Michael*

So, does this count as the earliest or latest ever managerial sacking in a season?

I couldn't quite put my finger on what it reminded me of at the time, but that's exactly it. Weekend At Bernie's last week, now this. Who says Pizzolatto doesn't have a sense of humour?

England overachieving at a World Cup. It'll never catch on!

I understand the argument and don't disagree, but honestly, I'm not sure the men are faring much better. It seemed very deliberate that the first thing we learned about each of the main characters was sexual in nature. The early scenes involving Kitsch, for example. McAdams seems to have the most interesting backstory and hopefully, the rest of the script allows her to continue lending depth to the part. There was Vaughn's wife too, she seemed much savvier than him and more capable of smoothing things over with the various shady factions they're trying to court. S1's occult themes have been scaled back, but they amounted to little more than a smokescreen anyway. I would go so far as to say the payoff to the whole murder mystery was pretty unsatisfactory really, it ended on a weird half resolution with a decidedly tenuous leap of logic required to solve it. For me, the most compelling thing about the story was the toll the case took on the two very different detectives investigating it. I hope this new season keeps that theme going.

That sequence in episode two - you know, that one... I think the quality of that scene is representative of the show as a whole. Honestly, it's brilliant and I can't wait to see what they do with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

Anyone catch the beginning of round two yet? It didn't start with the same energy as S1 and wasn't as immediately gripping. I always think there's a lot to be said for the double premiere approach, and a show like this needs it more than most. By the time you've introduced and tentatively established four main characters, your 60 minutes is up, with very little interaction having gone on between them. I expect things to rev up and the story to be centralised a bit more as it progresses - it's easy to be put off by outlandish reviews saying it was rubbish after one episode, but my hopes for the season are still high. If there’s anyone in with a chance of enjoying a McConaissance, it’s McAdams. The others seemed hampered a bit by obvious cliches. Gangster who wants to go straight, boozy corrupt cop, ex-soldier with a dark past, and so on.

Another clip I was pretty knocked out by was this one, from The Last Guardian on the PS4. Fallout 4 has a dog (and a robot), ReCore has a robot dog, MGS5 has wolves and this has a sort of giant griffin creature. Video game characters with pets seem to be in this year.

I wouldn't bet against Liverpool finishing above Man United next season, although the difference between 5th and 6th is only a few million quid. Still, all joking aside, Firmino does look pretty good. I'm sure Brendan will be playing him as a wing-back before long.

So, we have our new Spider-Man at last. Tom Holland has been confirmed to play Peter Parker in the franchise reboot, and as part of the deal between Marvel and Sony, he's expected to debut in 'Civil War' before starring in his own movie, which will be out in July 2017.

:Dinah:

Lots of new pictures from the set just landed... http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice/36026/batman-v-superman-lots-of-new-pictures-land Jesse Eisenberg appears to be playing Spencer Reid from 'Criminal Minds' in his shot, although they've already released a picture of him sporting a closely shaved head. I assume we'll just have to see what happens.

Yeah, the scale and ambition of MGS5 is going to be pretty staggering, although I was mildly underwhelmed by the new trailer until the very last scene when it showed the two Snake twins. That piqued my interest again. It looks like being an expensive rest of 2015, from more or less resolving not to bother upgrading to a PS4 anytime soon, to looking at getting Abzu, MGS5, Star Wars Battlefront and Arkham Knight at the very least. Then probably the new Tomb Raider and either FIFA or PES. Does anyone want to buy a kidney?

The general consensus will be that Fallout 4 was the game of the show and understandably so, looks as if they're trying to make it a more satisfying shooter this time around. It's already been in development for four years though so I wouldn't be surprised if, like many games these days, it was delayed again. Several other candidates for best in show, but for me the standout was Abzu on the PS4. The underwater landscape looks amazing and the potential for online play is going to be colossal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK65xb2kSbo

It would be good if Carey had twin boys who went on to make music with Marcus. Of course, they'd need to think of an appropriate name for a band featuring him and his sons first...

Victory rolls at the ready, the show has finally been snapped up by a UK broadcaster. Should be hitting our screens next month.

I think it's one of those shows where, if you get out of sync with it, you have to push yourself a little bit to keep on watching. But once you do that, it can be really quite addictive. Surprisingly forthright in its structure and pacing, with the added bonus of there being no irritating cliffhangers to negotiate at the end. Plus, Shannyn Sossamon.

I won't go into too much detail then, but it was the type of episode you'd expect them to save for later. One can only assume that they have something even bigger lined up for the finale.

Anyone still watching? I'm actually quite enjoying it so far. The fifth episode unexpectedly delivered tons of answers, but of course leading to more questions. I remain intrigued.

I thought 'Locke' was a great little movie. It's essentially just Hardy sitting in a car for an hour and 25 minutes, but it was amazingly captivating and intense. He's also going to be in an upcoming British film called 'London Road'. It's a musical (yes, musical ) based on a theatre production of the same name, following the residents of a small town coping with a sensational murder case. The clip makes it look like a bizarre musical version of 'Locke'. I don't think it is that, but it's an interesting move and a sign that he's going to keep diversifying.

Managed to catch it last night. It didn't match the inventiveness of 'Jurassic Park' and there were a couple things about it that, objectively, weren't that great, but good lord was it fun. The 130-minute running time felt like half an hour, I loved the nostalgic references to the old stuff and the sly comments on its own creation. The first sequel to do the original any real justice and a great night out at the cinema.

The first time I saw Hardy was in 'Star Trek: Nemesis', where he played an evil young clone of Captain Picard. It wasn't a particularly good film and the character was all creepy make-up and silly costumes, but he gave the strongest performance and worked miracles with limited material. It was a long while before I put all the pieces together and realised that it was the same guy who played Bane, Bronson and Eames, though. Anyway, later on I stumbled upon this video of his screen test for the role, matched against the final scene as it appeared in the film. Without the prosthetic gear to make his face look like Patrick Stewart’s, he brought even more depth to it. There are even a few echoes of Bane's backstory in TDKR.

It's been confirmed that The Punisher will be joining Daredevil for its next run in 2016. He'll be played by Jon Bernthal. Funny thing is, I would never have pictured him for the part of Castle, but now I can't think of anyone more perfect. I presume if he's well-received, his appearance in S2 could act as a 'backdoor pilot' to his own Netflix series.

Yeah, the cast are all wonderful young actors, probably some of the most promising of their generation. My fingers are still very much crossed for this, I only hope they're not trying too hard to squeeze the FF into a franchise that can rival the Avengers, because they were indeed a bunch of dorks. You can't go to town on showcasing their cool powers because, with the exception of Torch, they don't really have any. The key to writing them is grasping that they're more like adventurers than superheroes, it's a soap opera and an underdog story with homely characters that you can recognise and root for.

Definitely, for full appreciation see it on the biggest, noisiest screen you can find. Worth every penny.

Not specifically (although IMDB has more than its fair share of berks too ), just random comments that I've seen on my travels. Granted, the central plot is fairly straightforward, but a simple narrative needn't be an unsophisticated one. Film is a visual medium, there were plenty of stories told in 'Fury Road' and very cohesively too, despite the obvious sparseness of the dialogue. Personally, I find half the fun of going to the cinema is connecting the dots and using your imagination. This doesn’t beat you over the head with exposition like many big movies these days, it trusts its audience enough to watch and figure things out for themselves. The other repeated criticism I take issue with is the one about Max not being in it much, and it being more about Furiosa. If you look at the second and third movies, the plots were never really about Max. Max was always the guy who just sort of drifted into other people's stories, played his part, and left. The character is a drifter, and even on a self-referential level, it's all he is. Even in his own movies, he can never be more than that, and I love that.