[Note that this interview took place before Bryan Fuller left Heroes again.] You know, season three for me has been incredible, because my character’s become incredibly more important to the show, which is great for me. Season one, I kept hearing from people – and it’s a nice thing to hear – when are they going to develop your character more? When are you going to have more to do with the law of the show and the whole story and everything?...
Much has been written about the biggest film outside of Star Wars at the box office this year, Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World. Currently on its way to becoming the biggest disc release of the year as well, the movie has been loved, loathed, pulled apart, put back together and a whole lot more since it first hit cinemas over the summer. For when the necessary dinosaurs have been defeated, and it becomes clear that human beings will, on the whole, survive, we get a simple moment between Jake Johnson’s Lowery, and Lauren Lupkus’ Vivian....
The movie opens on Chris (Emile Hirsch), a young man whose vices have led him to owe a considerable sum of money to a local crime boss. Said boss has at his disposal a menagerie of henchmen who’ll cheerfully dismember Chris if he’s not remunerated in short order. But on hearing the news that his mother would be worth $50,000 in insurance money if she were to suddenly meet her maker, Chris suggests the idea of having her killed to his father, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church)....
Knightfall Episode 8 “It suited me to think you would die.” I’m beginning to think Knightfall should be retitled “Landry Knows Best.” Despite the Templar master’s maddening propensity to ignore the sound advice that those close to him have to offer, the action filled “IV” more than makes up for Landry’s blunders. It also addresses several lingering plot threads that chart a path to an exciting finale two weeks down the road....
“To fly the plane. Go do that.” In that regard, LA to Vegas feels like one of these shows that people may check out due to their curiosity behind its premise. However, the difference here is that once viewers are on board, it won’t be long until they’re hooked. Yes, LA to Vegas relies on an extremely gimmicky idea, but it’s also just a well-written, wonderfully acted, hilarious piece of comedy....
After a pleasurably tortuous few weeks with Line Of Duty’s second series, we finally have answers. What we don’t have after tonight’s quietly revelatory finale is closure, the satisfying feeling that the baddies were caught, the goodies were rewarded, and justice was done. Especially when we see the real mastermind of the ambush – ‘Dot’ Cottan – rewarded by another new job and a handshake from the boss (if this continues, he’ll be DCC by series five)....
With another dead body to dispose of, their villa surrounded by unseen murderers with sniper rifles and their fridge low on drinks (“What kind of idiot buys mini Cokes?” Rick asks), it’s looking increasingly unlikely that any of the four characters will make it back to England alive. Max Beesley, whose character has been rather monosyllabic so far, finally gets a stand-out scene, and his monologue to Maria Botto’s enigmatic Spanish law enforcer is well acted, and marks the point in the episode where the show’s tone really begins to darken....
This review contains spoilers. Does anyone else have the feeling Matthew Weiner enjoys playing with us? So willing are we Mad Men fans to dissect symbolism, Weiner must know he only has to have Peggy walk into a room holding a pineapple for internet to sag under the weight of essays on Pete Campbell’s essential pineapple-ness (spiky, but sweet), or theses on how tropical fruit represents Peggy’s frustrated ambition/Catholic guilt/adopted child....
7.10 The Forecast No matter who Don asked to do his “what we want from the future” homework, nobody could provide him with a good enough answer. The man signing million dollar cheques and sitting in an office decorated with awards scoffed at their material dreams of bigger accounts and personal fame. “And then?” was his repeated refrain. When you’ve got the dream job, made the cash, bought the Jaguar or the Hershey Bar or whatever it is that men like him have been selling as happiness for decades....
When someone says to you ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie’, you do not imagine Maggie. You do not picture a slow, sombre and harrowing piece about knowing your loved one is going to die. You do not picture a largely gore-free piece of cinema or a distinctive take on zombie films. You will get to see Arnie killing zombies, but it’s not kick-ass. It’s brutal, distressing, and usually cuts away before skin and flesh rupture....
Directed by Alberto Rodríguez, the film won ten Goyas at this year’s Spanish Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director and has drawn comparisons with the HBO series True Detective and the Argentine Oscar winner The Secret In Their Eyes. In short, it’s a detective noir that doesn’t pull any punches, in which the Spanish sunshine is no respite from the darkness. Idealistic expectant father Pedro Suárez (Raúl Arévalo) is being punished for publicly criticising a general, and he’s dismayed by the older, less progressive Juan Robles, (Javier Gutiérrez) who came up under the fascist state – he repeatedly accuses the outwardly affable detective of wishing things were more like they used to be....
Yet it seems Molina’s Andrés Galán is emerging as more than a menacing business mogul with a shadowy criminal streak – he is looking more and more like a flesh-and-blood human being: a loving and concerned father, an up-by-the-bootstraps barrio kid, a passionate sports fan… well, perhaps I’m being too kind. After all, this is the guy who tried to poison the coffee of his principal competition at an art auction....
1.1 eps1.0_hellofriend.mov Unusually for this genre, it’s not the tech that feels as if it belongs to another time, but the ideology. Episode one’s monologues on disaffection, alienation, phoneyism, economic anarchy and evil conglomerates are drenched in Fight Club, The Matrix and American Psycho-era cynicism. With his raised black hoodie, vacant good looks, withdrawn demeanour and counselling sessions, Mr Robot’s lead Elliot Alderson (Malek) even channels the hero of another turn-of-the-last-century cult favourite: Donnie Darko....
Ms Marvel has been a standout comic for me this year. It has got pretty much everything I want from a book – comedy, heart, ridiculous violence, and a kick-ass female lead thrown in as well. Kamala Khan is a great character, and it has been really rewarding to read G Willow Wilson’s gentle coming of age story. We pick up with Kamala as she is about to be attacked by a giant alligator, sent by a cockatiel clone of Thomas Edison (really – no joke)....
TAKE US FROM THE TOP: BEST SCENE OF THE NIGHT: Layla figures out that blackmailing her closeted husband Will is a real waste of her time and sets her eye on a bigger prize; Jeff Fordham. He tries his usual “I’m overly mean to women for seemingly no reason” ways on her but she stops him in his tracks when she spells out that he either helps her make a record or she outs his only money maker....
As mentioned, with Martin Freeman trekking across Middle Earth this Christmas, David Tennant has stepped up to the role of put-upon teacher Donald Peterson, who signs on to teach Mr Poppy’s (Marc Wootton) class at St Bernadette’s. With a year’s worth of teachers coming and going, Mr Poppy and the class are a team of underdeveloped troublemakers, dedicated to making life incredibly difficult for the new man in charge. Keen to make a go of things for the sake of his heavily pregnant wife (Joanna Page), he’s brought on side for a ‘Song for Christmas’ competition that the headmistress (Pam Ferris) has forbidden them to enter....
With Netflix, there are titles constantly grabbing your attention but there’s never a way to satisfy all your viewing desires. As Halloween draws closer, there are more and more people scouring the menus of Netflix to find titles to appease their scare fix. The selection this week is the upsetting, experimental, inspiring sketch comedy series that ran on BBC Two from 1999-2002, The League of Gentlemen. Backstory: Imagine if you had a sketch comedy show that was run by Michael Haneke or David Lynch, and you’ll start to scratch the surface of the weirdness of this show....
Initially making money by selling purloined lengths of chain link fence and manhole covers for scrap, Lou happens to spot a new business opportunity during one of his lonely midnight drives around Los Angeles. As California highway cops try to pull injured passengers from the smouldering husk of a car, a freelance cameraman named Jon (Bill Paxton) is busy trying to get his lens as close to the devastation as possible....
Gillan plays Kaylie, a 20-something woman whose prior history with said mirror is long and grim. An antique that once took pride of place in her father’s office, the mirror ultimately led to a family tragedy which ended with both parents dead and her brother locked away in a mental institution. A decade later, and with brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) recently released, Kaylie resolves to track down the mirror, put it back in their childhood home, and confront its evil forces head-on....
After all, I had to put my foot down somewhere. Mainstream pop culture wasn’t going to get one over on me again; not since I made the mistake of reading the Twilight series (albeit in a misguided attempt to get current on book trends). There’s a week of my life I won’t be getting back. Never again would I be so horribly suckered by romantic dreck masquerading under the guise of a genre I love and admire....
