As a blogger, I’m contractually obliged to produce and publish annual lists of things wot I like. It’s one of those tedious tasks in life you try to put off until the last moment and always bitterly resent, like getting your car serviced, completing a tax return or flossing. If I don’t do it, though, bad things might happen. I could lose my weblog licence, get a nasty email from Technorati or even end up with a terrible gum disease.

So what follows are my favourite films of 2009 at this particular moment in time. These are movies that were released in the UK between 1st January and 31st December 2009 that I watched during this period, and it doesn’t include any films that were released during this period that I watched last night with Clare. Which is a shame, really, because otherwise Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell might have been a contender.

Just like last year, each entry comes complete with a lovingly hand-crafted piece of bad haiku.

Don’t say I never treat you.

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10. Public Enemies

Mann’s gangster epic

Is a fedora-clad ‘Heat’

(The film, not the mag)

9. Avatar

J.C. rose again

With pulp sci-fi eye-popper

Tangled up in blue

8. The Wrestler

Rourke drifts to glory

With tale of aging fighter

Who’s your (Big) Daddy?

7. In The Loop

Big-screen Thick of It:

In this sharp, sweary satire

‘Fog of war’ turns blue

6. Gran Torino

It’s flawed, but who cares?

Clint’s in front of the camera

And that makes our day

5. Inglourious Basterds

Don’t burn cinemas

Unless there’s Nazis inside

In which case, it’s OK

4. Fantastic Mr Fox

Roald Dahl kid classic

Goes stop-motion to Wes World

(It’s no cluster-cuss!)

3. Star Trek

Lapsed Trekkers rejoice

As Abrams’ restores their faith

Final frontier fun!

2. Where The Wild Things Are

Spike’s grown-up kids’ film

That’s perfect in every way

A beautiful freak

1. Let The Right One In

Swedish vampire tale

Is no flat-pack Drakea

More Bergman with bite

The satirical comedy The Thick of It -- the third series of which is currently being broadcast by the Beeb -- is officially my favourite TV programme of the year.  This is quite an achievement considering this household doesn’t watch TV anymore.

Isn’t the BBC iPlayer a wonderful thing?

The Thick of It is produced and directed by Armando Iannucci, who also produced and directed In The Loop, my favourite comedy feature film of 2009.  I am, as you might guess, a fan of Armando Iannucci.

This is nothing new.  I’ve been an admirer of Iannucci’s work since he co-created the seminal parody news programme The Day Today with the legendary Chris Morris (and, for that matter, it’s Radio 4 predecessor On The Hour).   I’m particularly fond, though, of his often overlooked late-90s satire show The Saturday Night Armistice, which he co-presented with Day Today alumni David Schneider and Peter Baynham.

This is my favourite moment from the show:

While I’m on the subject, I also heartily recommend Channel Four’s The Armando Iannucci Shows (2001).  It was a sketch-based series which included the following gem (appropriately entitled ‘Twats’):

You can pick up a DVD collecting all eight episodes of The Armando Iannucci Shows from many online outlets for less than a fiver.

I mention this on the offchance you’re stuck for something to buy a Brum-based Blogger this Christmas.