The classic British TV series Thunderbirds is set to return fifty years after it first graced television screens, with ITV announcing that it has placed an order for 26 half-hour episodes of Thunderbirds Are Go! to air in 2015. The new series will be co-produced by New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures and Weta Workshop, the visual […]

Oliver Davis reviews Batman, Incorporated #7…[Cont. from previous issue’s review]…and falls. And falls. Until Batman is snatched from his descent, and out of the panel, by some winged beast. Only one wing is visible, but that feathered skin, those tattered jeans – it can only be one of Talia’s Man-Bats.Batman works best when in the […]

Stand Up Guys, 2012.Directed by Fisher Stevens.Starring Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Christopher Walkin, Mark Margolis, Julianna Marguilies and Lucy Punch.SYNOPSIS:A pair of aging con men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of the guys takes his last assignment – to kill his comrade.To borrow a clichéd phrase, Al […]

There’s little doubt that Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk was one of the highlights of Joss Whedon’s blockbuster superhero ensemble The Avengers, but with the Green Goliath absent from Marvel’s Phase Two line-up of Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, it seemed that the cinematic future […]

Grave Encounters 2, 2012.Directed by John Poliquin.Starring Richard Harman, Leanne Lapp, Sean Rogerson, Dylan Playfair, Stephanie Bennet and Howie Lai.SYNOPSIS:Tortured by the ghosts of the demonized insane asylum that killed the crew of Grave Encounters, a group of film students fight to escape death as their own paranormal investigation goes terribly wrong. Ever since the […]

Kirsty Capes reviews the fifth episode of Downton Abbey season 3… After the tragic climax of the most recent episode of Downton, this episode pauses for some reflection on the death of Sybil, something which many fans never suspected in a million years. The result is a contemplative episode where the writing focuses very much […]

Simon Columb attends the Roman Polanski retrospective at BFI Southbank… Roman Polanski remains a fascinating filmmaker to this day. Alongside Andrej Wajda and Jerzy Skolimowski, Polanski came to the fore in the late 1950s in Poland. The BFI in London are screening all of Polanski’s films during January and February 2013 and throughout January, essays […]

Commenting on the Critics with Simon Columb… Dawn C. Chmielewski writes on February 1st, 2013 (the first day of release for House of Cards) about the change in viewing habits for TV:“House of Cards is sparking thousands of mentions every hour, according to analysis by social media research firm Fizziology. About 62% of the remarks […]

Flight, 2012.Directed by Robert Zemeckis.Starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly and John Goodman.  SYNOPSIS:An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling.Somewhere within the 135 minutes of Robert Zemeckis’ Flight is an interesting and compelling story of admitting one’s failures and taking […]