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We’ve been building up to this episode for an entire season of stories, ever since Walter went to Peter’s grave, and in doing so revealed that the man he called his son had a less definitive origin. The opening scene has a couple arguing in their car becoming convenient resources for the arrival of three shapeshifters in our dimension. As that statement suggests, there is a logistical problem with the numbers here, but one of the shapeshifters doesn’t survive the transfer and is left as an embryonic blob....

Seven years later, and Goro Miyazaki’s back in the role of director, this time in a more contained setting. Adapted from the manga by Chizuru Takahashi and Tetsuro Sayama, From Up On Poppy Hill is a slight, nostalgic drama set in a sleepy seaside suburb of Tokyo in the early 1960s. For those more familiar with the animation house, there’s much here that’s typical Ghibli. For one thing, it’s told from the perspective of a plucky young girl, Umi, who’s strong-willed and responsible beyond her years....

Normally, I wouldn’t comment on the opening message presented in the Futurama title sequence (which changes every week, in case you hadn’t noticed after a decade), but it happens to be one of the funnier gags – perhaps even the funniest – in the episode. It’s odd that we would be confronted with another “past” episode so soon after last week’s excellent Tip Of The Zoidberg. It’s slightly frustrating, too, as the previous instalment fulfills the need for both story and laughs, whereas Cold Warriors does neither....

Cripples, Bastards And Broken Things This week, some of the action takes place in the new location of Vaes Dothrak, the Dothraki capital, and as such, the opening titles feature a new city erupting from the landscape. It’s little details like this that make this author a happy fanboy. Anyway, on with the review. Cripples, Bastards And Broken Things focuses on arguably the most interesting characters and aspects of the show: Tyrion, Jon Snow, The Night’s Watch and life at The Wall....

You might be wondering if this was in aid of a bap-flapping topless gyration of a mid life crisis. I think I wondered the same. However, it was actually bap flapping in the name of medical investigation. The NHS has a slogan for encouraging people to take up bowel cancer screening – don’t die of embarrassment. And they are right. There’s a temptation to ignore small niggling signs of ill health....

Perhaps it’s the sheer length of time we spend in contemplation. Depression is often a very isolating emotional state and it’s no wonder after hours and hours alone with only ourselves and our thoughts we begin to see truths within us that we hadn’t previously noticed. I see a gift of clarity and integrity hiding within depression. I perceive within myself, as someone who has experienced depression for a long time now, a truthfulness about who I am, and I see a separation occurring in my life because of that truthfulness in a society which holds back, denies and represses....

Evans plays Frank Adler, a boat mechanic who lives in Florida with his seven-year-old niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) and a one-eyed rescue cat called Fred. Mary is a child prodigy who immediately captures the attention of her first-grade teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) with her advanced grasp of maths. If you had dismissed this one out of hand from the trailers, you’ll have to trust us when we say that it must have been a tough one to market....

After all, Hannah kicked Caroline out and went through a drastic rollercoaster of losing her e-book publishing deal, getting a real book publishing deal, and then losing the right to publish her book entirely. Also, Marnie and Ray had sex. Regardless of whatever’s wrong with me, I found “Free Snacks”—an episode one might deem emotionally tame in comparison to the previous one—more pertinent and lasting than “Only Child.” I didn’t exactly love it though....

It’s difficult to put a finger on exactly why it didn’t ignite my interest, but I guess I just wanted a little bit more excitement after ten episodes of build-up. Finally, the showdown between Bruce Wayne and The Order Of Saint Dumas (TOoSD) has come to pass, but, in terms of actual action and violence, it didn’t amount to much. Despite Bruce’s stellar Batman-like behaviour last week, Worse Than A Crime spent a sizeable chunk of its running time depicting Silver St Cloud messing around with him just like she used to....

Gracepoint is the American remake of British crime drama Broadchurch, which ended its first and so far only season back in the early days of television: April 2013. But here Gracepoint is, with the same showrunner (Chris Chibnall), same star (One time Doctor, David Tennant) and presumably the same plotline as its British cousin. I say “presumably” same plotline as I’ve made the decision to not watch or otherwise learn anything about the original Broadchurch....

Gran Torino was once rumoured as being the return of Dirty Harry and while that turns out not to be the case, it does appear to be the return of Clint the action hero. As unlikely as that sounds for a guy pushing 80, this trailer shows Eastwood in fine, hard-nosed form as an unflinchingly racist Korean War veteran who unwillingly gets drawn into protecting himself and his community when some local hoodlums try to steal his gorgeous Gran Torino car....

David Nicholls’ dutiful screenplay concertinas five hundred pages of action, thrills, romance and comedy into a plump two-hour film that ticks a great deal of the expected boxes. Aside from the book’s first person narration, as much of the original plot, characters and dialogue as is practical are left intact, and rendered with fond respect for Dickens’ ripping yarn of young pride and old misdeeds. Wopsle, Orlick and Miss Skiffins may not have made the cut, but all the big hits are accounted for, and unlike the BBC’s recent emo-version, the comedy thankfully hasn’t been excised....

Grimm Season 6 Episode 1 “Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.” – Aldous Huxley Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Idris Elba or Chris Hemsworth would’ve been interesting choices if they were up-and-coming actors when the show was originally cast, if not for their physicality and brute strength. Neither would’ve been contained and fulfilled in Portland. It’s taken me several years to finally accept that The Brothers Grimm story world had to be bigger than the male lead....

If you go into the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise…This week Grimm taught us all a lesson in why we should respect the environment, or face mother nature fighting back in a pretty gruesome way. The theme fits right in with Portland’s reputation as a home for outdoorsy, nature-loving folks who take preserving the environment seriously – and the story throws up some interesting questions around how far do you let nature do its job....

3.7 Digestivo The problem with the possibility of auteur television is that, generally speaking, it can be too much. After all, a movie, generally, lasts a couple of hours. Four, if you’re really stubborn or either Branagh or de Mille. Thus, as an artist, you are largely limited by the medium—you only have so much material to work with. But with television, there is no such built-in limit beyond ratings....

Six weeks ago, we met Sgt Catherine Cawood talking down a would-be human fireball armed with nothing but a foam extinguisher, an unflappable stream of common sense patter and balls the size of West Yorkshire. Cawood’s reckoning with Tommy Lee Royce in tonight’s finale was an apt echo of that initial call-out: an unhinged man was threatening to set himself alight and it was up to Cawood to stop him....

Working with Nathan and Denko while keeping a foot in the other camp with Angela was an impossible balancing act and this week the wheels come off that trolley entirely. Why this didn’t happen earlier, I’ve no idea, but it was overdue. I hope Sylar loses this power soon, because the messing around with people that Sylar does in this story to destroy Noah could become very tiresome if overplayed....

The same lesson is learned here by Suresh, Parkman and Peter Petrelli in different contexts, and even different timelines. Future Peter is shot by ‘dark’ future Claire. But not before he’s shown how a commercial distribution of powers to people has ruined the world, and divided those with natural powers from those with bought ones. Future Peter dies because the Haitian is present, and stops him using regeneration. Present Peter seeks out Suresh and we discover that the Fly-like conversion of him continues, but the budget didn’t actually stretch to showing us just how far....

Hostel, for me, never adequately developed a sense of legitimate dread, partly because the characters were (Oli aside, since he’s the kind of the swing) repulsive, obnoxious, and kind of worthless pieces of gutter slime. The girls are studying art in Rome (an excuse to get some naked flesh on screen), but they need a break from the Italian boys, so they decide to head to Prague. While on the train, packed with drunk obnoxious soccer (football) fans, they run into the nude model who previously had shown a little too much interest in the lovely Beth, a comely Eastern European named Axelle (Vera Jordanova)....