TV
Preacher (season one finale available now)
Preacher may already have lost you from its congregation. But wait. Come back! The badass tale of pastor Jesse Custer gaining superpowers from God did perhaps start out too bonkers to have broad appeal, but it’d be well worth your while to revisit it. Humans are being fed to vampires now, and angels are having truly epic fights in motels. The more it’s strayed from the original comic book, the more gripping it’s become.
Mr Robot (new episodes available every Thursday)
Now that Evil Corp seems to have bulwarked itself against Elliot’s hacking collective, f.soc, has Mr Robot’s second outing lost its oomph – or is western civilisation as we know it still on the cusp of combustion?
Halt and Catch Fire (available weekly from 24 August)
My TV highlight of the summer: the return of AMC’s gripping, sterling drama about the punks, programmers and ginormous personal computers of the 80s tech scene. It should be as popular and iconic as Mad Men, but is still sadly underseen. Get cracking now and catch up before season three kicks off.
I Love Dick (available 19 August)
Transparent creator Jill Soloway’s adaptation of the cult feminist classic about a woman who becomes obsessed with her husband’s friend – then discusses how to seduce him endlessly with her spouse. It was a radical and revolutionary novel, so let’s hope the show lives up to it (Kevin Bacon and Kathryn Hahn star, so the odds are looking good). Only the pilot is available to watch at present, but if you’re a fan, vote for it to be commissioned for a full series. Also part of Pilot Season is The Interestings, based on Meg Wolitzer’s bestseller about a bunch of wide-eyed creative kids who meet at summer camp – then find that hardly any of their dreams come true as they descend into the drudgery of adulthood.
Film
Jersey Boys
Clint Eastwood’s cheesy singalong remake of the hit Broadway musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Dheepan
Jacques Audiard’s Palme D’Or winner is an exhilarating crime drama about Tamil refugees in Paris. A rare and mysterious treat.
Tammy
Susan Sarandon plays Melissa McCarthy’s grandma – I’ll just leave that with you – in this silly road movie about cruising for guys and robbing fast-food joints. Thelma and Louise it is not.
Argo
Ben Affleck’s smart Oscar-winning comedy, based on the incredible true story of a bogus film shoot in Tehran, dreamed up by the CIA to save US embassy workers who’d been taken hostage.
Bastille Day
Brash terrorism thriller starring Idris Elba as a macho CIA agent.
The Dark Knight Rises
The spectacular final movie in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
