3.1 The Empty Hearse The fake explanations were a jaunty way to get us all to release the breath we’d been holding since January 2012 with a guffawing splutter. Inspector Lestrade’s “Bollocks!” told us we’d been had and silenced living room orators of both the ‘I knew it!’ and the ‘Seriously? How lame is that?’ variety. Of course it wasn’t Moriarty in a Sherlock mask. Of course there wasn’t a bungee rope....

The early trailers didn’t look promising, and it was suspected that Shrek Forever After was cut from the same cloth as Shrek The Third, as opposed to the ideas-packed original. Here’s a round-up… Cinematical New York Daily News “The 3D visuals are especially impressive, offering a depth that’s still too rare among animated films. The same could be said for the script, which recalls – if doesn’t quite match – the 2001 original in warmth and humor....

But also: jokes. PiperChat is dead. After Dinesh’s new incarnation of PiperChat went down in flames spectacularly last week, the gang must pick up the pieces in “Intellectual Property.” For Dinesh that means enduring Gilfoyle’s taunts and living in fear that Gavin Belson will have him assassinated. For Erlich it means somehow figuring out how to actually develop a “Shazam for food.” Most importantly, however, Richard gets started on what will presumably be his life’s work: building a new internet – a better one this time, connected freely through everyone’s mobile devices....

What makes it so good is that it does have some variation on the ‘original and best.’ For example there is a drive-thru in Snowy Lunch Rush, and a telephone where VIP customers call up and demand the best seats. So although the basic theme is the same, you don’t feel as though you’re playing exactly the same game over again. Plus Snowy really is cute, and he sings a funny little song to the customers in line that he’s trying to cheer up....

Director Tomm Moore (The Secret Of Kells) brings a refreshing sense of innocence to his tale about a brother and sister growing up in the south-west of Ireland. Song Of The Sea offers a portrait of childhood imagination, fears and wonders. It’s also an unexpectedly disarming film about a family dealing with loss. Ten-year-old Ben (David Rawle) and six-year-old sister Saoirse (Lucy O’Connell) live a seemingly idyllic life on a remote island in the south-west of Ireland....

Violence begets violence and where does it end? For Sons of Anarchy’s Jury, it ended when (what I am guessing was) his son took a shotgun blast to the chest as Jax’s fall guy for the hit on Lin’s gun shipment. Nah, I still think Gemma’s going to kill her boy. And then go completely insane. Judging by the imaginary conversations she keeps having with Tara, she doesn’t have too far to go....

This review contains spoilers if you haven’t yet seen the episode. If you’ll cast your mind back to the final scenes, it looked a lot like Hale was dead. And it’s hardly the most surprising news that that’s confirmed early on in episode two. It’ll be interesting, for starters, to see how that affects that dynamic in Charming Police Department, as Hale’s approach was at polar opposites to Unser’s philosophy of turning a blind eye to SAMCRO, as long as it protects the town....

3.1 Enemies of Rome Returning for its final season, Spartacus has learnt a strong lesson from last year’s opener: slow and steady might win the race, but it’s more fun to burn up the tyres. Leaping ahead some time, we find Spartacus, Crixus, Gannicus and Agron now more successful than ever, leading a literal army of slaves and growing ever-more confident in their righteousness. A fact illustrated by the opening battle sequence, which mostly involves Romans getting their faces smashed in with their own Eagle emblems....

Insomniac’s Spider-Man for PlayStation 4 is not that game. It is very much a game of its era, and it reflects many of today’s popular trends. However, at a time when superhero titles are bigger than ever in every medium except for gaming, it might just be the title that shows us not what Spider-Man can do for gaming, but what modern gaming can do for the increasing number of superhero fantasies that a new generation of fans harbors....

Until this story, Nurse Christine Chapel had only contributed significantly to one story, The Naked Time, where she expressed a deep desire for Spock, of all people. In this story she’s the central character, and we discover that when she’s not fantasising about the first officer, she’s pining for a previous love interest, Dr. Roger Korby. The story starts with the Enterprise arriving at a frozen planet, Exo III, looking for the exobiologist Dr....

WARNING: This review contains SPOILERS that may ruin your enjoyment of this episode. So far, this season, The Clone Wars has really only thrown up one stinker but, I report with some regret, the recent run of excellent, not to mention pensive, episodes has come to a crunching end. I can see why the producers chose to broadcast this ‘story’ as double-bill rather than prolonging the tedium over two weeks, so I commend them on that at least....

At long last, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters, and like a Force-sensitive Jakku kid, it is causing the earth to shake. As with the two previous Disney-produced Star Wars movies, it was glowingly received by critics, including in our review, and is seeing an even grander reception at the box office. Studio estimates currently have The Last Jedi’s Thursday night earnings at a staggering $45 million, with a projected $100 million for the whole of Friday....

It’s at once a family drama, gothic mystery and eerie fairytale, shot through with a sense of the supernatural. Unlike Thirst, Stoker‘s character’s are ostensibly human, yet there are constant suggestions that something equally monstrous lurks beneath their pale facade. As Stoker begins, India’s life is beset by tragedy. Her father, with whom she spent most of her childhood hunting pheasant, has suddenly died in a car accident, leaving India alone in her echoing house with her embittered mother....

Here’s the deal. After Heaven fell in that gloriously flashy fashion, the rules for dead folks went right out the window. Now when a person dies, they’re stuck in what Kevin calls “the veil,” which, if the show hadn’t already defined it, would normally be dubbed Purgatory. This will no doubt open up a can of worms for our characters later in the season. What will happen when all the ghosts are trapped in limbo, unable to move on or interact with Earth?...

It’s not often I get to talk about the cinematography of a Supernatural episode. Because it’s a weekly TV show, it usually has a very similar style week-to-week. It’s just a formulaic way of shooting television. This time we got to see a nice little change in the beginning and near the end of the episode. It was subtle, but different enough to establish a particular style. Perhaps it was due to some of director Robert Singer’s choices....

6.16 And Then There Were None When the group break into the factory that night, they run into some more familiar faces. Gwen Campbell and Sam and Dean’s grandfather, Samuel, whom Dean had promised to kill next time he saw him. Then There Were None is another great episode that firmly puts the season on course for the finale, but at the same time deals with some unfinished business. If you look at it that male and female are opposite, as are good and evil, Heaven and Hell, it could also suggest that she is the opposite to God, which could also tie in with the civil war in Heaven and Purgatory not simply being a place between Heaven and Hell, but somewhere that has been set apart from both to protect both....

The movie centres on a Chinese-run oil refinery that’s based in Iraq. When it gets attacked, its owners call in Jackie Chan to help free its workers. He in turn needs a bit of help from a former US Marine – that’d be Stallone – and action ensues. It’s being directed by Scott Waugh, who helmed the Need For Speed film. Waugh also worked as a stuntman on the likes of Speed and xXx....

The Tell For this week’s episode, Teen Wolf splits into two radically different sections. Scott and Allison go off for a romp in the forest and get to spend some quality time together, while the rest of the characters in the show either deal with the fallout from the more aggressive actions of the alpha werewolf. And believe me, the alpha wolf is getting into scraps left and right. When Jackson and Lydia are headed to the local video store to pick up The Notebook, the guy in the blue polo shirt who should be handing out romances is splattered along the floor....

3.22 De-Void When you think about it, it’s kind of amazing just how much ground Teen Wolf has covered in such a short time. They’ve packed a whole lot of stuff into 48 episodes, and it’s nice to see that Jeff Davis is willing to dig back into the past to mine fresh material for the show’s current situation. Indeed, the show reaches all the way back to the first season to remind the long-time loyal viewer that watching has its perks, and that Teen Wolf‘s rich cast of characters provides several opportunities for the actors to do some great work tonight....

4.4 The Benefactor I was very hesitant about the new additions to Teen Wolf‘s regular cast. They seemed a bit too young, truthfully. Late teens playing teenagers is one thing, even 23-year-old high school students can pass – though there are some background extras who look like they should be teaching rather than attending classes – but there’s something that comes along with teenagers playing kids their age that’s a little… not unnerving, per se, but worrying....