TV

Agatha Christie's Marple
6x02 Greenshaw's Folly
A bit slow in the second half, but otherwise a good one -- with a nicely traditional everyone-in-the-drawing-room explain-it-all denouement. Yay.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The Good Life
4x05 Suit Yourself

Mad Men
6x13 In Care Of [season finale]
Helluva finale. Didn't see a lot of that coming, because I thought they were on the path of "the fall of Don Draper" to end the whole show with next season. But maybe he'll now be redeemed? Can't wait to find out.

this week on 100 Films

Four brand new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week! They were...


The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Andrew Garfield dons the webbed onesie for an unwarranted reboot of the only-one-decade-old Spider-Man film franchise, retelling his origins… but with a twist! Cos, y’know, the last version was only out about 10 minutes ago.

Read more here.


Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness (2012)

it is rubbish… I suppose… Thing is, it sort of grew on me. After a start that looks like a fan film shot in someone’s garden, by the time our hero teams up with a ragtag gang of evil-doers it begins to come together.

Read more here.


Final Destination 5 (2011)

this feels fresher than the dire fourth film. Not much, perhaps, but it has a few more twists on the formula. That said, it’s generally a very tired format now — the identikit plot is merely a delivery medium for more varied deaths.

Read more here.


Flightplan (2005)

Notorious (to me) for unjustly beating Serenity to #1 at the US box office (a slight we Brits can proudly say went unrepeated), this plane-based uncredited remake of The Lady Vanishes is the kind of film that’s a 12 for no real reason. It contains “moderate violence and suspense”. Wow.

Read more here.



Plus, new to the new blog...


Spider-Man 2.1 (2004/2007)

Shortly before the release of the threequel, Spider-Man 2 returned to DVD in this newly extended form. What’s there? Not much.

Read more here.


Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3 carries the distinct air of a group of people trying to recapture former glories, and the fun they had achieving them, and failing on both counts.

Read more here.


Stardust (2007)

Perhaps the simplest way to describe Stardust is as “the British Princess Bride”. That may do it a disservice however, as this is sufficiently its own beast to stand apart from such (admittedly lofty) comparisons, and be much more than a simple rehash with different accents.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Comic Relief's Big Chat with Graham Norton
Part 3 (of 4)

Would I Lie To You?
7x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

If Films Were Reviewed Like Video Games
by Dennis Farrell (from Something Awful)

Hilarity at the expense of gamers ensues...

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Just one new addition this week, the BD release of Hammer's original Dracula. There's a few things in the post though, so next week may be more lively.

Number of titles in collection: 1,570 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,165 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 405 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,917 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,682 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,773 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Comic Relief's Big Chat with Graham Norton
Part 2 (of 4)
The rest of this segment. Halfway there now...

Dexter
7x06 Do the Wrong Thing

TV

Comic Relief's Big Chat with Graham Norton
Part 1 (of 4)
Part 2 (of 4)
Remember this? I've had it lying around since it was on, when I watched some of the first chunk, so figured I ought to get on with the rest. Another 45 minutes down across these two sections...

How I Met Your Mother
8x22 The Bro Mitzvah
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Mad Men
6x12 The Quality of Mercy
When one of the show's cast said there were some big twists coming up about Bob Benson and who he was, that wasn't really what I expected. Unless there's even bigger twists to come in the finale...

TV

Dexter
7x05 Swim Deep

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

All the President's Men Revisited
New feature-length Discovery Channel documentary (it premiered in the US back in April, and was shown over here as part of the channel's White House Season), which reflects on the Watergate scandal and the resulting film about the newspaper investigation into it, All the President's Men. As it features fresh interviews with seemingly every major surviving player, I imagine it's a pretty definitive retrospective. That said, it clearly leaves a lot of stones unturned.

Mad Men
6x11 Favors

TV

The Hoff's Best Film ...Ever!
1x03 The Hoff's Best Sports Film ...Ever!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
12x02 (20/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Agatha Christie's Marple
6x01 A Caribbean Mystery
A script from a well-known writer and a cameo from Ian Fleming seem to have been the catalyst for some even-classier-than-usual touches in this particular episode. Lots of lovely direction, especially during the rain-drenched final act (even if, earlier, some bits were terribly awkwardly staged), and a Bond-referencing score that was consequently delightful.
Bit unusual, but there's a surprisingly thorough promotional photo gallery to be found at the bottom of this review, which I mention because it contains some uncommonly good photos for just TV promo images.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Dexter
7x04 Run

Would I Lie To You?
7x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

No new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, but new to the new blog were...


Big Nothing (2006)

A long time before the credits roll it degenerates into a grab-bag of random incidents and twists strung together until the made-up-as-it-goes-along script hits something approaching a produceable page count.

Read more here.


Flight 93 (2006)

Oh dear.

The Other Film About United 93 is just that.

Read more here.


Runaway Train (1985)

taken as a straight-up high-concept action-adventure, Runaway Train has an awful lot going for it. And if you want to get pretentious about it, well, it might just support that too.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Miranda
1x04 Holiday [3rd watch]
This is absolutely one of the best episodes of Miranda. A pretty perfect example of the half-hour sitcom form on the whole, actually.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
2x15 The Final [season finale]
Well, someone lost a £10,000 bet on that. Serves 'em right, really.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Remember how I said there'd be nothing to report this week?

Well, there's nothing to report this week.

Number of titles in collection: 1,569 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,165 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 404 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,914 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,773 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x11 (14/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x21 Romeward Bound
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

The Good Life
4x04 The Weaver's Tale

Comics

Superman: Red Son #1 by Mark Millar & Dave Johnson

I just got an iPad, and Comixology are having a Superman sale, so I managed to get digital copies of all three issues of this for a total of just over £2. Sounds like a deal to me.

TV

Dexter
7x03 Buck the System

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Ripper Street
1x05 The Weight of One Man's Heart

TV

Horrible Histories
4x12 Episode 12

Mock the Week
12x01 (13/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Queen's
Rally Against Cancer
A charity event from the final day of this year's Aegon Championships tennis at Queen's Club. Featuring Andy Murray and Tim Henman vs Ivan Lendl and Tomáš Berdych, and Murray vs Henman with rotating teammates including Jonathan Ross, Jimmy Carr, Michael McIntyre, Eddie Redmayne, Richard Branson and Boris Johnson. Much hilarity.
[Watch it (again) soon on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Two new pieces were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

found itself going head-to-head in the awards season with No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood... in some kind of thematic and stylistic triumvirate: they’re all products of what I’d call “American mainstream art house” cinema; all classifiable as Westerns, though none in a strictly traditional sense; all more concerned with their characters and their lives than the machinations of the plot.

In the end, No Country garnered most of the awards, There Will Be Blood seems to have settled in as a critical darling, but, for my money, this purest Western of the three is by far the best.

Read more here.


The Harry Potter Films of David Yates

Later than promised, but here it is: a director-focused overview of the final four Harry Potter films.

Plus, some closing thoughts on the series as a whole.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...


The Cube Trilogy
An overview of:

Cube (1997)

In its series of careful, measured, necessary reveals, the film strikes a perfect balance between what it lets the viewer know and what it keeps hidden, either for the viewer to deduce or interpret for themselves

Read more here.

Cube²: Hypercube (2002)

The new cube set is bigger, shinier, simpler, emptier, always one plain colour, and devoid of traps. Consequently, but perhaps inadvertently, it seems to symbolise the film itself.

Read more here.

Cube Zero (2004)

answers too many questions, which might be acceptable if the answers were remotely original or satisfying, but, of course, they aren’t: they’re derivative and, worst of all, quite irritating.

Read more here.


Plus:


Coraline (2009)

[The novel] won a Hugo, Nebula and Stoker, while the film adaptation was Oscar-nominated (naturally it lost to whichever Pixar film was eligible) and widely well reviewed (an 89% Tomatometer). All of which seems to set it up for a fall. But... Coraline, in short, is excellent.

Read more here.


Transporter 2 (2005)

In spite of the odd bit of CG-aided silliness, or the lack of anything as inspired as the first film’s oil fight, the fights are still a lot of fun; one involving a fire hose is especially well executed.

Read more here.


Transporter 3 (2008)

Megaton over-directs and over-edits the action (and a lot else besides) too often — it would be nice to tell what’s going on. Someone also needs to tell him that speeding up footage of two cars racing doesn’t make it more exciting, it just makes it look silly.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Dexter
7x02 Sunshine and Frosty Swirl

The Voice UK
2x14 The Semi-Finals
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

5 Versions Of Jurassic Park You Never Saw
by Drew Taylor (from The Playlist)

An interesting insight into the development of Jurassic Park, which is 20 this year (bloody hell!)

Most interesting bit: for all the talk of its pioneering effects and extensive use of CGI, it has just 15 minutes of dino action, and only 6 of those are computer generated!

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Just one new addition this week (another Doctor Who DVD), but it's also time for a running time update, so there's that.

Number of titles in collection: 1,569 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,165 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 404 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,914 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,773 [up 2]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

And finally...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
281 days, 21 hours, and 33 minutes.
(Up 9 hours and 26 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader, when there may be nothing to report at all! Gasp!

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x10 (7/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Hoff's Best Film ...Ever!
1x02 The Hoff's Best Horror Film ...Ever!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
3x08 (22/12/12 edition)

Articles

How Hit Movies Become Flops
by Matt Singer (from Criticwire)

As the new Superman movie hits cinemas, a look back at how the last one was and is regarded. The general gist:

Weird fact: Superman Returns got good reviews when it was released, and made more money than Batman Begins. Now it's considered a flop.

What a Doctor Who-ha!
(from Private Eye)

Private Eye on the recent problems that have dogged Who. Nothing significantly new, though it does sum it up neatly. Especially this bit:

between January 2012 and June 2014, when under Doctor Who’s previously-accustomed schedule 41 episodes would have been broadcast, the BBC will actually put out a grand total of 16. That period includes the show’s 50th anniversary year, during which Moffat had announced: “I promise you, we’re going to take over television, trust me.”

TV

Dexter
7x01 Are You...?
The final season of Dexter is imminent in the US (it starts on the 30th), so it's a good time to crack on with the penultimate one, which I believe finished airing in the UK a few weeks ago. There's a lot of weight on this episode, having to deal with the immediate fallout from last season's game-changing cliffhanger, as well as set-up the pieces and plots for this season's arc story. As such it's a bit establishing-y, but at least it comes to a conclusion even more unavoidable than last episode's.

How I Met Your Mother
8x20 The Time Travelers
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Up the Women
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
[#57 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Articles

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predict film industry 'implosion'
by Ben Child (from the Guardian)

"There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

"I think eventually the Lincolns will go away and they're going to be on television," Lucas added. "As mine almost was," Spielberg interjected. "This close – ask HBO – this close."

"The pathway to get into theatres is really getting smaller and smaller," said Star Wars creator Lucas, pointing out that his own passion project, the war drama Red Tails, barely scraped into cinemas last year. "We're talking Lincoln and Red Tails – we barely got them into theatres," he said. "You're talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can't get their movie into a theatre!"

TV

The Job Lot
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Poirot
13x01 Elephants Can Remember
And so the last-ever series of Poirot begins, funnily enough with an adaptation of the last novel written. Apparently the novel isn't that well regarded, but I thought it made for a good episode.
There are four more to go, but this being ITV they're not on weekly, so I hope they plan to screen the final one around the TV series' 25th anniversary, at the start of January 2014.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Podcasts

Nerd Poker: Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn & Friends
Episode 8 The Survivors

TV

Mad Men
6x10 A Tale of Two Cities

Vicious
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
The series on the whole has been of variable quality, but I really liked this final episode. Weird how it paid off all the running jokes, though, as if they assumed it wouldn't be coming back -- there's a Christmas special, if nothing else.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

The Good Life
4x03 Our Speaker Today
Guest starring Robert Lindsay as a pervy young offender! Weird.

Podcasts

Nerd Poker: Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn & Friends
Episode 7 Follow the Whispers

Five episodes in eight days, then nothing for a month, then nothing for six weeks? Such is my way.

TV

Have I Got News For You
45x09 (31/5/2013 edition; extended repeat) [season finale]
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Ripper Street
1x04 The Good of This City

Films

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

This lost out on a number of awards (especially at the Oscars) thanks at least in part to that year's pair of awards darlings, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Personally, I thought it was considerably better than either of those.

As of Monday morning, you can read my full review here.

Articles

Neil Gaiman: 'Iain Banks was one of us, whatever that meant'
by Neil Gaiman (from the Guardian)

A beautiful tribute to the author, who died today.

this week on 100 Films

One new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


The Bourne Legacy (2012)

About 52 minutes in I paused it and went to the kitchen. Not for any particular reason; I just needed a break. There, I saw a slug crawling into my dog’s water bowl, drinking the water or something, I don’t know. I’d never seen that before. I ended up watching that slug slowly edge around the bowl for 15 minutes or more rather than go back to the film. It’s that engrossing.

Read more here.


But there were also three new to the new blog...


300 (2006)

Everyone's favourite movie about men with glistening muscles slicing evil Easterners

Read more here.


The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

This final instalment in the action-thriller trilogy was Empire magazine’s film of 2007, following wide praise on release that dubbed it the best action movie in a long time. Unfortunately, I fear it may’ve become a victim of its own hype.

Read more here.


Night Watch (2004)

Urban action fantasy from Russia; the first part of a trilogy... It makes for a pretty entertaining tale, with a neat ending that both concludes this film’s plot and leaves everything wide open for what’s to come.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Voice UK
2x12 The Quarter-Finals
2x13 The Quarter-Finals Results
[Watch the Quarter-Finals and the Results (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Fiction

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Chapters 7-10

The film clearly follows the novel's broad strokes, but still less than a quarter of the way through and it feels completely different. It makes it hard to judge, because I prefer the film, but that doesn't make the book bad.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

All new releases this week: a Doctor Who, a Western, and a documentary (actually out next Monday -- can't remember the last time I actually got a pre-order before release day).

Number of titles in collection: 1,568 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,164 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 404 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,912 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,771 [up 6]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x09 (31/5/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x19 The Fortress
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Fiction

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Chapters 1-6

Here's a funny one. The film is so modern, even though it's now 11 years old, but this original is from 1980 -- it feels more like reading a classic James Bond novel than watching the tech-age thriller they made the film into. It kind of takes some getting used to. Plus, it's over 550 pages long, so even at this early point, with the story barely under way, it already has wild divergences from the big screen adaptation.

TV

The Hoff's Best Film ...Ever!
1x01 The Hoff's Best Action Film ...Ever!
Cool clips and talking heads -- nice easy viewing... even if some of the talking heads are intensely irritating 'comedians' (no one famous, so I've no names to regurgitate).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Once Upon a Time
2x04 The Crocodile
I love it when Once Upon a Time decides to do an origin episode. It's always glaringly obvious who the unfamiliar new character will turn out to be, but it still takes 45 minutes and a final scene of comically on-the-nose dialogue to reveal that, yes indeed, the pirate captain who called Rumplestiltskin a crocodile before his hand was cut off is Captain Hook.

Pointless
9x26a 500th Show
A special episode to mark the 500th edition of the popular quiz show, featuring the best-scoring teams who didn't win the jackpot. The questions seemed harder than normal too, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Case Histories
2x02 Nobody's Darling
The first episode not based on one of the original novels. Personally, I preferred it to the first one.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Job Lot
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Watson and Oliver
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Mad Men
6x09 The Better Half

Up the Women
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vicious
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Bourne Legacy (2012)
[#55 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

I'll write a full review of this on 100 Films in due course (hopefully by the end of the week, as it's on Sky Movies Premiere from Friday and I do like to tie in to things); but for now I'll say that it's massively disappointing. It puts all my criticism of Ultimatum yesterday in the shade, because (as I said) that's only a smidgen off the other Bourne films, while this is leagues apart. For much of the running time it's not even good as a generic action-thriller, because it's quite spectacularly dull.

Ironically, this is the first Bourne film that leaves the storyline truly open-ended. The other sequels found threads to pick up on, true, but if the series had stopped after either Identity or Supremacy, you had a complete tale (and Ultimatum too, of course). This closes on basically a cliffhanger. And I say that's ironic because it's also the first time that I have no desire to see a follow-up.

I believe they could have continued this series without the character of Jason Bourne -- there's potential in some of the ideas here. But this version just doesn't work, as a compelling film or worthy successor.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
8x18 Weekend at Barney's
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Ripper Street
1x03 The King Came Calling

Films

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
[2nd watch]

Here we go, then: the most uber-praised of all the Bourne movies, which I haven't seen since it reached DVD in late 2007.

And I still think it's overrated.

Really, I'm talking relative to the other two films. In and of itself, it's a great action-thriller, rattling along with both story and action, pushing boundaries in entertaining fashion. But it feels like the series is retreading old ground -- oh look, another shady CIA conspiracy, even higher up than the last two! And oh look, a twist where an agent who seemed newly assigned actually had an ulterior motive to be after Bourne all along! And so on.

And then there's the final act, which feels like too pat a conclusion. Bourne finds out everything (including stuff I'm sure we'd well guessed); all sorts of stuff gets publicly exposed and people are brought to justice; etc etc.

There are some great sequences along the way -- the Waterloo bit is amongst the series' very finest, the New York car chase rivals Supremacy's (though I still think Identity's Mini tops both), and the Tangier sequence, while being thoroughly silly (how the hell can all these people chase each other across all those rooftops and tiny side streets?), is still pretty great.

But overall, I find it slightly less enjoyable than the previous two... though if Identity is 5/5, perhaps Supremacy is 4.9/5 and Ultimatum is 4.8/5. Something like that.

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Book Two, Chapters 6-8
Book Three, Chapters 1-5
Envoi [the end]

Well, that was rather good. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi with a comical, satirical edge. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as something like Hitchhiker's, but it has a point (or points) to make, and a set of organisations and world views to criticise, and it tackles both entertainingly.

For a lot more about the novel -- including an interview with Harrison, details on the BBC radio and comic book adaptations, and the numerous sequels -- have a look here.

TV

The Voice UK
2x11 The Knockouts 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
[3rd watch]

The second Bourne film attracted much controversy and debate when it was first released, mainly to do with director Paul Greengrass' style of up-close, fast-cut, handheld photography. Watched nine years on, it doesn't look anything like as radical -- this style has become fairly standard. It's one I think works better on a small screen than in the cinema, I think. A wall-sized picture moving around at such a dizzying rate can be confusing and troublesome, but a smaller TV context makes it more followable.

As for the film itself, it's a worthy sequel. On IMDb the first one has the user voters' edge by something like 0.3 out of 10, and I'm inclined to agree -- they've both great (I'd rate both several higher than the IMDb averages, incidentally), and both have a lot to offer in slightly different ways, but overall the first one edges it.

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Chapters 6-8
Book Two, Chapters 1-5

Just to clarify, there is no "Book One" -- it's chapters 1 to 8, then Book Two (and, later, Book Three).

this week on 100 Films

You may have noticed that it's now June, so we begin this week's update by looking back at May. It's a bumper post this month, including some results from my Harry Potter poll and a top five of movie car chases, as well as the usual list and analysis of what I've been watching.

Alongside that, two brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Designed to launch Monty Python to a US audience who wouldn’t have seen the TV series, And Now For contains around 40 sketches [from the TV series]...

Ironically, US reviews were mixed and the film did little business at the box office, while in the UK it was popular enough to turn a profit, despite the fact it contained nothing new for British fans — “indeed many were disappointed that the film seemed to belie its title.”

Read more here.


The Lost Weekend (1945)

Directed by the inestimable Billy Wilder, winner of the Grand Prix at the first Cannes, winner of the Best Picture Oscar, and also Best Actor, Director, and Screenplay, it's a wonder that The Lost Weekend isn't better known...

Read more here.


And finally, new to the new blog...


Million Dollar Baby (2004)

it’s an incredibly anti-boxing movie. No good character’s life isn’t in some way ruined by the ‘sport’: Meg is paralysed and ultimately loses her life, not to mention realising how awful her family are; Morgan Freeman’s lost the sight in one eye and is reduced to cleaning up a run-down gym; ‘Danger’ gets beat-up; and Frankie’s lost his daughter, gets screwed over by his protégé, and ultimately loses Meg too. In no way is this a cheery depiction of boxing.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
45x08 (24/5/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
6x08 Boat [season finale]
In every interview, Lee Mack seemed to build up the will-they-won't-they angle, and then in the last episode... barely a mention. Hey-ho.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
2x10 The Knockouts 1
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bourne Identity (2002)
[4th watch]

The last time I watched a Bourne film was when I saw The Bourne Ultimatum for the first and (to date) last time way back in December 2007, which means it's somewhere in the region of six or seven years since I last saw this. And it's 11 years old now! Crikey! Still feels quite fresh though, and I think its influence is still apparent on cinema -- just look at Euro-thrillers like the year-before-last's Unknown, for example.

The latest Bourne film, Legacy, is on Sky Movies Premiere from next Friday. I've had it on Blu-ray for a while now, intending to do a full series re-watch in the lead up to it (what with it being so long since I last saw any of them), so now's finally the time. If all goes to plan, expect to see Supremacy here tomorrow, Ultimatum on Monday, and Legacy on Tuesday, with a 100 Films review to follow before it's on TV (hopefully!)

Articles

Matt Smith to leave after Christmas Special
by Chuck Foster (from Doctor Who News)

Well, there you go. I do like Smith, but I can't help but feel this is one in the eye for all those smug whatnots who misread his comments months ago and assumed he'd already confirmed he was in series 8.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

This week, I got the two '60s Dalek movies on Blu-ray, replacing my old DVD. Aside from a calculation error on the number of films, that's it.

Number of titles in collection: 1,565 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,162 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 403 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,908 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,678 [down 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,765 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.