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Looks cute, but I'd be much more excited about news regarding Virtual Console for Switch...

This thing not being portable means that I'd never play it.

Ouch. That doesn't sound good...

I love season 1 of Peep Show - to me it's the darkest and most uncomfortably close to the bone (the one where Mark has a nervous breakdown is an especially bleak watch), but if I'm recommending the show to people (especially Americans) I tend to recommend people skip it and start with season 2 which is much more accessible.

[Free Fire]

Packed in quite a few films on a recent plane journey to UK and back:

Free Fire
Fun little action movie by Ben Wheatley - it's basically one long gunfight. Script and story are a little barebones, but it's elevated by an absolutely amazing cast. In particular I was really impressed by Armie Hammer. It feels like he's been cast in a lot of big things but has never had a big break. I remember that he was going to be Batman in George Miller's abandoned Justice League movie - shame he never got to play the role.
4/5

Get Out
Liked rather than loved this - probably a victim of its own hype. It feels like a bit of a stretch to call it a 'horror' movie - feels more like a feature length Twilight Zone episode.
3/5

Doctor Strange
A bit meh, to be honest. Incredibly by the numbers origin stuff, flat and uninteresting characters, boring generic villain. Livened up only by some genuinely awesome visuals (but even those ultimately feel a little derivative of Inception). I must admit this was quite late into the first 12hr flight and I was drifting in and out of sleep and a little distracted by following the incoming election results. Missed the ending, probably won't go back to rewatch it.
2/5

Shin Godzilla
Confession: I've never actually seen a Godzilla movie other than the 1997 Hollywood remake... This was pretty fun though. Tbh I found a lot of the non monster scenes kinda dragged, the acting pretty ropey (especially the fake american accents) and the overall plot was incredibly predictable, but the scenes with the actual monster were fun. Loved the modern Godzilla redesign, especially the bonkers first form with its haunting googly fish eyes.
3/5

Arrival
I was worried this might be a bit dry (which was why I didn't see it in the cinema) and I wasn't fully convinced until the ending (in particular I wasn't sure about the paradoxical way in which it's all wrapped up), but that last montage and revelation came out of nowhere and punched me right in the feels. Must admit I shed a single manly tear as the credits rolled. Fantastic film.
5/5

Hell or High Water
Superior modern Western/thriller about a pair of bank robber brothers and the ageing Texas Ranger on their trial. Beautifully shot, scored and paced, superbly acted and all four principal characters are really well-rounded and engaging. Really absorbing atmosphere and poignant themes. I love how it plays with your sympathies throughout until an ending that leaves you to draw your own conclusions. I really can't overstate how much I loved this film or recommend it highly enough - one I'll certainly return to in the future.
5/5

Interesting stuff. ISTR reading somewhere that Alex was a big fan of Digitiser back in the day.

Been playing a lot of Mario Kart 8 and a little Puyo Pop/Tetris with my Switch-owning colleague recently, and I'm really impressed. As I predicted back before launch, the portability and focus on local multiplayer is a huge advantage over traditional set top consoles (which I pretty much never play any more).

I'm not going to take the plunge just yet - can't currently justify the expense, and I'm waiting to see what comes of the indie scene (and especially the Virtual Console side of things) - but I'll definitely be picking a Switch up at some point later in the year. It's a seriously great piece of kit.

[Master of None]

Master of None season 2 on Netflix.

It's a little unfocused and self-indulgent, and more gently amusing than laugh out loud funny, but a pleasant watch nonetheless. Good stuff.

[Sausage Party]

My girlfriend was watching Sausage Party and I caught the first twenty minutes or so.

Nope.

Seemed to be desperately trying to ape the tone of the type of thing Matt Stone and Trey Parker do, but it was just embarrassingly juvenile and unfunny.

Listened to podcast instead.

[COMMUNITY]

Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years?

COMMUNITY is the closest thing you'll find to an American version of Spaced, and as a geek-centric sitcom, puts The Big Bang Theory to shame. There's a reason that pretty much everyone involved with it, both on and off-screen, have gone on to enormous success since it went off the air.

I would also highly recommend Rick & Morty and Silicon Valley.

I second this completely - Community is excellent television. Rick and Morty is beyond creative - it reaches into existentially-troubling levels of creativity. I haven't watched Silicon Valley but based on the strength of radiator's TV judgement usually I'm game!

We binged the first three seasons of Silicon Valley over the course of a week and are now enjoying season 4. It's really, really good. A great core cast of characters that arrive fully formed from the very first episode (the obvious early MVP is Erlich, but Jared eclipsed him as my favourite over time), and it's much more plot-driven than I expected. It may sound like a weird comparison, but it's almost a bit like Breaking Bad, in that the gang are always miraculously getting out of one scrape, but in the process sow the seeds for the next crisis. The tech industry satire is also really on point, and it feels like it'll be one of those shows that is looked back on as really having tapped into the zeitgeist of the era in which it was made. Really good telly.

I also second the recommendations for Parks and Rec - it's a really tremendous show, and gets better as it goes on (especially once they they shift focus from 'isn't Leslie Knope pathetic?' to 'Leslie Knope is actually awesome' and ditch the deadweight Mark character).

[COMMUNITY]

Any comedies in the ballpark of as creative/clever/great as that in the past fifteen years?

COMMUNITY is the closest thing you'll find to an American version of Spaced, and as a geek-centric sitcom, puts The Big Bang Theory to shame. There's a reason that pretty much everyone involved with it, both on and off-screen, have gone on to enormous success since it went off the air.

It's a show that starts out very pedestrian, then gets crazier and crazier as it finds its groove. Some people (myself included) don't initially click with the early episodes of season 1, so I tend to recommend people skip the first few episodes and start with the episodes that show it's more creative, Spaced-like genre-bending side like 'Introduction to Statistics' (s01e07), 'Contemporary American Poultry' (s01e21) and 'Modern Warfare' (s01e23).

Season 2 is just absolutely phenomenal from start to finish - one of my favourite seasons of a TV show ever.

I would also highly recommend Rick & Morty and Silicon Valley.

Deffo Breaking Bad first.

I love it.

Weirdly, it does a few of the things that I usually hate about prequels, but I don't mind because its so well made and you can just tell everyone involved is really bringing their a game.

Also, I'm probably not the first person to point this out, but it's nice to see a Cliffhanger reunion!

I was a little worried given the muted/mixed responses I've seen here and elsewhere, but I had a blast with it. I'd heard a lot of complaints that it was just the first film over again and that nothing of note happens, and I couldn't disagree more. Audience I saw it with loved it too. All of the jokes landed and there was laughter and applause throughout.

Yeah, there's some slightly ropey plot stuff that doesn't quite hang together, all the major plot beats are pretty obviously telegraphed and the ending is a little over the top, but pound for pound I'd say its a more entertaining film than the first (we rewatched it recently and man, that first exposition-packed half hour is a real slog).

A worthy follow up and easily the strongest Marvel sequel so far for my money.

About the trainers,same here.
As for the pacing,Im getting the feeling it was made for binge watching.

Yeah - it's definitely more satisfying to binge watch rather than piecemeal week to week. I love the extended visual sequences though - so cinematic. I liked the sequence of Kim getting ready for work - reminded me a bit of Darren Aronofsky and Edgar Wright's style.