Michael*

The first look at some of the new shows is finally here. "That's not how they look in the comics, what's wrong with just the classic outfit" *Character wears original costume for a split second* "OMG where TF is the unsee button"

Exciting times for Dortmund and particularly the lad Haaland at the moment. Needless to say as a Sunderland fan I wish Giovanni Reyna's dad had been overwhelmed by loyalty to his old club and sent his son over, then again we could probably bring in Messi and Parky would still persist with Charlie Wyke as a lone striker.

Newcastle's recent exploits in the cup reminding those fans who would otherwise be having winter break withdrawal symptoms to be careful what they wish for. Couldn't help noting the twice-yearly takeover rumours surfacing again, though. The potential buyers this time almost make you yearn for the days when the most morally questionable owners were people like David Sullivan.

The academy should be flogged (figuratively, perhaps even literally) for the omission of Gerwig. While I was in the camp that liked Joker, they've given the nod to direction that was essentially Scorsese-lite, when the real Scorsese was already nominated. Overall though, it's been a wonderful year for film and this is a very strong field for best picture, so much so that last year's big winner would have struggled to make it onto the list of nominations. It would have been hard not to snub someone.

I must have missed that Waltz was back for this one, I was under the impression that he was done as Blofeld. Either way, I'm rooting for this to break the streak of barrel-scraping last outings for Bond actors. Diamonds Are Forever, View To A Kill, License To Kill, Die Another Day. Man alive.

As divisive as Last Jedi may seem online, we're still talking about a very small percentage of the population. No matter how much hate I see for it on the internet, I don't see it out there in the real world. It's honestly one of the biggest and strangest disconnects I’ve ever seen between opinions online and opinions on the street, and that covers casual fans and hardcore fans. Ghostbusters '16 is probably the only other thing that comes close, everyone online either loved it or hated it, while everyone I know in real life seemed content to simply go "meh, it was alright. Thor had a few funny lines" and move on. Taken on its own merits, it's a thoroughly mediocre film and in no way worth all the fuss. As to online reviewers, YouTube reaction videos and the like, the decent and objective ones can be very hard to find. The vast majority position themselves as having real knowledge of film, when they mainly just cater to and share the opinions of their built-in audiences.

The hardcore would have been just as angry and vocal about Empire had it been released today. The episodic plotting is all over the place, the characters are split up. The climactic battle takes place at the beginning. People reveal force powers they didn't have before. Yoda is a Muppet with a voice like Fozzy Bear. The bad guys win. Darth Vader simply can't be Luke's father. There's no ending. Luke is mutilated, Han is written off. The whole thing's "a betrayal of everything Star Wars stands for" and a massive downer. As to whether Last Jedi could have been executed better or not, well obviously everybody's mileage varies, which is fair enough. There are things in it that objectively, even I wouldn't consider brilliant, but I would still maintain that it's far from the worst writing the series has ever seen. And that's precisely my point, the only difference with regard to fan reaction is that backlash in 1980 would have been confined to angry letters in movie magazines, presumably written in green ink. Even taking a wider viewpoint, the biggest criticisms of the Lucas prequels could also have been levelled at the original trilogy. They all have unwieldy dialogue and slightly stilted acting straight out of an old Republic serial, seemingly deliberately so. All of which is also conveniently missing from the "Disney ruined Star Wars" narrative, many of the same fans were probably part of the "George Lucas ruined my childhood" brigade too, but now appear to have collective amnesia about despising the prequels just as much.

Yeah, I mean, while there are a lot of high quality sequels out there (the ones you mention are among the very best), I would still consider the vast majority to be direct extensions of their predecessors, always on a bigger scale and sometimes with a little twist or a change of emphasis, but essentially the same plot. Where Terminator falls down is that the core idea of the story is a self-contained thing that begins and ends with a closed-loop time paradox. Unless they show you the future war referenced by T1 and T2 (in fairness Salvation attempts to do exactly that, albeit not very well) there's really nowhere left to go. Which is fine in itself, narratively speaking some things just naturally lend themselves to one or two shot deals. Instead of accepting that however, the filmmakers kept trying to answer questions that nobody asked, recycling the same basic storyline with undeniably diminishing returns.

Not to say that it's strictly a modern phenomenon and that people didn't boot off about those films at the time. In the case of Empire, they most certainly did, they just didn't have the internet to magnify their gripes out of proportion. Aliens perhaps had a little more in common with T2, essentially a continuation with a twist and on a much bigger scale. But again, as with Terminator, the subsequent sequels have just been endless, increasingly tired retreads of the same plot.

Of all the Terminator follow-ups, I would say Salvation was probably the only one that offered something a little different, although that turned out to be a failure of execution too of course. Christian Bale's verbal attack on the lighting guy aside, I'm struggling to recall a thing about it. Even broadly speaking, I really can't think of many direct sequels that are genuinely innovative or take the original storyline in a fresh or risky direction. Aliens and Empire Strikes Back are perhaps two of the few examples, then again, look what happens online when someone dares try something different with those franchises now.

Not so much in the sense that one couldn't watch T1 or T2 today and still enjoy them, I just can't help picturing how the series must look to people in, say, their early twenties. Audiences have been saying "no thank you" to new Terminator films for longer than they've been alive, and there's no ongoing storyline to follow at this point, with each installment basically rewriting everything to fit the latest attempt at cashing in on the original concept. The studios are using old ideas to chase a new audience, but what possible investment could that audience have in the continuation of the franchise.

Yeah, I mean there are inevitably going to be people out there with legitimate criticisms, which is fine, but irrational hatred for films yet to be released always seems to speak loudest. And of course, it wasn't until the announcement that Ghostbusters '16 would have an all-female cast that the entirety of the original property seemingly became a sacred text, despite the second film being considerably less heralded than the first.

I never could wrap my head around Craig's weird relationship with the Bond character. On one hand, he seems to hate the process of making the films. On the other, considering how much he griefs the producers, he must care about the end product.

It's a funny thing with Ghostbusters '16. Even now, people seem to like dredging it up to provoke arguments, which still generates traffic, while the film itself just sits there, thoroughly average and in no way worth all the fuss. Ironically though, for all the hand wringing about gender, the cast was the best thing about it.

Usually, I'm a sucker for anything Ghostbusters. The Stranger Things tonality really jumps out at you in the trailer though, obviously with a big assist from the presence of Finn Wolfhard, but a little too much for my liking. We'll have to see how it goes when we've got all the elements, I guess. I do enjoy the dynamic of the middle aged bloke explaining to a bunch of confused children why the Ghostbusters were a big deal 35 years ago. Reflects the true spirit of the fan base perfectly.

In the case of this particular franchise, I don't even think it's an issue of fatigue. The built-in audience isn't there any more because longstanding fans of the original films have failed to pass down their love of the series to the next generation. It's no secret that each of the four follow-ups left a lot to be desired, but they were never going to be met with anything beyond tepid enthusiasm. T2 as an action movie and as a conclusion was something approaching perfect, and I have a very hard time imagining any potential third story, let alone a sixth, that wouldn't have seemed superfluous and hollow by comparison.

It's become an intrinsically mediocre property though and no franchise will remain infallible if audiences are being made to suffer through multiple lesser adaptations. At this point, to have fond memories of seeing a Terminator film on the big screen, you'd have to at least be in your late forties and that's not a demographic you can rely on to buy cinema tickets. This thing was doomed from minute one.

It appears Peter Sarsgaard is next in line to join the cast. Reeves hasn't divulged his character yet but some of the fans have a guess based on various hints posted online.

It was an inevitability that this would bomb, coming as it did off the back of three inadequate attempts at cashing in on the original James Cameron concept. They've been making substandard Terminator sequels for longer than some of their desired target audience have been alive at this point.

The show continues to captivate, although I've some slight reservations about the sheer amount of stuff still needing to be concluded in the remaining two episodes. I sincerely hope Lindelof keeps his promise and this really is a self-contained story, but there's just so much left to wrap up. I'm honestly in awe though at how much has been casually set up and paid off in a short space of time. The scenes with Irons alone have justified the series, and he's probably not even the best actor in the show.

A future Blade crossover perhaps, with Moon Knight now expected to feature the live-action debut of Werewolf By Night, a character long rumoured to appear in the MCU at some point. Although I guess the jury was out on where it might potentially come to fruition.

I should probably add that I've only just made it to the fifth episode. Lots of potential directions the show could go, although it's a bit early to make any predictions as to how it will. I keep trying to guess who the big villain will be too, but at this point I'm not even sure that's the right question to ask.

The Championship is looking extra tight this season. No runaway leaders yet, no team looks outstanding. Lewis Grabban is in fine form at the moment, though. If Forest can keep him fit they should be in with a decent chance of promotion. Oh for a striker of his quality now.

This being Lindelof, I suppose we'll have to wait and see if it sticks the landing, but I must say I've found myself seriously impressed with what I've seen so far. Between this, Fargo and Legion, Jean Smart has become a must-watch for me onscreen. It's been a terrific run for her, especially considering older actresses finding good work later in their careers seems to be a continuing problem in the industry. I keep waiting for Jemaine Clement and Aubrey Plaza to show up, then again that's just my default position on life in general.

Absolutely, given Marvel's strong track record of casting their main players, I'll be watching pretty much all the future announcements with great interest. Provided they're willing to pony up on the CGI front, I see no reason why all these shows can't be hits.