In his latest feature-length deconstruction then, documentary-maker Alexandre O. Philippe, director of Doc Of The Dead and The People Vs. George Lucas sets out to provide a definitive anatomy of the sequence which changed the way filmmakers approached violence. With the world currently girding itself for the return of one of the ‘torture porn’ progenitors in the form of the Saw franchise’s resurrection, it seems timely that someone has taken the time to delve into the sequence that arguably kickstarted it all....

Without going on for too long about the ins and outs of the various releases of the movie, because most people know the whole story with Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott and test screenings and all the rest of it, suffice it to say that there have now been a lot of different cuts of this movie. According to that oh-so-accurate source of movie information, Wikipedia, there have been seven different versions shown to audiences....

It turns out the mysterious force that took out the 18 wheeler was used to kidnap one Dr. Franklin Hall, who old time fans will remember as the villain Graviton. The addition of such an established and classic Marvel villain is intriguing, but more on that in a bit. First, the first act must be dissected because it was alarmingly weak. Coulson, Ward, and Skye are able to track the kidnapped doctor to Malta, and a facility held by corrupt philanthropist, Ian Quinn....

2.1 Wake Up Call I’ve missed Alphas, even if the show can be wildly inconsistent. When it’s good, it delivers interesting stories, cute character interaction and greater story arcs. And, the key reason I review it is the excellent David Strathairn who I’ve found endlessly watchable since he played the blind Irwin ‘Whistler’ Emery in 1992’s Sneakers. But I can’t deny that the season opener fell a little flat on this TV critic, as the writers set about undoing all the chaos they’d created with the previous season finale, when Dr Rosen revealed the existence of Alphas to the public....

American Dead Season 14 Episode 13 One of the more underappreciated relationships found within American Dad is the bond that’s held between Steve and Snot. Sure, the two have a whole gang of friends between Barry and Toji, but Steve and Snot gravitate towards one another like no one else in the group. The dynamic explored between these two has proven to be a reliable well of content for the show in the past, such as in last season’s exceptionally strong “The Unincludeds....

Arrested Development Season 5 Episode 3 Balboa Towers in the O.C. (don’t call it that) on Arrested Development is one of the most reliably funny locations on any sitcom. The show is never hurting for inherently funny locations like the model home, Señor Tadpoles, or all of Mexico. But Balboa Towers, with its garish, old money furniture and style has always been one of the Bluths’ funniest meeting spots. The surprise as it turns out isn’t much of a surprise at all....

The biggest problem with Nyssa is the show’s decision to make her primary motivation to get Sara back an emotional one. If you’re going to introduce a same-sex relationship between what should be the show’s most serious villain to date (she’s got the backing of the entire League of Assassins, she’s a skilled archer that can fight with the best of them, and her dad is Ra’s al Ghul…you don’t mess with this lady) and a capable hero like Black Canary, don’t spoil it by having the badass villain of the pair behave like a jilted lover....

1.16 Dead To Rights I have to say that I loved this episode and, although it might not have been one that we all remember five seasons down the line, a lot of stuff was going on here. This is the moment in which John Barrowman’s Malcolm Merlyn became more than a sleazy bad guy, for example, and Oliver may have actually sabotaged a relationship he truly cared about. There was minimal Laurel and no Thea at all, which also helped, and we were focused on Oliver Queen the man, rather than the actions of his heroic alter ego....

After chasing down a suspect who really is not the smartest bad guy on the planet, Alex and Gene discover a floating body in the Thames, one which has signs that the victim was tortured before being thrown in the water. Identifying the victim as Colin Mitchell, Gene tracks down his father and wife and, after a funny scene involving a small and generally ineffective neighborhood watch scheme, we find that the victim used to work for sleazy loan shark named Trevor Riley, that up until that point has been working under Gene’s radar....

The Warriors Of Kiyoshi Aang learnt about the perks of popularity with the ladeez (pardon me), Sokka redefined the roles of the women around him and Katara quietly played out a number of positive characters in her relationship with Aang. As the episode opens, Aang is, yet again, eager to hold up arriving at the North Pole with a quick stop off on an Earth Kingdom settlement called Kyoshi Island, an island that has kept mostly out of the way of the ongoing war....

Baskets Season 3 Episode 5 For a show that just last episode had a scene where Dale commanded a goat to walk on his back (and then it did), there’s an impressive realism to Baskets, at least in the big-picture sense. We’re five episodes into the season and although it’s about a family who owns a rodeo, we’ve seen very little of the rodeo in operation. It was my assumption that we’d get to that stuff after a few episodes about the speed bumps the family needed to clear along the way....

3.1 A Death In The Family, 3.2 The Arcanum Club A key difference, however, is that Bates Motel is far more obviously in conversation with Psycho than Hannibal is with Silence Of The Lambs. While the Lecter series clearly differentiates itself both in tone and plot developments, Bates Motel has no qualms in aping the set design, music and tone of the original. It wants us to know it is connected to Psycho and as such the endgame is spelled out....

3.3 Type 4 On the evidence of tonight’s effort, this third season is in danger of repeating the same mistake. Last time round, it was the fake psychic storyline that was offered up as a naff attempt to give Annie something to do. It was the weakest of that series by some distance, and seemed out of step with the rest of the show. Problems with the zombie plotline are manifold....

1.10 Marco At first, Marco’s pointedly low-key feel took me by surprise. I was fully expecting things to blow up, for Nacho to reappear, for guns to fire, for blood to spill. Perhaps even a tense cliffhanger. But no, what we got were a number of long scenes that filled in more detail about Jimmy’s character and his supporting cast, and showed the sad logic behind his continued progression towards the Saul Goodman waiting on the horizon....

1.3 Crossing Lines I’ve just got to the end of Crossing Lines, and I’m feeling distinctly upbeat that this show is now half over. That said, the past 42 minutes were particularly dire in terms of entertainment, as Between moved effortlessly between a set of characters without generating the smallest morsel of viewer connection between them. It’s hard to imagine a less likeable collection of self-obsessed characters. But before we get to that, having found some reaction to child deaths in the previous story, the writers decide to throw in yet another one to open the proceedings....

Flint’s return to Nassau on the latest episode of Black Sails gives a good reason to re-hash the events of the last 24 hours in-show. Eleanor describes her effective actions, and Flint keeps his mouth shut about the fact it took him 8 hours to think of chopping through a wooden deck. The fact that Randal now has one leg, and wants to be a sea-cook echoes Silver’s own future....

Simon Mayo’s latest novel, Blame, utilises a similar approach. The world he sets his slightly futuristic story in is eerily familiar, probably even more so than when he started writing the book. He uses familiar names and locations. He has a tootle down the motorway at one point. There’s much of modern Britain here, just framed from a slightly different angle. Caught in the midst of this are Ant and Matty, a sister and brother who are housed in ‘Spike’....

Fool me once, Jed Mercurio? Shame on you. Fool me literally every single time I watch one of your TV shows? Shame on me, and a crisp salute to you, big man. You got me. A blank in the gun though, and poor, traumatised Sgt Budd was back in the game. What an increasingly complex game it is. It could just be that the paranoia’s getting to me, but things seem to have gone meta on Bodyguard....

All of this is great evidence, but the main thing that I believe that separates Breaking Bad is simple: the show is always unpredictable. The show is so good at being unpredictable that they constantly have me thinking that I am being smart, that I am anticipating the next move, that I’m not buying into information that they’re trying to get me to believe. I’m tricked into thinking that I am on the same page only to be totally blindside me from the other side....

Eventually, it’s time to return the favor to the mayor. Hostetler is embroiled in the race of his life against city councilman Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper) and to make matters worse, there’s a lot of trouble at home. As it turns out, Mayor Nicky’s lovely wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is out cheating on him, and it’s up to Billy to find out who she’s stepping out with. Taking this case draws Billy into a web of intrigue and corruption that he may never escape from....