I've been working my way through the 87th Precinct series, but slightly read this one out of order, missing the previous book. Regardless, they can be read perfectly well in their own right, and this one was a great entry to the series. The police department receives a warning about a murder that will take place later in they day, giving them a ticking clock to find out whether the letter is real, and who the perpetrator (and the victim!) is going to be.

If you listen to podcasts in any capacity, you're unlikely to have missed hearing about the new spin-off from This American Life called Serial. It's a documentary series focusing on one story and following it for as long as it takes, rather than the multi-storied This American Life style episodes. And whereas TAL is all about the radio with podcasts attached on the side, Serial is designed to be a …

I've read a couple of Donna Tartt books and enjoyed them. They're very much of a type - detailed descriptions and evocative prose taking precedence over the story. That's not to say the narrative is disappointing, although The Goldfinch did seem oddly far-fetched at times. It was a really good read, captivating and moving. You could feel the cloying heat of the desert and the refreshing busy city in New York.

Despite this being an advert (although it's for free popcorn so who can argue?), it's worth sharing because the minions get all Christmassy and start singing carols. If you watched their last attempt at singing and were put off, understandably, then do give them a second chance. I'm so glad the minions have their own film coming out, although do wonder if they will be required to communicate better and …

I waited until after I'd finished the TimeRiders series before diving into a new series from Alex Scarrow, but they aren't really comparable. The first book in the Ellie Quinn series introduces the central character - a girl stuck on a boring planet, hoping for more from life - and the situation - that there is something special about her to the point that people are starting to hunt her down.

Like most of the Marvel Universe fans, I wasn't sure about the Guardians. Hadn't heard of any of them, and my tolerance for the more off-the-wall things isn't as high as it probably should be. When everyone suddenly said it was the best film ever, that raised my spirits, and seeing as we were always going to watch it anyway, I couldn't wait.

I really, really enjoyed this. It was hard to watch at first, sad of course, and I felt bad for really envying the guy in his previous life and not so much how he lived afterwards. However, as a story it was well-paced, with a couple of good twists, and more than anything, it had Morpheus trying to manoeuvre an RV. There's really not a lot to dislike about it.

The first trailer for Jurassic World was released yesterday, and I hadn't realised I was going to be excited about the film until I saw it and gasped. A lot. The music! Chris Pratt! The gates! The shark! When I first heard about another Jurassic Park sequel, my heart sank because, let's face it, they already ruined it enough with the second one. But then watching this trailer - which …

The connected life. Wearable tech. Automated homes. The internet of things. All these names cover the next wave of technological interest and advancement, and whilst they may all be less than desirable monikers, the actual concepts and gadgets that are being created are absolutely fascinating. I've been a keen gadget hunter for a long time, particularly over the last few years, and having barely scratched the surface of research regarding …

U2 were due to perform a week-long guest slot on Jimmy Fallon's nightly chat show but of course Bono went and fell off a bike and broke himself. (BTW, why do people keep cycling when all I ever here from cyclists is tales of woe?) So, rather than drafting in someone less good, last minute, Jimmy upped the stakes and decided to become Bono himself. Video no longer available. It's …

After the first couple of chapters of this, I was determined not to read on. It felt like a Sherlock wannabe, but more obnoxious and less likeable. Somehow, something in the story kept me reading, and by the time I got to the end, I found I'd quite enjoyed it. The nod to Sherlock helped a little, and once I embraced that there really wasn't that much redeeming about our central character except his ability to be right, I was on board.

I’ve found the exams I’ve taken this year to be really quite intense and it turns out that the closer it gets to the day itself, and the more intense the revision is, the less room I have in my head for anything else. Whether that is writing on my own blog, connecting with people on Twitter, keeping up with news online, or listening to podcasts, everything comes to a …

There are so many conflicting feelings to be had about this movie. It's inherently sexist given the premise, but on both sides and completely openly, so you sort of know what you're signing up for. It's annoying, pretty much everything he says, but it does all unravel in the end, I guess. He's irritating, but also right, and kinda fun too.

So bad. So, so bad. I'm not sure I was hugely excited going into the film, Godzilla is something that has mostly passed me by up until this point. But I love a blockbuster as much as the next person, so hey, bring on the big monster. What a terrible film it turned out to be. It actually made Transformers seem a lot better. Whereas Transformers had all the right ingredients but the wrong method, Godzilla didn't have too much stuff going on and mostly made sense... it was just badly done.

My efforts to make headway in the 87th Precinct series have taken a step forward after the books (all of them, I think) were made available via the Kindle Unlimited subscription platform. I'm only testing out whether I get much use out of this subscription at the moment, but with so many of these books to get through, I might just!

It's no secret that I have a fondness for submarines, but I actually know precious little about them. The odd movie here or there is about the limit of my expertise, but I'm keen to start righting this wrong. This book chronicles the true story of what one of our submarines was really doing during the Cold War, and also details some of the coverup that occurred to hide its actions.

Pitch Perfect 2! A trailer! So much awesome! Fat Amy continues to steal the show, but I can't wait to see the group back together. And bonus Hailee Steinfield who appears to be in every film ever these days.

Loved this film, but potentially for all the wrong reasons - the fact that Iron Man made a cameo appearance, and the little Iron Man noise in the cinema. The bit where the kid uses Vine and becomes their social media director just for being awesome.

It was beautiful. Moving and well crafted, miserable and joyous at the same time, predictable but refreshingly new. The blurb describes it as a comedy, which I wouldn't necessarily agree with, it was more of a drama with plenty of music and singing involved. Mr C loved eyeing up all the music production side of things, and I mostly just enjoyed the simplicity of it all. Lovely film.

I had reservations going into the first movie but my doubts were quashed and I ended up loving it. Exactly the same thing happened with the second, and it turns out that's an echo of the majority of the film itself. They unashamedly repeat a lot of what happened in the first, in fact they take time to point out just how many similarities there are.

To recap, I quite liked the original three Transformers movies, enjoying them for what they were. They were all identical, of course, full of explosions and Megan Fox and stuff like that. I was quite happy for that trilogy to end, and intrigued to see what a new set of films would be like, particularly with Marky Mark involved!

Unwind adds to a long list of young adult dystopian fiction, but there's something different about this one. Rather than there being a cataclysmic event that forces the world to think differently about life (and usually it's teenagers), this is a realistic portrayal of what could happen if those that make the law take a wrong turning somewhere. Based around the thorny area of right to life, the story tells the tale of a couple of plucky heroes who attempt to change a world that could see the end of them.

One of our favourite things to do on Sidepodcast is look back at the stupid things we said a year, two years or more ago. Because you can't search an mp3, that often means scrabbling for what is in the show notes, or better yet, looking back at the transcript for our word for word conversation. Transcribing is a lengthy process, however, and when it comes down to it, we …

The world is currently going mad over Gone Girl, but I happened to have this Gillian Flynn book hanging around instead. I've not read her work before and this was her debut novel, so for the both of us it was a first! I thought it was so well written, it really drew you in with evocative prose and snappy dialogue. Each paragraph made you feel exactly what those involved were feeling, particularly the sticky, prickly, sickly feeling that grew and grew towards the end.

Obviously, as a novella, I was expecting this to be short. I don't know if it's the genre or just the style of writing in this particular one, but it took a while to get used to how fast the action moved. It was like diving in and out of this family's life only occasionally, usually when something really important was happening. You sort of had to fill in the rest yourself, which is fine because it stretches the imagination.

It took me a while to get on board with this. I like memoir books but getting through the early part with life history can be difficult. This one wasn't too lengthy but there was a tone in there that I couldn't put my finger on. Reinforcing that his children had been brought up right, and that the new digital age isn't necessarily a good thing didn't sit right with me.

Allan Karlsson treads a fine line between not being such a great person but also having a really inspiring outlook on life. The characters he meets along the way are also fun and interesting, particularly Benny who is a perpetual student without really doing anything with his life. And there's an elephant! What else could you wish for? Occasionally a bit graphic, the disembodied head was a surprise, but mostly a bold and brilliant endeavour. Totally recommended.

This is a film that many people have told me to watch, it's something of a cult classic and has definitely been popular amongst Sidepodcast readers. That always worries me though, when something is so beloved I'm always concerned that I'm not going to get it or like it and that might be a problem.

Turns out, it was far better than I thought. Interesting story, tough but understandable characters and some really nice shots throughout - Paris, you know how it is. There were  a few irritants, his illness and the treatment didn't really make sense and I wish that Amber Heard could have been a powerful woman without having to dress in skin-tight leather all the time.

Somehow, I'd managed to see part one of the Ocean's Eleven series multiple times, part two maybe a couple but never got round to seeing part three. That all changed, and after viewing the first two as a bit of a refresher, we opted to watch Ocean's Thirteen to complete the trilogy.

There's definitely a darker tone in this final book of the original Oz series. With an imminent war about to breakout, Princess Ozma goes to intervene and finds herself trapped, in a situation where her magic just won't help. It's up to the rest of the gang (and pretty much all of the previous characters were revisited here), to come along and save her, with inspiration coming from an unlikely direction.

The penultimate book in the original Baum series of magical Oz adventures and it's very similar to those that have gone before. Several of the characters from previous books, including Dorothy, head out on adventures to try and find Ozma a birthday present. What do you get for the girl who has everything and if she doesn't have everything she can just magic it into being?

At first, I wasn't convinced I would like this book but as with all good thrillers, it drew me in until I couldn't stop reading. The main protagonist is your standard troubled cop but this time, he's convinced about who is guilty even though no one else is.

Less like TimeRiders and more like Tomb Raiders, this edition of the series has some significant story updates with just a smattering of time travel thrown in. This book really started to make me question some of the time travel logic - something you can't do too much of in any story of the genre - but ultimately you just go with it and enjoy the ride.

It's been a while since I delved into the world of the TimeRiders - I've been saving them up so as not to have to hang on too long for the final installment. With book nine only a few weeks away, I opened up the seventh installment, slightly nervous about what was in store. The idea of the TimeRiders somehow finding themselves involved with pirates seemed somehow far-fetched, but actually it was really well done.

We have been looking forward to this one for ages, and for some reason it's been available to pre-order on iTunes for soooo long without being up for rental. So it's been staring us in the face everytime we log in. In all honesty, we should have just bought it and got it over with.

What's not to love about Notting Hill? Guy meets girl, girl is actually very famous, chaos ensues, guy and girl eventually end up together. It's full of all the classic Richard Curtis things, but done well for those looking for a warm and fuzzy couple of hours.

This has a very interesting concept, and the twist is great. But everything in between those things isn't really as good as you'd hope. Asa Butterfield holds his own as the kid with the weight of the world literally on his shoulder, but I wasn't all that impressed with the grumpy Harrison Ford.

With Jerry Maguire being such an unwatchable disappointment, we moved straight on to another sports films (iTunes having put together a collection for us to work our way through). I'd not heard of this one, or the story behind it, but was tempted by the trailer and the fact that Matthew McConaughey is always a welcome addition to the Film Watch stable.

This, I know, is a classic film, and it was quite cheap to rent in the iTunes store, so we thought we'd give it a shot. One that Tom Cruise is particularly well known for, with catchphrases that I have used without actually knowing the reference for. It also fitted in with our returning enthusiasm for sports films, after the success of Draft Day.

As one of the earlier Seth Rogan/James Franco match-ups, this was on our list but I'll be honest, after watching the trailer I wasn't keen. Long hair on Franco, plenty of drug nonsense, and references there's no way I was going to get. But with our twenty minute rule firmly in place, I decided to give it a go and switch it off when I inevitably hated it. I was pleasantly surprised. It was much better than I expected, hence getting to the end!

I love it for the disparate characters coming together for the common goal. The way the Scrounger can get what he needs, and how they manage to find wood from every little place. The way they cover up their activities, the way they have highs and lows, and sometimes the lows are just too much.

We only watched this for Stephen Mangan and David Tennant. A great cast, but Postman Pat is a beloved nostalgic character and these types of films normally ruin that. I thought they did quite a good job, really. It certainly had funny moments and the story was alright - although based on the very flawed premise that Postman Pat is unable to actually talk to his wife. Crazy.

Mixed feelings on this one. Lesley Mann is brilliant, but it takes a while to become acclimatised to her. The high-pitched voice, the sort of crazy wild-eyed antics, it's a good ten minutes before it settles down. The set up is a little bit unbelievable too, that they would be able to sustain a relationship based on the cheating husband's antics doesn't really sell well.

I absolutely loved it. I had to pause ten minutes in to google what the whole draft thing was about but once we established what the point of the film was, it was brilliant from there on in. Tense, enthralling, with a handful of relationships around the edges to keep it interesting. I didn't necessarily buy the relationship between Costner and Garner, but I thought she was fab.

Was in two minds about this one. We were keen to watch as it is part of Curzon's new 'in cinemas and available to rent at the same time' initiative, which we wholeheartedly support. It's also got Jennifer Aniston in, which should be a good thing, but overall it looked a bit arty and that made me worried.

At this point in the Oz series, it feels as though we've actually hit a new stride in fresh ideas. Rather than repeating the 'disaster leads to journey' formula that has served so well in the past, Baum digs into the history of the characters for a new adventure. This time, we're journeying with the Tin Woodman in search of the bride he left behind.

Naturally, my obsession with time travel led me towards this book but I thought it was an interesting take on the sci-fi trope, putting it into a slightly different context and genre. This time, we've got more of a rom-com feel going on, with our protagonist visited from the future and told that history has taken a bit of a wrong turn - things need to be corrected.

We've had this one on our list for a while, it's so supremely popular and referenced all over the place - movies, TV, you name it - so we knew we'd have to give in and watch it eventually. The trailer didn't exactly inspire me, and god how I have struggled with films set in the 1970s this year. However, after watching the brutality of Lone Survivor, I needed something completely different and refreshing.

I got well past our usual twenty minute cut off with this one but eventually had to hold my hands up and say it was too much. Brutal is the exact right word to describe it. I don't know whether it's because I opened those emotional flood gates or not, but I just couldn't bear to watch the rest of the film unfold. It could also have been because there was clearly only going to be one survivor (the title and the opening sequence made that perfectly obvious), so why would I want to sit and watch how the rest of the guys get picked off. It's like Final Destination except totally honest, real and terrifying.