Things have been rather quiet on the movie front, but a few recent ones:
True Detective (Season 1): I'm not naturally a big fan of Matthew McConaughey so I wasn't chomping at the bit to watch this. Indeed, it took me a few episodes to get into it, but by the end it won me over. The performances by McConaughey and Harrelson are both excellent.
About Time (2013): schmaltzy Richard Curtis rom-com which explores some similar themes to Sliding Doors (and is also set mostly in London). The premise is that a young man discovers a family secret: all the men in his family have the ability to travel back in time to any moment from their past and relive things from that point on. Yet more proof that I'll watch anything with a bit of time travel.
Source Code (2011): low budget sci-fi flick featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, which explores a scenario very similar to the excellent Edge of Tomorrow.
Proof (2005): treacly yarn about a daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her brilliant mathematician father (Anthony Hopkins) who went mad in his last years. It's about the connection between genius and madness, as the daughter tries to understand how much of both attributes she has inherited. Jake Gyllenhaal once more rears his head as a young graduate student. It's not a great film, but you have to give it marks for including a reference to Sophie Germain prime numbers.
Coherence (2013): low budget indie sci-fi thriller flick that reminded me somewhat of The Man From Earth: dialog-heavy, no effects, mostly set in one room, but strangely gripping and thought-provoking.
Things have been more active on the small screen front:
Fargo (Season 1): loved it. The entire cast is excellent and the slow-burn drama and creeping inevitability are strongly redolent of both Breaking Bad and No Country For Old Men.
Veep (Seasons 1-3): Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as the ambitious Vice President surrounded by an entourage of no-less ambitious lackeys and gophers. It's very much in the style of The Office, with relentless fast-paced one-liners. Gary Cole from Office Space is excellent as the number crunching economics advisor, as is Timothy Simons as super-doofus Jonah ("Jonad") Ryan.
American Horror Story (Season 1): dripping with horror movie cliches but a strong cast sucks you in and keeps it interesting even as the plot starts to flounder.
Sherlock (Seasons 1-3): I feel like the last person on Earth to get around to watching this, but I wasn't disappointed when I finally did.
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