TV

Have I Got News For You
39x08 (27/5/10; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Read the 100 Films review here.

this week on 100 Films

3 new feature-film reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Coraline (2009)

it’s scary. Very scary, in places. For much of the film there’s a beautiful creepy atmosphere, enhanced by drifting fog and skewed camera angles, but towards the end — when the full truth of the Other Mother is revealed — it’s not just kids who are likely to be freaked out. Dark themes and situations abound

Seraphim Falls (2006)

It’s centred neatly around Neeson chasing Brosnan, but the encounters they have along the way are increasingly bizarre. It’s readily apparent that there’s some Meaning and Subtext here, but I’m not sure if one has to process this to appreciate the film — it’s a still a chase movie (of sorts) after all.

Taken (2008)

remember Man On Fire? The Tony Scott/Denzel Washington one. Well, replace Washington with Neeson and Dakota Fanning’s character with “his daughter” and you’ve more or less got it. Taken is practically a remake, only in Europe, with a happier ending, and an hour shorter. It’s also not as good

Also this week, 2 reviews of shorts were posted...

Pixels (2010)

The plot is simple: characters and graphics from old 8-bit computer games escape and run riot over New York City. We’re talking Space Invaders firing on real streets, Tetris blocks crashing onto buildings... For people of A Certain Age it’s an explosion of nostalgia, but everyone can be impressed by the CGI on display.

The World of Tomorrow (1998)

In comparison to its big brother, nearly every shot is exactly duplicated in the final film. Most don’t look much more primitive here. The resolution’s lower, it’s perhaps a bit jagged round the edges, and it’s in deliberately dirtied black and white rather than the glowing sepia-hued colour of the feature, but it shows the concept worked.

More next Sunday.