Surely the pressure is off? We’ve already published our first review of the new, much hyped, Star Trek film, so this second look must be easier to get down on paper. But if you’ve been watching Star Trek for as long as you can remember, through four TV series, and nine movies, the first viewing of its return of this big, big movie means a lot. Unfortunately, unlike some movies such as The Dark Knight, there has been no parts filmed specially with IMAX cameras – this is an IMAX DMR presentation – a straight upscale to fit the huge screen....

2.2. Relics Of The Old Republic It does so by putting them in a very specific situation. After the probe droid spotted them and the Imperials attack, the clones move their walker into a sandstorm to hide. The enthusiastic Agent Kallus, still as determined to wipe out the Jedi as he always was, sends three AT-ATs to hunt them down. The clones have the big guns, but only the Jedi can see....

This week, we get to see our first standalone episode of Stargate Universe. It’s been a month since the series started but we’ve been on a bit of a constant journey so far. Call it a good or a bad thing, but this episode doesn’t break that journey off just yet. As the two stories evolve, it’s clear that on one side of the Stargate the crew is breaking apart, while on the other, they are growing closer....

Right from moment one, you can tell where the budget has ended up. The flashy opening showing every floor and corridor on the ship Destiny is very impressive and from the very beginning shows a huge difference in the way the show appears. The similarities with Battlestar Galactica don’t stop there, though, with an old ship being a huge feature for one. The crew are stuck on board and can’t go back where they came from because it was destroyed in an attack, hence the fleeing....

The film’s cult as opposed to outright commercial success ensured that its sequels, Hero Of The Federation (2004) and Marauder (2008) were cheaply made and went straight to video. There was also a CGI animated TV series called Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (1999), which ran for just under one year. As producer Neal Moritz quietly works on his plants to remake Verhoeven’s movie, along comes Starship Troopers: Invasion, a direct-to-DVD fourth instalment in the current series....

The plot is as predictable as they come, with a flash-mob dance crew, calling themselves ‘The Mob’ working their way around Miami in an attempt to go viral, thus winning a YouTube competition worth $1 million. The leader of the group is Sean (Ryan Guzman), who meets Emily (Kathryn McCormick) and invites her to join the group. As it turns out, though, Emily is the coddled daughter of an evil corporate giant (Peter Gallagher) who plans to tear down the crew’s homes and businesses and build a tourist complex in their place....

Last week’s guest was Tom Hanks, who’s been doing promotional duties for the renamed-for-the-UK Sully: Miracle On The Hudson. It’s the story of Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who successfully landed a passenger jet on the Hudson River in New York, saving the lives of all 155 people as he did so. It sounds spoilery saying that, but this is where the film starts. Sully is a good film, I should make that clear....

Supergirl Season 2 Episode 16 Hi everybody! Jim from Legends of Tomorrow reviews here, filling in on what is probably the second best DC TV show. Everything Legends does, Supergirl does too, but where Legends keeps things light and fluffy, Supergirl adds in some soapiness and some real world parallels, sometimes to its detriment. Ultimately, “Distant Sun” was excellent, only kept from perfection by being a touch on the nose. The writers do an outstanding job of weaving the supposed backup story into the main plot, making it relevant to the entire episode....

3.10 Legion Of Superheroes At the end of the midseason finale, Supergirl was defeated by Reign in a spectacular and violent fashion. Reign did serious damage, both to Supergirl herself, who spends most of this episode in a coma, and to the city, which seems panicked and demoralised after Supergirl’s defeat and absence. If you were hoping to meet the whole Legion tonight, you were disappointed—the rest of the crew is still in stasis in their ship....

Supergirl Season 3 Episode 13 “Both Sides Now” started connecting the dots that we’ve been seeing all season and propelled us closer to several eventual breaking points. Ruby knows about Sam’s condition and Lena thinks she can fix it. Imra and Brainy planned their sojourn into 2018 but didn’t tell Mon-El, who married Imra as an act of political strategy and inter-species goodwill. And Alex and Kara’s optimism, trust in each other, and belief in the goodness in others are all tested....

There’s a couple of dumb character moments that stood out. When does going to a cabin in the woods ever turn out to be a good idea in Supernatural? This is the question that should have been in the Sheriff’s mind when she takes Alex to her secluded cabin to evade her vampire captors. We can see that the vamps will be attacking her here from half an episode away....

Surprisingly though, something about Ted 2 just works, and it arguably stems from the core plot itself. In the original Ted, the worn-out narrative of ‘my girlfriend wants me to grow up’ gave the film a fairly negative through-line. That, coupled with the relentless gross-out gags and consequence-free drug humour, culminated in a film that had laughs, but wasn’t particularly likeable. And that’s coming from a writer who has happily fallen asleep to Family Guy re-runs on BBC3 more times than he can remember....

2.8 Raving. Actions have consequences. When you’ve got a lizard monster running around killing people, there are going to be repercussions. When you’ve got the son of the sheriff stealing police equipment, kidnapping the son of a powerful attorney, and generally breaking every law imaginable in the pursuit of the greater good and health of the community… well, you’ve still got someone breaking a whole lot of laws, and that has to be dealt with....

3.20 Echo House However, that’s a normal television show, not Teen Wolf. I’ve talked before about how well Teen Wolf does when it brings horror to television. When it wants to be scary, it’s a legitimately unnerving programme. When you take that dedication to scares and put it in a naturally scary location, the results are really impressive. From the very introduction, the nicknamed Echo House asylum is a creepy thing indeed....

5.7 Strange Frequencies Danger seems to lurk around every corner in Beacon Hills. It doesn’t matter if you’re a normal person or a supernatural monster, there’s something or someone out there looking to kill you. We’ve seen that a lot this season thanks to the weird science wrought by the Dread Doctors, and it’s not really getting old yet. There’s always something interesting happening, the dangers are varied enough and fleshed-out enough that whether we feel sorry for the victim/monster of the week or not, we at least feel something....

Thelonious Jaha has rarely been anyone’s favorite character. Not only is he an Old on a show that has prioritized the kids’ perspectives from the very beginning, but he has made some questionable decisions over the years. With the death of such a controversial to write, did showrunner Jason Rothenberg know for sure how he wanted to write Jaha’s exit? “I didn’t always know for sure,” Rothenberg told Den of Geek during a phone interview....

“Why do you think he decided to change it up?” And just like the Montagues and Capulets, it feels like the Solloways and Lockharts are heading towards a real tragedy of a final act. We see the Solloways back in New York City and it’s kind of wonderful to not only see Noah get to teach, but doing it so gleefully and competently. He’s a delight in the classroom, and even if this is the only time we see Noah teaching (and how manufactured an appearance it will have been having focused on Romeo and Juliet), it will have been worth it....

Viewers need not have a religious bone in their body to appreciate the cultural depth of Battlestar Galactica. The rich social structure on the various ships of the Colonial Fleet alone was enough to put the series in its own category. The plight of workers during water shortages, the concentration camp atmosphere of New Caprica, and the politics of military versus administrative leadership were only part of the tapestry. The religion of the monotheistic cylons and the human belief in historical cycles played an equally important part in the rich world explored in the four seasons that led to the finale....

I’m not gonna do a column proper today. Rather, I’m going to share with you a fun little activity you can share with your alcoholic punk rocker pals. It’s called the Ramones Live Album Drinking Game, and it goes like this: Take a sip: If the CD starts with the music from The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Every time Dee Dee/C.J. shouts, “1-2-3-4!” Every time Joey introduces a song by awkwardly saying its name Every time Joey mispronounces Dee Dee’s name as “Dee Tay” Every time Joey inserts extra syllables into a one syllable word (“dog” = “daw-hawgg!...

Having now seen the first half again on HD and not a poor DVD transfer, I can also agree with those who thought the Triffids weren’t the strongest aspect of this production. But I stand by my assertion that, in general, the first half was entertaining, and I was genuinely interested to see where the second half took us. This interlude was relatively short and sweet as it’s obvious from the outset that the convent’s lack of attacking Triffids isn’t bestowed by divine intervention....