This week, we’re handing the column over to Esther Dark. Esther has fought her way back from anorexia, and freely admits she’s still not quite there. But she’s made significant progress over the past months, and penned this piece for us. Over to you, Esther… Are we all naturally creatures of habit? No matter how much we try to break away from routines, why do we always end up ordering our usual at Starbucks, standing in the same spot on the platform every morning and rocking the same haircut since the 90s, always defaulting to the same old lifestyle and thought patterns and never changing our ways?...

Rachel and Finn were totally a couple until he broke up with her to date two of the Cheerios then realised he was in love with her, only to be dumped right back when she met Jesse St. James, lead singer of rivals Vocal Adrenalin. Wanting to empower the Cheerios, Sue decides to get them to emulate Madonna to get some fire into their routines. With the suggestive pictures of Principal Figgins still in her possession, she demands he play Madonna’s music over the school intercom to keep the momentum going....

5.20 Bad Night It’s understandable, of course, that he’s feeling vexed after Black Claw forced Adalind to up and leave with their child, all so newbie politician Renard can benefit from a camera-friendly instant family. (There’s clearly more to it than that though, right?) The writers are obviously attempting to portray a new darker side to Nick; a man driven by revenge and who doesn’t give a hoot about the rules....

2.6 Futamono That issue is women. I get that this is a show primarily about male characters: Will Graham, Jack Crawford, and of course, Hannibal Lecter. But let’s be clear: just because a show’s writers choose to focus on a limited number of characters does not mean that we should expect the rest of the characters to be one-dimensional or otherwise throwaway. Dr Chilton and Dr Abel Gideon are great examples of the writers’ awareness of this....

In the case of Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, it was the opening Millennium Bridge sequence that got a post-production 3D bolt-on. However, it’s a very dimly lit sequence, and one that needed very carefully curated work to bring the best out of in 3D. Most would agree that it didn’t really get that. Instead, it was all a bit of a best-forgotten mess. Notably, the assorted home releases you can buy today of Harry Potter all omit the 3D footage....

When I received word (thanks to, you know, commercials) that this week’s installment of Haven would prominently feature a body-switching Trouble, I was delighted. That’s because be it on a screen little or large, a body-switching storyline is usually one of my favorite things in the entire known universe. Sadly, this Trouble took a backseat to Vince’s (and then Dave’s) hunt for answers in North Carolina. We were meant to be hanging on this goofy body-switched duo’s every word so that by the episode’s end their discovery of an open thinny in the back of the house where records indicate Dave was born would be a truly jaw-dropping moment....

And, as asked on the Haven site, what’s up with the weird flower Will gave to Lexie, like a big ugly prom corsage? “The real question is,” Lexie asks Nathan, “who does William think I am?” Well, whoever it is, it doesn’t stop Nathan from banging her. What. The. Hell? Nathan Hansen (Wuornos) is the doctor seeing Lexie? Has anyone noticed the numerous question marks I’m posting here? Twelve minutes into the show and my brain hurts....

Hell Or High Water, directed by Starred Up and Young Adam’s David Mackenzie, is a dusty Texan thriller charged with modern relevance. Playing on the images and trappings of western, road trip and heist genres, it’s another movie – alongside The Place Beyond The Pines and Out Of The Furnace – set against the backdrop of an America riven by the last decade’s financial crisis. Entire towns seem to stand empty....

The writers chose this week to run four sub-plots which each outlined various weaknesses in the Heroes story model as presented by season three. As such it’s difficult to know where to make my first incision in the mutant carcass this show now represents. But it starts with Bennet household, so I’ll dive in there. The Bennets take up plenty of this episode, mostly with meaningless bickering, which they’re all expert at....

It’s far too early to know if the arrival of Mr Fuller will pull Heroes out of the creative mire that it’s wallowed in much of this season, but this story was entirely different in tone and style from anything else we’ve seen this season. Next week he takes the writer’s credit and we’ll really know then what’s happening, but Shades Of Gray was a surprise in lots of respects and not an unwelcome one for most of its running time....

The episode title ‘Eris Quod Sum’ (Latin for “you will be what I am”) is a clear indication of the duplicity that Kring has sought to create throughout the series. At first, this was restricted to heroes versus villains as we were introduced to level five and the first superpowered baddies we have seen since Sylar was first introduced. But as the series has progressed, the writers have continued to weave counterpoints for each of the characters whether they be partners, mentors or future selves, all culminating with the reintroduction of the older generation with Arthur and Angela Petrelli as its figureheads....

Consider, for example, the fact that Peter has been hanging around the hospital, occasionally playing the piano with Emma, ever since the start of the season. Admittedly, he appears to be over-extending himself, but this is, thematically, a new development. A few episodes ago the worry was that he wasn’t connecting with people enough. Luckily, he connected with Emma, but… that’s not a story arc in itself. This is exactly the kind of flip-floppery that made Season 3 such a chore....

Elliott starred with Ray Milland (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes) and Joan Van Ark (Knots Landing) in the picture, in which a Southern estate is attacked by various species of lizards, birds, snakes and other creatures as revenge for the owner’s spraying of pesticides. A few years after Frogs was released, Elliott was scraping by with other small roles in TV and film when he got the chance to land the lead role in a movie called Lifeguard (1976), directed by Daniel Petrie....

I Feel Prettystars Amy Schumer as Renee, a woman who feels invisible in what she percieves to be not-prettiness. When she hits her head during a particularly brutal, life-changing SoulCycle class, she starts to see herself as the most traditionally beautiful woman in the world. No longer does she spend her time aspirationally doing YouTube makeup tutorials, but rather actively going for the job, man, and life she has always dreamed about....

1.1 Pilot As far as I can gather with just one hour to work with, the central theme of Intelligence rests on the idea that, rather than robots being more like people a la this season’s Almost Human, mankind will end up making people more like robots. That’s pretty nifty on paper, and it’s a shame that it isn’t backed up by a lot of smart ideas in the episode itself....

I have an entire book of questions… No, I’m only joking. How did you find shooting the film? I mean, all your films are kind of different, but this one’s a real departure isn’t it, with action scenes and effects and so on? There was a lot of planning in advance. I mean, we did that on 3:10 To Yuma for certain scenes, but there was a large amount of action sequences in this movie that required a lot of planning....

When it was announced that Carpenter was returning to feature directing with the supernatural thriller The Ward, I was both thrilled and anxious. Could the former master of horror cinema regain his creative muse in the new millennium? We’re then treated to something that has become increasingly rare in modern cinema: a protracted, artfully designed opening credits sequence. This one, which juxtaposes woodcut prints and photographs with splintered glass, recalls the work of Saul Bass, and provides a welcome gateway to Carpenter’s film, establishing its sombre mood and its themes of madness and paranoia....

Nic Cage plays Will Gerard, a New Orleans English teacher who dances badly in night clubs while wearing a glittery mask, and plays chess with his best friend, who happens to be Michael out of Lost (Harold Perrineau). Shortly after the couple’s anniversary, Laura is brutally assaulted as she heads home from a rehearsal. Later, while anxiously waiting for his wife to regain consciousness in a hospital waiting area, Will is accosted by Simon (a creepily gaunt Guy Pearce), who claims he can have Laura’s attacker taken care of in exchange for a few simple favours....

What starts off as a simple mission soon turns out to be a nightmare, as they’re trapped in hostile territory with seemingly no escape. Not knowing exactly what’s happening, where the threat is coming from, or who to trust, the young soldiers must find a way to escape the hellish situation alive. The film opens and closes with two incredibly striking shots of a field of sunflowers. (I don’t feel that mentioning the closing shot is delving into spoiler territory, as this image is on the back of the DVD case and doesn’t impact the narrative....

Tom Hardy is on top form as the Kray twins – the most famous gangsters in 1960s London. At first, we’re led to believe that they collectively represent the light and dark of an ordinary person: Reggie’s tough yet suave and witty, Ron unhinged and monstrous. We soon learn that they’re actually far more similar in temperament than their outward appearances imply. Through Francis (Emily Browning), the wide-eyed teenager who falls under Reggie’s charismatic spell, we’re gradually introduced to the abyss which lies beyond the surface glamour....