Michael*

If the rumours are to be believed, Trank and Fox clashed so catastrophically over the content that Matthew Vaughn was drafted in to direct the re-shoots, although Trank has of course denied that. I've yet to see the movie, but it appears Trank has struggled with the success of 'Chronicle', and after losing his 'Star Wars' gig, his light has dimmed somewhat. Fox probably didn't do anything that most big studios wouldn't have, but somewhere along the line made a mistake, either in trying to power through what they knew was a very troubled project or realising way too late in the day that it was going to miss the mark.

So we’re off again, with 'off' being the operative word in this particular instance. It only took 25 minutes to figure out that this season's Sunderland are, strangely enough, a lot like last season's Sunderland. I tell you, it's poor old Enrico I feel sorry for - not only did he cycle all the way from Italy to see that rubbish, he now has to get back on the bike, ride up to the Stadium of Light and watch us again on Saturday.

Jordan and Chad. Both ginger, both named after countries. Coincidence?

For some reason I could image the vibe of the spin-off to be something like this: I'd be on board.

I'm in the 'wish they'd kept it platonic' camp too. I found it quite refreshing that Ray and Ani had more of a respectful and understanding relationship than a close one. The fact that they stayed fully clothed on screen reinforced that it was more about comfort and affection, but it still felt like a cheap and easy move.

Slightly tenuous leap of logic perhaps, but I had wondered if Holloway could have been in contact with Burris after Paul tried to escape from the tunnels. I was unsure as to whether Holloway was killed or if Paul just beat him up. Every time I see James Frain, I know he's a wrong'un.

Like the article SS posted said I hope she betrays him b/c it would make the story slightly more interesting. One interesting piece of info gleaned from Frank’s 'meeting' with Blake was that Frank definitely wasn’t the original source of the erroneous tip-off about Ray's ex-wife’s rapist, and Jordan's reaction to walking into the aftermath of the meeting seemed like one of relief. Could it be that she was in league with Blake all those years ago? I've been pretty critical of Vince Vaughn, but I found myself really rooting for Frank this week. His attack on the Russians was such a ballsy and pleasing move from a character who's always seemed slightly out of his depth.

Is anyone else just desperate for a spin-off series starring those orthodox Jewish gangsters?

I knew I should have sacked that bloody researcher!

New album cover?

Thanks for letting me know, glad you were able to resolve the issue.

Caught it last night. Perhaps inevitably with a twenty year old franchise, going to see it feels a bit like sitting down for the latest episode of a long-running TV show, but once it actually starts to roll, it feels remarkably fresh. Despite Cruisey's habit of getting a little too melodramatic when he's trying to be intense, he truly carries this one. And how fantastic Rebecca Ferguson was, I'd love to see her buck the MI trend of having different female leads every time and appear in the now-inevitable sixth installment.

:Dinah:

Hello, good evening and welcome!

On the evidence we have so far, I'm a bit worried that some of these costumes could end up looking somewhat silly on the big screen. It's all the more surprising since Singer was never big on following the designs from the books. However much people on comic book sites might twist about it, there are certain concessions you have to make in order to adapt this kind of material. What works on the page doesn’t automatically work on film. I must say, I was expecting Apocalypse to look a lot more imposing physically, although I am willing to give it a shot. I'd imagined the character design being something akin to that of Thanos.

All her fights fit into gif files.

Affleck is nearly as wide as a door there, and almost entirely lacking a neck. Poor old Cavill looks positively waif-like by comparison. :|

I feel like Pizzolatto is trying his damndest to do Michael Mann meets David Lynch, although I wonder if he has a proper handle of how Lynch engages the viewer. Not all of his stuff makes sense, and yet, you're happy to go with it because you feel you’re being taken on a journey. Where? Only Lynch knows, but you do feel it. You'd have to say it's debatable whether the sprinkling of those staples into TD has had that same effect.

When you enter that arena and don't play the game, you do run the risk of looking a bit silly, although I struggle to see how that equates to being cold or entitled. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the time comes for Cara to help promote Suicide Squad to rooms filled with comic book obsessives and jumped up bloggers, though. On a slightly different note, I think we can all agree that this interview has had more a lot more exposure than one could normally expect from what appears to be a fairly low-rent daytime TV programme. Ordinarily, something like this would have been seen by a relatively small number of people and quickly forgotten, instead it's been picked up by several other publications and appears to be gaining some viral momentum too. One thing's for sure, it's got people talking, which is far from the worst thing in the world for a publicity campaign.

There was a definite crossing of wires there, although the whole 'British humour' defence is always a bit of an eye-roller. The interviewers hardly let Cara get a word in edgeways, were poorly informed and very quick to chastise her for not being 'full of beans', while Cara came across as tetchy, quite dismissive and unwilling to speak in the peppy sound bites they were probably expecting. I'd call the whole thing a no-score draw.

In the last episode Paul heard the story of how, during the LA riots, thieves broke into a mansion, murdered its owners and stole the blue diamonds. Later on, Caspere somehow took possession of those diamonds, although I don't think we're supposed to know the how or the why of that part yet. No matter, one or both of the children orphaned by the murders must go straight onto the list of suspects, not least because there was a reference to masks in there. Also, am I cracking up or was the hippy molester from Ani's drug-induced flashback the same guy as Ray's ex-wife's real rapist?

Truthfully, I'm not too sure. It's possible that your browser may have blocked the pages, which happened to me on Firefox some months ago. Leave it with me, I'll ask around to see if there are any known issues at the moment.

Paper Towns movie premiere, New York 21 July, 2015

Interview Magazine August 2015

I don't think Delph's playing time will take as much of a hit as people think, largely because Fernando is a bit on the rubbish side. He has done the impossible though in revealing himself as the greediest player at a club with Raheem Sterling on its books.