TV

The Culture Show
Forget the Oscars, Here Are the Kermodes [2013 special]
A little to my surprise, I watched 2011's Kermodes. That's one of the advantages of this blog -- reminding me of things I've completely forgotten.
I assumed I'd just missed it last year (and probably had it downloaded somewhere, still waiting to be watched), but I can find no evidence of it on the BBC's Culture Show website. I guess it just didn't get its own special, especially as you can indeed find the results online.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Oscar 2013: Red Carpet Live
As usual, the ceremony begins at 1:30am over here, so here's a lot of speculation and red carpet nonsense from Sky's chosen team (read: whoever would agree to come in for the night). Apparently this is now Sky's ninth year having exclusive rights to the ceremony. About time it went back to the Beeb, no?

Room 101: Extra Storage
13x07 Episode 7

Top Gear
19x04 (17/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)
[#19 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

The year on this one is a real matter of perspective. It was made and first shown in 2011, but widely released (here, in the US, and everywhere else) in 2012. Websites disagree, but the latter turns up more Google hits, so...

Comics

2000 AD #1767-1768
• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: Eve of Destruction, Parts 3-4 by John Wagner & Henry Flint
• Grey Area Feel the Noise, Parts 1-2 by Dan Abnett & Karl Richardson
• Nikolai Dante The Wedding of Jena Makarov, Parts 5-6 by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser
• Absalom Ghosts of London, Parts Three - Four by Gordon Rennie & Tiernen Trevallion
• Strontium Dog The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha, Chapter Two: The Project, Parts Five - Six by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra & Hector Ezquerra

Articles

Twilight Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Kristen Stewart, Rihanna win Razzies
by Colin Daniels (from Digital Spy)

The Twilight finale fairly swept the board, winning seven of the ten awards. Well, it's traditional for awards to give a series' final instalment all it deserves, isn't it.

this week on 100 Films

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


Birth (2004)

Nicole Kidman’s rationalist husband dies suddenly; years later, as she gets engaged to another man, a boy arrives claiming to be her husband reincarnated. More realistic art house drama about grief and insecurity than thrill-giving occult mystery, it nonetheless keeps you guessing

Read more here.


The Plank (1967)

The film opens with the credits being sung to the viewer — a surreal touch that indicates the kind of experience you’re in for. The humour is primarily of a slapstick variety, much of it unsurprisingly revolving around the titular slab of wood. Some of it is very amusing, but... I can’t see this as a film that will convert anybody.

Read more here.



And new to the new blog...


The Invention of Lying (2009)

I enjoyed the religious plot. I don’t think it’s misjudged satire, as some reviews have claimed; I think it’s pretty decent satire, in fact... It’s a decently amusing deconstruction of religion and the ideas that underpin it, coming from a rational perspective that can see through the obvious flaws and falsehoods in (specifically) Christianity.

Read more here.


National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

essentially offers more of the same. That’s often levelled as a criticism, but in this instance it’s absolutely fine: Book of Secrets isn’t a rehash — there’s a new mystery with new puzzles — but is another adventure in the same vein, with clue-hunting and the occasional action sequence.

Read more here.


The Wolfman: Unrated Version (2010)

this is not your modern whizzbang horror movie, but something more classically inspired... the film makes this clear pretty quickly — or rather, quite slowly. The plot and character are allowed to unfurl at a gradual rate, building up to bursts of action later on rather than trying to keep the audience’s adrenaline pumping with a constant barrage of set pieces.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.