It is Top Ten season, and I've already posted favorite books and music lists. I would normally be posting my movie list for the year as well. I took last week off work, as I usually do, planning to catch all the big year-end releases. But a nasty cold (I'm feeling much better now) kept me from seeing as many movies as I'd have liked, and my Best of '05 Movies list will be delayed by a week or two.

I know, there are always going to be movies you haven't seen when you compile a list, but there are enough biggies out there that I really want to see -- at a bare minimum, King Kong, Munich, and Brokeback Mountain -- that I'd feel weird compiling a list already. (And I don't think I can cram that much moviegoing into a single weekend!)

Some general thoughts, though: It's been a good year, and there will be 15-20 movies fighting for spots on my top ten list, which is more than usual. It's been an extraordinary year for performances by men, especially in the lead category; I could easily list ten that are better than anything on my list from last year. And it's been a particularly weak year for performances by women, especially in the supporting category, where I'll be scraping to put together a slate of five.

I am, of course, under no delusion that the world particularly cares which movies I liked and didn't, but didn't want my Loyal Readers to think I'd suddenly abandoned the world of movies.