TV

The British Comedy Awards 2008
Last year there were no Comedy Awards due to the 2006 ones being caught up in the phone voting scandals; this year, the Brand/Ross/Sachs affair surely put them in jeopardy. But on the air they were, and a few good jabs were had at the 30,000 people who complained without evening having heard the show -- with sizable cheers from the audience. Russell Brand's pre-recorded acceptance speech was intriguingly cut short, however... Also amusing, the lack of applause and amount of heckling that Ricky Gervais' win received, especially when his pre-recorded speech was full of his usual "I've won so many awards, this one means nothing" schtick. It got old a few years ago, and now it seems people really hate it. It's just a shame the audience audio was turned down so much. It'll be interesting to see what (if anything) gets more press coverage post-event: the reactions to Ross & Brand, or the jeering of Gervais.

Live at the Apollo
4x02 (5/12/08 edition)

Merlin
1x12 To Kill the King
Oh, the twisty-turny morals! Very nearly scuppered it too, but of course they twisted the right way for an unsurprisingly moral finale. But did the rest of the episode go too far the other to fully justify the ending? I think they may've. Also, the Next Time trailer was unintentionally amusing -- aiming for the same portentous effect as a Doctor Who season finale trailer, but without the weight of imagery and import to carry it off. Oh dear.

Articles

Movie Reviews: Punisher: War Zone
(from Studio Briefing)
Sounds like it's exactly what is set out to be... and the critics all hate that. At least it should please the fans.

New look - we are listening! by Colin Polonowski, and user comments
(from DVD Times)
Who'd've thought a redesign of a free website would prove so controversial?

100 Films update

While it's not been as long since the last update as I usually leave it, I decided the time was ripe to mention the latest round of reviews posted on my other blog, 100 Films in a Year. Though, there aren't many...

As December dawns (oh how literary-sounding!), I still have quite a way to go to hit my target of seeing 100 new films before the year's out. Finger-crossing time, perhaps; or maybe finger-pulling-out time -- I should just get on with it. Talking of which, I wrote a little 'editorial' on the matter here.

Anyway, I have recently posted the following reviews from 2008's quest...

The Cable Guy (1996)

Fist of Legend (1994)

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

And among all these new films, I'm slowly uploading reviews from 2007. The latest batch includes...

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Hellboy: Director's Cut (2004)

On the Town (1949)

Piglet's Big Movie (2003)

Play Time (1967)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Wild at Heart (1990)

Also...

Telling Lies (a short)

I'm nearly done updating last year -- hopefully, 2007 and 2008 will finish around the same time. It'll be odd only having new reviews to post in 2009.