Sunday 12 May 2013

TV

The British Academy Television Awards 2013
Last year I described the awards as "rather uncomfortable". This year, I thought it was mostly good fun, with some very worthy and entertaining winners. So that's all good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
33x13a She Said, He Said: A Prequel
The prequel to the season finale. It was promoted as one of the longest they've ever done, which is a technicality because it's all of 3½ minutes. But it's an odd one -- normally these are pointless bonus scenes set just before the episode takes place, perhaps teasing one element of it... but this feels more like a specially-shot trailer, recapping the mysteries of the season and ending with a tease for the episode. Weird.
[Watch it (again) on the official Doctor Who site.]

The Voice UK
2x08 The Battle Rounds 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
[#47a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[2nd watch]

This was #84 in 100 Films 2009. I remembered it as being little more than 2½ hours of setup for Deathly Hallows, but it's actually much better than that.


The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
[#47 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

this week on 100 Films

The big news this week (because I want you to vote in it) is that I've introduced 100 Films in a Year's first ever poll. As I'm mid-way through a re-watch, I thought it would be appropriate to ask: which is your favourite Harry Potter film? Vote at that link. Please.


As well as that, three brand-new reviews were published this week...


Green Lantern: Extended Cut (2011)
my expectation that the film would be irredeemably awful is at least partly why I found it surprisingly enjoyable... I’m not going to try to argue Green Lantern is a great movie, or even that it doesn’t contain significant flaws, but as a comic book-y two-hour diversion, I found it passably entertaining.
Read more here.


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
My Harry Potter retrospective resumes with a new director bringing a new energy to the franchise.
Read more here.


Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
One of the more overlooked facets of Rowling’s work is her penchant for allegory and gentle satire... Here it’s the press under fire. Rita Skeeter may have a greatly reduced role compared to the novel, but her Quick-Quotes Quill — which, essentially, just makes stuff up — is present and correct.
Read more here.


And also, new to the new blog...


For Your Consideration (2006)
The best bits come in the second half, when the cast and crew of the fictional film-within-a-film hit the campaign trail. The styles of TV shows that various people appear on — the different levels awarded to the leads, other cast members, the writers, and so on — has some decent satire
Read more here.


Once (2006)
a very modern indie musical. And I mean indie as in “indie film”, not “indie music”. Lord save us from a musical of indie music.
Read more here.


Primer (2004)
there’s a great conceit here, with a decent plot built around it; but it drags the idea of treating your audience’s intelligence with respect too far into the realms of Simply Not Explaining Things Properly
Read more here.


Star Trek (2009)
It’s Star Trek, Jim, but not as we know it.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.