Sunday, January 04, 2015

The year in media entertainment

As I stated several time lately: I really watch too much TV and here is the proof.

This list of the movies and TV series that I've watched in 2014 is far from exhaustive as I am sure I forgot many of them (particularly movies or series that I don't recall because I've watch them on TV without taking any notes and therefore they left no trace). The movies were watched mostly on Dvds. This time I'll also try to rate them according to this system: [0] Bad, [1] Meh, [2] Average / Really I don't remember, [3] Good, [4] Great and [5] Excellent. I've also indicated when the TV series are British [UK], because it is usually a sign of better production quality (certainly in the writing). I'll start with a Top 10 for which I'll try to give a few comments [to be added a little later, sorry] and complete with a simple list of the rest (but I will add a link to at least provide a few production details). The top 10 of the movies was hard because I could't find enough titles that I really liked. The top 10 of the TV series was even harder because there was so many good ones. Here we go… after the jump:


Movies Top 10


Battleship [4],

Belle et Sébastien [3]

Book thief (The) [4]

Chat du rabbin (Le) [5]

From up on Poppy Hill [5]

Great Beauty (The) [5]

Hiroshima mon amour [5]

Oblivion [4]

Philomena [4]

12 years a slave [4]

And the rest: A courtesan with flowered skin [3], A drop of the grapevine [3], A la recherche du temps perdu [2], A sparkle of life [3], After Earth [2], Becket [3], Blossom bloom [3], Blue Jasmine [3], Cape Nostalgia [3], Divergent [3], Elysium [4], Ender’s game [3], Fly, Dakota, Fly! [3], Gravity [4], Hana [3], Hobbit : The desolation of Smaug (The) [3], Hunger game : Catching fire (The) [3], Hyde Park on Hudson [3], Iron Man 3 [2], Jobs [2], Light shines only there (The) [3], Lone Ranger (The) [2], Monuments men (The) [3], One third [3], Our family [3], Pacific Rim [1], Quai d’Orsay [2], Quartet [3], Salaud, on t'aime [4], Saving Mr. Banks [2], Star Trek: Into Darkness [1], Sur la piste du Marsupilami [2], Taira clan saga [3], Thor : The dark world [2], Tokyo: The city of glass [3], Twenty-four eyes [3], Zero Theorem (The) [2].

TV Series Top 10


Äkta människor (Real Humans / 100% Humain) S. 1 [5]

Bletchley circle [5]

Endeavour [5]

Firefly [5]

Manhattan [5]

Murdoch Mysteries S. 7-8 [3]

Newsroom (The) S. 3 [5]

Outlander [4]

Returned (The) / Les Revenants [4]

True Detective S.1 [4]

And the rest: 24: Live Another Day S. 9 [1], Almost Human [2], Atlantis [2], Birdsong [1, UK], Breathless [2, UK], Call the midwife [3, UK], Click [2, UK], Constantine [1], Continuum S. 3 [3], Cosmos: A spacetime odyssey [3], Crimson Field (The) [3, UK], Death comes to Pemberley [4, UK], Defiance S. 2 [2], Doctor Zhivago [3, UK], Doctor Who S. 8 [2, UK], Downton Abbey S. 5 [3, UK], Elementary S. 2 [2], Extant [2], Falling Skies S. 4 [2], Father Brown S. 2 [3, UK], Forever [2], Game of Thrones S. 4 [3], Gotham [2], Grantchester [3, UK], Halt and catch fire [3], Hawaii Five-O [2], Helix [2], Homeland S. 4 [3], Inspector Morse S. 1 [1, UK], Intelligence [2], Jamaica Inn [1, UK], Last ship (The) [3], Last tango in Halifax S. 1-3 [3, UK], Librarians (The) [1], Mad Men S. 7 [3], Marco Polo [3], Mentalist (The) S. 6-7 [3], Mr. Selfridge S. 2 [3, UK], NCIS S. 11-12 [3], NCIS L.A. S. 5-6 [2], NCIS: New Orleans [1], 100 (The) [3], Originals (The) S. 1 [2], Orphan Black S. 2 [3], Parade’s End [2, UK], Real time with Bill Maher [2], Resurrection [2], Saving Hope [2], Silicon Valley [1], Star Wars Rebels [3], Strange Empire [3], TURN: Washington's Spies [3], Under the dome S. 2 [2], Unforgettable S. 2-3 [2], Utopia S. 2 [3, UK], Vampire Diaries (The) S. 5-6 [2], Vice [3], Viking S. 2 [3], Village (The) S. 1-2 [2, UK], Walking Death (The) S. 4-5 [3],Will Wheaton Project (The) [0], Z Nation [2].

I chose to include a few non-fiction shows (like Click, Cosmos: A spacetime odyssey, Real time with Bill Maher, Vice, or The Will Wheaton Project) that I watched and were worth a mention.

If you compare with last year's Top Ten, you'll note that Continuum, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Orphan Black and Vikings are no longer in my Top 10. Those series are still good (they would certainly figure in a Top 20), but their production quality have slightly diminish (like all series tend to do after a while). And there are many new excellent series that I wanted to bring to your attention. Only The Newsroom remains in the Top 10. Murdoch Mysteries was promoted to the Top 10 even if it's not that great to highlight the endurance of its production quality. Good Canadian period drama need to be applauded since we really need more of them.

That's a total of nearly fifty movies and seventy TV series seen in 2014. So it's official: I definitely watch too much TV. For 2015 I'll try to watch a little less movies and TV, and read a little more.

For my “Top 20” books for 2014, please check the post My year in books.

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