Michael*

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.

She found fame as the resident numbers expert on 'Countdown', a long-running daytime quiz show in the UK. You wouldn't believe how often they cut to her in the edits. Or maybe you would. I ended up neglecting this thread for quite a while as decent pics turned out to be thinner on the ground than I’d imagined. Great to see a few more starting to appear though, thanks Shep for posting them.

The Marie Claire ed is just great, confrontational and soothing at the same time. Eniko really is killing it lately.

Harper's Bazaar UK July 2015 Photography by David Slijper

Managed to see it at the weekend. What a film. What a lovely film. It wasn’t just a brilliant action movie, it was a brilliant movie full stop. Relentlessly thrilling, genuinely, refreshingly volatile and full of surprises. Standout performances for me were Theron and Hoult (other than Miller himself who is the film's MVP). I fully expected Theron to be great as Furiosa, but I was surprised at how good Hoult was as Nux. Hardy was pretty good too, although it's no secret that he can do this kind of role in his sleep. The people online currently throwing around terms like 'mindless action' are completely missing the point, because it was so much more than just two hours of crashing and bashing with nothing between its ears. Sure, some of it was contained within the action, but the movie has theme, narrative and character in spades. I already feel like seeing it again, because everything just whipped past so quickly that I probably missed a few things.

Hello, good evening and welcome!

Hello, good evening and welcome!

Always a pleasure. Thanks Shepherd!

Yeah, ‘Avengers’ was a critical and commerical smash, although I didn't think it presented itself as anything other than a good, fun superhero adventure, which is exactly what it was. My expectations were nowhere near as high for it as they were for TDKR, but it delivered on virtually everything I'd hoped. A lot depended on the believability of the CGI Hulk, and he was almost perfect. The hype surrounding the movie seemed to gather pace over time, I suspect because it improves with repeated viewings. In the tradition of things like 'Back to the Future' or 'Jurassic Park', it has an energy to it that draws you in over and over again. I wouldn’t necessarily make a point of sitting down to watch the DVD, but even now, when it comes on TV I almost always end up watching the whole thing. For 'Ultron', I thought they equaled the action and wit of the original, but some of the fun factor of the first one lay in the clear lines and the breeziness of the plot, and Joss Whedon simply didn't have that luxury this time around. 'Phase 2' has prioritised the ongoing MCU arc, so each individual story is inevitably going to cover more than just the immediate threat of, let’s say, Ronan or Ultron. The introduction and reintroduction of characters, the referencing of what had gone before, and the laying of groundwork for the next wave of movies felt like obstacles to the main plot at times, almost to the point where Ultron himself lost relevance. Basically, the movie was never going to be a leap forward from its predecessor because it had to veer off in so many directions. Overall, I consider it a minor miracle that Whedon was able to pull all the different strands together neatly enough to create another enjoyable summer blockbuster.

An intense and exciting final to bring the curtain down on the season. Several candidates for MOTM - Suarez and Neymar for their goals, Messi for participating in all three, particularly the decisive second, Morata for the havoc he created when Juve were in possession, Pogba for being everywhere, Buffon for a couple of world class saves. The array of hairstyles on display was truly diabolical, though. Because these are the things that really matter.

This is true. I've always enjoyed watching information about casting choices and suchlike roll in, the various interpretations on how future storylines might intertwine with past ones, and announcements that inspire new ideas. That being said, I think it can be a bit of a double-edged sword at times. It seemed like the hype machine kicked into gear particularly early for 'Ultron', and that inevitably brings backlash. It's very easy to fall into the trap of building yourself up so much and becoming so fixated on being determined to enjoy a film for what it is, that it can stop you from being fully 'in the moment' when you see it. Take something like 'Frozen' for example, the folks who originally saw it hyped it up so much that when the stragglers eventually got around to going, they had unrealistic expectations and were almost invariably disappointed. I was one of those who saw it much much later, long after everyone else had told me how wonderful and different it was, and how much better it was than the standard Disney fare. Sadly, it was always going to be a uphill struggle for the film to live up to that. Although I suppose it's a bit different with Marvel, by the nature of how they choose to tell their stories. The level of planning and commitment they show to their continuing arc is pretty astounding, but at the same time, if you don't particularly care for one of the individual stories, there'll be another one along in a minute that you might prefer.

CTV Upfront event, Toronto June 2015

British Cycling's 'Breeze' Ambassador June 2015

Their story gave me a flashback to the young boy in 'Schindler's List' who, when asked by Ralph Fiennes about a theft, pointed to the bloke Fiennes had just shot dead. I presume Sepp will just continue to try and 'bare faced cheek' his way through the whole mess until the day he's led away in cuffs. They'll of course need more than the evidence from the one scumbag charged thus far to make anything stick, though. I had hoped that when they finally did get exposed by the seemingly inevitable trials as being part of the corruption, it would cause FIFA to implode and have to be reconstituted with some transparency. Things may not get any better if the only change is new faces in the old corrupt offices. Here's hoping for a barnstorming Champions League final that affords the actual football some attention.

Thank you Mrs Advocaat! By this time next week, Sunderland and Newcastle should both have Dutch managers. Who'd have thought it?

One of the explanations put forth by FIFA the other day, that a ten million bung to the Caribbean Football Union was solely authorised by a man who is now deceased and no-one else was remotely aware of it, was pretty hilarious. Case dismissed, m'lud?

The Harper's shoot is Eniko's best for ages. There's a lot to be said for just letting natural beauty speak for itself.

But it would be a start, as would these so-called 'integrity checks' being done by someone other than FIFA themselves. It wouldn't surprise me if we eventually saw Blatter in a role similar to the one Joao Havelange was given years ago, with a sizeable expense account and continued influence. If we're not careful, the hydra will just grow a new head.