movies + tv

Hannibal (Seasons 1+2): Very decent adaptation of the Hannibal Lecter franchise, though the gore factor is pretty full on.

Black Mirror (Seasons 1+2): anthology series of dystopian techno-tales of the unexpected by Charlie Brooker from The Guardian. "The Entire History of You" (season 1, episode 3) was particularly good.

Amazing Journey - The Story of The Who (2007): With the exception of "Pinball Wizard" — and my preferred version of that song is Elton John's version for the Tommy movie adaptation — I've never really understood why The Who were considered such a big deal. Their early yeah-yeah songs (a la "My Generation") just sound like Rolling Stones-lite, while their later concept album "Tommy" just puts me to sleep. Pete Townshend's place in the pantheon of guitar legends seems to be based more on his windmill strumming gimmick than anything else. And watching this documentary didn't really change any of that.

Before the Music Dies (2006): the premise of this fairly tedious documentary film is, in a nutshell, that the music industry has become too commercial and superficial. Unconvincing and overly nostalgic.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014): absolutely LOVED this film. It's the perfect sci-fi film: great action, humour and doesn't take itself too seriously. Tom Cruise is on a roll. 

Elysium (2013): okay, but not great.

Silicon Valley (2014): amusing comedy series about a bunch of nerds trying to get a start-up off the ground. Sort of Entourage meets The Big Bang Theory.

Fight Life (2012): documentary following the training of a group of mixed martial fighters in the lead up to a fight night. The dedication of these guys is impressive.

Los Cronocrimenes (2007): Quirky little time travel story from Spain, about a Peeping Tomas who gets into a spot of chronological bother and has to get his timeline in order.

The Tunnel (2013): British-French adaptation of the Swedish-Danish series Bron|Broen. Featuring Stephen Dillane, aka Stannis Baratheon from GoT. Pretty well done, but the adaptation so faithful to the original that, if you've seen one then the other won't hold any surprises at all.

The Rover (2014): post-apocalyptic Aussie flick, sort of The Road meets Mad Max. Guy Pierce and Robert Pattinson give a good account of themselves but it's pretty slow going.