Anger Management I’ll get to exactly what happened, and to whom later, but Anger Management was a turning point for Alphas, and one that came along just in time for me. The premise of the story, an Alpha who can send out potent pheromones that send people berserk, seemed, from the outset, just another means to layer the thinly defined characters further. Other that these curious events, everything else in the early part of the show we’d already seen, like Gary complaining about the ‘hum’, Bill being an ass, Cameron being broody, Rachel unassertive and Nina looking pretty....

Always Sunny Season 13 Episode 3 Some of my favorite episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are when they force odd pairings of characters. In truth, that happens in almost every episode. The Gang gets along with virtually no one. The people they do tolerate are heinous. Seemingly well-adjusted characters like Maureen Ponderosa, or Matthew Mara, or The Lawyer are turned into creatures just for hanging around the Gang for too long; Maureen died as she lived, as a cat-woman; Mara the former priest became Cricket, a drug-addicted vagrant; and there is now a one-eyed Lawyer in Philadelphia....

Unfortunately, it’s as good as the film ever gets. In the immediate aftermath of that opening, we follow Rapp over a prolonged period of time – denoted in part by the age-old method of changing facial hair and on-screen text – as he’s recruited by the CIA, who aim to channel his thirst for revenge. We know the drill here: training sequences, then action. Things lift accordingly when he’s put under the watch of been-there-done-that veteran Stan Hurley, played by the always-watchable Michael Keaton....

The defense and prosecution are still in preliminary hearings with their primary obstacle being to select as fair a jury as possible, considering the circumstances of the case. But with Marcia Clark stumbling over bad ratings from prospective jurors, Johnnie Cochran and Robert Shapiro conducting a dick-measuring contest, and Faye Resnick releasing a bombshell of a tell-all… It’s really difficult to find a dozen people who aren’t biased. And that’s before the race card....

Let’s start with the obvious question! What drew you to a project such at The Brightonomicon? And given the range of work you’ve done in the past, was it liberating to just go into a voice studio and be able to let rip? Absolutely! Just launch into it, and it was in and out. Literally within a few hours came in and launched straight into it. We decided on a voice together, and just kind of went for it really!...

1.1 El Jefe Ash Vs Evil Dead has problems. Quite a few, if we’re being honest. Pablo and Kelly aren’t much more than boring archetypes right now, and despite all the time the episode spends with them they don’t really feel developed beyond their initial introduction. Neither is a character I particularly want to spend thirteen episodes with. Furthermore, for all the action, here and there some moments felt clunky or were otherwise let down by some pretty terrible CGI....

Ash vs Evil Dead Season 2 Episode 2 When Roger Ebert reviewed Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn back in 1987, he looked past the gore and the guts that casual viewers would be disgusted by and got what Sam Raimi’s was doing: the director was making a Three Stooges-inspired satirical romp dressed up like a midnight splatter flick for Halloween. Ebert articulated the charm of the film series that spawned it in one profound paragraph: Coincidentally, this also summarizes the appeal of this particular episode of Ash vs....

1.10 The Dark One Should Ash have realised he was making a deal with the devil? Obviously. Nothing in Ruby’s behaviour made us think she was trustworthy. But after everything Ash has been through, doesn’t it make sense that he was looking for an easy escape that was never going to present itself? None of this is meant to justify the sheer idiocy of his final decision, but it does explain it and make him a believable, flawed hero worth investing in as we go forward into what is bound to be an explosive second season....

3.2 Snakes And Whatnot It’s arguable that any TV series, whether it be Banshee or Mad Men or Breaking Bad only really succeeds if it has heart. That means a couple of things; not only that we care about the characters and what is going on, but also the less tangible sense that the people making this show really care about what they are doing. Even in its messier, less slick first season, Banshee has always seemed like a show where the writers legitimately believe in everything they do, and are willing to experiment and try new things....

With twelve “fraks”, one new Adama, and a hell of a lot of post-production, Battlestar Galactica is back. Courtesy of Machinima, the first two instalments of the two hour pilot for prequel Blood and Chrome are now available to view online, and due to be joined by another eight over the next four weeks. (If the fragmented approach doesn’t appeal, BSG fans can always wait until February to see the full pilot air uninterrupted on Syfy....

This review contains spoilers. Along comes Auntie, leaving no literary stone unturned in her bid to bring quality drama to Sunday night telly, and trampling all over Julian Fellowes’ posh frocks and bandages soap on the other side in the process. Hand in hand with screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Hours, The Iron Lady) and director Philip Martin (Mo), the BBC has waved its wand over Faulks’ novel to bring us this achingly bleak and romantic two part adaptation starring Eddie Redmayne and Clémence Poésy....

Black Lightning Episode 2 When it comes to TV, the second episode of a series can often tell you more about the quality of a show than the first. While the pilot is vitally important, and will often determine whether people keep watching, it’s the second episode—one that is often created long after the initial vision of the show has been concentrated into pilot form—that gives you a better idea of what the show will actually look like on a weekly basis....

4.6. Cornered It’s interesting how fans of crime stories react as their onscreen heroes behave in increasingly terrible ways. No matter how many people Tony Montana, Michael Corleone, or Tony Soprano kill, hurt or maim, there’s going to be a large subset of the people who watch them who are going to cheer on their every move. If I was really going to put on my media studies textual analysis hat on, I’d point out that there might even be an intended link between the self-justification by TV viewers when watching charismatic criminals, and the increasingly deranged self-justification that Walter employs for his own awful actions....

5.4 Fifty-One It’s humanity’s greatest invention, and its greatest curse. The most simple of concepts, and yet also the slipperiest and most elusive. We use it, abuse it, manipulate it, use it as an excuse, and use it as a weapon. It’s the great healer and the ultimate absolver, while also being our most powerful and unstoppable enemy. We fear and respect it like nothing else – nobody goes up against time and comes out smiling....

Films like Yellow Submarine happen once or maybe twice upon a time. The movie was based on the song of the same name, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, sung by Ringo Starr, with George Harrison forever blowing bubbles in a George Martin production. The film was directed by George Dunning from a screenplay by Lee Minoff, Jack Mendelsohn, Love Story writer Erich Segal, and Al Brodax, who was responsible for the Beatles half-hour cartoons....

Despite being led by a bona fide movie star, Broken isn’t a showy drama. It doesn’t inspire hashtags or memes, or attract the sort of headlines and fanfare of other TV programmes. Instead, every Tuesday at 9pm, quietly and deliberately, it breaks our hearts. This week, it did so by setting in motion a course of events that seemed destined to lead to yet more tragedy for the Oyenusi family, then showing that course averted by compassion....

In our continuing quest to bring you the very best TV we can find, we at the Den thought it was high time we introduced you to the most popular show you’ve never heard of – Burn Notice. Created by relative TV newbie Matt Nix, the show follows the adventures of ex-spy Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan, The Changeling), after the eponymous burn notice is dropped on him mid assignment in Nigeria....

DIY surgery, knife fights and a daylight kidnapping? Just another week in Miami for burned spy Michael Weston, in Fight Or Flight. Kicking back and having a few beers with Big Sam in a rare moment of downtime, Michael works on his civilian persona by boning up on sports trivia. The downtime doesn’t last long, though. Eagle eyed as always, Mike spots an old acquaintance in the bar. Well, less of an acquaintance and more of an assassin – he’s in trouble....

And when they get there, of course, disaster awaits, because no matter how much the world changes, some horror movie tropes will always stay the same. In Cabin Fever, though, the threat lurking in the woods isn’t a madman with a chainsaw but a flesh-eating virus, which the unsuspecting holidaymakers contract after coming into contact with an unfortunate hermit (well, okay – there are other threats, too, but that’s the main attraction)....