Michael*

Phoenix is probably the only actor out there that I'd trust to do the character justice at this point, albeit being directed by a guy who isn't exactly fresh from Cannes. If it opts to be more of a psychological thriller, showing the Joker’s descent into madness in more of a bracing way, perhaps ending with the emergence of Batman giving him a twisted new sense of purpose, this could be a really interesting project.

I did wonder if they began writing a script with the goal of fulfilling certain plot requirements, or whether they started with those fragments and then made something of a hash of building a story around it. Either way, it was a good idea to get Ron Howard on board and bring some cohesion to the randomness. Overall, I thought the end product was quite entertaining. The sets, costumes and environment all felt very Star Wars. The story was fun and fast-moving. At the risk of being burned alive by fire breathing dragons though, I really don't rate Emilia Clarke. She's either being routinely miscast or she's just not a very good actress.

Dean Smith and John Terry should make for an intriguing mash-up, as from an outsider's perspective, it sounded like a few candidates were put off by the job seemingly coming on the proviso that Terry be appointed assistant manager. Smith certainly had Brentford scoring goals for fun though, they looked to be on the verge of doing a Bournemouth (albeit without the ridiculously minted Russian owners to oversee things) and will probably still be there or thereabouts come May.

For what it's worth, I was surprised when he showed willingness to gamble his new-found credibility as a director by making another foray into a genre that almost destroyed his acting career.

The Nations League underway, where I absolutely, positively know exactly what's going on and precisely what's at stake. Hardly the relentless, balls-to-the-wall action of League One, but perhaps slightly better than another round of meaningless international friendlies.

France were cautious above all else, a testament to the Deschamps approach of containing, restricting, then letting his flair players off the leash for a few minutes in order to grab a goal or two. They were never wedded to a particular or a pure style of play, they did different things in response to their opponents' qualities to nullify and overcome them, and to be fair they never really looked in danger of losing. There were times when I really wanted to see them take off the gloves and blitz the opposition, because I believe this side could do just that to almost any international opponent at present, but I suppose, looking at the list of recent World Cup winners, all the coaches were pragmatists or demonstrated considerable pragmatism during the competition. Overall though, an entertaining tournament. Only a few genuine dud games and some goals of majestic quality. A plucky underdog in the final, old favourites going home early. And most importantly of all, despite all the fears beforehand, no trouble.

For something that's ostensibly aimed at a family audience, the show continues to impress in its handling of weighty subject matter. We saw it last year with Alex coming out and they're on form again with the J'onn and M'yrnn stuff, a storyline that could have been a terrible mess had they gotten it wrong. Some of the Mon-El stuff felt like the writers acknowledging complaints, but not necessarily admitting mistakes. It was satisfying though to hear Kara tell him to shut up and call him out on what a berk he was in S2.

Man alive, doesn't it just.

Looks like they're opening the story into the real world. I was quite happy to see that because I had this sneaking suspicion that they might just confine things to the park and that the potential narrative could be limited. That's not going to be happening, which is a huge plus. Side note, but I thought it was an interesting reveal that the park is in Asia. I wonder if the location will take on more relevance as we roll through the season.

It was an odd one, because the rampage definitely wasn't what I expected. Maeve went on one in S1 to get out of Westworld, which we then learned was just code, but her breaking that code to escape and find her 'daughter' felt like a real turning point for the character. Dolores seemed to reach a similar turning point, only to go straight into 'kill all humans' mode. I guess it all goes back to the question of whether Ford is still pulling the strings in some way, although I'm not sure if it's really necessary that the consciousness of the robots is still in question at this point.

Interesting. Will you picking someone to root for at the World Cup or just enjoying the spectacle?

Hello, good evening and welcome @gipsyraya_

So, S2 picked up right where the story left off. Dolores is a strange one, she actually seems more like a robot now than she did at the beginning. Maeve too, but maybe to a lesser extent. It was tough to get on board with the theory that if a robot became fully self aware it would instantly go on a murderous and sadistic rampage, that just felt a little too much like a sci-fi trope to me. Overall though, I thought it did a good job of following up with the characters while also laying the groundwork for whatever the new, ongoing story arc is going to be.

Who's your team then, @jkjk?

Finally saw it last night, 'twas watchable but not what I'd call good. Alicia Vikander did a commendable job with what she was given and has good emotional range, it just felt somewhat wasted in an otherwise mediocre story. There's a chance, if the movie makes its money back, that we may see a stronger sequel. There are different strengths in different media of course, but it would seem that Hollywood is still mostly clueless on how to take a genuinely good video game and turn it into a genuinely good movie. For some reason they can do it with books, but not games. Perhaps one of these days, the right director will come along and work it out.

Recently, Zack Snyder has been attempting to explain some of the subtext of Batman v Superman, and some of the results have been quite amusing. Here's one of the scenes from the film, in which Wayne wakes up from a nightmare with a woman in his bed. A Robert Mapplethorpe painting can be seen on his wall while he takes painkillers.

That really came out of nowhere. I must confess, I only have a passing familiarity with his music, but 28 is way too young.

Of the many managers we've had, Di Canio's analysis of the problem was perhaps closest to being the correct one, and he seemed to zero in on Cattermole as one of the worst culprits. Looking back, I suppose you'd have to say Paolo had the right idea about a lot of things, it's just that you'd have to be a decent manager and be of sound mind to pull off what he was trying to do.

At the moment, it's hard not to picture the countless battle hardened League One sides who'll no doubt be sharpening the knives for us, but let's hope so. Get promoted back into the Championship and we'll likely feel a lot better about ourselves than if we'd merely survived for a couple of seasons in an extremely competitive second tier.

Much obliged, Fred. It seems too simplistic to pin the blame entirely on Ellis Short who until recently was ploughing his own money into the club and still seems prepared to pay the bills until a buyer is found. He would have bought Sunderland with eyes on the riches of the Premier League, and I've few complaints with owners running football clubs as businesses and aiming to make a profit. Of course, where his stewardship has failed is that the culture of the club has stunk through a mixture of poor appointments, squandered cash and mercenary players. To that end, I've been surprised that Lee Cattermole hasn't come in for more criticism. He was captain for relegations from the Premier League and the Championship, and throughout the "wrong'uns in the dressing room" period, which went on for so long that even the Secret Footballer wrote about it. Honestly, he'd be the first player that I'd like to see the back of, probably even more so than Rodwell.

I'd been prepared for this day for quite a while, so much so that by the time it eventually got around to becoming a reality, it was fairly painless. Ineptitude and an absence of fighting spirit is a deadly combination.

End of an era for Arsenal. If anything, the way Wenger stuck at it during the lean times, ensuring stability for the club, was most laudable. Especially as the 'mediocrity' he was accused of overseeing by so many bewilderingly entitled fans, was actually a level of consistency that most clubs should and do envy. Surely now though, the stage is set for Sam Allardyce to at last manage a big club. Hopefully he can attract some good players to help Arsenal compete. Youri, Ivan, Jay Jay, we're getting the band back together!

Yeah, it was quite fun, although it feels like they're reaching a bit now in trying to come up with reasons for the cast to sing. Perhaps appropriately though, Mon-El couldn't. I thought Laurie Metcalf was great as Winn's mother, both in their scenes together and with the other members of the cast. I kept waiting for some twist to happen at the end, where they revealed that she was working with a new Toyperson. It’s something that the 'Arrowverse' had been doing constantly, to the point where it's almost a relief to see a long lost relative just stay as a long lost relative.

Oh, most definitely. What I'd be interested to know too, although obviously it's not really something that can ever be measured, is how much the longevity of Panther was down to it being built on the foundations laid by the previous MCU movies. It's a superb movie in its own right of course, but to understand how we got it, how we got here and why so much faith was placed in the cast and Ryan Coogler, it's difficult to look at it in isolation from the successes of past titles and the way Marvel has been handling its properties. That being said, I thought one of the many great things about Panther was that it works as a standalone piece, and that you don’t really need to know anything about the other films to appreciate it. If that’s what’s keeping people from seeing it in cinemas, they shouldn't let it.