TV

24
7x22 5:00AM - 6:00AM

How I Met Your Mother
4x23 As Fast As She Can
[Watch it on 4oD from 13th May (probably).]

Mo
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Juno (2007)
[#25 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Finally seen all the Best Picture Oscar nominees for 2007! It's only taken three years (more if you count from when they were actually released, not just announced); and it's been over a year since I set about seeing most of them for one big 100 Films post. That should now be coming within the week... hopefully...

Also, as you can see, I've now reached 25 films in my 2010 collection. I've posted a bit on this subject here.

Articles

Jolie departure kills Wanted sequel by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
My first reaction to seeing this story was, "why?" She was hardly the biggest draw of the first film, which was also self-contained and not needing of a sequel... until it made a lot of money. So I was thoroughly unsurprised to see this story the very next day:
Wanted 2 going ahead without Jolie by Paul Millar
(from Digital Spy)
And this points out just what I said: that it was self-contained, the big-name stars die at the end, and then it made a fortune at the box office and they wanted a sequel. Essentially, then, there was no truth to Jolie's departure killing the sequel -- the news reports just made it up/assumed it. Which just goes to remind us why you can't trust the media. Especially Digital Spy.

Real-Life Buzz Lightyear by Peter Sciretta
(from /film)
Not real-real life, but a realistic CGI version. It's rather impressive and consequently disconcerting (certainly more so than ones done for other cartoon characters like Mario or Jessica Rabbit, which just look like their originals with more realistic skin-tone. Or, worst of all, a freaky puffy Homer Simpson, looking like someone with a horrible disease.)

this week on 100 Films

7 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Batman (1966)

it has a real feel for what comics were like at the time — the vibrant colours, silliness, larger-than-life characters, nonsensical plots, plus there’s a nice line in risque humour, keeping the adults happy in what’s really a kid-focused film.

Deja Vu (2006)

kinda nonsense, albeit nonsense that some people have put a lot of thought into trying to explain. In spite of this, I quite enjoyed it

Exiled (2006)

features several impressive action scenes. They’re Leone-like in the way there’s often an extended pause, the threat of violence hanging in the air — then a sudden burst, over quickly. But within this style there’s a lot of visual flair

Frankenstein (2004)

this is what Dean Koontz would like viewers/readers to believe: that the novels are his undiluted vision, while the film most certainly is not. Well, don’t believe him. Watching the film having read the book (a couple of years ago), this feels like a faithful adaptation.

M (1931)

a film of immense significance, not least because of its place on numerous Best Ever lists... near-endless essays and articles and whole books have been penned discussing every notable aspect, it’s unlikely I’m going to have much either new or significant to say after one viewing. Just so you know

Paths of Glory (1957)

Kubrick’s depiction of war is excellent, from long tracking shots through the trenches, to the nighttime wilderness of No Man’s Land, lit only by flares that reveal it’s strewn with bodies, to an epic and perfectly-staged battle that is a visual and aural assault.

Zum Beispiel: Fritz Lang (1968)

A slightly odd little documentary, in which Erwin Leiser ‘interviews’ Lang about his early directing career.

More next Sunday.