Sunday 8 September 2013

TV

Doctor Who
8x02 Terror of the Autons Episode Two
Some well-known scenes of Auton violence in this episode (the man-eating plastic chair, the living doll). What most amused me was that both were greeted with expressions of "why would anyone buy that?!" from the regular folk they were about to kill, whereas nowadays inflatable plastic chairs and ugly dolls are readily available and (apparently) desired left, right and centre. Some of the special effects in these sequences are actually pretty good, especially for the era, though whoever felt it was necessary to use bluescreen to create such fantastical locations as a phone box and a domestic kitchen was off their rocker (or just over-obsessed with the technology).

The Great British Bake Off
4x03 Desserts
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x09 The Unseen Bits [season finale]
Why they always broadcast these clip shows in a random slot months after the regular series, I'll never know.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Iron Man Three (2013)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
aka Iron Man 3.

this fortnight on 100 Films

With very little to report last week, I thought I'd hold off and summarise a whole fortnight on 100 Films in a Year.

First up, we're now well into September, so here's a look back at August. This month's list of five is "adaptations that changed the book's title". I say "five" -- I got 11 examples in there. Hey-ho.


In regular business, two new reviews were posted this week (yes, "week" singular, because there were none the week before). They were...


The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
cabin-in-the-woods horror movie The Cabin in the Woods is as much a deconstruction, or even spoof, of the genre as an entry in it... This means it’s one for the genre literate
Read more here.


The Tempest (2010)
a radical-seeming interpretation of Shakespeare’s final play. The main character’s changed gender! There’s CGI being tossed about everywhere! It’s got Russell Brand in it! If that sounds superficial, it is. It's still set in the Elizabethan period, in Elizabethan dress, with a cast of mostly classical actors, enacted on an island that is admittedly a stunning setting but is nonetheless where the original play is set.
Read more here.


And new to the new blog this fortnight...


Mamma Mia! (2008)
As camp as a row of tents, disliked by critics, loved by audiences: Mamma Mia! is everything you’d expect from Abba.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.