DCEU News: The Flash spoilers, Aquaman sequel starts filming and more JLD Spin-offs

We're halfway into 2021 and more upcoming DC stuff has been revealed.

Filming for The Flash has been a goldmine of reveals, including a first look of both Sasha Calle in costume as Supergirl and Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. The film is slated for November 4th 2022.

Also beginning filming in the UK is Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. Aside from its December 16th 2022 release date, no new word on new casting yet for the movie.

Black Adam is also due to finish filming in July, though I expect there will be some reshoots at a later date. The film is slated for July 29th 2022.

Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods due for June 2nd 2023 has revealed the main cast's new costumes while filming pics have revealed Helen Mirren's look as Hespera. Grace Fulton has replaced Michelle North as the adult superhero version of Mary for the movie.

Robert Pattinson and Colin Farrell will be doing some reshoots for The Batman in July. The film will be released on March 4th 2022.

HBO Max continued to build on their plans for Justice League Dark with JJ Abrams producing a series based on Madame Xanadu with Angela Robinson serving as showrunner.

Both Legends Of Tomorrow and Batwoman will return for their next seasons on the CW from October 13th while The Flash will be back from November 16th.

The third season of Titans will premiere on HBO Max from August 12th. The season will have thirteen episodes.

Peacemaker will wrap production in July for a January 2022 release date.

The Blue Beetle movie will be a HBO Max exclusive along with Batgirl and Static Shock.

That's it for this month. Hopefully more exciting stuff to be revealed for the next month.

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 6x08: "Stressed Western"

 

Written by Matthew Maala

Directed by David Ramsay

Nate: "I promised Ava a classic Legends romp, okay? So no getting captured, no personal drama."

Oh poor Nate. The one think this week trying to keep everyone happy, only for his own emotions to burst out while stuck in a town with a rage hungry alien that leaves gold behind. That last bit being the least crazy thing here.

Winding up in Fist City, the Legends are looking for the alien but find a seemingly passive town under the control of Levi Stapleton (Nicholas Bishop), who didn't waste time trying to get the Legends while getting killed by the very alien the town was exploiting for their own gain.

However the most noteworthy thing that Levi actually did was out Sara to the rest of the Legends as not being herself any more, which Ava learned about earlier in the episode. Of course Ava struggled with this reveal, especially given Sara's thing for milkshakes with cherries on top but soon the passion was reignited between the two.

There was a lot of passion in this episode along with anger. Constantine showed more passion in his anger with Gary not telling him about the Fountain of Imperium than in his relationship with Zari while the latter herself was more interested in Behrad's love life this week.

Yes, Behrad nearly got a love interest this week with Irma Rose (AnnaLynne McCord) when he wasn't flirting with Astra and the latter also squabbled with Spooner a lot before the pair of them found some common ground. 

Then there was the guest star of the week and also this episode's director - David Ramsay. It's been nice seeing him direct Arrowverse shows but here he was playing a real life figure in Bass Reeves instead of John Diggle, so we're still no closer to learning if the latter became a Green Lantern. Still there's three more appearances to solve that one.

- Mick largely sat this episode out, only appearing in two scenes. It looks like John will be gone a while too.

- AnnaLynne McCord is Dominic Purcell's real life partner as is Nicholas Bishop Jes Macallan's. This is the second time the latter has appeared this season.

- They have overdone with the singer, especially during the closing. At least Nate gets to visit Zari 1 though.

- Chronology: 1891 Fist City for the majority of the episode.

Stressed Western might be the fourth time the show has played around with this setting but this was fun. I do wish that Bass had played a bigger part in the episode but overall, it does feel like after a rocky start, this season has gotten on track.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1 (2021)

 

Written by Tim Sheridan

Directed by Chris Palmer

Bruce (to Falcone): "I believe in Gotham."

Two years ago, DC Animation gave us a version of Hush that was too removed from the source material for it's own good and given how immensely popular The Long Halloween is, I admit that I was somewhat dreading this adaptation.

Split into two movies, the first one covered about nearly half of the infamous comic with the mysterious Holiday Killer targeting the Falcone empire but not quite getting Carmine Falcone (Titus Welliver) himself.

Kicking off with Halloween and Falcone's nephew Johnny Viti winds up the first victim before Thanksgiving then resulted in the Triad Falcone sent after Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) being the second group to get taken out. It's up to Batman (Jensen Ackles), Jim Gordon (Billy Burke) to try and figure out the identity of the killer along with Dent's personal vendetta with Falcone.

Of course there are some false starts here. Twice Batman mistakes someone else for the killer and in both cases, he's proven wrong.

With the Joker (Troy Baker), the Clown Prince of Crime simply wants to take some respective competition while the increasingly rejected son, Alberto Falcone (Jack Quaid) wants a life away from his father's influence before becoming the final victim in this first part on New Year's Day.

Falcone definitely is the driving force behind this story with Holiday targeting those connected to him, including his own family and a bodyguard on Christmas while at the same time, Falcone also resorts to desperate measures to get Bruce Wayne on side.

Along with Batman, Gordon and Dent all working together, there's Catwoman (Naya Rivera) in the mix too. She's happy to see Dent burn all of Falcone's laundered money to the ground while being a sympathetic ear for Alberto. 

The dynamic between Batman and Catwoman feels somewhat less antagonistic here than in the comic itself. There's also a perplexing moment where Selina outs Bruce as Batman to Alberto before the latter's death, which was strange. 

As for Dent, his drive to get Falcone is prominent throughout the movie but there's also a bigger emphasis on his crumbling marriage to Gilda (Julie Nathanson) as well as a milder version of that with Gordon and Barbara (Amy Landecker) to boot. 

As for Batman, this movie clearly seems to be based in his early days with him being forced to act more as a detective than an enforcer. The way he handles this Holiday Killer case highlights how much he needs to hone his skills in that regard.

- This two part movie was one of Naya Rivera's last roles prior to her death last year.

- There are non speaking cameos from Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Penguin and Mad Hatter. Solomon Grundy and Calender Man have brief speaking roles.

- The second part of this movie will be released from July 27th.

- Chronology: This first movie covers from Halloween to New Year's Day.

Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1 kicks off the classic story pretty well. It's not a faithful adaptation (no Riddler for instance) but it's an improvement on a previous one mentioned earlier in this review and hopefully the second part can stick the landing.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 1x11: "A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events"

Written by Brent Fletcher

Directed by Gregory Smith

Lois: "John, it's happening, just like you  said it would. I think Superman's been turned."

Oh boy, this doesn't look good at all, does it? To protect his family, Superman ended the episode submitting to both Tal-Rho and the latter's father Zeta and Lois was on the phone to John to get reinforcements to save her husband.

Now here's the thing, you wouldn't be wrong in assuming that the John she would be calling for help would be Steel as set pics have confirmed that he'll be back for the final episodes but there's also the fact that David Ramsay (who already directed Man Of Steel) will also be paying a visit as Diggle after we get his imminent appearances on both Legends Of Tomorrow and The Flash out of the way.

Tal-Rho wasted no time in getting Superman at his most vulnerable and because of a little mind invasion, we also got a much wanted trip down memory lane as more of Clark's early days were covered. If you enjoyed the flashbacks in the opening episode, then this episode was a treat to behold.

Things opened with the younger Clark making his own Fortress of Solitude and being introduced to his father, Jor-El as well honing his abilities, reconnecting with Martha, lamenting the loss of Lana (who moved on with Kyle) and of course, the move to Metropolis.

Then we saw the origins of his first adventures as Superman, getting a job at Daily Planet, meeting and falling in love with Lois, coming out to her as Superman, marriage, becoming a father and so on before it was obvious what was happening.

With Clark firmly believing in the good of humanity, Morgan of course continued his tirade of viewing them as a weakness and it was the threat of killing Superman's family that made Clark submit to his older brother, whose own discovery of his Fortress and family reunion was on display here too.

The flashbacks/dream sequences took up the majority of the episode but they were the best part nonetheless. All those gaps filled in nicely, the blossoming romance with Lois and Clark as well as the reverse of a usual trope between Lois and Superman as well was a nice surprise.

It's not unfair to assume that while Tal-Rho views Superman's humanity as his weakness, it will be Lois and the boys who bring Superman back from the brink of destruction and perhaps sooner than expected. It's good to see that Lois had a Plan B in motion.

- Major props to Kyle for apologising to Lois this episode. He learned the hard way but I have to respect the guy for admitting he was wrong about Morgan Edge.

- Jordan and Sarah became a couple in this episode. In flashbacks, we saw Perry White and Ron Troupe. Jimmy Olsen was mentioned but not seen.

- It makes thematic sense to have Tal-Rho's Fortress be in the desert.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. Tal-Rho met his father in 1987.

A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events takes the title for next episode. This show keeps surpassing itself and this flashback heavy episode was a delight with a hell of an ending that has set the final four episodes up beautifully when it returns next month.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 6x07: "Back To The Finale Part II"

 

Written by Morgan Faust And Mark Bruner

Directed by Glen Winter

Sara: "Ava Sharpe, will you marry me?"

I think it's a safe bet that if this season had aired in it's usual schedule, this episode undoubtedly would've been the mid season finale.

Hell, this episode was an attempt on Behrad's part alone to undo the events of the previous finale and stop Sara from getting abducted by aliens in the first place. Needless to say despite his efforts and help from other Legends, this was a plan destined to fail.

Of course that wasn't a bad thing as we learned that you can't change events without setting off other ripples in the timeline and with the help of Mick, Kayla, Gary and the Ava clones, Sara did manage to finally get away from Bishop and temporarily put him on ice.

However while the reunion with Sara and her team was much needed and the highlight of the episode along with the overdue proposal to Ava, there's still the issue of Sara no longer being her original self.

She let Mick in on the secret and he got one of the most touching reactions to it but I'm hoping it's not long before Ava and the rest of the team are aware that Sara is now a clone with alien DNA to boot. 

Although Bishop did get his backside handed to him and incinerated by Mick, unfortunately he has gotten the last laugh with Sara and I don't doubt it'll be long before the two cross paths again. At least when that happens, she'll have her team to help take him out.

As for the rest of the gang, there was a lot of lovely moments between them but I also liked that while they were sad at the thought of losing Sara, they had taken to having Spooner around. Spooner and Sara even got a lovely conversation when the former was undercover as well.

- John of course wanted to encourage Behrad's plan to get his magic back, which Zari figured out.

- Nate's undercover look as Constantine from a different timeline was terrible. I also wonder if Kayla was killed by those Zagurons when helping Sara, Mick and Gary escape.

- We manage to briefly see Charlie in the episode, though it was footage lifted from the finale and nothing new.

- Chronology: As the title of the episode confirmed, the finale from last year so 1977 London.

Back To The Finale Part II was the reprise that was needed for the show and it was a fun reprisal as well. I'm glad Sara is finally back with the Legends and the aftermath of this new phase of her should be interesting going into the second half of the season.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Mapplethorpe (2018)

 

Written by Ondi Timoner And Mikko Alanne

Directed by Ondi Timoner

Mapplethorpe: "Take the picture."

Continuing with Pride Month and getting to a movie I've put off for too long, this deep dive into controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe with my favourite Doctor Matt Smith assuming the role certainly had a lot to live up.

A streaming release from 2018, the movie begins with struggling photographer Mapplethorpe meeting Patti Smith (Marianne Rendon) and it's not long before the two of them are pretending to be a married couple to Robert's Catholic parents (as played by Carolyn McCormick and Mark Moses), making art and eventually going their separate ways when its revealed that Robert is actually gay. 

Once Robert comes to terms with his sexuality, it's not long before it has a massive influence on his work, starting with his dalliance with David Croland (Thomas Philip  O'Neill) before escalating into a full relationship with dealer/collector Sam Wagstaff (John Benjamin Hickey) and a slew of hedonism that would eventually lead to Robert's own passing.

In the meantime, the movie explored the evolution of his art, the boundaries he was willing to push, even if it meant driving his lovers away and undermining his younger brother, Edward's (Brandon Sklenar) own artistic aspirations as Robert was determined that only one of them would be allowed to capitalise on the family name for success.

As we get into the usual debate as to whether or not straight actors should be playing gay characters, especially real life figures as infamous as Mapplethorpe, I gotta admit that while I would've loved to have seen a gay actor in this particular role, there's no denying that Matt Smith gives it his all as the controversial photographer.

Smith delivers a raw, charming, uninhibited performance throughout the movie. Mapplethorpe's strengths and weaknesses, both as a creative and as a real person seem to be on full display here and while you know how Mapplethorpe's story came to an end, this movie certainly captured a perfect rundown of the crucial moments of his life and career.

- While we saw a lot of Mapplethorpe's edger pieces, we also saw that he took pictures for Debbie Harry, Donald Sutherland and Arnold Schwarzenegger to name a few.

- Buffy fans should be interested to know that Eliza Dushku was a producer on this movie.

- Standout music: T. Rex's Children Of The Revolution, Bronski Beat's Smalltime Boy and Roxy Music's More Than This.

- Chronology: This movie takes in the years 1969 up until Mapplethorpe's death in 1989.

Mapplethorpe is an excellent tour de force for Matt Smith and while I might be a tad based, it's by far one of the most interesting roles he's taken on since ditching the old blue box. I wish this movie had more exposure because it's a fantastic piece of gay cinema that needs more love.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Justice Society: World War II (2021)

 

Written by Jeremy Adams And Meghan Fitzmartin

Directed by Jeff Wamester

Wonder Woman: "War is a place for warriors, not a place for wishes."

Two things that have been getting a noticeable push DC wise in the last year have been both the Justice Society and the Multiverse and this animated movie decided to put both on the table with interesting results.

On one Earth, the Flash (Matt Bomer) finds himself in Metropolis on a date with Iris West (Ashleigh LaTrop), only to get caught up in a battle between Superman (Darren Criss) and Brainiac (Darin De Paul), only for things to get a lot more complicated for the speedster.

Yes, Barry winds up on a different Earth, in the middle of a battle in France, only to learn that he's landed during World War II and the Justice Society whom he's never heard of are trying to stop the Nazis from winning the war.

The group are lead by Wonder Woman (Stana Katic) and although she's initially mistrustful of Barry, it doesn't take too long for him to win her over and it probably helped that they had common ground, especially in terms of affairs of the heart.

With Diana Prince around, handsome Steve Trevor (Chris Diamantopolous) wasn't far behind and neither were his rather soppy proposal attempts either. I won't spoil things except to say what results in Barry and Iris's relationship taking the natural next step doesn't quite pan out for Diana and Steve.

As for the other Society members you've got Jay Garrick (Armen Taylor), Hourman (Matthew Mercer), Hawkman (Omid Abtahi) and Black Canary (Elysia Rotaru) and they're a solid group, though needless to say at least one of them doesn't make it out of the team and adventure alive but don't be surprised if they materialise in a follow up.

Also on the hero roster includes the mysterious 'Shakespeare' who's later revealed to this other Earth's Superman while Aquaman (Liam McIntyre) finds himself under the control of the main villain of the piece and eventually flees in disgrace, so he's a character in need of redemption in a follow up while a rather tortured Doctor Fate (Keith Ferguson) only appears to offer some cryptic clues and then disappear.

There are plenty of cool fight sequences, team dynamic moments (I especially loved the banter with Barry and Jay) and the mystery surrounding the Advisor (Geoffrey Arend) is interesting enough. I think he's possibly Vandal Savage but I could wrong. I assume follow ups will confirm his identity soon enough.

- This movie is clearly in the same universe started in Superman: Man Of Tomorrow and this ended with the Flash and Superman forming a certain league.

- Black Canary has a romance with a Detective Lance whom I'm sure we'll see in another movie.

- Nearly all the main cast in this movie have played other DC characters in other animated movies and live action shows.

- Chronology: World War II for most this movie, present day for the Metropolis scenes.

Justice Society: World War II is extremely enjoyable as a movie. While I'm sure another Justice group will materialise fairly soon in this new animated universe, I wouldn't mind another one for this crew before that happens.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 1x10: "O, Mother, Where Art Thou?"

 

Written by Adam Mallinger

Directed by Harry Jierjian 

Tal-Rho: "The thing is Kal, this is the only planet you've ever known, so you don't know the pain of losing one, but I do and I'm not gonna let that happen again. And neither are they."

Well, gotta give this show even more points for creativity. Not only is Morgan Edge not Zod or H'El but it turns out that he was actually being literal about Superman being his brother. Well, half brother. There's a bit of an Aquaman and Orm vibe to this.

Enter Tal-Rho, the son of Zeta-Rho and Lara  Lor-Van, the latter being Ka'-El's mother of course. It's revealed that Tal landed in an English village, got hunted and tortured and now wants to use the Eradicator to retool Earth as a new Krypton.

Of course Tal does give Superman the option to join him, which the latter refused and the rest of the episode then has Superman and everyone working against Tal's overall scheme. Of course the only one who can work the Eradicator outside of Tal turns out to be Lara and this was a moment for Lana to shine.

Having Lana volunteer to host Lara to save the day definitely gave Emmanuelle Chriqui an opportunity to do her best work on the show as Superman got to have a lovely reunion with his mother and Lois a rather nice conversation with Lara before Tal's scheme was temporarily halted.

With Superman out of commission at the Phantom Zone, Smallville somewhat spared  Tal's scheme, the latter also didn't seem to phased by Superman outsmarting as his final scene with Leslie seemed to indicate. There's only five episodes left to go, it'll be interesting to see how Tal's plan progresses. His quest to save his race night be noble but his methods are definitely horrible and yes, his scenes with Superman this week also evoked Man Of Steel as well for good measure.

As for the twins, their scenes were mostly with Sarah and letting her in on what actually happened to Kyle. Jonathan also got another good moment calling out Sam's hypocrisy while Jordan was as honest with Sarah about things as he could be. I do wonder if she'll work out that Jordan has powers before he comes clean on the matter.

- Watching the Lana plot of the episode, surely shes going to retain something of being a host to Lara or work out another way that her childhood friend is Superman.

- Jonathan seems to be the only concerned that his father could become dark but given what he saw in John Henry Irons van that's believable.

- I loved that Superman mentioned Martha during his brief reunion with Lara during this episode.

- Chronology: Exactly where the last episode left off.

O, Mother, Where Art Thou continues this impressive streak of episodes. Going down an actual brotherly route with Superman and Morgan Edge/Tal-Rho genuinely worked a treat, the Lana/Lara were effective to the plot and emotionally. I love that the show deftly series expectations.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 6x06: "Bishop's Gambit"

 

Written by James Eagan And Emily Cheever

Directed by Kevin Mock

Bishop: "Oh, there are those scars. On the dead body of the real Sara Lance."

Oh bloody hell. I didn't see that coming. Sara bring dead and her consciousness in a clone but I guess maybe I should've when it was so casually revealed about Bishop being a clone.

I'm not sure I like this story at all and I'm really not sure the aliens story overall has worked this season. Six episodes in and I do feel this is shaping up to be the weakest season so far.

As Bishop took great pleasure in constantly outsmarting Sara this week, his condescension towards the Ava clones might be his downfall. With his main Ava clone starting to think for herself and Gary factoring into things, the clones will obviously become Bishop's undoing.

Gary demonstrated his flexible side this week while trying and failing to help Sara but at least he got the Ava clones on side. As for Sara, Mick nearly came to her rescue before things went south.

I quite liked the Mick and Kayla team up but saw the pair of them having sex at the worst time a mile off. It's still a better pairing than Constantine and Zari as the former is now lying to the latter about his powers or lack of them with Astra's help.

Astra did manage to use her powers to get alien Amelia Earhart to reveal more to the gang as did Spooner's more tense confrontation with her. Is Spooner slowly becoming an alien herself? I think so.

- Needless to say, the Legends don't make for good housemates and were getting on John's nerves. I did like Nate calling John "gorg" though.

- Gary in the toilet is a new bizarre thing we can add to the show's list of things. One of the alien species doesn't react well to light.

- Behrad seems to be something of a calming influence with Spooner. I get the sense he might be attracted to her as well.

- Chronology: 2021 for the scenes in Constantine's house but also 1956 New York for the Amelia Earhart stuff.

Bishop's Gambit definitely had some great moments but I have mixed feelings on the Sara being dead reveal, though what the next episode intends to do, perhaps it might not last. Still not sure aliens work on the show though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 1x09: "Loyal Subjekts"

Written by Andrew N. Wong

Directed by Eric Dean Seaton

Morgan Edge (to Superman); "I think it's time you learned the truth about who I am and where I'm from, brother."

Well, this show ain't stopping with the revelations and just like the Steel reveal from two week's ago, this was another one I did not see coming. Yet it's also one that males perfect sense though.

Morgan Edge being Kryptonian but which one? A part of me wants to say it's possibly Zod as perhaps he's not being so literal with the brother reference to Superman but on the other hand, maybe he's H'el. Either way, I get the feeling the next episode will clarify nonetheless on who he really is.

It's a great reveal on top of an episode that also revealed Leslie Larr's real name and tricked viewers into initially thinking the opening scene was about Morgan and Leslie recruiting Emily for the Subjekts when in reality it was actually Kyle all along.

I predicted that Kyle would fall victim to the Subjekts story and when Lana refused Morgan's offer seemingly unscathed, it made sense that he already had the backup of Kyle to try and take out Lois while Superman was a bit vulnerable and distracted.

For the second week in a row we got to see Lois and Jonathan work as a team, acknowledge their human vulnerability while at the same time, still attempt to hold their own against superpowered people. Jonathan had the right idea helping himself to some of John Henry Irons weapons.

Both Superman and Jordan suffered the effects of Kryptonite gas Rosetti subjected Superman to and thankfully it was a trip to the Fortress of Solitude that at least helped Jordan out. I'm not sure Superman himself is out of the woods from that just yet.

With the consequences of the previous episode looming for Sam, he got both barrels from Lois and Jonathan over his bad choices while also trying to step up and protect his family in Superman's absence. It seems this week both Sam Lane and Jacob Kane were forced to step up and address their own misdeeds though there's no sign of the DOD being disbanded just yet.

- Sarah seems a bit too keen to keep Jonathan away from Tegan while this was the episode for Jordan to discover he has ice breath.

- Leslie and David were born in Smallville, Derek in New Carthage and Rosetti in Metropolis but where did Morgan Edge grow up upon landing on Earth?

-  At some point this show, especially with this story is gonna have to reference Kara. Even I find not mentioning her here odd.

- Chronology: From where the last one left off and aside from a trip to the Fortress of Solitude, we also got to see Superman foil a robbery in Mexico.

Loyal Subjekts certainly knocked it out of the park with that last scene, which means the show can pull the same trick twice in the same season in a short space of time. I also felt this was the first episode really to drive home Morgan Edge as a baddie and his meet up with Superman  was perfectly handled.

Rating: 8 out of 10

It's Been Seventeen Years

I haven't seen quite as much as I wanted to over the past few weeks but here's a glimpse of what I have been watching.

Batwoman: We're heading into the remaining few episodes of the season and things have gotten somewhat more interesting. While Luke being shot seemed to served more as a catalyst for an imminent hero role, it's interesting to see how we went from Sophie quitting the Crows to Jacob disbanding them in too quick a succession. On the plus side, we've got Alice and Jacob working together to save Kate from Black Mask as we head towards the finale.

Friends: The Reunion: Remember a time when this particular reunion was gonna be the very thing to launch HBO Max? Well, COVID happened but over a year later, we finally got the reunion special with the main cast of the iconic 90s sitcom and James Corden hosting it as well. I loved the show back in the day and it was nice to see the old gang again.

The Flash: This season has been an almighty slog to get through and I'm honestly at a point where I feel the CW need to end the series. The Forces storyline was sloppily handled, it's hard to care about Cisco leaving the show when he's done so little for a long time and the whole Killer Frost trial thing ended up being a pointless farce of a plot. I really hope the remaining episodes can end the season on a better note.

The Nevers: Four episodes into this strange Victorian themed series by Joss Whedon (who also got quickly removed from it) and I have to admit I like it a lot better than expected. There's a certain X-Men feel to it and Laura Donnelly's Amalia True has a Jessica Jones quality to her character. Maladie makes for an amusing enough antagonist but there's definitely a bigger and stranger picture at play and it'll be interesting of between show runners being changed if it can stick the landing.

• Nico Greetham will appear in the fourth episode of American Horror Stories. The series will premiere on Hulu from July 15th.
• American Horror Story: Double Feature will premiere on FX from August 25th.
• Outlander's sixth season will premiere in 2022 on Starz but will only be eight episodes. The seventh season will be expanded.
• The CW have scrapped the pilot for Powerpuff Girls and will retool it.
• The final season of The Walking Dead will air on Disney+ as FOX UK will be shut down at the end of this month.
• The second season of Locke And Key will be released on Netflix in October.
• Netflix have renewed Shadow And Bone for a second season but have axed Jupiter's Legacy.
• The Staircase has added Sophie Turner to the cast.
• Sarah Hyland has joined upcoming ABC fairy tale themed pilot, Epic.
• Night Court sequel series has added Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette to the cast for NBC.

My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 6x05: "The Satanist's Apprentice"

 

Written by Keto Shimizu And Ray Utarnachitt

Directed by Caity Lotz

Astra (to Crowley): "No distractions here. Let's make some real power."

The first four episodes this season have been something of a mixed bag and I'm not entirely sure if I like this ongoing alien arc but this episode felt like a good step forward with certain things.

This week things mostly revolved around Astra and her struggles adapting to normal life. After a three episode, it was nice to catch up with her again and between harshly realising the necessity of cash, a racist neighbour, John being distracted and a house falling apart, no wonder Astra wanted to take the short route.

In the premiere episode, Aleister Crowley was mentioned by Constantine and here he's seen trapped in a painting but not for long as it took very little to get Astra to let him out and have John take his place in the painting.

Needless to say, Astra chose to work with Crowley in order to get powers and when the Legends stopped by, they ended up being turned into a binder (Ava), block of cheese (Nate), flip phone (Zari), candlestick (Behrad) and fork (Spooner) while Astra considered stealing her racist neighbours to get more power.

Of course Astra changed her mind, turned on Crowley and the latter decided to turn things into a Disney movie with Astra finding an magical enema of sorts to save the day and put Crowley back in his painting.

I'm not keen on Constantine with no magic but between him promising to start from scratch with Astra and Crowley bending his ear about a magical force (alien magic), I get the feeling John will be tempted to take a shortcut himself.

As for Sara, well this week we learned a lot about Bishop. Notably that he's completely off his rocker, has a penchant for dancing, has an insufferable god complex to complete the mad scientist stereotype and that he created the Ava clones.

This week we had a Nurse Ava one who as well as being a Wynonna Earp fangirl also had no problem deceiving Sara as Bishop informed the latter that they were more connected than before. It seems Sara happens to be essential to his whole wanting to reshape humanity thing he's got going on this season.

- Crowley was voiced by Matt Lucas so that the third Doctor Who companion actor we've had on the show. I'm surprised he didn't make a physical appearance though.

- Interesting to see Astra's perspective of the three episodes she didn't appear in. Mostly with her being exasperated by Constantine being distracted.

- No Gary or Mick/Kayla this week but both are back in the next episode.

- Chronology: Present day for the majority of this episode.

 The Satanist's Apprentice was the strongest episode we've had this season. Great performances from both Matt Ryan and Olivia Swann with Matt Lucas as a good guest villain. The animated sequence along with Astra's singing worked well and I enjoyed the Sara and Bishop scenes too.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 1x08: "Holding The Wrench"

Written by Kristi Korzec

Directed by Norma Bailey

Lois (to Jonathan): "Right now I want you to know we are on the same team. We are the extraordinary humans in a family of super people and we have to stick together."

It's been eight episodes and once again, this show has found new ways to differentiate itself from it's fellow CW DC shows and while there has been an understandable annoyance over the lack of continuity with Supergirl, there's no denying that this episode handled a certain subject with great maturity.

We already know that in John Henry Irons world that Lois Lane had a daughter with him called Natalie. What we didn't know but found out here was that after Jonathan and Jordan were born, Lois miscarried a daughter, whom she was also going to name Natalie after her grandmother.

This episode saw Lois attending a therapy session with Sam's friend, Dr Wiles (Wendy Crewson) in which past trauma resurfaced and Lois found herself needing to talk  to someone who wasn't Clark. Wiles got Lois to open about her loss of a child as well as Lois's own fears when Jonathan ended up in danger as well.

I've been seeing a lot of praise for the show's handling of a serious topic such as miscarriage and Elizabeth Tulloch's overall performance and I'm going to join in as well. Tulloch has been incredible as Lois but this was a series highlight and while Lois might have been harsh with Jonathan it came from a believable and it was reassuring to see the two of them make amends towards the end of the episode.

Jonathan has been feeling like an outsider for a while now and it boiled over when his attempts to help his mother almost got him killed. Personally I hope the show can resist the temptation to give him powers  down the line because it would be nice to see him be able to use whatever coping skills Lois will give him.

As for the John Henry Irons part. - he still doesn't trust Superman but realises that this Earth's Lois isn't his dead wife. He also tried  to give Sam a warning about more Kryptonians on the way, nearly got tortured by Trask before Rosetti revealed that he was another one of Edge's Subjekts. Thanks to John, he didn't last long.

Speaking of Subjekts - thanks to Leslie, we had Kyle find out that Lana lied to him about Edge not wanting him for the job and his abandonment of Sarah during an audition set their relationship back too. I think it's a safe assumption that Kyle could wind up becoming a Subjekt if he doesn't start listening to Lana.

- We can add piano skills to Jordan's talents and Sarah does have a nice singing voice. The episode also delved in a bit more about her anxiety.

- Although John wasn't keen on fighting with Superman, you just know he'll change his mind. Nice nods to Batman V. Superman during the fight scenes this week.

-  Getting back to an earlier point, surely we should get some info on Kara. Did she go evil on John's Earth?

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Holding The Wrench  definitely  delivered one hell of an episode. It's not the kind of episode I ever expected a Superman property to ever handle but it's also one of the best episodes from a Superman property and in a par with last week's episode. Elizabeth Tulloch was exceptional here.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of The 24th Day (2004)

Written And Directed by Tony Piccirillo

Tom: "You know you are a perfect example of what is wrong with this world. No one will take a stand and say that it's me. I'm guilty, I did it. You fucked up. You lived by your own rules and not you have to pay for that."

Dan: "Because I met you at a bar and came back with you, I deserve this?"

Tom: "You came home with me twice."

Dan: "And that makes me some kind of monster? And by the way if you remember correctly you invited me back here. God damn it, you set me up."

Tom: "You always have to play like you're the innocent one."

A one night stand can always come back to haunt and in this movie, it's exactly this that has our two leading characters at odds with one another in this intense two hander of sorts. There are a few other characters but they're not really of note here.

Anyways, the usually very safe Dan (James Marsden) meets the rather intense Tom (Scott Speedman) at a bar and soon leaves his friend Isabella to go back to Tom's place. Instead of getting more familiar with one another, Tom takes an overzealous interest in Dan's sexual history and its not long before Dan realises that this isn't the first time he's encountered Tom.

Five years before the two of them shared a drunken one night stand. Tom reveals that he's HIV Positive and assuming that Dan is responsible for his misfortune, he winds up keeping Dan prisoner in his depressing apartment for the majority of the movie while getting a test to prove whether or not Dan himself has HIV.

It's a tense back and forth between Dan and Tom as the two of them get to know each other while playing on the others own weaknesses. While Tom is a bit too quick to criticise Dan's troubles with telling the truth about his sex life, Dan similarly has no problem in tearing apart Tom's own issues with his sexuality.

Through flashbacks and various conversations we learn that Tom had a wife who died and that he blames Dan and himself for her death. Throughout the movie, Tom does seem incapable of assuming any kind of personal responsibility, even going as far as to threaten to kill Dan  if the latter comes back with HIV.

As the movie winds down, both men do not come out the better for it. Dan finds out that he is actually HIV Positive and Tom seems to have gained no satisfaction in being proven right about Dan. Both James Marsden and Scott Speedman  are excellent throughout the movie. 

- The movie is based on a play by Tony Piccirillo who wrote and directed this adaptation.

- Sofia Vergara played the role of Dan's friend, Isabella. She only gets about two scenes in the whole movie.

- Standout music: Matthew Ryan provides the songs Sweetie, Nails and Trouble Doll while Tegan and Sara provide the song Don't Confess.

- Chronology: This movie came out in 2004 but it had a very late 1990s feel to it.

The 24th Day definitely is an intense power play of a movie with both Dan and Tom not being entirely sympathetic characters. They are believable and both Marsden and Speedman excel in their respective roles.

Rating: 8 out of 10