The trio fielded questions from the assembled journos that ranged from the usual queries about the protracted production period, to the German actors’ individual takes on the WW2-set film. Bender and Kruger, both charismatic and broadly charming, were nonetheless slightly overshadowed by Cannes Best Actor Award-winner Waltz, whose dry, dark, yet modest, sensibility made him an interesting, unconventional press conference attendee. Read on for the full transcript, but be warned, there are a few (not major) spoilers ahead....

The Devil Of Christmas opened up like a Matryoshka doll, revealing a different face each time. What first looked like a seventies TV film pastiche split open to reveal that mainstay of geek fandom, the director’s commentary. Inside that nestled something far nastier: a snuff film. Merry Christmas! The final revelation was a terrific twist as long as you didn’t look at it too closely. Knowing what it was leading to, would a police interviewer laugh patiently along with Fulcher’s luvvie reminiscences about empty suitcases and weak Ribena?...

Written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton – two members of The League Of Gentleman and the warped imaginations behind the wonderful Psychoville – it harks back to an earlier age of carefully-wrought, austere TV drama, where great acting and screenwriting take centre stage. Although set in a rambling country mansion, Inside No. 9‘s opening episode takes place entirely in one room. In the midst of a terribly posh engagement party, bride-to-be Rebecca (The IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson) is playing a game of Sardines....

iZombie Season 2, Episode 15 iZombie didn’t miss a narrative beat in its first episode back from a mini-hiatus. Witty, emotional, and with a murder-of-the-week tangentially connected to the larger zombie conspiracy, “He Blinded Me… With Science” was one of the best iZombie episodes ever. Like pretty much every CW drama, iZombie was recently renewed for another season. If it continues developing its ever-complex serialized plot and character dynamics like this, it could become one of the best dramas on television… Unfortunately, before Drake can explain that he is, in fact, an undercover police officer, Major takes him out in the parking lot as part of his mission to fake-kill zombies for Max Rager....

It’s a stunning homage to some of the greatest B-movies of all time, like the classic Queen Of Outer Space or Cat Women On the Moon. Then there’s a series of increasingly bizarre sketches and fake TV ads, which were directed by folks like Landis and Joe ‘Gremlins’ Dante, shoehorned in to pad out the 90 minute running time. It feels more like an extended sketch show than a bona fide film and because the sketches come and go so quickly, you soon forget the duff ones, like the bit with Arsenio Hall at the beginning, or the video pirates (well, it was the 1980s – anyone want to bet they will appear in Ashes To Ashes?...

Children aren’t very good at improv. That’s why there were never any on Whose Line Is It Anyway. That meant the weight of responsibility fell on the shoulders of Knightmare’s recurring actors. It was up to them to patiently partner the show’s young contestants through its dramatic scenarios and on with their quest. That’s a tall order under any circumstances, but marshalling the unpredictable responses of a pack of twelve-year-olds while staying in character dressed as a pound shop Frodo and fighting off a computer-generated pixie is medal-worthy....

The Last Man on Earth: Season 3, Episode 1 Last Man on Earth has quickly proven itself to be a television show that truly operates by its own rules. Countless times this show has embraced storytelling that is atypical to the rest of the genre and feels truly unique. Granted, moments of sexhoundery and give or take a prank war had some people concerned the show might have been becoming a little reductive....

At first, you can’t help but suspect that Like Crazy is taking the former approach. Starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones as Jacob and Anna, the film traces the early stages of their relationship, as they meet, and gradually come together. It’s charmingly done, quite possibly being the only film of its ilk to make you care for a chair. Director and co-writer Drake Doremus handles it wonderfully well, too, and instantly, Jacob and Anna are an alarmingly real couple, who you feel you can root for....

When DS Steve Arnott called himself a blunt instrument last week, he must have been talking about his skull. That man not only has a steely gaze and an enviable collection of steel-grey waistcoats, he also clearly has a cranium made of the same. Steve lived. Not exactly to tell the tale—the concussion made him too hazy for that—but he lived to catch bent coppers another day. (Incidentally, do you think Mr and Mrs Arnott at the hospital were played by Martin Compston’s real parents?...

The facts of the story are these. Newlywed couple Molly (Gretchen Lodge) and Tim (Johnny Lewis) have just moved into a generously proportioned house in the country, where a happy future should theoretically await. Unfortunately, the house used to belong to Molly’s late father, who still stares shiftily from black and white photos hanging on the wall, and there are hints that a remnant of this sinister-looking man may still be lurking somewhere in the building....

It is the very premise of the famed Manhattan project upon which the show is based, as well as the town of Los Alamos, which in the series remains unnamed and shrouded in mystery. In fact, “A New Approach To Nuclear Cosmology” (an intentional, but nevertheless annoying mouthful of a title) hardly mentions the atomic bomb that has served as a pretext for Manhattan’s pointed exploration of blurred moral lines and deadly paranoia in times of war....

Over the last several weeks we’ve been given clues, but after four episodes it has finally become clear what Manhattan is essentially about: isolation and confinement. Or perhaps more appropriately: characters and how they react to the extreme conditions of isolation and confinement. The “artificial hive” metaphor posed in last week’s episode is precisely what allows us to dig deep into the complex psychologies of these otherwise mundane personages. And despite a slew of secondary characters vying for their moment in the spotlight, it is clear that the star of this show is John Benjamin Hickey’s Frank Winter....

5.11 All The Comforts Of Home So let’s unpack it. One of the things that pleased me this week was the fact that there was none of that forced conflict or endless recriminations between Daisy and Coulson. Before the break, Daisy wanted to stay in the future because if she returned to the present, Daisy knew she would pose a great danger to existence as she became the Destroyer of Worlds....

5.3 A Life Spent Let’s start with Simmons, who was taken prisoner last episode by the new Kree big bad Kasius. This week, Simmons befriends a newly introduced young Inhuman girl named Abby who has the power to alter her density (think Vision). And yes folks, in five minutes of screen time, the new Inhuman Abby gets more character development than any of the Inhumans Royal Family characters did in that series....

Make no mistake about it, John Moore is probably a better director than Uwe Boll. He tries a lot harder when it comes to making the most of his budget, at least. However, Max Payne is a movie that cried out for the inner Troma film to be unleashed, and nobody directs insane and pointless things like Mr. Boll. The film tries so damn hard to be serious in every aspect, from the dark and gritty settings to the gloominess of Max Payne’s wardrobe, and I’ve never seen a movie screaming this loudly to give in to the video game roots and blow up an army of stuntmen....

One thing that struck me about Capitalism: A Love Story is that, appreciating that film is a slow medium, if you’d written it as a book, by the time the paperback version came out you’d be able to add another chapter to cover what’s happened since. What would you add to your film if you could? Would you change anything? Number two, I think that we’re ready for another crash....

When 12 year old boy Sam Shakusky (newcomer Jared Gilman) hightails it from his Scout camp, he teams up with his tween sweetheart, Suzy Bishop (the equally fresh-faced Kara Hayward) for a pre-pubescent elopement through an isolated island community in remote New England. Armed with a BB Gun, a small yacht and a Davy Crockett hat, Sam is a fastidious mini-adventurer, who uses his Scout skills with expert efficiency. Suzy, a pair of prized binoculars slung around her neck, has a penchant for French pop and escapist fantasy fiction, reading seemingly made-up novels with evocative titles such as The Girl From Jupiter....

2.4 Init1 init1.asec* begins with what appears to be the end of last season but in reality is a flashback to a particular Halloween. Darlene knocks on Elliot’s door wearing the now infamous fSociety mask. Elliot tries to send her off as he usually does but she intimates that she cannot be alone. *Rather confusingly titled for the computer illiterate. I naturally assumed the phonetic episode title was to read “In It” before Darlene reveals that the first computer command Elliot taught her was “init1” I’m not a psychologist, mental health expert nor knowledgable about dissociative identity disorder in any way....

With a show that’s as absurd and obtuse as NewsReaders, the sheer enormity in the number of topics that you could do segments on is almost daunting. After all, there are things like old trees that are racist, and dyslexic zombies that are jonesing for Brians that we could be learning about. We get some fairly strong material this week though, and thankfully your mind won’t go wandering towards the bigoted trees that we’re not learning about....

#Check, Please!: #Hockey will cover Bitty’s first two years at the fictional Samwell University. Here’s the official synopsis: A collection of the first half, freshmen and sophmore year, of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life. This book ncludes updated art and a hilarious, curated selection of Bitty’s beloved tweets....