Mike Nichols’s excellent rite-of-passage drama channels Whistle Down The Wind, Stand By Me and, mainly, Huckleberry Finn. Two 14-year-olds, Ellis and Neckbone, unearth a charismatic fugitive, Mud (Matthew McConaughey), hiding out near the Mississippi river.
Okay, it’s not as invigorating as JJ Abrams’s first Trek reboot, but it’s still a deft cocktail of humour and action. And, more crucially, the chemistry between Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) still crackles. The crew off the USS Enterprise are on a manhunt for Benedict Cumberbatch’s super-soldier/terrorist who is giving Starfleet a headache with his explosive activity.
“It’s weird, alright,†maintains Rory Kinnear’s jaded TV reporter who reluctantly returns to his Kent hometown to cover the gun massacre wreaked by his former schoolmate (Sean Harris, excellent). Channel 4 has been pummelled in the ratings of late, however Tony Grisoni’s fiercely intelligent Southcliffe is the best drama they’ve screened in a fair while.
Tobias Lindholm’s claustrophobic, gripping hostage drama centres on a ship’s chef (Pilou Asbaek, the spin doctor in Borgen) and a control-freak CEO (Soren Maling), who negotiates from a sterile office in Copenhagen.
Everyone’s clearly having a blast on this outrageous HBO show. Antony Starr channels Martin Riggs and Jack Reacher as the former jewel thief who, after being released from prison, makes his way to the corrupt Wild West town of Banshee.
“It still takes muscle, it still takes nerve,†James McAvoy’s auctioneer Simon maintains about stealing precious art before Vincent Cassel’s mob enter his auction house and nab a Goya, bomping Simon on the head. But the pair are in cahoots, see. Of course they are
Vegas showmen Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell, shiny teeth, stonking toupée) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi, wonky teeth, wondrous manner) have been pulling the same act for decades – only to split up when challenged by maverick street-magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey in manic mode).    Â
Danny Boyle’s hyper-devious thriller begins with James McAvoy’s hero-narrator Simon explaining, with a sly wink, how the security system operates in the auction house where he works. Â Â Â Â
Ed, 32, is a disgruntled call-centre worker by day and an angry stand-up comic by night.
While his contemporaries languish in dismal comedies (De Niro) and lame thrillers (Pacino), Christopher Walken continues to challenge himself and improves with age.