Most damningly: why? Yet something’s really not right here. Plot points are left dangling. Characters are thinned out. Things don’t really make much sense. The effects at the end look unfinished to the point of making me recall The Mummy Returns. Most damningly of all, there’s no sign of who the author is. It certainly doesn’t feel like a Shane Black project, that much is certain. The last thing I’d expect of one of his films is something so bland, so lacking in identity, and so much a mish-mash of stuff that, bluntly, doesn’t mish-mash together very well....

The peculiarly monickered Wonderswan was a handheld system released in 1999 by Bandai as a potential rival to Nintendo’s all-conquering Gameboy. A library of decent games and neat design touches notwithstanding (its button configuration meant you could play games in a horizontal or vertical format) the Wonderswan was only a modest success, and was never sold officially outside its native Japan. On paper, the Wonderswan had an excellent pedigree – one that should, in theory, have made the handheld a genuine contender in the portable gaming battle ground: its development was overseen by the late Gunpei Yokoi, the brains behind Nintendo’s legendary Game and Watch gadgets, the games Kid Icarus and Metroid Prime, and most significantly, the iconic Gameboy....

Pilot Cassie Blake is a recently orphaned teenager who is shipped back to her mother’s hometown to live with her grandmother. At school, she meets a lot of students, ranging from friendly to creepy, who seem to take a keen interest in her, and things get even stranger when the adults around town also seem to be keeping an eye on her. Is it just small-town familiarity, or something more sinister?...

The Shannara Chronicles Season 2 Episode 3 Ah, yes. That’s better. Much, much better. You did well this time. Which is to say, you behaved as a more competently television scripted series would (even though your sense of pacing remains highly questionable). Good for you. But you know what? What’s in the past is in the past – for now. Let’s focus on the here and now, where you’ve given us an episode that plays out like the finale for a three-episode mini-season....

Set three years after the gang’s first original adventure in New York, it is Smurfette’s (pop star Katy Perry) birthday, and in the midst of her friends trying to keep her party a surprise, she ends up feeling alone and outcast. This is compounded by a series of nightmares she’s having about her true parentage and whether she’s really a Smurf or Gargamel’s (Hank Azaria) daughter at heart. There was a real feel of nostalgia for me when I went to watch this movie....

Perhaps it has retained its popularity because it requires so much skill. Making a stop-motion movie has always taken months of precise, painstaking work. That’s not to say that modern filmmaking is a walk in the park, but I think we have a clear, romantic view of the effort involved in stop-motion: making each model with such care, moving them in tiny increments, making sure every image is perfect in order to create an illusion of life....

The X-Files Season 11 Episode 3 The X-Files gets cut a lot of slack when it comes to episodes like “Plus One” even when its supernatural plot has a few holes. Everything about this week’s installment was as familiar as a well-worn pair of jeans, which could result in critical complacency, and when the new dynamics of Mulder and Scully’s relationship are superimposed on top of what amounts to an episode-of-the-week in the classic style, all is somehow forgiven....

When we last saw William, Dana Scully was fitting the special child in a UFO onesie. She gave up her own flesh and blood to protect him. Little did she know that move might have saved the human race. In “Ghouli,” poor Scully has do something that’s even harder than giving up her child in the first place; she has to say goodbye all over again. And despite fans wishing and hoping for a happy ending, it’s straight up tense drama when Gillian Anderson is told she has to turn on the waterworks and say farewell....

Thus with McDormand’s hand coiling around the bottle like a serpent ready to bear venom, Mildred saunters to the hubby’s table. Is this sequence going to be violent or emotional, hilarious or bleakly despairing? No audience can know for sure. Such is the strange alchemy of Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards, a layered work that can at once be darkly amusing while still maintaining an unrelenting air of tragedy. To just witness how its characters will connect, crash, or upend one another becomes a densely rewarding mystery unto itself....

“Roommates” is perhaps the strongest entry of Bedtime Stories yet, as it opens particularly strong with a pitch-perfect recreation and lampooning of cheesy ‘90s comedies. I initially thought that if this episode was given a little more distance from “The Bathroom Boys,” an episode that is satirizing very similar things, albeit slightly different, it might have had a little more impact. Very quickly though, this episode makes itself its own thing and establishes why it’s the better, more refined of the two episodes....

How’s the preparation for the show going? Going and doing panto, was that a deliberate choice to get back in front of a live audience with the tour coming up? No, no. It’s my third time doing it, and, to be honest, it always seems to be an option at Christmas to do it. Normally someone says do you want to do it. And I completely love doing it, it completely suits my act and the comedy I do....

Timeless Season 2 Episode 7 This season of Timeless has delivered a very specific type of message, one which ties the historical period into what’s going on in the lives of the characters. In fact, the insidious goals of Rittenhouse are often only an implied reference point to get the action going with vague references to Nicholas Keynes’ grand plan, secondary to its relevance to the Time Team drama. However, “Mrs....

Tremors made modest returns at the box office, enough to cover its small cost, anyway, but was anything but a blockbuster. And yet, twenty-odd years later, there are no less than three Tremors sequels (two direct-to-video, one TV movie) and one short-lived Tremors Sci-Fi Channel series. During the expansion of the Tremors mythology, the sandworms of the original attacked Mexico, learned to fly and visited the 19th century, for some reason....

4.8 Spellbound First things first, then – Eric has gone to the dark side. At least as dark as Mr Wide Eyed Innocence gets, anyway. Not that he wasn’t already embracing his inner darkness, feeding on and tearing the faces from defenceless witches, but thanks to some handily placed mist, and vampires’ apparent inability to raise their voices, the Marnie/Antonia hybrid has him. And, despite her proclamations of genocide, for now, she’s content to merely stroke her new pet’s hair in an entirely creepy Bond villain style....

On to the matter at hand, this week’s episode of Under the Dome was not directed by James Gunn, did not star Chris Pratt, and did not have the best soundtrack ever. I’m talking about Guardians again, aren’t I? And y’know what? It was actually pretty good. While I was disappointed that Sam and Barbie (the two dudes at odds who must put aside their aforementioned differences to survive) didn’t reminisce about old episodes of Under the Dome, the cave-in did manage to advance the plot, which, let’s face it, was getting stale....

And impress they have: the latest version of the hugely popular fragfest combines the pacey and frantic gameplay of yore with stunning graphics and effects. Unlike some previous titles that have only allowed for online gaming and offline botmatches, Unreal Tournament 3 does try to provide a modicum of story with a single-player campaign. The plot is relatively basic, but is great for showing off the hugely detailed character models: long time Unreal Tournament character Reaper is hired as a mercenary, which is really just a vehicle for putting you in plenty of deathmatch situations....

I’ve been a long-term fan of almost everything Pixar has produced. However, I’m not completely convinced by some of their movies. I found Finding Nemo overly sentimental and Cars left me entirely cold. To my sensibilities, their best movie so far is The Incredibles with both Toy Story outings, Ratatouille and Monsters Inc. all being top notch productions. Pixar has an enviable track record in memorable characters, plot development, stunning design and breathtaking animation....

First: why is this being reviewed on Den of Geek? They’re all aliens, honest. The anteannae are tucked under the wigs, that’s the trick to it. Between Cooke, writer Gwyneth Hughes and director James Strong, this adaptation paints an admiring picture of Thackeray’s manipulative heroine. Quick of mind and sharp of tongue, Becky’s guile and cynicism make her feel every bit as modern as she always has, whatever the era....

Kent Davison (Gary Cole) just launched Selina’s web site, which is basically an ATM that coverts personal asset currency into virtual political currency. The wheels of politics are greased by the biggest givers and the Veep’s staff wants to get greasy. As long as the Parental Controls on the Smart Watch are turned on. Selina might sit in a big donor’s lap at a dinner, but she won’t get greased up for it....

3.8 To The Gates And that would seem oxymoronic on a series devoted to one of the more warrior-based cultures Europe has ever seen. Certainly, that’s what a good portion of the solidly male 18-34 audience expected when they first tuned in: lots of hack-and-slash with a smattering a story to hold it all together. But what they’ve gotten, especially this season, has been almost the opposite: strong narrative with the occasional skirmish....