‘At least we have our lives back now,’ Hot Danish said when we finally reached the finale of Breaking Bad. There doesn’t seem to be a successor in sight, but cinema has suddenly started shaping up. A girls’ trip to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire had to be put back to a later screening because our first choice was fully booked while friends are currently recommending Gravity, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club and 12 Years a Slave…

However, excellence on screen isn’t being matched by box-office returns. A study of European audiences has discovered that it isn’t the studio money men but filmgoers who insist on the safe and familiar – we go to the cinema with others and look for a lowest common denominator title that won’t upset our companions unduly.

The book/booze club has now become something of a film club so our varied tastes ensures we’ll be able to persuade someone to come along to see some good stuff.

Getting your partner to see something decent is a different matter. I’ve previously found ways round this: Trustafarian ignored his better judgment when I said I wanted to see a cowboy film with him and consequently watched the sex scene in Brokeback Mountain through his fingers.

HD either suggests I go with the girls or stores his well-earned brownie points for his own future plus one requests…