So here we are then, my usual round up of my TV/Film hits and misses of the year, feel free to agree or criticise as you see fit.
Best returning TV show
As someone who has never watched "Breaking Bad", hard as it may seem to believe, there were other shows back for more runs. "Arrow" started out strong last year but seemed to lose the plot towards the end, coming back for it's new season, it hit the ground running and has looked stronger and stronger each week. Effortlessly weaving in the odd fan pleasing reference such as "Solomon Grundy" or "Ra's Al'Ghul" and the "League of "Shadows" and some great action scenes. Returning villains, ongoing storylines, this is easily the best show of it's kind on at the minute. Both "Game of Thrones" and "The Walking Dead" continued their impressive runs and the kinds of twists and shocks that both surprise and shock you in equal measure.
Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu would continue their adventures in that other Sherlock Holmes series, "Elementary" and display a level of chemistry then even outshines that as seen in "Castle". "Once Upon a Time" changes tack in its new season and has one central story at it's prominence as the mission to save Henry from Peter Pan begins. Once again Robert Caylyle as Rumplestiltskin is easily the best character although the Evil Queen isn't far behind. The Dan Harmon-less "Community" series 4 was a shadow of it's former self (despite one or two good ideas) and it was with a happy heart to hear he is back for Series 5 in 2014. Revolution continued to amaza with it's poor scripting and inane plotting.
Favourite Returning TV Show: "Arrow"
Honorable Mentions: "Game of Thrones", "The Walking Dead", "Once Upon A Time"
Best new TV show
There's certainly been a lot of new stuff to watch this year and by no means have I been able to watch it all. Films have provided inspiration for series this year, firstly I have to mention "Hannibal" that I initially didn't watch and it was only the urging of a friend that made me go and catchup and I'm glad he did. This is the early years of the character made famous by Anthony Hopkins in films such as the "Silence of the Lambs", this time played by "Casino Royale" bad guy, Mads Mikkelson. This is about the relationship between the good doctor and FBI agent Will Graham as he goes about doing his day-to-day investigating. This could so easily have been a psycho-of-the-week but the crimes are almost incidental to the relationship of the two characters. Unnerving, brilliantly written and genuinely enthralling, definitely looking forward to this coming back. Then, there is "Agents of SHIELD", riding the wave after 2012's "Avengers", referencing "Iron Man 3", name dropping various characters from the universe, how could this fail? To be honest, it hasn't, but neither has it really succeeded in the way it should have. 2 dimensional characters, boring scripts, poor dialogue, it feels like the writers are being held on a leash not to be too daring whilst "Arrow" (which I talk about elsewhere) has taken criticism levelled at it and come back stronger than ever. "Agents" isn't dead yet, Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen have more charisma than the rest of the cast put together and there's still stuff to enjoy but it's just not as good as it should be and that's what hurts.
As someone old enough to remember the original "House of Cards" from 1990, I was interested in Kevin Spacey's new version and was thoroughly entertained by the machiavellian twisy turny nature of the script. "Da Vinci's Demons" takes some random notes from history, adds some renaissance-punk action, a corrupt church and a mysterious book then you have effectively "Macgyver" in the fifteenth century, brilliantly fun. In another twist on history, the BBC took everything they learned on the later series of "Merlin", threw it out of the window and gave us the tepid "Atlantis". "Sleepy Hollow" got a new twist that has been quite enjoyable so far. "Once upon a Time in Wonderland" (a spin off from "Once Upon a Time" has had some nice ideas but has struggled desperately in the ratings. Coming a bit left-field from BBC America came "Orphan Black" about a group of women who realise they are clones and what this means, well acted and some very clever ideas presented. "Banshee" was another show I nearly didn't watch but so happy I did, telling the story of a diamond thief who gets out of prison and goes looking for his former girlfriend and his share of their last job. On the run from russian mobsters who originally set the job up, this all comes to a head in a small town bordering on Amish territory where the afore mentioned thief finds himself as the new town sheriff. Brilliantly written and acted and featuring some outrageous action scenes, this was one of the best, if not my favourite, new show.
Favourite new TV Show: "Banshee"
Honourable mention: "Hannibal", "Da Vinci's Demons", "Orphan Black", "House of Cards"
Film Hits of the Year
After the all-conquering nature of the 2012's "Avengers", there seeemed to be a lot riding on "Iron Man 3", was the magic still there? Obviously with it's 1.2 billion dollars at the box office, I don't think it was as good the first one as mainly I paid to see a film called "Iron Man" and a lot like last years "Dark Knight" there wasn't much of the costumed shenanigans as I would have liked. Thor would fare much better later in the year with "The Dark World", if the first film focused on the Thor/Jane Foster relationship, this one was all about Thor and Loki and much better for it. Everyone on top form, a great script and some inventive cinematics all combine in one of the best films of the year. Sci-Fi was also served well this year with both "Oblivion" and "Gravity" producing some stunning visuals, critics argues that both films had weak stories both but survived on their various merits. Arnold Schwarzenegger had two films out, "Escape Plan" with Stallone but the real hit for me was "The Last Stand" and it's lack of success at the box office, like 2012's "Dredd" was a real shame. "Cloud Atlas" was an attempt at telling 6 seperate but connected stories across 6 different time periods, a modest success, initially I wasn't keen, but having watched it a couple of times, I think this will become a film like "Chronicles of Riddick" and "Scott Pilgrim" before it that the more I watch it, it will most definitely grow on me.
Vin Diesel would have a good year with both the physics ignoring "Fast & Furious 6" and "Riddick", both films revisiting past characters and both having a lot to commend them (obviously for different reasons). After 2006's disappointing "Superman Returns", the character was relaunched in the Nolan-esque "Man of Steel" and was a deserved success, british actor Henry Cavill taking on the famous cloak and like Nolan's trilogy having a great supporting cast such as Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner playing his Kryptonian and Earth fathers respectively. After the similarly disappointing "X-Men Origins", Hugh Jackman came back in the much better "The Wolverine" and gave us one the most promising post credits scene since Samuel L Jackson confronted Robert Downey Jr.
Favourite Films: "Oblivion", "Gravity", "Thor The Dark World", "Riddick"
Film Misses of the Year
After the brilliant "The Expendables", Bruch Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger would all come back in action roles in the early part of the year, now Arnie's "The Last Stand" was a lot of fun, Stallone's "Bullet to the Head" is what he deserved and Willis practically sleep-walked through the latest "Die Hard", Nakatomi plaza is a very long time ago now.
I'm going to cop some flak but also for me "The Worlds End" was also a bit of a miss, I loved some of the ideas in the script, concerning the changing nature of friendship as the years go by but the sci-fi element just seemed tacked on and (surprisingly as a sci-fi fan) I didn't like that part of the film. The second Hobbit film was also a bit of a disappointment for me, it flowed well, the pacing was right but nothing really happened and for me, it was just a setup for the third film coming out next year. Viewed in concert with the other films, my view will probably change but at the minute, not so much.
Worst film: "Bullet to the Head"
Doctor Who program of the year
Doctor Who was all over the TV this year, for it's 50th anniversary, the BBC produced a lot of output and it was mostly good. My favourite was the webisode "Night of the Doctor" which brought Paul McGann back to the role he first played in the 1996 movie and in just 8 minutes he showed us what a great Doctor he could have been and has been on the Big Finish audio dramas. "An Adventure in Space and Time" dramatised the beginnings of the show. Directed and written by the fifth doctor, Peter Davison, along with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy and a whole host of famous cameo's, an irreverant love story to the series. The actual 50th episode was very good also, weaving in a lot of references from past stories both from the new and classic era.
Favourite Doctor Who program: "Night of the Doctor"
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