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.
Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine are superbly funny in Richard Linklater’s Texan true-crime docu-comedy about a misanthropic widow (MacLaine) and the prim funeral director (Black) who becomes her inseparable companion.    Â
“All I see out there is barbarity,” yells a gendarme at a French soldier. Â Â Â Â
Michael Winterbottom’s jaunty Paul Raymond biopic stars Steve Coogan as the billionaire property baron, strip-club impresario, and girly-mag publisher.
An awkward but interesting mix of epic sci-fi action movie and small-scale, slow-burning indie puzzler, Oblivion stars Tom Cruise as a maintenance man on a devastated and deserted future Earth.
A fair amount of vitriol was thrown at this expensive sci-fi, but, although it’s a little plodding, Oblivion’s not too shoddy.