this week on 100 Films

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


Bullet to the Head (2012)

At times, you get the impression that director Walter Hill wants this to be a noir tale: there’s a hardboiled voiceover, a story mired in corrupt officials, twists about who to trust, and so on. But these elements are only fleeting, never building a consistency where you could plausibly claim it as any kind of neo-noir. Instead, it’s more of a buddy movie in the ’80s mould.

Read more here.


Feast (2014)

This year’s Best Animated Short Oscar winner is a charming little tale of a dog and his owner. I absolutely adored it

Read more here.


Seven Psychopaths (2012)

The writer-director and star of In Bruges re-team for the former’s sophomore feature; and if that doesn’t sound oddball enough for you, the lead cast is rounded out by Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. Zaniness is sure to ensue.

Read more here.


Shutter Island (2010)

One of the things Lehane set out to do in his novel was write “a gothic”, and Scorsese and co have taken that ball and run with it. It’s overflowing with a fantastic atmosphere: unsettling, creepy, chilling, horror-movie scary when needed (some sequences are properly hair-raising); truly gothic-feeling.

Read more here.


Plus eight archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Almost Famous (2000)

Crowe’s autobiographical screenplay is a good one, with plenty of amusing and dramatic moments to keep it ticking over — the most memorable, on a crashing plane, manages both with aplomb. Likewise, his direction is rarely flashy but always works. The music, costumes, design and cinematography evoke the period well

Read more here.


Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

John Cusack spends the entire film doing a blatant and middling impression of writer/director Woody Allen. But he nonetheless does OK, and the rest of the cast are note-perfect, the script pacy and funny, the photography gorgeous, and the long takes never more appropriate

Read more here.


Goodfellas (1990)

In the lead role, Ray Liotta seems to have been underrated, lost behind the top billing of De Niro and the award-winning craziness of Joe Pesci. He carries the film, with a performance that isn't showy but is perfectly pitched.

Read more here.


A Good Woman (2004)

reviewers like to pounce on the US cast members. Scarlett Johansson is neither here nor there, as per usual, but I thought Helen Hunt was quite good. It's undoubtable that they're overshadowed by British thesps like Tom Wilkinson and Stephen Campbell Moore however, but that's just par for the course.

Read more here.


Road to Singapore (1940)

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby star as a pair of young(ish) playboy sailors who run away from responsibility and family expectations in this comedy that launched the perennially popular Road to… series, which would spawn six sequels over the next 22 years.

Read more here.


Road to Morocco (1942)

Gentle, silly humour abound in this comedy, the third in the Road to… series. If you remember those plays that Morecambe & Wise used to do you’ll have a fair idea what this feels like

Read more here.


Road to Rio (1947)

If you’ve seen one Road to film then you’ve a fair idea what to expect from any other: lots of comedy, a few songs, a bit of romance, as well as some general hijinks. The differences, in all of these aspects, lie in the specifics: which songs, which gags, and so on... One might say it’s a variety show with a framing device, though there is a little more to the narrative than that.

Read more here.


Some Like It Hot (1959)

enjoying it again, didn’t want to skip the chance of handing it five stars in this pathetically brief review... it’s a very funny film even 50 years on. It rattles from situation to situation at an occasionally surprising pace, literally without a dull moment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume Two

The second (or third) and final season of the 2D-animated Star Wars spin-off, presented on DVD as a one-hour movie.

This season was designed specifically to tie in with the then-imminent third/sixth live-action Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith (which I'll be watching this weekend as part of my Star Wars re-view) -- the last episode takes place just minutes before the opening scene of Episode III, and the rest of the season details (in part) adventures alluded to in the movie.

There are pros and cons, compared to Volume One. The episodes here were three or four times as long, meaning they didn't have to focus quite so heavily on action and could dwell on character a bit more. At times that works; at others they seem to have forgotten the episodes were longer, so only afforded them the same amount of plot -- the individual action scenes just go on longer.

The Battle of Coruscant (which we see the end of in Episode III) is good, but because Anakin and Obi-Wan aren't allowed to turn up until the end, they have a subplot where they're off on some Outer Rim world saving a Native American-esque people (who also kinda look like Avatar's Na'vi) from nasty mutation. It's a bit "so what?" given everything else going on, but at least there's Mace Windu, Yoda, and some minor Jedi kicking ass on Coruscant to keep the mood up.

As with the first volume, a surprisingly-thorough episode-by-episode guide (though, when the episodes are 12-15 minutes long, it seems a bit less ridiculous) can be found on Wookieepedia

Posters for each season, which reflect Anakin's shift to the dark side.
(Wish I had them bigger/higher quality...)

Collection Count

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

A new release and a DVD-to-BD upgrade this week, which may explain some of the funny (non-)changes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,768 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 559 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,907 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Shutter Island (2010)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume One

Not to be confused with Star Wars: The Clone Wars (either the film or the TV series), this is the 2D-animated series that originally bridged the gap between Episodes II and III.

Originally released as 20 three-minute shorts across two seasons (though it's clearly one work -- presumably there was a gap halfway for production reasons), on DVD it's edited together into an hour-long movie. Its origins show through in just how action-packed and fast-moving it is, though that's no bad thing. The story is relatively slight, but it's beautifully animated, put together with a great amount of skill and creativity.

For the really interested, there's a ludicrously thorough episode guide (as in, each of the three-minute segments has its own entire page) available on Wookieepedia -- here's season one (chapters 1-10), and season two (chapters 11-20). All things considered, there's a surprising amount of detail there.

TV

Game of Thrones
5x07 The Gift

Films

Seven Psychopaths (2012)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Building Empire (2006)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Fan documentary on the making of Empire Strikes Back (see also: Star Wars Begins). You can watch it on Vimeo.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x03 (22/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Alois Nebel (2011)

A Czech noir animation, set around Christmas 1989 to the backdrop of the country’s Velvet Revolution. Eponymous character Alois Nebel is a train station guard whose flashbacks to an event at the end of World War 2 see him sectioned... [There's] the mystery of what happened in World War 2… sort of. I mean, there is a mystery, but what that mystery is isn’t fully elucidated, it goes AWOL during the middle segment of the film, and it remains pretty easy to guess the outcome.

Read more here.


Empire of the Sun (1987)

At two-and-a-half hours and with a plot that spans a good chunk of the war, Spielberg crafted a certifiable epic here — not his first, and most certainly not his last. Even then, swathes of material reportedly ended up on the cutting room floor, with top-billed cast members like Miranda Richardson reduced to extended cameos.

Read more here.


Robot & Frank (2012)

Ostensibly a science-fiction movie, complete with futuristic-looking cars, a casual robotic presence, and glass-like tablets and smartphones, Robot & Frank is really a drama about, amongst other things, old age. The SF elements provide an interesting angle, of course, but the film's joys and illuminations lie outside the sci-fi elements.

Read more here.


Plus four archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


The Cat's Meow (2001)

Possibly-true ‘murder mystery’ set in 1920s Hollywood. As with the similar Gosford Park, the point lies less in plot and more in characterisation — there are some good performances, especially from Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley and Edward Herrmann

Read more here.


Culloden (1964)

the story of the 1746 battle — famously, the last fought on British soil — and the events that followed it, as if it were covered by a modern TV news report (albeit a feature-length one). This adopted style — a first — makes for an effective presentation

Read more here.


Ocean's Eleven (1960)

“Remakes are not as good as the original” is one of the rules of filmmaking... Steven Soderbergh’s star-studded 2001 remake of Vegas-set Rat Pack vehicle Ocean’s Eleven is widely seen as a rarity in bucking this trend. And that opinion is right.

Read more here.


Southland Tales (2006)

i thought, with respect to the film’s crazy half-constructed mess of half-ideas, i’d copy&paste my notes rather than a normal review. so at least that’s one answer at the end for you.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

There was quite a bit to cover last week. This week: just one. (Soon: some more.)

Number of titles in collection: 1,767 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 557 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,906 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015

I was away for last year's Eurovision, so downloaded it from iPlayer, but never got round to watching it. It's a bit odd if you don't watch on the night. (Though apparently I caught the voting live. Completely forgot that.) I've still got it, though it'd be even odder to watch over a year later...

Anyway, this year's was good, if not because of the songs (which were largely OK but nothing to write home about) the because of the uncommonly-tight voting. Hurrah for some actual drama during that part of the show.

[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bullet to the Head (2012)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002/2011)
[3rd or so watch]

You were expecting the Jedi to return? Well, fairly last minute, we decided to follow the so-called "Machete Order". We'll see how well it works when we get to the end, but so far it's OK. Apart from the film itself being pretty poor, that is.

TV

Car Share
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Forever
1x21 The Night in Question

Have I Got News For You
49x06 (15/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #3

I've been pretty lax with WDYMYHS this year (I should be on #5 by now), so hopefully this is the start of getting it back on track.

TV

Episodes
4x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x22 Rogue Air

Person of Interest
3x09 The Crossing
Channel 5 have decided to take a mid-season break after the last episode, showing how much they hate their viewers -- there's unresolved stuff at the end of this one, but it feels like the big end to a two-parter, whereas the last was just halfway through. Anyway, they do this every season at some point, so, as per usual, I have found other ways to continue.

Films

Behind the Candelabra (2013)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Car Share
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Critical
1x13 Episode 13 [season finale]
This has massively grown on me over the course of the season. Hopefully it'll get recommissioned.

Elementary
3x21 Under My Skin

Films

Hummingbird (2013)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Forever
1x20 Best Foot Forward

Game of Thrones
5x06 Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

Outnumbered
5x01 Rites of Passage [2nd watch]

Films

Robot & Frank (2012)
[#66 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x02 (15/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Car Share
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mad Men
7x14 Person to Person [series finale]
Well.

Person of Interest
3x08 Endgame
Maybe HR will finally be done with in the next episode! (I live in eternal hope.)
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Mad Men
7x13 The Milk and Honey Route
The last ever episode is on in the US tonight and the UK on Thursday. I imagine I shall watch it somewhere between those two times. What will happen? Nobody knows!

Pointless Celebrities
7x04 Game Shows
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)
[#65 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980/2011)
[goodness-knows-what-th watch]

Continuing my Star Wars HD re-watch with the movie that was previously #82a in 100 Films 2007.

this week on 100 Films

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


Mad Max 2 (1981)

The most memorable part, however, is the climax... An almighty action sequence, a speeding battle through the outback. It feels wrong to just call it “an action sequence”, like that’s selling it short. You get the sense that this is why the movie exists; that co-writer/director George Miller’s goal with the entire rest of the film has been to get us to this point. It’s not just “the climax”, it’s “the third act”, and it’s stunning

Read more here.


Tarzan (1999)

Disney's '80s/'90s renaissance more-or-less came to an end with this adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's jungle hero... The animated medium is put to excellent use in thrillingly fluid jungle-swinging action scenes (normally the purview of CGI, but here peerless in 2D)

Read more here.


Time Lapse (2014)

Shallow Grave meets Primer in this indie thriller that sees three housemates discover a camera that takes photos 24 hours into the future. They initially use it to their financial advantage, but soon Things Go Wrong™... a sci-fi setup, but it’s a film driven by its characters rather than its high concept.

Read more here.


Tropic Thunder: Director's Cut (2008)

A bunch of obstreperous actors are too much to handle for the director of a Vietnam war movie, so he dumps them in the jungle to shoot it with hidden cameras. Things go awry; hilarity ensues.

Read more here.


Plus nine archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Brigadoon (1954)

“Oh dear,” is surely the initial reaction to Brigadoon. The Scottish accents are appalling, the costumes and setting gratingly twee, the Highlands recreated entirely on a soundstage... But, importantly — and thankfully — it does grow on you as it goes on. The ill-conceived cast, costumes and studio-bound setting begin to pale under the charm of Gene Kelly and the machinations of the plot.

Read more here.


The Day of the Locust (1975)

a slightly scrappy film about the seedy underside of Hollywood’s golden age. The plot is neither here nor there in many respects — the film is about the grotesques who are attracted to Hollywood, and that being exactly what it feeds on. The bizarre, surreal ending definitely makes more sense if you’re already thinking about the film in this way.

Read more here.


Death Wish (1974)

Paul’s encounters aren’t all easily won; he gets injured; his crimes create a media storm, on which public opinion is divided... There are still unrealistic bits, certainly, but by employing enough believability and leaving aside certain rules of the revenge thriller — for one thing, he never actually gets revenge — Death Wish manages to rise a little above the “heroic vigilante” sub-genre.

Read more here.


The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Disney's 40th (canonical) animated film had a very troubled production, which, from what I can tell, turned it from a derivative riff on The Prince and the Pauper into this load of tosh.

Read more here.


Juno (2007)

The most discussed aspect is Diablo Cody’s screenplay, with its idiosyncratic slang-laden dialogue and accusations that every character speaks the same. The first is true, the latter is rubbish, and one has to wonder if whoever thinks it watched beyond the first ten minutes. Most of the film’s teenage characters speak similarly… in that they use the same bits of slang, have similar speech patterns, employ a similar sense of humour — you know, like groups of teenagers tend to.

Read more here.


Manhatta (1921)

Another ’20s city film, showing off (as you might guess from the title) parts of New York. The focus appears to be industrial — skyscrapers under construction, finished architecture, tug boats, trains near the docks; the people of the city only crop up at the start and close, and then only in faceless crowds.

Read more here.


À propos de Nice (1930)

Short film about the French city of Nice, mixing documentary-style footage of people with shots of the architecture, as well as clearly staged scenes (a man getting sunburnt, for example).

Read more here.


Skyscraper Symphony (1929)

It’s probably hard to ‘appreciate’ this without getting a little pretentious; certainly, it’s much more aimed at creating the feeling of a city, or a visual representation of it, or something like that, than it is with, say, showing pretty views of New York’s buildings.

Read more here.


Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

our bed-ridden heroine overhears a threat on someone’s life and begins to wonder if it’s actually about her... Barbara Stanwyck portrays a not-very-sympathetic lead character, which makes the viewer question how we feel about her possibly being murdered. We should be against it, but she’s not nice, but she is ill…

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,766 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 556 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,388 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,905 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [up 26]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

Plus this week it's time for a running time update, so...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
316 days, 21 hours, and 59 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 2 hours, and 32 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
3x23 My Name is Oliver Queen [season finale]

Car Share
1x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Critical
1x12 Episode 12

Films

Red Sonja (1985)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x18 Captain Peralta
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Have I Got News For You
49x05 (8/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
aka Have I Got Election News For You, allegedly.
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
7x13 White Orchids [series finale]
Cheerio, The Mentalist! It may be past its best, but I'll still miss it.
[Watch episodes 12 and 13 (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Star Wars Begins (2011)
[#63 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Watch it on Vimeo.

TV

Episodes
4x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x21 Grodd Lives
Rather overstretched their CGI capabilities with the giant gorilla, there.

Mad Men
7x12 Lost Horizon

Films

21 Jump Street (2012)
[#62 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Arrow
3x22 This is Your Sword
He's good! He's bad! He's winning! He's losing! He is! He isn't! Deja vu!

Car Share
1x01 Episode 1 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
7x12 Brown Shag Carpet
[Watch episodes 12 and 13 (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Forty Guns (1957)
[#61 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Elementary
3x20 A Stitch in Time

The Flash
1x20 The Trap

Game of Thrones
5x05 Kill the Boy

This is the 6,000th post on here. Crikey.

TV

Forever
1x19 Punk is Dead

Person of Interest
3x07 The Perfect Mark
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Pointless Celebrities
7x03 Outdoors
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
1x19 Legends of the Dark Mite!
3x01 Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!
Two more recommended episodes. Only slightly further down the list I compiled, but already feeling noticeably less good -- not bad, just 'average'. Aside from the show's very best turns, I wonder if my initial view was right after all...

The British Academy Television Awards 2015
[Watch it (again) soon on iPlayer.]

Films

Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope (1977/2011)
[goodness-knows-what-th watch]

This was #81a way back in 100 Films 2007, which was the last time I watched it. First time I've watched it in HD on Blu-ray though, which is what makes this the 2011 edition, thanks to even further tweaks after those already made for the 1997 and 2004 releases(!)

this week on 100 Films

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


Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher (2014)

Anime take on Marvel properties... A clichéd, heavy-handed screenplay and stilted line delivery tell a rote story through talky exposition scenes and uninspired action sequences

Read more here.


Killing Them Softly (2012)

Dominik uses news audio about the financial crisis to comment on the plot, an inclusion somewhere between neat dramatic irony and heavy-handed affectation. He gets better mileage from the mundane mechanics and economics of organised crime, but it's small consolation among flabby storytelling

Read more here.


Plus three archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Cathy Come Home (1966)

a powerful piece of work... As an important and timely history lesson, a challenge to prejudices that some of us may hold, and a reminder of how close most of us are to such a fate — especially right now — it remains essential viewing

Read more here.


Doctor Faustus (1967)

stylistically reminiscent of a Gothic Hammer Horror, which is either wholly inappropriate or an ingenious genre mash-up... There are repulsively horrific corpses, a harem of naked ladies, an array of special effects, plus a medieval-styled gothic atmosphere to all the sets and costumes, though the scene where Faustus mucks about with the Pope feels more Carry On.

Read more here.


Telling Lies (2001)

A simple idea, very well executed: as we listen to a series of phone conversations, the speakers' dialogue appears on screen... except instead of transcribing their exact words, it reveals their true thoughts.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
49x04 (1/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
Not the post-election episode that aired yesterday -- there's an extended version of that on Monday, as per usual -- just last week's episode.
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
5x00 The Sick Party [Christmas special; 2nd watch]

Person of Interest
3x06 Mors Praematura
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

The Eagle (2011)
[#60 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,764 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 555 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,381 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,905 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,482 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x17 Boyle-Linetti Wedding
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Critical
1x11 Episode 11

TV

Mad Men
7x11 Time & Life

Films

Fitzcarraldo (1982)
[1st hour]

Couldn't keep my eyes open for any more. Not yet sure if I'll return to it, start it again, or just give up on it for Another Day (hence why there's no 100 Films number yet).

TV

Arrow
3x21 Al Sah-Him
He's good! He's bad! He's dead! He's not! He is! He isn't! This season has gone round in circles far too many times. At least we're nearly at the end. I hope next year is better plotted-out, though.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
2x17 The Mask of Matches Malone!
2x23 The Knights of Tomorrow!
The next two episodes flagged as the best by my survey. I enjoyed the first (an episode so risqué it wasn't actually aired in the US), and while the second wasn't bad I didn't love it as much as some seem to (note the very high score on at TV.com).

Forever
1x18 Dead Men Tell Long Tales

Films

Telling Lies (2001)
[2nd watch]

Brilliant short animation, #127a in 100 Films 2007, which you can nowadays watch online (for free) here.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x01 (3/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Elementary
3x19 One Watson, One Holmes

The Flash
1x19 Who is Harrison Wells?

Game of Thrones
5x04 Sons of the Harpy

Outnumbered
4x07 The Broken Santa [Christmas special; 2nd watch]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x16 The Wednesday Incident
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Critical
1x10 Episode 10

Have I Got News For You
49x03 (24/4/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Vera
5x04 Shadows in the Sky [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

this week on 100 Films

You may have noticed it's a new month, but I'm currently away and so the 100 Films in a Year April update will have to keep until next week.


Nonetheless, two brand-new reviews were still published this week...


The Sugarland Express (1974)

Largely overlooked these days, I guess because it doesn’t obviously fit with Spielberg’s renowned sci-fi, adventure, and worthy-historical pictures, The Sugarland Express merits more attention. Tonally, and in terms of the level of directorial skill it exhibits, it fits right amongst the pack of his better-remembered works.

Read more here.


Valkyrie (2008)

There's no point beating about the bush: they don't succeed [in killing Hitler]. We all know that. The film's marvel, really, is in making us believe they might... Singer has crafted a proper thriller here, replete with scenes of edge-of-your-seat tension. Many a filmmaker can't manage that with a fictional storyline, never mind one where we know exactly how it turns out.

Read more here.


Additionally, I added five archive reviews to the new blog...


Ghost Town (2008)

It's a gently amusing affair, with little that's especially memorable but is absolutely fine while it goes about its business. Many scenes may raise a smile or a giggle, but little more than that.

Read more here.


The Great Dictator (1940)

one of Chaplin's most widely-known films thanks to setting its sights on the Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler in particular... the real-world targets make his work satirical as well. I'm sure this made for great propaganda when it was released just a year into the war, but Chaplin's skill and accuracy mean it works beyond that: like all good impersonations or spoofs it doesn't make its objects silly for no reason, but instead takes what's inherently laughable about them and exploits it.

Read more here.


Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

adaptation of Patrick Süskind's popular novel, often considered unfilmable because of its focus on the sense of smell. Tykwer covers for that with strong cinematography, with sumptuously rich visuals and a judicious use of close-ups to evoke beauty or disgust as appropriate

Read more here.


Superhero Movie (2008)

Superhero Movie is mainly a spoof of Spider-Man... a film that [at the time of making was] six years old. Unfortunately, this means that most of the best jokes have already been done in numerous other sketch-length spoofs... Superhero Movie takes all this sketchery to the next level, however, crafting its story simply by reworking the first Spider-Man film almost scene by scene, inserting jokes (and, more often, 'jokes') where it can -- which is about once per scene.

Read more here.


Wilde (1997)

Stephen Fry is perfectly cast as Wilde and Jude Law is suitably horrid as the spoilt, stroppy and thoroughly dislikeable Bosie, whose selfishness brings about Wilde's downfall. Also worthy of note is the ever-excellent Michael Sheen in a smaller but vital role

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This week: nowt.

Number of titles in collection: 1,762 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 554 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,378 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,903 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,482 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.