As a Sandra Bullock fan, I should have wanted to watch her Oscar-winning performance in this true story of lives being changed. However, knowing that it was likely an emotional one put me off because I built up that wall of never crying at anything ever.

It was surprisingly good, very watchable, stacked full of twists and turns and culminating in a good, exciting ending. I thought it got off to a slow start, and I was a bit disappointed that Arnie and Sylv didn't get to have more crackling dialogue together.

It wasn't long ago I was waxing lyrical about how great Jimmy Fallon's skit with Paul Rudd was - the pair of them taking on a lip sync battle with amusing results. Now, the Tonight Show host is back again with another classic. This time, he's roped in Billy Joel for a spot of crooning. I love the use of the looping app in this, and how great they both …

We've recently invested some time and energy in using Flipboard to share posts, pictures and shows from Sidepodcast, which meant having to learn to use the crazy thing. Primarily an app, Flipboard allows you to browse through content from Twitter, sites and various web locations in a gorgeous looking magazine style. There's absolutely no doubting that it's a good way to peruse content. I found it quite hard to get …

A very serviceable thriller from Jeffrey Archer, but not a particularly memorable or classic work, I think. The story follows the journey of a CIA assassin, who finds himself on the wrong side of the company he works for just months before his retirement. It took a long time to get going, but I stuck with it, and was glad I did because it was an interesting story.

It actually worked, I quite enjoyed this film. We've been working through some less challenging movies due to sheer exhaustion, and this was absolutely what we needed - just a handful of people twisting and turning through tricky relationships.

I've loved this film for a long time, although when we rewatched it this time, there was a whole section (up in the cabin) that I didn't remember at all. Interestingly, there were things I thought happened that didn't, and things I didn't think happened that did.

Love this film. I've seen it maybe a couple of times before, although I couldn't remember all the specifics about it. Mr C hadn't seen it before, and as we were in the mood for something that wouldn't take too much attention, a classic teen rom-com was ideal!

I was sad to hear that We Will Rock You will be closing, after 12 years as a mainstay of the West End theatre scene in London. Long time readers will know I was completely obsessed with this musical when it first came out, seeing it no less than five times in just a couple of years. I’m not a huge fan of the so-called “jukebox” musicals, but this one …

It's a good job I wasn't particularly looking forward to this one as an action thriller, because in all honesty, about 90% of it went over my head. When they weren't speaking technobabble, they were talking corporate espionage, and I couldn't really keep up.

I was on the back foot with this book from the start, as it is a very openly political tale about the benefits of socialism weighed against the disadvantages of capitalism. I'm not particularly interested in politics, and whilst I liked some of the descriptions of the economics of the two systems, I drifted off when there was talk of elections and money-grabbing corporations.

I read with interest this post about Maria Sharapova’s views on men playing three set matches. I’ve heard the arguments that women should play five-setters, to earn the equal prize money they were given a while back, but I hadn’t heard the flip side to that. At first, I couldn’t really see any reason for change, but actually reading her quotes, it makes a lot of sense. Sharapova’s main points …

I've heard of Paul Potts but didn't really know the facts behind his rise to fame. I've not seen Britain's Got Talent, having given up on the reality shows after the first few (credible) years. Mostly, this film intrigued me because of James Cordon, could he carry a whole ninety minute story?

As with all the Marvel films, the dialogue was fun, there were a few laughs throughout, and the best part was seeing the characters interact with each other and try to deal with a world in which they don't really fit. Darcy was fab, and I loved bonus Chris O'Dowd (underused). Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be enough story to go with it. Christopher Eccleston made a good bad guy, but it didn't really feel like the world was in jeopardy, even in the big showdown.

There was a lot of consternation doing the rounds this week when it emerged the BBC have plans to switch BBC Three from a TV channel to online only distribution. I can't say that it's a hugely surprising move, particularly as they have made a big push recently with putting the episodes of comedies up on the iPlayer before they appear on TV. The big pink Premiere logo appears on …

If you're not a fan of Kindle-shaped reading products, never fear! The iBooks edition of the Pocket F1 Handbook: Guide to the 2014 Grand Prix Season has arrived. The book contains all the driver and team profiles, rules and regulations updates, and circuit information that you're going to need for the upcoming Formula One season, and has the iBooks bonus of easier navigation and better-looking tables. So, if you own …

I probably wouldn't have read this if I hadn't quite enjoyed Goodnight Mister Tom, but I'm glad that I did pick it up. It follows a similar pattern, chronicling the trials and tribulations of a boy as he learns the world around him is a little bit different than he first imagined.

After watching one of the early trailer/clips and establishing this might be a pretty epic film, Mr C and I stopped looked at any reference to Gravity, in case of spoilers. We anticipated the arrival of the film, and scheduled viewing time for the very same evening that it downloaded.

I didn't know an awful lot about the Green Mile before I started. I knew of the film, but I've not seen it, and that it was about a prison guard and a giant of a prisoner. The rest was a mystery - it wasn't until I bought the book that I knew it was written by Stephen King!

A great video of the lovely Paul Rudd is doing the rounds today, as the actor faces off against talk show host Jimmy Kimmel in a lip sync battle. I love this for three reasons. First: Paul Rudd. Second: Queen. Third: Lip sync battle sounds like a fab game! And while I'm indulging in a bit of Paul Rudd, I saw this other video a while back, in which Rudd …

Mixed feelings about this one. On the positive side, it continued the series well, retained a great sense of the characters involved, and dealt well with past history influencing current events. The story was good, although I guessed the culprit quite quickly, without perhaps knowing all the details of how and why.

The Winter Olympics drew to a close last night, with one of those closing ceremonies that include about ten minutes of fireworks. I don’t get fireworks at all. Anyway, the games themselves saw two weeks of triumphs and controversies and tears and flowers, and all sorts of stuff. I really didn’t get to see as much of the games as I wanted, but unlike the London 2012 fortnight, in which …

We'd had this film on our radar and wanted to watch it a while ago but other films kept taking priority. Eventually, we rented it to force our hand and thus got round to a viewing. It was awkward at every single stage, each scene containing yet more amazing awkwardness, embarrassing conversations and shameful situations. That's not necessarily a bad thing, except there was no let up in the cringing!

To celebrate the release of the latest Guide to the 2014 Grand Prix Season, the previous two editions have been reduced in price, allowing you to complete your Pocket F1 Handbook collection. The Pocket guides have been previewing the last three seasons of Formula One, featuring all the information you need to know about drivers, teams, rules and regulations, plus bonus extra content in each edition of the book. The …

I was recently watching one of those episodes of Friends that are always on a TV channel somewhere, and realised that there's a lot of landline usage in the show. Because Friends ended in 2004, they're missing a whole ten years of technology, which includes the revolution of smartphones that came after the iPhone in 2007. I dread to think of the jokes Chandler could make about Flappy Bird. Anyway, …

The second Jessica Daniel book in the series, and I whipped through it in next to no time. It was nice to have the familiarity of the characters from the first book, with some taking a larger role, and others only mentioned in passing. It was totally believable in terms of the amount of time that had gone by and the way that relationships had changed in the intervening period.

I remember hearing an interview with the author of Gold a long while ago and thought it sounded interesting, particularly as Olympics fever was gripping the nation. I didn't get round to reading it until now, but the Winter Olympics are on at the moment, so perhaps that can be my excuse!

Bought this as a trilogy of the first three books in the DS Jessica Daniels series, and the first thing that struck me was just how British the whole thing is. Set in Manchester, it follows a female detective trying to link together some murders and trace the serial killer.

Recently, we've been playing Tomb Raider, the definitive edition on the PS4. It's the game that actually made us interested in the new generation consoles in the first place, and it's a highlight in what has been a very quiet early market for this new Playstation. I was intrigued by the game trailer when we saw it so very long ago, it looked good but I was concerned about the …

The title of this book made me think it might be a bit wishy-washy, but the great thing about it is the author addresses that straight away. There are some moments of connection between man and elephant that aren't explainable but they are treated in a matter-of-fact fashion that I appreciated.

I thought the first half of the film was much better than the second. Initally, my concern was with trying to work out if Halle was having a good or bad hair day, but I was soon distracted by how the 911 operation worked. The Hive, as the call centre was called, was endlessly fascinating, the way they took calls, tracked them, dispatched people, all good.

It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I'd expected your more traditional rom-com style story, but this was unusual and quirky, with fun dialogue and fascinating characters. It got a bit too weird and times, and bizarrely predictable despite being weird.

With Tom Hanks on board, you're pretty must guaranteed that we're going to watch this, but it was also a story that we were interested in finding more about too. When the time came, Mr C actually seemed more keen to watch, I think I was worried it would be hard-going. I was kinda right, although it wasn't as tough as I expected it would be. There was a lot of tension, a lot of great acting through the pre-boarding crew disputes, to the time on the ship and then the whole situation with the lifeboat.

The 2014 F1 season promises to be a dramatic one, a time of regeneration and modernisation that more than anything else guarantees to be unpredictable. With an overhaul in the regulations, a raft of driver and personnel movements, plus a handful of new races to challenge all, it is set to be an eventful year in motor sport. Defending champions Red Bull field a revised driver line-up, but they are …

I really enjoyed this book. It got off to a bit of a stilted start, and the mechanics of getting Magnus back to Iceland felt a little contrived, but gradually even that side of the story became fascinating. Once in Iceland, the mystery took over, the intrigue of such an unusual landscape all the time topped with Magnus' inner struggles with his identity.

I’ve been following the recent tumultuous times at TWiT with interest. As one of the mainstays of podcasting, and one of the few able to create a business from the process, Leo Laporte has always been something of an inspiration. When he hired Tom Merritt to create a daily news show and step into his shoes whenever necessary, I thought they were on to a very good thing. Unfortunately that …

Do you read a lot of series of books? I do. Books from the likes of Clive Cussler, Jeffrey Deaver, Bernard Cornwell, and Alex Scarrow all make my list. And the list is the key point here. Sometimes, particularly if there are double digits worth of books in a series, it can be hard to keep track. It’s okay if you’re just working through a trilogy, it’s not difficult to …

Interesting one, this. I don't think I would have read it if it hadn't been on the list I'm working through, but when I first started, I quite enjoyed it. Aubrey and Stephen make for a good pair of characters, although it surprised me how quickly they became friends having shown such animosity during the music concert!

I was looking forward to this, a time travel movie is always going to get my attention, and if you combine it with the good things Richard Curtis has done, then you should be in for a treat! As soon as it was over, my initial feeling was that it had been a good film. But gradually, as the minutes ticked by, I changed my mind. There were heaps of inconsistencies in terms of the science of time travel but you don't go into a Curtis film expecting it to be scientifically accurate. You expect witty dialogue and brilliant characters, and that's exactly what you get.

We've shied away from indie films in the past, but where they're starting to be a bit more mainstream (if that's possible?) then we're starting to pay attention. Hadn't heard of this one until it appeared in the iTunes store, but wanting something not loud or brash of an evening, we turned to The Lifeguard.

You win this time, Benedict-Sherlock! Ahhh, Sesame Street.

This is a sequel to Winterland, or in reality, it's not so much a sequel as another story with a couple of the same characters and a few mentions of what went before. That isn't a bad thing though, it's perfect for anyone that didn't read Winterland, and as someone who has, it's nice to get those little nods towards the events in the previous book.

It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Of course, the technology is dated and laughable in places, but actually the thriller aspect is just as real a problem now as it was then - if not worse. Identity theft is a big prevailing concern about this epic connectivity the world has, and even back then in the days of floppy disks and attached car phones, there were plenty of ways it could go wrong.

Apple are celebrating thirty years of putting technology at people's fingertips, and they've come out with a beautifully creative video showing off their gadgets in glorious surroundings or being put to fantastic use. Thankfully, they've toned down the emotion and the smug for this video, and what comes across is just how useful mobile technology can be and what a difference it is making, and will make, to the world. …

Another attempt at capturing the bubbles in all their slo-motion glory. This time with rousing music!

Wasn't sure what to make of this one to start with, it took quite a long time to get going, and spent a considerable amount of time setting the groundwork for the characters. It wouldn't really have been a problem except the nature of the book and the style of the writing meant it felt like we were being kept at arm's length the entire time.

I joined Pinterest recently. I know this isn’t groundbreaking news, finally signing up to a social network that’s been around since 2010. I tried signing up once before but they didn’t have my preferred username so I had to go away and sulk about that for a bit. Pinterest, in my limited experience, appears to be one of those social networks that is different things to different people. I can’t …

Recently, I’ve noticed a few people lacking motivation when it comes to writing – specifically in this instance about blogging. I thought I’d share a few of my favourite tips on getting back your writing mojo, whatever the project, because it’s a new year and a good time to blow the dust off that keyboard. I’m not an expert, by any means, but I’ve written and I’ve had writer’s block, …

This was on our to-watch list a long time ago but we just never got round to it, it dropped off our radar and went missing. In an effort to move on from the disastrous R.I.P.D. we uncovered it and moved it back to the top of the list.

Ah, I was looking forward to this. I knew it wasn't going to be epic, you could tell from the concept and the trailer, but it looked like it might hold its own and hey, Ryan Reynolds! But no, it was unwatchable. We gave it a chance through some really dodgy CGI, through the setup which was just a badly done Men in Black, and then through some unintelligible conversation about curry.