The second and final of Winston's glances in the rear view mirror to assess his favourite DVD and blu-ray releases from last year.

OK. There're a whole bunch of great films here, so let's have a look at them by (admittedly vague) categories. First category is Spy Films and there was one head and shoulders above the competition:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy gave a (sadly) rare lead role to Gary Oldman and he lived up to it with a performance of immense depth and subtlety. The spirit of John Le Carré's novel is vividly evoked and the endless complexities are fascinating.

In a similar vein, David Fincher's remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was all round quality film-making, a satisfying mystery beautifully realised and expertly controlled. I thought it was better than the Swedish original though both films have great strengths.

If it was fighting you were after there were two great fight movies: Warrior eclipsed Oscar-nominated The Fighter and saw Tom Hardy with his Bane physique but without the mask. But mainly it's a film with real heart – you will care which of the hardmen brothers wins the big tournament and be on the edge of your seat by the final bout.

The other fight film was the astonishing Indonesian action flick The Raid, hands down the most brutal and exciting action film of the year, showcasing real physical prowess rather than wire work or digital illusions. Many people missed this – it's a stunner!

On the comedy front I really enjoyed The Artist, though its reputation as a silent black and white movie saw it renting poorly in video shops. Shame. It's not silent and it's a film of real inventiveness, warmth and wit.

Also brimming with wit was Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris, a magical realist bit of whimsy that allowed a host of fine actors to bring to life the likes of Salvador Dali, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and others from jazz age Paris. There was a delightful lightness of touch to it and considerable charm.

The Trip was a comedy of another sort, a two hander featuring British comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon bickering and indulging in celebrity imitations as they partook of a restaurant tour of England's Lake District. It was a laid-back gem and the DVD was loaded with equally hilarious out-takes.

My two favourite policier's - as the French call them – were both subtitled but well worth the effort. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within was Brazilian and a sequel but held up fine even without the original. Wild action and corruption at every level of society made for a mesmerising portrait of a dysfunctional world.

Meanwhile Easy Money was Scandinavian but revolved around Albanian and other immigrant law-breakers. Bringing to mind the seedy likes of Gamorrah it opened up a world rarely seen while creating insightful character studies.

My favourite documentaries were Project Nim, a heartbreaking record of how different self-regarding scientists of the seventies were as they attempted to teach a chimp to talk and thought nothing of the abuse they wrought during their egotistical experiments, and Werner Herzog's Into The Abyss, which brought fresh insights to the application of the death penalty in America while remaining remarkably objective.

And then there were the comic book films. Lots of them. Top of the pile for me were The Dark Knight Rises, over-long and flawed by solemnity but still a towering achievement filled with huge eye-popping set-pieces and a determination to tackle Big Issues. It was the serious cousin to the knock-about thrills and spills of The Avengers which was just Fun with a capital F. For a film so stuffed with superheroes and super-egos, the balancing act that writer/director Joss Weedon pulled of was nothing short of miraculous.

And there are three 'also-rans” that I enjoyed immensely: Joss Weedon again with meta-horror chill ride The Cabin In The Woods; slow burning tense Russian drama How I Ended The Summer; and sleek, cool seventies throwback Drive.

Next week we return to 2013.