Movies
Jack Reacher (2012): surprisingly entertaining performance from Tom Cruise, and an all-round solid, old-school action hero flick. ****
Skyfall (2012): I enjoyed Javier Bardem but was mostly underwhelmed by the latest instalment of the Bond franchise. **
Oblivion (2013): very good sci-fi yarn, again with Tom Cruise acting up a storm. ****
The Grandmaster (2013): Wong Kar Wai and Tony Leung team up again, though not as memorably as in the excellent 2046. ***
World War Z (2013): pretty decent zombie flick. ***
Shaun of the Dead (2004): the first of the "Three Flavours Cornetto", and the first one that I've seen. Pretty funny. ***
Sound City (2013): Dave Grohl's documentary homage to the studio where many of rock music's most iconic albums were recorded. ***
Les Intouchables (2011): a bit schmaltzy, but the performances of the two leads (particularly Omar Sy) win you over. ***
Seven Psychopaths (2012): okay but not great — for me it felt like an awkward amalgam of Adaptation and something by Quentin Tarantino. Christopher Walken is entertaining as always. **
Too Big To Fail (2011): a blow by blow account of the events surrounding the collapse of Lehmann Brothers in 2008, based on the book by Andrew Ross Sorkin. It's pretty dry fare; for me the highlights were Paul Giamatti's hapless, panicky take on Ben Bernanke and Evan Handler's geeky Lloyd Blankfein. **
TV
The Fall (2013): BBC crime thriller starring Gillian Anderson and soon to be Mr Fifty Shades Jamie Dornan. Filmed in Northern Ireland! ***
The Walking Dead (Seasons 1-4): I lapped up the first three seasons of AMC's hit zombie show. But by the end of season 3 the storyline was starting to flag, and I bailed out shortly into season 4. ***
Engrenages ("The Spiral", Seasons 1-4): excellent cop drama, billed as France's answer to the The Wire. *****
Bron|Broen ("The Bridge", Season 1): interesting bilingual crime thriller set in Sweden and Denmark. ***
Game of Thrones (Seasons 1-3): if everyone else is watching it… *****
Ray Donovan (Season 1): quite enjoyed the first season of this darker take on the Entourage world. Jon Voight and Liev Schreiber are excellent. ****
Dexter (Season 8): a fairly weak last season, with possibly the lamest finale ever. This show had its moments but should have been several seasons shorter, and it was only the excellent ensemble cast that kept it alive this long. **
Breaking Bad: probably the best television series out there. The final few episodes demanded a strong constitution, but the ending was worth it. *****
True Blood (Seasons 1-4): I've been lapping up this bit of vampire porn. ***
Newsroom (Seasons 1-2): fast-paced and entertaining, but patchy and prone to passages of maudlin liberal idealism. ***
In Treatment (Season 1): interesting little show featuring Gabriel Byrne as a psychiatrist with some issues of his own. The main drawback is the season's length — at 43 x 30 minute episodes, it's not an undertaking for the faint of heart. ***
Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Seasons 1-2): billed as "Seinfeld on crack", it was initially pretty funny but the laughs started to dry up in season 2. **
