This review contains spoilers.

10. Dark Matter

With the Wikileaks scandal spread like an embarrassing rash across the single-numbered pages of the world's papers over the past few weeks, it seems oddly apposite for this week's Nikita to focus on an unfortunate intelligence leak, and the frantic scramble to plug the holes, repair the damage done and to find someone to incriminate quickly, just to take everyone's mind off the whole sorry affair.

Not that Nikita would trouble itself with snoresome tittle-tattle about members of our royal family being (gasp!) arrogant arses, or with 'shock' revelations that an Italian pensioner in an inexplicable position of power is a fan of a bit of the old in-out-in-out with young ladies of negotiable affections.

No, Nikita busies itself with revelations of political assassinations, secrets within a government's own intelligence services and quite a fair bit of shooting, explosions, and hard kicks to right to the face. Proof irrefutable that fiction is more entertaining than ponderous reality.

For the second week running, Nikita enjoys the assistance of a partner to aid in her rattling Division's cage. It was a only a matter of time before ex-Guardian Owen showed up to offer his help in the fight, and it is a positive sign that the show didn't keep him on the back burner for so long he ceased to be of interest. Owen is still a welcome addition to the show, and here he was in a less sombre frame of mind, allowing a bit of welcome banter with Nikita to enter proceedings.

Owen, as it turns out, had been keeping rather busy. Taking it upon himself to leak footage of a Division operation to take out the leader of the Chilean opposition, Owen hoped to convince Percy that there was a flaw in the security of the black box system on which his continuing retention of power solely rests.

In the hope of drawing out ‘The Engineer', Owen aimed to use Alex to glean the location of the remaining black boxes, so they could all be half-inched from under the proverbial nose of Percy. Adding ‘Engineer' to the list of improbably cool designations for the myriad of Division operatives, it seems only a matter of time before they unleash a Cartographer and an Arbiter. My inevitable descent into full-on Halo madness will be complete.

In order to cover up the involvement of an arm of the government that doesn't officially exist with a political assassination, Percy and his contact in the CIA (part of yet another shady group called Oversight) framed a wet behind the ears analyst named Ryan Fletcher for the crime. It was here that Percy uttered the line, "I'm just a tool", and if it was only me that sniggered like a spotty teen, then I call you all liars.

Fletcher, who resembles the biologically unlikely product of a drunken and experimental night betwixt Clark Kent and John Barrowman, got kidnapped and received a mighty kicking for his trouble, and it was up to NikOwen to rescue him. What? Portmanteaus are cool.

It has to be said, the episode did feel from the off as if it had benefited from something of an increase in budget and scope. The opening scene was accompanied by a haunting choral version of Radiohead's Exit Music (For A Film), giving the scene gravitas that, admittedly, the events themselves did not actually require. But the effect was still atmospherically positive. The quick cuts of news footage and the Langley corridor scenes that followed were also accompanied by a terse, urgent orchestral score that ramped up the production values, and hinted of a director who really knew how to create some narrative tension.

This theme continued throughout the episode ,as frames seemed to be constructed with an envious eye on the big screen, with several key scenes benefiting hugely from this change in approach. A shootout in the forest and a daring parachute escape from thirty thousand feet were particular highlights.

Scenes of hand-to-hand combat (showing Owen to be as equally capable at dishing out agony and unconsciousness as Nikita) were also imbued with the welcome effect of actually being able to see what the hell was going on, drawing comparisons with the brilliant bout involving a vacuum cleaner from a couple of weeks ago.

It is quality like this, of which the show is clearly more than capable, that make some of the more sluggish scenes of previous episodes all the more irritating.

As ever, though, there are a few minor niggles. Nothing major. Just the odd event that made you question why characters were, in fact, doing what it was they were doing, instead of something more logical and productive.

For example, when the asphyxiating Fletcher was trussed up in the middle of a shootout between NikOwen and the rebels, why didn't the rebel leader, if he was so hell-bent on killing Fletcher, just take the time to pop a single solitary cap in his cranium, instead of spraying the entire stratosphere with bullets and hoping Fletcher would die at his own leisurely pace?

Alex's activities were also accompanied by the odd annoyance. Ignoring the fact that her sneaky activities are always accompanied by an extremely conspicuous and shifty glance from left to right, just to let everyone within twenty feet know she is up to no good, she also used the same air vent to sneak around that Jaden, bitch of all she surveys, found her in just last week. Hardly a complete shock when Jaden threw a spanner in the works, was it?

And while we're on the subject of Jaden, her sole shtick now seems to be to make an insufferable pest of herself, which, unfortunately, fulfils a prediction made from the second episode's review, thus hinting that the show is more predictable than we'd hoped it would be. If Jaden really wanted to catch Alex in the act, why doesn't she just mention to the powers that be that, if Division installed even a rudimentary CCTV system, it would solve all its problems in one bafflingly simple step?

There was a ‘no waaaay!' shock moment this week, and it came, quite literally, at the hands of Percy. His offing of a new and likeable character did arrive completely out of the blue, but it just seemed unnecessary, in a way, as if it only happened in order to provide that shock and nothing else.

The Engineer's interactions with the underused Berkhoff were a joy though, and I can't have been the only person who was disappointed there would be no more, as Berkhoff is now the promoted, de facto engineer.  We saw Birkhoff's vulnerable side, and learned that he is in no way working for Division through his own free will, hinting at unexplored depth with yet another character. A flashback-heavy, Birkhoff-centric episode, anyone?

We also discovered Percy's foolproof system for preventing his own assassination, with the black boxes set to broadcast their muddy contents if Percy happens to kick the bucket. This does explain why Nikita can't just kill him, as she has to ‘remove the cancer without killing the patient', and this development did explain a lot of events from previous episodes in a refreshingly logical way.

As mentioned, all niggles were minor, and they did not prevent this from being another cracking episode of a show which is quickly racking up a reassuringly high batting average.

Owen is out on his own again, Nikita has another ally on the inside in the form of Fletcher, and Alex has a Jaden problem that will, hopefully, be solved with some extreme and gratuitous violence. Consider me one person who is looking forward to next week's episode with great interest.

General wonderings:

• Who or what is Oversight?
• Portmanteaus are rubbish, aren't they?
• Will Alex be forced to kill Jaden?
• Or will she (as a result of her weekly idiocy) be caught?
• How do Oversight, Gogol and Division all fit together?
• Has Michael still got, as we say in Yorkshire, ‘the monk on'?
• Who is Percy's bad-ass bespectacled Cleaner?

Read our review of episode 9, One Way, here.

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This review contains spoilers.

Joe Jackson once sang "Pretty women walking with gorillas down my street" in his hit song Is She Really Going Out With Him?. But little did he know how prescient that sentence would be 32 years after its release.

At the community centre, there's a killer on the loose and poor Nathan finds himself becoming the first victim, beaten to death within the first two minutes. "Why would anyone want to kill me?" he asks, as if there's not enough reasons.

Before his head was remodelled into a lump of bloody meat, he copped an eyeful of athletic daddy's girl Jessica. Instantly linking the two events, he tries to warn the lovestruck Simon away from her, which leads to tension between them.

Meanwhile, Kelly meets someone new. Shy awkward fugitive Bruno, who doesn't have a dishonest thought in his head and there's an instant animal attraction between them. Though she seems to not notice his love of fruit or prehensile grip on building walls.

Misfits this week is a more subdued affair after a fantastically tense and fast paced episode. Far from being a tedious 45 minutes of filler unworthy of even Heroes, it pulls the focus back to the strong character interaction that makes this show such a joy. You'll see the twist of the killer's identity coming a mile off, providing you have an attention span longer than the time it took for you to read this sentence. But there's much more to this episode than a formulaic 'villain of the week'.

Richard Riddell as Gorilla turned human Bruno, brings the right amount of sensitivity to his part, portraying him as a gentle lovelorn giant. And Zawe Ashton is convincingly nervous around Simon as their romance starts to blossom.

The tension between Simon and Nathan, as the former starts to assert himself and the latter feels his position compromised, is well handled instead of overdone. And it's impossible not to have your heart melted a little bit when they reunite at the end. You can't help but feel a bit sorry for Nathan, though, seeing him let down gently by Kelly for a bloke who used to eat his own excrement.

There's a bittersweet final parting for once-lovebirds Alisha and Curtis, as Alisha realises she can't give him everything (nudge nudge wink wink) Nikki can. But then there's the promise of her and Simon on the horizon, as she sees their future falling into place after Simon's shy revelation that he's lost his V plates.

And as the gang down cans of beer in the final shot, Nathan exclaims, "I think it might take more than you getting laid to make you a superhero," to Simon, unaware how prescient that sentence will be.

You can read our review of episode 4 here.

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November and December, you might have noticed, is when the marketing campaigns for summer blockbusters begin to sharpen their claws. Thus, we had yesterday's reveal of the Transformers: Dark Of The Moon trailer, we've had a new poster for Cowboys & Aliens, and there's been the trailer for Cars 2 the other week, too.

What there's been little from, though, has been 2011's two big Marvel films. Sure, we've had lots of set pictures and such like leak through from both Thor and Captain America, but no sign of a trailer, and no sign of a poster.

At least until now. For Thor, the first of the two films out of the traps, now has its first poster, which you can see right here. And we can't help but wonder if we might get a squizz at a full trailer (following the Comic-Con footage that did the rounds) in the next week or two.

For now, here's the poster, though. And the movie itself arrives in the UK on Friday 29th April 2011.

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Disney is gearing up for the unveiling of the first trailer for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on Monday, and it got us in the mood for it yesterday, so to speak, with a pair of images from the film. You can see them here.

Today? We've got four more, bringing more Johnny Depp/Captain Jack Sparrow goodness to your screens, before the first footage is shown next week. So, here they are. For you.

And do check back on Monday, when we'll have the trailer as soon as it appears. Hurray.

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It’s a mere 30-or-so seconds long, but the footage below is our first video sighting of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Fortune. “All men dream, but not equally” a voice-over ominously tells us, as the camera tracks across a variety of maps, weapons, books and other objects.

A copy of The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, plus other ephemera, point towards a strong Lawrence of Arabia theme (hinted at in the desert pictures we saw yesterday), while various other symbols and arcane literature are a probably an early taster for the variety of environmental puzzles the game will inevitably throw at us.

The trailer’s designed to plug the game’s world premiere, which will take place during Spike TV’s Video Game Awards, which is a very exciting prospect indeed.

A slew of new clips and images will almost certainly flood in following the weekend unveiling, so we’ll be sure to bring you those as soon as we get them.

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Thor. Mighty man. Massive mallet. We've already set eyes on the first poster for Kenneth Branagh's Marvel comic book adaptation, and now, finally, we have the first official trailer to share with you, too.

The minute-long promo originally screened at the San Diego Comic-Con has been doing the rounds for some months now, of course, but the clip presented below these words represents the first official trailer for the film.

We finally get a better look at Chris Hemsworth as the Norse god of thunder himself, ably supported by Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins as Thor's father Odin, who banishes his son from the kingdom of Asgard.

Thor's due in UK cinemas on 29 April 2011.

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2.10 Mixology Certification

Class is back on at Greendale with another important life lesson: drinking is bad. But not for the reasons you think...

Back with a new episode after the Thanksgiving break, Community turned its pop culture beacon on the coming of age drama, in its own unique way, as Troy turns becomes a man.

Having accidentally discovered on Troy's twentieth birthday, that he is, in fact, 21 (apparently repeating fifth grade means you stay 10 for years), the gang (read Daddy Jeff and Mommy Britta) decide that, as Troy is now legal, the only way to celebrate is with copious amounts of alcohol.

After procuring a stolen ID for Annie, the only non-legal member of the group, the gang is ready to party. Well, sort of. In Community's world, when a group of friends go out drinking, they might arrive together, but they'll spend the evening drinking alone. There are a couple of exceptions: two of them don't drink at all.

Shirley, it turns out, had something of a bar habit back in the day, and spends her evening hiding the evidence of her drunken exploits before storming out, and, despite it being the reason for the field trip, Troy never gets that first legal drink. In the Community-verse, coming of age is nothing but a dawning realisation that nothing is fun.

Instead of the drunken, debauched shenanigans generally associated with a football player turning 21, poor Troy gets to play Daddy for the night, shepherding home the wasted remnants of his beloved study group: Annie suffering a personality crisis, Abed lost after a sci-fi conversation led to a drink in the face, and Jeff and Britta at their combative and annoying best.

Frankly, it's the worst twenty-first ever, and they should all be ashamed. No wonder Troy now considers alcohol to be the Lifetime Movies of beverages. Having said that, by concentrating on the downbeat, (and for a comedy, this is definitely downbeat), we're given a few more hints at who these people really are.

Shirley, in particular ,is proving very interesting, indeed. Divorce, drunken past, Chang-love, pregnancy scare, so far, she's the only character with anything approaching a life. Even Pierce's role in the episode was downbeat. Stuck in the doorway to the club, in an electric wheelchair with a dead battery, he's forced to finally ask for some of that help he's been refusing for weeks. He didn't even get into the bar. However, it also meant that he wasn't really in the episode, which can only be a good thing. Even with all the drugs, somehow Pierce is worse than ever.

Despite the coming of age depression, the episode did find time for some excellent sci-fi references: a particularly in-depth Farscape discussion and a fantastic throwaway line involving Stargate, proof, if any were still needed, of where this show's heart really lies.

Life lessons are all very well, but what it really wants to tell you is how good Farscape is, and that's a large part of what makes Community is so good.

It's also nice to see a Troy-centric episode. It's about time we got to know Troy outside of his bromance with Abed. As part of the nerdy duo, we've really only seen him in a comedy light, and Mixology Certification gave us a chance to see him as more than just Abed's soul mate.

While this week's Greendale visit might have been a little more downbeat than usual, what it lacked in out and out laughs, it more than made up for with its warmth. Clearly, the writing and acting teams are really starting to gel, and it definitely shows. No flashy guest stars, no TV-land stunts,just great writing. Troy learns that his parents are human, and forgives them. Who says TV is dumb?

Read our review of episode 9, Conspiracy Theories And Interior Design, here.

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2.11 Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas

What with it being the time of year when even the most sensible shows ditch their storylines in favour of some festive schmaltz, it seems even the guys at Community couldn't resist a Christmas special, but with a twist. It just wouldn't be Community if the episode didn't reference the classic yuletide specials of the Seventies, with just a dash of Tim Burton.  Ladies and gentlemen, Community presents Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas.

Essentially suffering from a psychotic break, Abed arrives at college convinced that the world has become a cutesy stop-motion universe, a place where Annie's eyes are even bigger than usual, and Pierce is almost human, a world complete with special title sequences and original songs.

The gang decide to force Abed, in all his stop-motion glory, to find the true meaning of Christmas, and therefore, the reason for his breakdown, with some guided and compulsory therapy. Unfortunately, their mental health professional of choice is Professor Duncan (John Oliver), the world's most unbalanced therapist.

Through one of the most depressingly magical journeys ever created, we discover that not one of the gang has ever had anything approaching fun at Christmas, that Troy will be spending the holidays fake-murdering people, and that Abed's mom won't be making her annual Christmas visit this year. Or ever.  With the help of some Lost season one DVDs  (it's a metaphor for lack of payoff) Abed discovers the true meaning of Christmas is nothing but the endless search for the true meaning of Christmas. Meta much?

With more than a few nods to the genius of Tim Burton, from much of the animation style to the darkly humorous musical numbers, Uncontrollable Christmas is the perfect festive Community episode. Quirky, sarcastic, and featuring the unwitting sexual abuse of a snowman, but warm and smart at the same time, the episode is a joy to behold.

Much of that joy comes from the animation itself. It's absolutely perfect and full of fantastic visual touches, from the glimpses of the library whenever a character leaves Planet Abed, to the Christmas Pterodactyl and flesh-eating Hum Bugs, and Jeff's fixed sarcastic face, to mention just a few.

As has often been said in these very reviews, the Community team pay an enormous amount of attention to the soundtrack of every episode, and Uncontrollable Christmas is no exception. The original songs, including new lyrics for the title theme, are pitched to perfection. The ejection songs, in particular, are spot on, funny and tinged with mean. Tim Burton is very proud indeed.

The inclusion of songs also means that the cast have to do some singing, and it's a very pleasant surprise to find out that Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) has what can only be described as a kick ass voice. It's perhaps less of a surprise to discover that everyone else doesn't, but that's half the fun, no?

While this episode owes much to Tim Burton and 70s TV, there's plenty here that's uniquely Community, not least Ex-Senor Chang's sexually frustrated snowman. But what makes this a show that only Community could get away with is the simple fact that it's 100% animated. How many other live action shows will be doing animated episodes this year? A sign of the confidence of the production team, as well as a nod to the affection so many hold for the classic specials of our childhoods, it's a concept that most shows wouldn't even consider.

And even better, it's Abed-centric, includes some of that Ken Jeong magic, and Pierce is actually bearable, surely qualifying it for inclusion on the Classic Community Episodes list.  

It's an episode that plays to the series' strengths, smart, contemporary comedy in a more traditional sitcom setting, recognisable archetypes that do unrecognisable things, and as many TV/movie /pop culture references as they can cram into 22 minutes, and pulls those elements together to produce a familiar feeling, but totally original episode.

There simply isn't another show that could successfully pull that off, leaving Community, as always, head and shoulders above the competition. If this series still hasn't made it into your top ten list, it's possible you need some guided therapy of your own.

Read our review of episode 10, Mixology Certification, here.

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This review contains spoilers.

3.9 Marionette

It's been a while since Fringe did a genuinely creepy story, but this one pulled out most of the stops, and the occasional vital organ, to achieve it. The underlying narrative was a Frankenstein reworking, where a brilliant scientist is trying to reverse the suicidal choice made by Amanda, a young woman he once new.

The twist that Mary Shelley never came up with, for obvious medical advancement reasons, was that, in her story, all the spare part contributors were dead, where here the medically astute Roland is harvesting them back from the people to whom they were donated when the woman suddenly died.

In most respects, this is a standalone story, one of the few they've done this year which has been totally fixated on the bigger plot development.

Yet, they can't really leave the big plot entirely alone, and much of what transpires rotates around the very uneasy situation in which Olivia finds herself, returning to Peter to find out that he's been sleeping with another version of herself.

In terms of excuses for being unfaithful go, this is a probably the best yet, but it still doesn't get poor Peter off that hook. His lack of diplomacy in telling her that Altivia was more given to smiling probably wasn't what she wanted to hear, and when she tells Peter that "We're good", you know then, categorically, that they're not.

I have to commend Anna Torv for her work in this piece, because how she presents Olivia as both determined, yet massively fragile was exceptionally good, and totally believable. But, as always, the cast of this show aims to deliver and for once they even let Jasika Nicole's character, Astrid, show some sensitivity, instead of her usual function of being a comedy foil for Walter.

But the award for creepiest scene this season must go to the one where Roland makes the lifeless body of Amanda dance, using an oddly theatrical mechanism that Mary Shelley might have thought up, while crying at how lovely she looks in motion. And, I thought Walter was six inches short of a Subway footlong, but Roland is triple certifiable, with extra relish.

Despite his skill at surgery, the amazing chemicals he's designed to stop decomposition, and his skill as a puppeteer, it was all going to end in tears, wasn't it?

Overall, this was an enjoyable episode, not especially for the main story, but in getting Olivia's pain to the surface, something I think it would have been wrong to bury at this point.

Peter's now wondering when the next train to the other dimension is leaving, as he'll be getting no more sex in this one, it appears.

This was the last Fringe at this timeslot, as when it returns in the New Year it will move to the Friday 'death slot'. For those that like irony, and I'm a big fan, the name of the returning story is Firefly, one of the previous shows that Fox condemned to the 'death slot' before pulling it entirely. The Fringe team isn't without a sense of wit, it seems.

Fringe is back on the 21st of January, for those who own a PVR or stay home on Friday nights.

Read our review of episode 8, Entrada, here.

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Writer/director Richard Bracewell has put together a little gem of a movie here, a disturbing little thriller which will keep you engrossed for its duration and get you to do a lot of thinking about it afterwards.

This is independent British cinema at its best, a thought-provoking feature where there are no clear demarcations of either guilt or reality and the atmosphere is rarefied and eerie, unsettling without being scary.

Helped by well-scripted dialogue, Laura Fraser (a hot property at the moment, you can also see her in the BBC3 drama Lip Service) gives a beautifully controlled if a tad neurotic performance, which always keeps you guessing as to whether her character Polly is losing her mind or not.

The support cast delivers great and subdued acting. Richard E Grant is at his best in a role as Polly's mentor, which verges on the creepy, although the movie's tagline exaggerates this a tad too much.

The storyline follows Polly at a pivotal moment in her life. She is about to leave a research post for a new job. This has her more worried than excited, and her mentor, Julius, is less than thrilled at the prospect of losing his bright protégé. This plotline is subtly nuanced and played. Tamsin Grieg as Julius' assistant and (one gathers) former protégé, is a lesson in understatement and repressed emotions.

At the same time, we see Polly interact with her sister and her absent boyfriend and pondering her present and her future in uncertain surroundings. The cavernous, dimly lit flat in a large, impersonal and seemingly deserted condominium seems to reflect Polly's increasingly confused state of mind. But is she paranoid or is someone out to get her?

There is, indeed, a lot going on here, although you wouldn't call it an action thriller. There is a lot of brooding, over-thinking, fearing and hearing.

At the core is the relationship between Polly and her sister, Jimi, (Antonia Bernath), which at times I even thought was an imaginary one! Polly hears noises, she is disturbed by them, they make her paranoid and uneasy. Her sister is by her side, but she might have a hidden agenda. Polly's musician boyfriend is conspicuous by his physical and emotional absence, although his presence in the flat he shares with Polly is felt and sometimes heard. Again, I thought, is this another figment of her imagination?

Meanwhile, Julius appears to intrude in Polly's life in subtle but unsettling ways. The intriguing strands head towards an unsettling resolution which will stay with you after the screening, a rare feat these days.

Director Richard Bracewell does a sterling job in weaving all these strands together and making the viewer feel Polly's confusion. Andrew Hewitt's emotional music score is beautifully understated and atmospheric, a perfect accompaniment to the eeriness of the surroundings and a perfect reflection of Polly's fraught state of mind.

Ultimately, Cuckoo may struggle to get noticed in the midst of several big Christmas releases. But it really deserves to be seen.

Cuckoo is on general release in the UK from December 17th.

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Robin Hardy's 1973 classic, The Wicker Man, was a masterpiece of British cinema. Starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, and the late, wonderful Ingrid Pitt, it told a tiny yet perfectly wrought tale of a stern Christian lawman (Woodward, brilliant in the role of Sergeant Howie) and his search for a missing girl in a remote island community.

Filled with paranoia and sly, subtle humour, The Wicker Man built to an astonishing, unforgettable conclusion, one that has left an indelible impression on audiences and critics the world over.

By contrast, Neil LaBute's 2006 remake, which he both wrote and directed, is one of the most universally panned mainstream films of the last decade. It's also quite, quite wonderful.

The biggest mystery surrounding The Wicker Man 2006 is, perhaps, why anyone thought it would be a good idea to make it. Nicolas Cage was reportedly interested in remaking the 1973 original from the very beginning ("I think it's a homage. It's a way of us saying this is a wonderful film," Cage said at the time), while even Neil LaBute knew that updating such a beloved film would be an unpopular move.

"There are people out there who say, literally, 'I don't care if it's good or bad, I hate the fact that they are doing it'," LaBute said shortly before his film's release. "So, that's a difficult audience to work with. You have to forge yourself ahead and say, I'm making something which, if people are fair with, I think they'll see that you're coming to this with good intentions, and trying to retain the spirit of the thing without being slavish to it."

Whether LaBute's intentions were good or not, the resulting film was an unintentionally hilarious mess, bizarrely inverting certain elements found in the 1973 original, while introducing new ones which are, almost without exception, terrible.

Like its predecessor, LaBute's The Wicker Man concerns a virtuous lawman investigating the disappearance of a young girl in a remote island community. This time, Nicolas Cage stars as Malus, a gloomy, sullen motorcycle cop who's allergic to bees, a plot detail that is exploited to the hilt later on. He heads to the pagan, honey-making island of Summerisle (now located in the North Pacific), a weird matriarchal community where men are subjugated and eerily silent. Increasingly frustrated by the locals' lack of cooperation, Malus continues to search for the missing girl until, too late, he discovers the truth behind the island dwellers' wicked conspiracy.

Where the original film gradually built up an atmosphere of paranoia and quiet dread, LaBute's Wicker Man instead opts for lots of overacting and dreadful dialogue. It's not clear whether Cage, sensing that he was in the midst of one of the most terrible films of his career, simply decided to play the film for laughs or not, but his performance is truly, truly bizarre.

Looking sweaty and uncomfortable throughout, Cage spends the film sprinting around Summerisle, alternately asking ridiculous questions ("What's in the bag? A shark or something?") or terrorising the female populace with fists and feet.

It's hard to think of another horror film from the last ten years whose attempts to shock or surprise have fallen so amusingly wide of the mark. Was the moment where Cage opens a door, only to be confronted by a grinning woman wearing a beard of bees meant to be frightening? How did Neil LaBute manage to convince respected actor Ellen Burstyn to appear with a face covered in woad, like a demented tribute to Braveheart?

Whose idea was it to have Nic Cage running around, punching women squarely in the face while wearing a bear costume? Ah yes, the bear costume. If the original film's most unforgettable, indelible image was the gigantic, burning wicker man of the title, it's entirely usurped here by the sight of one of Hollywood's most famous actors dressed as a giant grizzly.

Then there's the gloriously terrible script, courtesy of LaBute himself, which includes such lines as "Step away from the bike", and the truly unforgettable "Killing me won't bring back your goddamn honey!"

The Wicker Man's script is so extraordinarily bad, in fact, that I find myself quoting it all the time. The curious scene in which Nic Cage shakes a scorched rag doll in a woman's face ("How'd it get burned?! How'd it get burned?!") has been drunkenly recreated between me and my friends ever since, as has Cage's wonderfully over-the-top exclamation of "The bees! My eyes! My legs!" elsewhere in the film.

Released without preview screenings, critics formed an orderly queue to pour scorn on LaBute's film back in 2006. "Mr. LaBute, never much of an artist with the camera, proves almost comically inept as a horror-movie technician," said the New York Times. Empire's Kim Newman described the movie thus: "This has limited interest to folks who don't know the old movie, and an excruciating experience for those who do. Bad idea. Bad film."

At the Razzie Awards, The Wicker Man was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Actor (unsurprisingly, for Nic Cage), Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake, and Worst Screen Couple, for Cage and his awesome bear suit.

As a horror movie, and a remake of Robin Hardy's classic 1973 film, the scorn levelled at The Wicker Man was largely deserved. And yet, viewed as a comedy, it's enormously entertaining. Cage's shrill, animal performance is often fascinating, oscillating wildly between the kind of sleazy, sweaty mood he later perfected in Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call: New Orleans, and an overacted wildness never seen anywhere else.

There are long stretches of tedium in The Wicker Man, where LaBute's complete inability to sustain atmosphere or suspense leaves the film's protagonist simply drifting from one weird exchange to the next. But these are punctuated with odd moments of sheer comedy delight, from the bike theft at gunpoint to the pointless moments of slapstick, like the scene where Cage falls through a wooden floor for no particular reason.

The Wicker Man builds to its own kind of spectacular zenith, providing a dazzling departure from the horrifying conclusion of the original. A bear suit-clad Cage, emoting to the bitter end, blurts out insults and detailed descriptions of pain, as the sinister women of Summerisle close in all around him.

As a horror movie, LaBute's The Wicker Man staggers ineptly onto the screen, totters about for about 90 minutes, and then trips over the doorstep on the way out. But while it's an utter failure, it is, at the very least, an entertaining one.

I like to imagine that, with the benefit of hindsight, Nicolas Cage is actually quietly proud of his work in The Wicker Man. If I were Cage, I'd make watching it a regular event. I'd drag the dusty old bear costume back out of the closet, and sit down and admire the sheer unhinged majesty of my handiwork.

"Not the bees! Not the Bees! My eyes! Aaaaggghh!"

Sincere thanks to Glen Chapman, whose tweets about The Wicker Man inspired this piece.

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It's been a while since the release of the first ever Buzz! game, and it seems as though Relentless Software has decided to come full circle with the latest outing of Jason Donovan's alter ego. Buzz!: Ultimate Music Quiz is the name, and along with the usual assortment of new questions comes a few new additions, mainly geared towards Sony's new Move controllers.

Buzz!: Ultimate Music Quiz is, at heart, pretty much more of the same, and, of course, it's all based around music, with categories ranging from Pop, R&B, Rock, Metal and more, with many choices dealing with specific areas, including albums and band members.

It's an eclectic collection, and one that contains a plethora of genuinely challenging questions, so much so that, even as someone with a keen interest in music, I did find myself struggling at times, going through entire rounds with nary a point to my name.

There's certainly something for most music fans here, and enough to challenge even the most hardened audiophile.

Most of the rounds are familiar fare, with the usual pie fight, point builder and fastest finger being present, but there are some new twists, such as the standout Tune Warp round, which plays back music tracks in a distorted fashion, altering tempo and using masking, making it difficult to recognise the track.

Presentation is spot on, as usual, with another stylish rendition of a quiz show studio, although I'm not too keen on the more realistic Buzz. I preferred the more cartoon-like presenter, rather than the new model. It had more character.

Get your move on

Move owners are likely to be interested in the Move-enabled content of Buzz!: Ultimate Music Quiz, but I fear most will find it a bit of a let down. The Move elements are found in a separate mini-game centric quiz mode. These special modes mainly involve the use of the Move controller to select answers, and the PlayStation Eye superimposes your living room on the screen, EyeToy-style.

Themed modes, such as a UFO invasion, display questions and answers, and you use the Move controller to select the answer. It works well, but I couldn't help shake the feel of early EyeToy games, and in the end, the mode simply feels tacked on.

In fact, the most enjoyable extra-controller antics come from the PlayStation Eye, which can be used to take a picture of your own mug so you can paste it onto one of the game's avatars, making for an often hilarious digital depiction of yourself in the quiz. You can even use the built-in mic of the Eye to record your own buzzer sounds, which is a cool addition, if one that will, no doubt, see plenty of schoolboy humour, and rightly so.

Other modes return, such as the online mode that allows you to challenge all comers for the quiz kudos, and there's the usual customisable content that lets you construct your own quizzes. There's also the expected shop option which will allow you to purchase more questions from the PlayStation Store.

Pop or flop?

Buzz!: Ultimate Music Quiz is a good addition to the series overall, and the core content found here is great. I did find some of the music samples a little poor, though, which can hamper things, especially in the Tune Warp round, and the Move component is little more than a gimmick.

It's also lacking in anything all that original, and hasn't evolved the franchise at all. More varied round types would have been welcome, and for a game called Buzz! you very rarely have to actually beat users to the buzzer, which is a little odd.

Still, for a guaranteed Christmas party game hit, this is a winner, and one that'll certainly give you your money's worth. Just make sure you brush up on your music knowledge beforehand.

Buzz!: Ultimate Music Quiz is out now and available from the Den Of Geek Store.

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This review contains spoilers.

6.11 Appointment In Samarra

I'm going to have to start the recap of this episode with a slight spoiler. Dean dies.

Thankfully, it's only a temporary measure to allow him to contact Death. Dean has reasoned that Death is possibly the only entity able to retrieve Sam's soul from Lucifer's cage. He can, but again points out how warped Sam's soul would be and goes on to say how he can put a wall in Sam's soul to keep back the corruption, but it would only be a temporary measure.

Dean still insists that he wants Sam's soul back and Death agrees, but there's a condition. Dean must wear Death's ring and become Death for twenty-four hours.

Back at Bobby's, Dean explains his plan. Sam argues that he doesn't want his soul back, but Dean convinces him it's for the best. Dean leaves Sam under Bobby's watchful and places the ring on.

Unbeknownst to Bobby, Sam summons Balthazar for advice. He asks the angel if there is a way to keep the soul from entering the body and the angel reveals to him a spell. Unfortunately, the spell requires the blood of the father, or in Sam's case, a father figure, Bobby.

Dean has taken to his new role well until he needs to kill a terminally ill twelve-year-old girl and refuses to allow her to die, despite Tessa warning him that there will be repercussions, one of which is a young nurse being killed, and as a result , Dean must take her. Tessa tells the nurse that it wasn't her time to die and blames Dean for her early demise. As Tessa leads the nurse away, her grief-stricken husband arrives at the hospital.

Tessa tells Dean that unless he kills the little girl, more and more people will die because of it. Before he acts, Dean sees the husband of the nurse stumbling drunk from a bar and getting into a car. Using his power of Death, Dean transports himself to the car in an attempt to stop him and has no alternative but to take the ring off to do so. Dean realises that he has broken his agreement with Death, but puts the ring on one last time to kill the little girl and restore the natural order.

Sam has attacked Bobby and after a struggle has him at his mercy. Just as he is about to kill him, Dean returns and stops him.

Dean and Bobby have secured Sam and are discussing what to do with him when Death returns. Death surprises Dean by saying he will still restore Sam's soul. Dean questions why and Death tells him that he's "digging at something", to "keep digging" and "it's all about the souls".

The episode ends with Death forcing Sam's soul back into Sam...

This is a fantastic episode. The guest stars really add to the quality. Robert Englund as the doctor in the opening scenes was a nice touch, as was Lindsey McKeon reprising her role as Tessa, but it is Julian Richings that really steals the show. His Death seems to drip presence. His veiled power and threats really give weight to the role. I don't know whether it's down to his acting ability and simply great writing, but it does seem to be an almost perfect piece of casting, so a very well done to all involved.

That's not to say that the regulars don't do well. Jensen Ackles showing Dean's self-doubt and discomfort as opposed to the brash, bad demon killer we are used to was mirrored brilliantly by Jared Padalecki showing Sam's slide from slightly off to dangerous psycho killer.

As for the show itself, a lot of the episode could be compared to Dead Like Me and a bit of the episode to Neil Gaiman's Sandman, but whether it was deliberate or not, it felt like a subtle reminder rather than a rip-off. Possibly like ‘we can't avoid doing something similar, so we're just going to do it and move on with the story'.

I had been thinking that Supernatural had been writing itself into a corner with regard to Sam's soul and last week's episode looked like there was no way to get it back. The idea of Dean going to Death is one that works brilliantly.

Firstly, Dean is actually the instigator in the plan to get it back. It's not relying on a demon or an angel to tempt them with it like a fairground prize. Secondly, having it retrieved by Death makes sense that doesn't let the audience feel cheated, especially with regard to the soul being corrupted.

The idea of the wall holding things back coming from a lesser being on the show may have been considered an easy get out clause. but because it's Death, the character has the weight and power within the series to make it plausible.

Finally, the fact that Death restores Sam's soul despite Dean not fulfilling his side of the agreement again adds a new twist to the series.

If Death is worried about something, how big must that something be?

Read our review of episode 10, Caged Heat, here.

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This has been a pretty below average holiday season so far, hasn't it? Last weekend's only new release, The Warrior's Way, barely broke the top ten with only $3 million at the US box office. This weekend's releases have performed significantly better than last weekend, but they're still disappointing.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader topped the new releases this weekend, and topped the box office overall. However, the $155 million picture stumbled upon release, taking in an incredibly weak $24.5 million. This is in spite of 3D and in spite of significant marketing push. The first two Narnia flicks opened to $65 million and $55 million, respectively, and neither of those had 3D to bump the prices. If I had to hazard a guess, and I do, then the Narnia flicks might be grinding to a halt with this one, or at least cutting way back on the expenses.

The second place release this weekend features two of the biggest stars on the planet, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. While Jolie is overexposed, and Depp is mostly popular as a pirate, the two together should do all right at the box office, and The Tourist showed a pretty strong, but not incredibly so, debut of $17 million. I would have expected more, but perhaps the massive snowstorm that's currently crushing the entire Midwest, Southeast, and East coast of the United States had driven all the box office numbers down.

Last weekend's top flick, Tangled, dropped to third on $14.55 million. Still, that's a pretty strong performance, and boosts the movie's total to $115 in three weeks. Of course, the listed budget is $260 million, which has to be a mistake, because there's no way this movie cost that much to make. Even if it was in development for seven years, you could make the movie twice for that amount. Yeesh.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 doesn't have a released budget number, but whatever they spent to crank out the last two movies, it's not a big deal. After all, Harry Potter has made $257 million this weekend, thanks to another $8.5 million, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down any, unlike Unstoppable, which dropped to fifth.

Unstoppable took in only $3.75 million this weekend, and it has stalled at just under $74 million. It looks like it won't make back the $100 million in the US, but internationally and on home video it'll probably do very well.

Here's where things get interesting. Black Swan, a movie I really really want to see, isn't here. It's at 90 screens in the entire United States, and the closest one to me is in Chicago. I'd love to see this. I want to see it, because it reminds me of Suspiria but with better everything. Still, despite the limited screenings, Black Swan picked up $3.33 million. That's $37,000 per screen! That's Twilight money!

Burlesque also dropped quite a bit, from third last weekend to seventh this weekend, picking up 3.2 million bucks. It's picked up $32.5 million, based mostly on the strength of Cher, since Christina Aguilera has basically no box office clout to her name. Either that or people are just drawn to these kind of stories where someone gets taken under someone else's wing and rises to become a star. Either way, I liked the movie better when it was called Showgirls.

Love And Other Drugs drops out of the top five this weekend, sinking to eighth on $3 million. Ths movie's taken in $27 million thus far, and will make a pretty minor profit when all is said and done, but profit is good. Given Anne Hathaway's star-making nudity in the role, I imagine the DVD and Blu-ray sales will be through the roof.

Due Date (ninth place, $2.54 million) and Megamind (tenth place, $2.51 million) are wrapping up some pretty successful runs. Due Date ($94.8 million) will probably break $100 million before all is is said and done. Megamind ($140 million) also has an outside shot at $150 million, but will probably fall just short. Still, it's pretty good for both of those flicks

What's coming out next weekend? Well, Christmas is getting closer, so that means the movies are going to get better. Next weekend is Tron Legacy, the James L. Brooks comedy How Do You Know, the CGI comedy Yogi Bear, and, of course, The Fighter is getting a wider release. Black Swan is being held back until Christmas. Either way, there's two movies I really want to check out, and that's Tron Legacy and The Fighter. I also, and I'm slightly ashamed to admit this, might be talked into seeing Yogi Bear. I can't help it. I loved the cartoons as a kid and want to see how badly they screwed it up bringing him to the big screen.

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Well, you can never accuse Steven Moffat of taking the easy way out.

For his first Doctor Who Christmas special, he’s done away with massive monsters, old foes and visiting companions’ extended families. In its place, he’s decided to try and weave Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol into a Doctor Who story, while also putting together a tense, festive adventure for the Time Lord.

Not for the first time, he’s set himself a big challenge. And not for the first time, he really has delivered the goods.

We’ll do the basics of the story, first. We’re not giving anything away here that’s not common knowledge, but if you want to go into the episode completely cold, then jump to the red marked text coming up.

In terms of where the episode sits in the chronology of Moffat’s tenure on the show, it picks up with Rory and Amy on their honeymoon, him in his armour, her as a policewoman. Said honeymoon is on a spaceship that harks right back to Star Trek (right down to a Geordi La Forge wannabe on the deck), with a dab of classic Who design in there too, and said spaceship hits trouble in a cloud, endangering the lives of the 4003 people on board (although that looks a tight squeeze to us, given the size of the ship – bigger on the inside, right?).

Cue mad distress. Cue the Doctor. Cue the opening credits.

Yet, from this point on, and for most of its duration, A Christmas Carol is a considerable stiller, focused episode (certainly a lot more so than that opening might have you believe), and one that soon has us introduced to the Scrooge-like figure of the story, Sardick, played by Michael Gambon. He’s holding the fate of the ship in the sky in his hands, and as Amy and Rory take a backseat for a chunk of the story, the focus instead switches to him, the Doctor, and Katherine Jenkins’ Abigail Pettigrew.

That’s as much of the story as we’re going to reveal here, as the real fun is in seeing how well it falls into place.

Instead, we need to talk once more about Mr Steven Moffat.

It really is an impressive piece of writing once more that he's put together, and we'll never tire of saying so. Firstly, he weaves in the strands of A Christmas Carol in a manner that both appreciates the Dickens text, but also works properly for Doctor Who (it's not a slavish adaptation, rather a clever one). Then, he coils his narrative expertly, structuring it in a way that allows him to keep you firmly on your feet.

Plus, he remembers to throw in at least one big scare. It's a good one, too.

What he also does is tip the hat to some of his other writing work. We get a bit of Sherlock-style deducing for one, but also there’s space for some very, very funny Coupling-esque relationship advice. It knits together, as you’d hope, very well indeed.

Matching Moffat on this one is director Toby Haynes. Haynes helmed the closing two parter of the last series, and has directed the opener for the next. His work here, though, is going to take some beating. Doctor Who directors rarely get the credit they deserve, and Haynes deserves lots of it. His opening post-credits shot, for instance, is a real treat, and his camera adds to the Dickensian feel superbly well. And even when he's re-using locations, he keeps his shots interesting, the the tone just right.

In front of the camera, Matt Smith continues to own the role of the Doctor, and here, he particularly excels in setting the scene and then perfectly pitching a collection of witty Moffat one-liners. You get less Karen Gillen and Arthur Darvill (whose name now comes before the credits), and instead, it’s Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins who pick up the slack.

Gambon is clearly having a lot of fun here, and makes for a strong Scrooge-like figure. And for those fearing Katherine Jenkins is stunt casting gone wrong, then fear not. The part fits her a treat, and even when she opens her mouth to belt out a song, you’re unlikely to mind. We’ve seen songs shoehorned uncomfortably into Doctor Who in the past, but not here. (We wouldn't entirely wager against a few grumblers, mind.) Murray Gold's score tucks terrifically well around the many deliberately quiet and steady moments of the story, too.

What doesn’t work? Well, we do wonder if this one will appeal to the very young audience that Doctor Who attracts quite as well as it will to everyone else. For it should be said that this is not an outright blockbuster Christmas episode, save for some solid effects-based action sequences. Also, and this is no criticism, Moffat’s storytelling is suitably intricate (also including many lines and references for the older viewer). But we did still catch the fidgets of a couple of the youngsters in the screening where we saw A Christmas Carol, which tallied slightly with our thinking, and did raise very minor alarm bells. That said, we might have read that entirely incorrectly.

Anyway, the majority, we suspect, will enjoy this a lot, especially those who really warmed to the direction that series five of revived Who took (if you're not a convert by now, A Christmas Carol won't be changing your mind). We certainly did.

Still, the proof of that pudding will be on Christmas Day, and the news here is good: this is a very Christmassy, sometimes quite dark, often quite unpredictable and ultimately strong Doctor Who Christmas special. It’s also really quite mad (there’s lots we’re not telling you), undoubtedly festive, and it treats the Dickens source material with respect.

It’s a lot different from the end of an era stories we were getting last year, certainly. But it’s also as good an hour of telly as you’re going to find this Christmas, we’d wager.

Hats off to you, Mr Moffat. Roll on the spring...

Many thanks to the BFI South Bank for hosting the screening.

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol will screen on 25th December 2010 at 6pm on BBC One. Viewers in America also get the episode on Christmas Day: BBC America is screening it at 9pm.

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This review contains spoilers.

5.12 The Big One

I've already seen some very negative reports about the end of Dexter this year, but what actually happens in The Big One is realistically all that could happen.

The problem that the Dexter team wrestled with all season, and eventually worked out that there was no solution, was how to top the ending of season 4.

With the best will in the world, they couldn't have another ending like that one, as it was so dramatic that a show only ever gets something like that to happen once. But it would have probably put the character in a mental institution to have a repeat loss of that magnitude, so that avenue was blocked from the outset, which then limited the options available.

The only choice left to the writers was to kill Lumen, either accidentally or at the hands of Jordan Chase, or for her to leave Dexter's world on two feet. They chose the latter, which at least offers the possibility of bringing her back at some point, or for her to start her own Dexter franchise elsewhere in the USA. I can't say that bothered me. It's nice to occasionally leave returning characters, and Dexter has rarely done this.

If there is a big disappointment in here it's how ineffective Jordan Chase ultimately was, because he was no match for Dexter either intellectually of physically. When he's finally ready to be dispatched, he's so wrapped up in his own personality he's unable to reference the danger he's in, and just tries to continue like he's giving a conference speech. When Lumen actually killed him it was a relief, if only to shut him up.

The better tension of this story was what happened moments later, when Debra turned up at the crime scene, and the delicate dance that Quinn is forced to do to avoid being prosecuted for Liddy's murder. I was never a big fan of Quinn, but he's developed significantly in this season, and I think he could become pivotal in the future.

The other significance of this episode is that the page has turned on to a world where there are people who know who Dexter really is, but for whatever reason choose not to reveal that to anyone. Before we're done it's now a certainty that Debra will work it out too, it's just a matter of time, isn't it?

When the main story was wrapped up with at least 14 minutes of running time left, I did get that slight paranoia that we were about to get sandbagged again, but it was more about giving Lumen an opportunity to leave in a more gentle fashion than Rita managed.

Julia Stiles as Lumen has been excellent, and I'd be really surprised if another TV show producer isn't trying to entice her into a main character role for the coming fall. If they insist, as they seem to be doing, that they want to make another Bourne movie (without Bourne, apparently), then they could do worse than make it about her Bourne persona, Nicky.

While they were hamstrung by previous glories to a degree, Season 5 was enjoyable. I'd say it was behind Season 3 and 4, but better than 1 and 2. It didn't have the menace that Mr. Lithgow brought to it, but it did have some memorable moments. My personal favourite was the one where Lumen saw a picture with Vince on it, and immediately commented that he was a 'freak' without ever having met him. The story where Astor came back home was also very good, as it came entirely out of left field.

It might not have been the hair on fire ending that was expected, but the Dexter world has been reset once more, much like a scary amusement ride, ready for another set of willing screamers.

Dexter season six is already on my to-do list for 2011, and I hope it's on yours too.

Read our review of episode 11, Hop A Freighter, here.

See all the Dexter Season 5 reviews here.

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If you had to name a dildo, what would you call it? I'll confess, until Friday night's episode of Peep Show had aired, it's not really something that had crossed my mind, but damn the scriptwriters for planting the seed, as I just can't shake it off.

Mark Corrigan calls his dildo Kenneth, you see, which brings to light the radical notion that he has a rather saucy side to his bedroom antics. I always had the impression that sex for Mark was something of an alien concept.

But, no, it would appear that he does have some rampant desires hiding away in his mind locker. Good for him, I say, although this was naturally tempered by the fact that he couldn't bring himself to call a spade a spade, leading to the brilliant naming of the dildo as Kenneth. "I find it quite intimidating as a man. It's like a leg of lamb. So, I've decided to call it Kenneth. Meet my sexual associate, Kenneth."

Kenneth came to pass as Mark and Dobby's relationship continues apace, although Mark's obvious self-doubt and worries about Dobby returning to former boyfriend Simon resurfaced. There was a particularly nice scene where Jez's obvious admiration for Mark's dildo-owning prowess came to the fore.

The conversation between the pair about the average amount of time sex should last was just a delight. "I want the average amount of time. The mean. No, the mode or median. Sting's probably thrown the mean out for everyone else." This was just one example of the heights the writing reached this week, which delivered more belly laughs for this writer than in any comedy I've seen in the past few months.

The best scene of the lot, though, was arguably Mark's obvious boyish delight at having bought 'a big dildo' and Jez's good humour at seeing his friend take a leaf out of his book. The chemistry between Mitchell and Webb just seems to get stronger and stronger with every series and the softening of the relationship between Jez and Mark, something I've covered previously in my reviews of Peep Show, is touched upon here.

It's obvious that, as they've grown older together, Jez has developed much more respect for Mark, instead of viewing him as beneath him. He seems to appreciate the stability and near-father figure that Mark brings into his life and his reaction to the sex toy, while before might have been ridicule, was clearly one of amusement, but he also seemed heartened by his friend's purchase. It brought the pair closer together, in the strangest way imaginable.

In the meantime, Jez's blossoming relationship with Zahra is going well. Just a pity it's a) built on a pack of lies, and b) going on despite Zahra having any knowledge about it whatsoever. This episode cranked up the loathing for her boyfriend, Ben, however, with a particularly nasty scene in which he thanks Jez for warming her up for him before they retired to the bedroom. I guess the idea behind all of this is that when Jez and Zahra do eventually hook up, you won't feel in the slightest bit bad for former coma victim Ben.

Inevitably, though, it will all blow up in Jez's face when Zahra realises he's not actually into films like Amelie and the last book he read was Mr Nice. Oh, and his response to Zahra's "À demain" of "No, you da man", wasn't actually meant as a joke at all. "Why is that funny,'" Jez pondered. He's clearly on a man-mission to nab Zahra now, despite that fact that they have literally nothing in common.

The episode's glorious third plot strand came courtesy of the always brilliant Super Hans, who had decided to give up drugs entirely. "But you love crack. It's your favourite," Jez pleaded. To help him cope, Super Hans had taken up running in quite a serious way, leading to one of the episode's funniest lines, when he found himself accidentally running to Windsor. He's a scene stealer whenever on screen and I can only hope that his appearance in every episode thus far continues going forward.

The week came to a close as Jez hosted a book club to further woo Zahra and Mark stepped in to save his mate, showing Ben up in the process. Jez can't read, you see, and Wuthering Height's 300-plus pages was a deception too far. Fantastic, then, that Mark should step into the breach and showcase more of that mutual respect between the pair.

The episode upped the ante on what has already proved to be a strong series and the development of the relationship between Jez and Mark is working a treat for me. I wonder if we'll ever see Kenneth again, though?

Read our review of the second episode here.

Peep Show airs on Channel 4, Friday nights at 10:00pm.

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We're still a little while away from formal casting news as to the unwanted reboot of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer franchise. But it appears that some discussions have been taking place, and a name has been foisted into the fray.

That name? Heather Morris, known to Glee fans as Brittany Pierce. The news arose at Movieweb, who had been talking to production company Sandollar about the film. Apparently, the criteria that has led to Morris' name moving up the shortlist are her comedy timing and her gymnastic and dancing background.

Movieweb has also learned that in the new reboot, "Buffy will no longer be in high school, but instead facing the same hardships that a lot of young college graduates have today in struggling to find a paying job and a healthy relationship."

Make of that what you will.

We should point out that there's been nothing formal here, and a salt dosage is recommended until concrete news emerges.

Movieweb

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We've got until June 3rd 2011 before we find out just what Matthew Vaughn has managed to do with the X-Men franchise, as his new film, First Class, very much takes things back to basics.

Vaughn has been shooting the film, which stars the likes of Michael Fassbender, January Jones, Kevin Bacon and James McAvoy, over these past few months, and he's got a contracted post-production schedule (at least in comparison to some big blockbusters) to get everything done and dusted.

Yet, what is the story he's looking to tell? Well, for the first time, that news has been made available, as Fox has released the first official synopsis from the film. And here it is:

"X-Men: First Class charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men."

You'll notice in there that we have a villain being named for the first time, too. For X-Men: First Class will see the mutants doing battle with Armageddon.

We'll have more details on the film as we get them, and we'd wager we might just get a trailer in the next month...

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We've still as much an idea as the next person (assuming the next person isn't Christopher Nolan) as to who the villains will be in the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Current Internet favourite is Hugo Strange, with The Riddler and (unsurprisingly) Mr Freeze already formally ruled out. It's also been confirmed that The Joker won't be returning.

But will there be a place for Catwoman? This is one rumour that's never been outright denied, although, given the vast collection of chatter about The Dark Knight Rises, it'd take a long time to shoot down every piece of information and opinion about it that arises.

However, when the Catwoman rumours were at their loudest, the name of Angelina Jolie wasn't far from many people's lips (with Megan Fox also mooted) as to a potential piece of casting. So, was Jolie approached about the film, and does she know anything about it? Well, according to a new interview with MTV News, no and no.

When MTV asked her, in an article designed to put straight many of the rumours about Jolie that have been doing the rounds, she was asked outright about the role of Catwoman. Answer? "I haven't heard anything about it, but I thought they did it."

When pushed a bit further, and told that she was, supposedly, the Internet's choice for the role, she batted it straight off with an "I see. Thank you. Flattering."

Appreciating that she would hardly run up to the camera and declare that she'd been cast in the film if she had got the part right now, we can't help wondering whether we shouldn't just be ruling Jolie out of the role, but whether the part of Catwoman will be appearing at all. Details might just start to filter through in the months ahead. But don't bank on it.

Here's the piece at MTV.

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