.

Following swiftly on from the films of 2014, Mr C turns his attention to music. The playlist to choose from was up to 17 songs at one point, and narrowing it down to five proved to be a difficult task, but one which was great fun for me to watch him agonise over. You can view previous years via the handy links at the end of the post, but for now, let’s see what the end result of the hours of weighing up country against girl groups against guitar bands were.

It’s that time of year again (a little late actually), the one where I force Mr C to decide on his top five songs and films from the year just gone. Usually, this is a fun process in which we discuss music and movies and have a bit of a laugh. This year, it’s been less enjoyable because there have been so many good songs and films that it’s been a bit of a wrench to cut the list down to just five. Nevertheless, we begin with films.

Just as with the top five songs of the year, Mr C also likes to pass judgement on the movies we have watched over the past twelve months as well. This is a slightly more tricky selection to explain, as we live constantly about four months behind cinema release dates due to the rental window. So, it’s not quite “top five films released in 2013” and it’s not really “top five films watched in 2013” either, it’s more “top five films that were released between August 2012 and August 2013 that we watched in 2013.” But that’s not as catchy.

This is the time of year where I hand over the keys of my blog to Mr C, or at least give him a paragraph or two of space, to share the things he’s been loving this year. There are two categories - films and music - and we’ll be starting with the latter. Here’s Mr C’s top five songs from 2013, and I will tell you now, it’s been a heartwrenching process to whittle these down to just five.

Mr C’s back for his second roundup of the 2012 year. Last week it was all about music, this week it’s all about the visual arts. To recap the rules, initially we wanted this to be a “top five 2012 films seen in 2012” but the problem is we run about six months behind thanks to windowing and all that nonsense. Instead, the rules are relaxed a little to include the 2011 films that we didn’t catch in time last year, plus the 2012 films we have managed to see so far.

New Year usually means quite a lot of reviews of the previous twelve months, and things are no different round these parts. At the end of each year, Mr C gets a chance to have his say on both music and films, and today it’s time to recap his top five songs from 2012. We’ve previously listed his songs from 2010 and from 2011, but this time it’s all about the music and melodies that were unleashed upon the unsuspecting public last year. What gems did Mr C manage to find?

We’ve had a look at Mr C’s top five films of the 2011 year gone by, and now it’s time to put those 12 months firmly to bed with his top five songs released in 2011. It was not such a great year for music in our household, with very little grabbing our attention. In fact, Mr C’s shortlist was only seven in the first place. However, we’ve pulled out the top five and these are his:

The end of the year is always a bit review heavy, but you’re bound to have room for just a couple more. It’s time for Mr C’s annual look at his favourite films and music of the year. You know what I think about all the films we watch because I blog them incessantly, but Mr C lives through most of them as well, so it’s only fair that he gets a word in edgeways.

We recapped Mr C’s top five films at the very end of 2010, and after a little bit of pondering (and a little bit of tardiness on my part), he’s back with his top five songs released in 2010. It was a good year for us and music, after a few years of not being that interested in the output of that particular industry. So, here are his top five: Forget You - Cee Lo Green. “One of those songs where nothing before it had been anything like it. The style of the video was unique, and captivating. Not particularly bothered if it’s the version with or without the swearing. I love the retro references too, like Atari.” This Ain’t a Love Song - Scouting for Girls. “It’s the follow-up to every other love song. Every pop song is about saying sorry and getting back together, and much like Forget You, this is the bit that comes after - where they’ve given up and are moving on. It’s also a fine pop song, and it’s also quite amazing they’ve done something that is different to their other songs. I didn’t think they had it in them.” Amazing - Bruno Mars. “What a talent, what a songwriter. I also like his new song, but that’s 2011. Aside from the fact that he seems to have nicked Jason Mraz’s style, he genuinely is one of the talents of 2010.” Written in the Stars - Tinie Tempah. “The song hangs on the chorus, it’s one of the best choruses… blindingly good. Probably made slightly better by the fact the rap isn’t very good. Worth putting up with Tinie for the chorus.” Mine - Taylor Swift. “She’s the new Shania Twain, it’s as country as I’ll ever go in my whole life. However, I like the premise of it, the storytelling. It’s like a mini-movie in a song.” Honourable mention goes to Shakira with Waka Waka, which Mr C debated over for quite a long time. It’s really far cooler than Taylor Swift, and great fun, but not quite as memorable a song. Personally, I thought it took to long to get going, as well, but that’s me and not Mr C.

This may be the first time in a long time that we have watched enough recent films to create any form of top five list. We have indulged in many a movie night, so I tasked Mr C to choose his top five films that were released in 2010, that we watched in 2010. Here is what he came up with: Inception. “The closest thing to the Matrix since the Matrix, which was the closest thing to perfection since forever. It was everything that Shutter Island should have been but wasn’t. Still needs a second viewing, though.” (Film Watch link) Kick-Ass. “The slow start lulled me into a completely false sense of security. The trailer had ruined it slightly, but once it got into it’s stride, it was the most remarkable film of the year.” (Film Watch link) The A-Team. “Because they flew a tank. Also, because they didn’t ruin the original. The only disappointment was BA, probably not as dominant as he is expected to be.” (Film Watch link) Green Zone. “For being the least Hollywood blockbuster Hollywood blockbuster portrayal of American military politics seen to date.” (Film Watch link) Leap Year/Cop Out. “These two are neck and neck, the introduction to Cop Out is the greatest five minutes of any movie sequence ever, but Leap Year has a lot of Guinness in it. I’m more likely to watch Leap Year a second time, so it should take the fifth spot.” (Film Watch link/Film Watch link) Mr C would like an honourable mention to go to The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was his favourite film that we watched all year long, but of course came from 2009.