Concluding this double-bill return for Futurama is a delicious multi-dose of shiny metal assed action in this Bender-centric episode, Benderama. And there’s much to enjoy. The Prof has put together a machine that duplicates an object, whilst also ensmalling them at the same time (like embiggening, except opposite). Cue Bender’s wish to have servants do his work for him, who also have the same desire. It’s not long before the world is overrun by tiny Benders and it’s a little overwhelming....

The Wolf And The Lion If there is one thing that can make or break a film or a TV series, it is the use of child actors. We are so use to the wooden performances of Jake Lloyd (Episode I) and Michael Oliver (Problem Child), that when we finally see a decent display of child acting, it is a revelation. Considering the number of child actors in Game Of Thrones, there was always the high chance that the show would be ruined with stilted and emotionless acting....

5.5 Kill The Boy Last week’s cliff-hangers are resolved pretty quickly. Left bloody in an alley, Grey Worm and Barristan Selmy’s fates are quickly sorted out this week by Bryan Cogman’s script. Grey Worm lies in a sick bed, being tended to by Missandei, and Ser Barristan The Bold lies on a funeral bier, with Daenerys Targaryen, Daario Naharis, and a very unlucky Hizdahr zo Loraq (Joel Fry) discussing the future of the people of Meereen in the wake of such an unfortunate uprising....

6.7 The Broken Man Game Of Thrones typically doesn’t do cold-openings. The premiere episode had one—remember our introduction to the White Walkers?—and a couple of other episodes have also had them, but when it happens, it’s something that you need to pay attention to. This surprise cold opening isn’t Tywin Lannister grinning as he forges two Valyrian steel swords, but it’s something even better. It’s the return of one of the show’s most beloved characters, long after he was assumed dead....

This week, we want to have a quick natter about simply not feeling good enough. It might be because of the feeling of pressure from those around you, impossible standards you set yourself, or maybe you screwed up at something. We’d wager there’s not a human being on the planet who hasn’t had these feelings, but that’s not an awful lot of comfort when you’re in the grip of them....

“Role-Play” seems to be heralding the coming of the badness, opening with Hannah out with her coworkers, getting way, way, way too drunk—like so drunk it’s uncomfortable to watch. The rest of the episode barely addresses this behavior of Hannah’s, so it doesn’t initiate an obvious plot thread for us to follow, but rather serves to color the episode and how we feel about Hannah during it. What is going on with her that she wants to get so horribly, fall-down shitfaced?...

The series comes from Scott Frank, who co-wrote Logan, and follows outlaw Frank Griffin as he tracks another outlaw named Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), a former member of his pack, who goes rogue and leaves Griffin one-armed, but still dangerous. That’s only the A plot. Just about every story thread in Godless is worthwhile in its own right, including standout turns from Scoot McNairy, who plays a Sheriff who goes on a one-man mission to kill Frank Griffin, and Merrit Wever, who plays the alpha-female of an all-female former mining town....

You’d expect a modern, new Godzilla movie to be a widescreen spectacle, but the first thing that strikes us about director Gareth Edwards’ forthcoming reboot is its new take on the beast’s iconic roar: deafening, blood-curdling, ferocious. First, there’s the reassuring presence of Bryan Cranston. Fans of Breaking Bad will know how powerful an actor he is, and we were encouraged to note just how much passion he puts into his performance here....

The team to restore Nick’s powers arrived to inform of the not-so-easy way to be become a Grimm anew. It would involve more than reciting an incantation, drinking a potion or wishing upon a star. The damage that Adalind caused has left Portland with an inexperienced junior Grimm in the person of Trubel. In the Grimm universe, there are worse temporary inconveniences that morphing into Adalind, if it will help Nick....

CORRECTION AND UPDATE NOTES: Thanks to Jason Davis, editor at Harlan Ellison Books for providing us with additional background information about Ellison’s difficulties with ABC. A previous version of this article assumed that Mr. Ellison’s Batman episode was a two-parter, but thanks to Mr. Davis, we now know that it was intended to be a single episode.

Three episodes in, I’m still finding it difficult to ignore his slanty mouth. If I really concentrate, I can block it out for a couple of seconds. But then all I see is his stupid floppy hair. Flop. Flop. Flop. However, on the whole, I’d say he was marginally less irritating this week, and his first scene of the episode also helped endear him to me. Attempting to fly from the monkey bars in a children’s playground, he falls flat on his face in the sand....

The gameplan that Bryan Fuller put in place when he came back to this series is now unfolding, like a butterfly hardening its wings for a first flight. First he re-established some sort of practical existence for his characters from which they derived a common perspective. Phase two, which this story represents, is to connect them to past events on which the events in the future will have some bearing....

It’s unfortunate, then, that things don’t really seem to have changed at all. The season opened with a double length premiere, which is instantly worrying. Heroes has almost never concerned itself with making individual episodes rewatchable, tailoring itself explicitly to sequential viewing. On one hand, this means no ‘monster of the week’ episodes, but on the other, it means every episode blurs together as a continuing morass of subplots that never quite coalesce – and a 90-minute opener offers no real benefits in terms of the story that can be told....

In the not-too-distant future, the moon has become the new frontier for an Earth thirsty for resources. In this case, vast lunar reserves of helium, which the earth depends on for fuel. This has created a collection of lunar colonies, all from different countries with different interests, and all competing to get that sweet sweet moon juice to power their gadgets and gizmos. Every country has a different mindset when it comes to exploiting their lunar resources....

That’s a sentiment I’m pretty sure Aaron Wallace would agree with. His new book, Hocus Pocus In Focus: The Thinking Fan’s Guide To Disney’s Halloween Classic, is clearly a labour of love. Over thirteen chapters, Wallace examines the film from various different angles, including how it fits into the horror genre, whether its portrayal of witches can be considered feminist, and what, exactly, is up with all that talk of virginity in a PG movie, but there’s one argument he comes back to time and time again: that Hocus Pocus is a film that’s worthy of study....

But this is a new century with new rules and a whole new interface on how we watch TV. Did you really think that you would still be around in the future to watch movies on a device just a little bigger than a credit card? I definitely could not see myself guzzling down an entire season in one sitting being, well, in the cards. Yet, I must confess at relishing having only a fifteen-second wait to see the conclusion to a cliffhanger that I normally would have to yearn about for a full week....

House of Cards Season 2 picks up in the same spot and the shot of the power couple running towards the camera together instantly stands out to me as perhaps a reminder of the fact that this is Claire’s story too. Frank may do most of the dirty work on their way to the top, but Claire has surely proven to be unafraid of twisting the knife when necessary. My thoughts on this bit of foreshadowing are quickly validated via the first episode’s scenes between Claire and Gillian....

The second irony: although enormously influential on filmmakers and other writers, Lovecraft’s tales have only occasionally been adapted into movies themselves. To date, Stuart Gordon’s camp horror, Re-Animator, remains the finest, if not exactly faithful in tone. But while official adaptations of Lovecraft’s work have only appeared sporadically on the large and small screen, the influence of his personal brand of cosmic horror can be seen and felt everywhere. December will see the release of The Thing (at least in the UK, it’s already out in the States), a belated prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic that will return audiences to the wastes of Antarctica, where an unspeakable shapeshifting menace awaits....