Posts

That is until she and Ronit finally cross paths again and allow themselves a moment of genuine intimacy in what is already Disobedience’s most talked about scene: Ronit and Esti alone in a hotel room. It is the only sequence in which McAdams’ character takes off her wig in front of anyone other than her husband (Alessandro Nivola), and it is the only time she and Ronit are allowed to have deliberate, and fairly graphic by American cinema standards, contact....

This year? While not quite on the scale of last year’s Voyage of the Damned, it was a tighter, altogether more interesting hour that Russell T Davies and his team put together. The Next Doctor certainly threw up plenty of highlights before launching into its absurd finale, and plotwise, it was at its finest in the early stages. Forget the Cybermen working their way through Victorian England (in fact, arguably forget the Cybermen, although more on that later), it was the sparring between the two Doctors, Davids Tennant and Morrissey, that provided the early highlights....

The Monks have taken over the planet, and I forone welcome our new decomposing overlords. Fortunately they’ve given us permission to publish this list of references, similarities and generally interesting things that we found inside The Pyramid At The End Of The World. They’ve also asked that we let you know it is your duty to leave anything that you feel we’ve missed in the comments section… The Doctor’s role as president of the world comes into play again here; it was first established in 2014’s Death In Heaven that UNIT had arranged for an Earth president to be inducted in times of emergency to have authority over every country on the planet....

Thankfully, the Life Science Centre was just around the corner from the coach station, and so I decided to give the Doctor Who Exhibition a look. You know the deal with this kind of thing, this particular exhibition showcases many of the props and costumes from Doctor Who since 2005. Most interesting to younger fans will be the variety of exhibits from Matt Smith’s first series as the Doctor. Understandably, this is the first part of the exhibition you see when you enter, with raggedy Doctor and policewoman costumes on mannequins beside a crashed TARDIS with smoke billowing from the doors....

10.2 Smile My thoughts on Smile, the second episode of this year’s Doctor Who run – and the second-ever story to be written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce (previously behind series 8’s In The Forest Of The Night) – aren’t too far away from my thoughts on the series opener, The Pilot. That Pearl Mackie’s Bill is a breath of fresh air, that the interaction between her and Peter Capaldi’s Doctor feels different, and that the more relaxed pacing is very much to the benefit of the stories Who is currently trying to tell....

This was the Donna-lite episode, with Catherine Tate’s character used to bookend an adventure that saw the Doctor take a leisure cruise, leaving her behind to relax. Also bookending the main body of the episode were some superb visuals, as good as anything we’ve seen since the series returned to our screens. There was no better example of this than the cockpit of the vessel they were in, which looked like something Red Dwarf would have rejected a decade ago....

1.5 The Devil’s Waltz Just when I thought things were turning around for Dracula, they get off-track again. The last episode was a vast improvement over what we had been seeing because it picked one primary plotline and really ran with it. This gave the show, which often gets too bogged down in trying to visually overwhelm us, not only some much-needed focus, but real momentum as well. And it set up this week’s episode to do the same: the kidnapping of Renfield (and Dracula’s tracking down and punishment of those who took him) should have provided excitement, intrigue, and lots of action....

Underbelly somewhat falls under the awkward category of a tie-in/sequel copying the original’s formula. The comic focuses on a new drug that’s hit Mega City One (it even hits the “bigger and better” trope when one judge explains that the new drug “makes slo-mo look like candy”) and the Judges have to crack down on a female drug lord. Thankfully there are some twists thrown in that keep it from being a carbon-copy (and justify the longer page count)....

Although I will admit to being a bit confused about the nuances of the impending invasion, it’s the kind of mystery that sci-fi fans love, even if they require a rewatch. Penultimate episodes leading to the finale are often among the best in any series, and Extant is no exception. A few of my misgivings from earlier episodes were handily taken care of this week as well. For example, Sparks allowed himself to be captured and taken to ISEA in the last episode, and I couldn’t figure out why....

It’s not so much that I mind the change in tone; there are certainly things I like about the evolution of this half-human, half-alien creature. For example, the fact that its mental projection of dead family members now includes a full vocabulary, not just echoed phrases, is a nice touch. But although I was okay with the temporary takeover of the bald scientist last week and the mercenaries gunning each other down via the mind control powers of the Offspring, the full-on, body-snatcher takeover of the sheriff and the mechanic reminded me a little too much of the famous “black oil” X-Files episodes, and not in a good way....

1.13 Ascension We got a lot of answers, which again, I wasn’t expecting. I’ll start, though, with what we still don’t know – a surprisingly short list. The most glaring absence that I could see was Yasumoto – we didn’t see him at all. Same with Sparks. Both were men teetering on the edge, Yasumoto of life itself and Sparks of, well, reality. I don’t know that the question of either of their fates would have been enough for a cliffhanger, but it would have been nice to at least have a hint as to where they were headed....

Grace They continue to abuse this privilege this week, which makes me wonder just how much more of this Tom will take before he says, “Screw the resistance. I’m getting my son back one way or another.” After the events of last week, in which one of Tom’s own team loses his cool and blows Tom’s chance at getting his son back, even the most mild-mannered of history professor has a breaking point, right?...

3.1 The Law Of Vacant Places Take, for example, the Stussy brothers, around whom the bulk of this season’s narrative will unfold. Their remembrance of their father’s inheritance, of the late Mr Stussy’s intentions and of their own behaviour in the intervening years are at odds with one another. Emmit is convinced that his actions towards his younger brother were born of decency, of the desire to do Ray a favour....

1.5 Cobalt Strand, on the other hand, shows immediate survivor skills in the way he breaks Doug down and gets him taken away by the authorities and later in the way he bribes the officer in charge of the security detail to leave Nick behind in the cage with him. Strand, you see, has a plan. Strand is a brilliant reader of people, a natural-born salesman, and he knows just what buttons to push....

2.5: Captive The boaters on board the Abigail are increasingly facing tough decisions. They’re trying to hold onto old-world values, but they’re increasingly running into post-apocalyptic problems. An injured man isn’t just an injured man anymore; he’s now a liability, a ticking zombie time-bomb. Two episodes ago, Strand disposed of the ticking time bomb that was Alex (whose name has changed from Charlie during her first appearance, apparently) by cutting her loose, quite literally....

At some point early in the preparation of From Hell, Alan Moore’s eyes alighted on an advertisement for Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. It was the twist he’d been looking for. ‘A holistic detective?’ he said, ‘you wouldn’t just have to solve the crime. You’d have to solve the entire world that the crime happened in.’ It’s truer of more detective fiction than you might think, especially those that are as concerned with whydunnit as they are whodunnit....

Directed by Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters (Prep & Landing), ” Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” is set six months after the original 2013 feature and follows the lovable little snowman as he and Sven set out on a quest to make Anna and Elsa’s first Christmas together a special one. When he discovers that the sisters have no holiday traditions of their own — having been separated for most of their lives — he embarks on a journey throughout Arendelle to collect the best traditions he can find to make the holidays memorable....

I fancied myself as a female Dexter and wanted the famous laboratory to go with it (my brother could be DeeDee). This natural curiosity pervaded my teenage years and led me to completing an undergraduate Masters in Physics, progressing to a doctoral programme scholarship in medical device engineering. The loneliness I felt at this point scared me. I’m a people person. I love to talk, to create, to play music and horse around....

Frighteningly, it’s now been eight years since Sly’s last big screen boxing opus, but he’s proved that punching the living daylights out of things is still very much his forte, with a constant stream of action flicks keeping him busy ever since; another Rambo, two Expendables (with a third due out in August), Escape Plan and Bullet To The Head – he certainly couldn’t be accused of slacking. With Grudge Match then, there was never a concern this time as to whether Stallone could physically cut it, but whether the film would defame the name of Rocky that he had fought so hard to maintain....

2.1 Kaiseki I should not have worried. Fuller’s problem has never been his creativity; it’s been that the powers-that-be have stepped in and cut it off. So once we knew that Hannibal’s showrunner was going to get a second series from NBC, we should have known that it would be everything we’ve come to expect. Except… It’s also a great way of showing a new audience that whatever they may see of Hannibal’s always cultivated, always polite behaviour, he is dangerous, not just intellectually but physically....