Best of 2015: Will Hall

Will Hall is looking forward to hearing Huey belt out Power of Love. Photo / Supplied

Complete the sentence: 2015 was the year of ...

All things black. The All Blacks break all records and are the first rugby team to go back to back at the RWC. Celebrations were tinged with the sudden deaths of three recent ex-All Blacks, Norm Berryman, Jerry Collins and the biggest name the game will ever see, Jonah Lomu.

Best film of 2015?

A fairly slow year at the cinema (I can recount the worst film I saw, Fantastic 4, much easier than the best). I enjoyed '71 at the New Zealand Film Festival about a British soldier caught behind enemy lines in Belfast.

Probably the best film I've seen at the Box Office was Straight Outta Compton, mainly due to the nostalgic element and the performance from the actors portraying NWA. Apparently the surviving members of the band gave them the biggest props when they said they were a tighter live unit than NWA were in their prime.

Best performance of 2015?

Ben Barrington on Dancing with the Stars. I trust he's encouraged a new generation of Kiwi men with male pattern baldness to take up ballroom. He did so well I hired him to choreograph my first dance at my wedding.

Most addictive TV show:

True Detective season one (not two). Although it came out in 2014. I was late getting to the party - but wow. Fabulous acting, gripping story and plenty of style. Was binge viewing. Season two had the opposite effect - no binge, only pain. The style and the cool soundtrack were still there but the plot fell flat and you just didn't care. I haven't even made it up to the infamous orgy scene yet, once again late to another party, this time an orgy with Rachel McAdams ...

How have you consumed most of your TV viewing this year?

Probably Sky. We connected it for the Black Caps' charge to the Cricket World Cup final and the All Blacks' road to glory but to be honest we'll be getting rid of it now. Apart from Inside Amy Schumer and the odd repeat of That 70s Show Sky TV holds little appeal now that the two World Cups are done.

How many hours of Netflix did you watch this year?

I'm late to the Netflix party as well, although I started watching Narcos and Bloodlines. Both are amazing so far. Hopefully they head Downunder to make some New Zealand content and enhance their content offering.

The showbiz story that stopped you in your tracks ...

Ben Barrington's elimination from DWTS. I had picked him to beat Jay Jay Feeney and Pam Corkery in a hotly-contested final.

The song you can't stop singing?

Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard. If someone had told me at the start of 2015 that I'd be getting married and doing my first dance as a married man to a song made famous by strippers, choreographed by Ben Barrington, I would have said they were "bang out of order" but as it turns out they would have been "bang on the money!"

The most entertaining person you've followed on social media this year:

Nicholas Finlay Thurston Ward (the infamous New Zealand screen writer). I'm guaranteed at least two LOLs from him per day. Follow him on FB or Twitter - parental advisory.

What television show/movie franchise/music act did you give up - or nearly give up - on this year?

Dancing with the Stars.

What's the live music event of summer you are most looking forward to?

Huey Lewis and the News playing Whitianga, Taupo and Queenstown. I'm looking forward to hearing Huey belt out Power of Love. It's the song I had playing when I surprised my (now) wife with a proposal at The Tasting Shed in June.