TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x07 (26/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Vicious
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Apollo 13 (1995)
[2nd or so watch]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
[2nd watch]

this week on 100 Films

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


21 Jump Street (2012)

the film’s best material revolves around the changing face of high school. Tatum and Hill’s characters grew up in an era of the traditional mould, where jocks ruled and nerds were bullied. When they return undercover, the tables have turned: getting good grades and caring about the environment is cool.

Read more here.


Hummingbird (2013)

might sound like your standard Statham action-thriller. It really isn’t. Knight’s focus is primarily on the relationship between Joey and Cristina, two people who are both lost, struggling with events from their past, trying to help people, in search of something. It’s a bigger acting challenge than Statham usually has to face. To be honest, he’s probably not wholly up to the task, but he makes a good fist of it.

Read more here.


The Interview (2014)

As with so many comedies, your mileage will vary on whether what follows is indeed hilarity or merely inanity. For me, it contained a weight of obvious ‘gags’ and crass ‘humour’, but also enough genuinely amusing bits to keep it ticking over.

Read more here.


The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Katharine Hepburn is the high society heiress getting re-married to someone dull from daddy’s company. Cary Grant is the husband from her tempestuous first marriage. When he turns up uninvited, screwball hijinks ensue.

Read more here.


Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

The debut feature from the director of all-conquering box office behemoth Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed is a small-scale indie comedy that may or may not have a sci-fi twist. Inspired by a real newspaper ad (actually written by a bored editor), this fictional version sees three journalists from a Seattle magazine tracking down the guy who placed the ad in order to find out the true story behind it.

Read more here.


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


Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

The storyline, which follows Nicolas Cage's paramedic across three nights in New York, is a mixture of short episodic medical incidents with longer threads that continue throughout. These connect and fall apart, feeling as episodic as the rest, and most of them don't really lead anywhere.

Read more here.


Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone. (2007/2009)

The pace is surprisingly good throughout, a well-considered balance between action, character and mysteries. Anno and co have retained some of the original’s light and shade — this isn’t just a plot recap, but includes some of the humour and character-based subplots.

Read more here.


Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. (2009/2010)

This is very clearly a second part. It hits the ground running, with no thought for those not up to speed on the characters and events so far. Indeed, there’s perhaps little regard for those who may be familiar with it anyway: certain significant events rattle past, the storyline spewing mysteries via dialogue we barely understand, so dense is it with references and allusions.

Read more here.


Garden State (2004)

Zach Braff of Scrubs fame writes, directs and stars in this coming-of-age-style comedy-drama, his first feature as writer and director.

Read more here.


Gigi (1958)

a film about largely horrid people doing morally dubious things. But of course it’s a musical from the ’50s, so it all has a veneer of loveliness and respectability.

Read more here.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997)

There are answers, revelations, some great sequences, and a great cliffhanger! Unfortunately this is also the start of the next film, which ultimately renders this as just one thing: a fan-only curio.

Read more here.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)

don't even attempt this if you haven't seen all of the (excellent) TV series -- it won't even vaguelly make sense. Sadly, if you have seen the series, it's a disappointing climax. Promising a clearer ending than the original arty philosophical one, it winds up delivering something that's almost as bad.

Read more here.


On the Town (1949)

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra lead the cast in this musical comedy about three sailors who have 24 hours of shore leave in New York. The plot is sometimes predictable, but at least it's not as standardised as many. Equally, none of the songs are truly memorable but most are fun while they last.

Read more here.


Play Time (1967)

I know some people love the work of Tati, just like there’s always someone who loves everything; personally, I find his films largely dull. His character, Monsieur Hulot, is like Mr Bean but less funny

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x19 Sabotage

Person of Interest
3x12 Aletheia
[Watch it on Demand 5 from 9th July.]

Films

John Wick (2014)
[#89 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: 1,777 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 567 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,403 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,916 [up 3]
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

Raging Bull (1980)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #4

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x06 (19/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Guest (2014)
[#87 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Before Dawn (2012)
[#86 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Episodes
4x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
49x08 (5/6/2015 edition; extended repeat) [season finale]
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Person of Interest
3x11 Lethe
[Watch it on Demand 5 from 2nd July.]

Films

Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983/2011)
[goodness-knows-what-th watch]

Concluding my Star Wars HD re-watch with the movie that I last watched as #82b in 100 Films 2007. The Machete Order seems to work pretty well, particularly with regards to the Dark Side: the otherwise out-of-the-blue awesomeness of the Emperor and redemption of Vader now have some context.

this week on 100 Films

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


Blitz (2011)

the cast is filled out with some really good (and/or recognisable) actors slumming it: David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen, Luke Evans, Mark Rylance. Yes, Mark Rylance. Mark “Wolf Hall” Rylance. Mark “greatest theatre actor of his generation” Rylance. Mark bleeding Rylance! Why, Mark? Why?!

Read more here.


Forty Guns (1957)

Western with Barbara Stanwyck as a powerful landowner, and commander of the titular posse, whose bullying brother, Brockie, is consequently allowed to run riot over the town. Enter lawman Griff (Barry Sullivan) and his two brothers, whose moves to bring Brockie in line kickstart a chain of ruinous events.

Read more here.


Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Action comedy starring John Cusack as a hitman who has to face the life he left behind when he’s assigned a job in his hometown on the same weekend as his high school reunion.

Read more here.


Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (2005)

in many respects, an old-fashioned epic. It’s a long film not because the director is prone to excess, but because it has a lengthy and complicated story to tell. It isn’t adapted from a novel, but the structure feels that way, spending a lot of time on characters... it’s a long while before the movie reaches Jerusalem, ostensibly the film’s focus, and it completes the arcs of several major characters along the way.

Read more here.


Man of Tai Chi (2013)

should probably feel derivative and lightweight. Instead, it feels fun, exciting, stylish, and, if not deep, then at least more complex than you might have expected.

Read more here.


Monsters University (2013)

Pixar’s fourth sequel is more Cars 2 than Toy Story 3.

Read more here.


Pursuit to Algiers (1945)

In his production notes on the Optimum DVD release, Sherlockian Richard Valley describes the 12th film in the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes series as “the runt of the litter” — which it is — though he also declares that it “has its own peculiar charm… If it’s not in the same league as Adventures of Sherlock Holmes or The Scarlet Claw, neither is it a waste of time.” Of that I am less convinced.

Read more here.


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


After the Sunset (2004)

Each of these plots seem to have originated in different films — some serious, some light, some thoroughly comedic. When stuck together they make for a constantly varying tone, and it’s difficult to work out which was the intended one. By the end there’s so much going on (though, barely) that the ending goes on forever

Read more here.


Beyond the Pole (2009)

In case it wasn’t clear, this is a comedy. Unfortunately it’s only mildly amusing rather than laugh-out-loud hilarious. Worse still, it’s occasionally a bit thumb-twiddly as the inevitable plot points inevitably happen.

Read more here.


Clue (1985)

it's the kind of film that's unremittingly daft, but it knows it is, and if one gets on board with that then it's a very enjoyable experience... Eventually there's a murder, and then a few more, all of which is conveyed in a mix of hilarious farce and fast-paced screwball comedy. It's Agatha Christie meets Fawlty Towers.

Read more here.


The Damned (1963)

an interesting film, certainly, but one that is perhaps somewhat undercut by its age; a kind of ’60s SF that would probably require a distinctly different approach if you were to attempt to make it today... starting out as a kind of small town British gang B-movie, with some eccentric and apparently irrelevant characters turning up in asides, before segueing into a nuclear-age SF parable.

Read more here.


This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Comedy up to 11.

Read more here.


The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

A confused first act (which jumps about in chronology for no discernible reason) gives way to a more linear second two that, while more pleasing, seem to do away with major characters for no reason other than the plot ran out of things for them to do.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Elementary
3x24 A Controlled Descent [season finale]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x03 (6/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vicious
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Whiplash (2014)
[#84 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: 1,774 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 566 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,397 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,913 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

I said there'd be inevitably be something, didn't I.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Have I Got News For You
49x08 (29/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rush (2013)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
[2nd watch]

Films

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[2nd or so watch]

TV

Game of Thrones
5x10 Mother's Mercy [season finale]
I watched this in the early hours, right after it was on in the US, rather than wait 24 hours as I normally do (for various reasons). I'm glad I did — so much that would almost inevitably have been spoiled in those intervening hours! Great episode, though.

TV

Episodes
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dogma (1999)
[2nd watch]


Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005/2011)
[3rd watch]

After a three-week interruption (for various reasons), the Star Wars re-watch resumes. Sith isn't as bad as the other two prequels, but it's not really as good as the original trilogy, is it? As for the Machete Order, exactly how well it works hinges on how Jedi plays next week...

this week on 100 Films

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


Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)

Some claim the film hinges on in-jokes and references to the numerous Partridge series, but that’s poppycock: as someone who’s never watched one, I didn’t even sense I was missing something. Indeed, even as someone who’s never seen the character’s appeal, I thought the film was hilarious.

Read more here.


The Expendables 3 (Extended Version) (2014)

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sylvester Stallone continues his examination of masculinity and machismo amongst older men in this trilogy-forming instalment of his Expendables franchise. You think I’m joking… because I am. But there is actually an element of that in this latest action-fest, as the leader of the titular band of mercenaries chooses to retire his team of ageing soldiers and replace them with younger models.

Read more here.


The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The film has the feel of an artisan confection: candy-coloured, precisely designed and constructed, sweetly enjoyable, but with a hidden bite. Something like that, anyway.

Read more here.


Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Despite being a moderately-starry big-budget Hollywood effort, Jack the Giant Slayer feels cheap as chips across the board. For starters there’s the woeful screenplay, with its first-draft-level dialogue and poor construction. [Then,] if you told me any of the CG-driven sequences were from a Syfy miniseries, I’d probably believe you.

Read more here.


Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Part of the setup is “My Fair Lady with gentlemen spies”, as chavvy Eggsy is reshaped to be an old-fashioned besuited gent, inspired by the story of how Dr. No director Terence Young took a rough young Scottish chap called Sean Connery under his wing and taught him how to dress and behave as a gentlemen in preparation for his star-making role as the original superspy. It’s one of those ideas that you wonder why no one thought of developing into a fiction sooner.

Read more here.


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


Anne Frank Remembered (1995)

In this Oscar-winning documentary, Jon Blair exposes the ‘untold story’ of Anne Frank. He adds to her words with the perspective of her friends, other people who knew her, and relatives of her companions in the annex... The film also reflects on Anne herself, and what it uncovers is not always positive. Such an honest approach could be contentious, but its attempt to uncover the truth — rather than paint a false saintly picture — is admirable.

Read more here.


Cruise of the Gods (2002)

Though the film pokes fun (fairly good-naturedly) at sci-fi obsessives, the underlying story here is about a man overshadowed by his past. In this Rob Brydon gives a strong performance, and he’s ably supported by James Corden in particular

Read more here.


Dark Floors (2008)

You may remember Lordi, the surprise winners of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. If that doesn’t help, they were the Finnish rockers all dressed up in monster suits. Here in the UK we gave them our highest number of points. You’d be easily forgiven if you had forgotten them, but clearly someone hasn’t as they not only made this film, someone thought they were big enough to use in its promotion — it’s subtitled “The Lordi Movie” on posters, DVD covers and what have you. Maybe they’re still well-known in Europe. Or Finland.

Read more here.


Hamlet (1996)

It’s the first ever full-text screen adaptation, which means it clocks in just shy of four hours; he unusually shot it on 70mm film, which means it looks gorgeous; and, while he grabbed the title role himself, he assembled around him a ludicrously star-packed cast from both sides of the pond... Even Ken Dodd’s in there!

Read more here.


Hamlet (2009)

[A] notable facet of David Tennant’s interpretation of the character is humour. Hamlet’s madness here is almost unrelentingly funny — even in deadly serious situations, like capture following a murder, Tennant’s Hamlet can’t resist taunting the other characters, keeping the viewer onside by keeping his apparent insanity entertaining rather than scary or darkly intense.

Read more here.


Ministry of Fear (1944)

To say too much about what Ministry of Fear is actually about would ruin it, which I don’t want to do because in fact it’s a great twisty little thriller, a rather Hitchcockian ‘wrong man’ tale with a baked MacGuffin

Read more here.


Mrs Brown (1997)

Period drama focusing on the friendship between Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown, alongside political threats faced by the British monarchy in the 1860s.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x02 (30/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

After last week's busy ol' update, nothing to report (except one small correction). My prediction that it will remain that way for a further five weeks still stands, too. For now.

Anyway, it's not all boring this week: there's a running time update! (Thought: if there genuinely remains nothing to add for the next five weeks, the next running time update will show no change -- I think that'd be a first. I imagine I'll cave to some impulse purchase in that time, though.)

As I was saying: anyway...

Number of titles in collection: 1,772 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 564 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,395 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,911 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

And that running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
317 days, 9 hours, and 51 minutes.
(Up 11 hours and 52 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x05 (5/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Elementary
3x23 Absconded

Person of Interest
3x10 The Devil's Share
Well that must be HR done now, then (hurrah!)

Vicious
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Interview (2014)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Episodes
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x23 Fast Enough [season finale]

Game of Thrones
5x09 The Dance of Dragons

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x01 Eurovision Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Forever
1x22 The Last Death of Henry Morgan [series finale]
Cancelled before its time, perhaps, but at least it wrapped up most of the mysteries.

Have I Got News For You
49x07 (22/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Now You See Me (2013)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Vicious
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Ladyhawke (1985)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

A new month began during this week on 100 Films in a Year, so we begin with a look back at... wait a minute! I forgot to post the look-back at April! Right then:



And now, May too:




After all that, six brand-new reviews were published this week...


The Black Cauldron (1985)

an intriguing footnote in the history of Disney animation. Their 25th ‘official’ film, it was the first with no songs, the first to earn a PG, and flopped so badly they disowned it for over a decade. Fully-animated sequences were cut after disastrous test screenings for parents, and famed exec Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly ordered 12 minutes cut, muddling the film’s story.

Read more here.


Hancock (Extended Version) (2008)

If you’ve only seen the humour-focused trailers, seeing Hancock described as a comedy-drama might come as a surprise. There’s a whole behind-the-scenes story here, it would seem... [they] thought they were making a character drama superhero movie, while studio executives were more interested in it being a superhero action-comedy... While the marketing went all-out on the comedy angle, the film itself is torn between these two pillars, leaving viewers with mismanaged expectations

Read more here.


Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

The first of Summer 2013’s “Die Hard in the White House” movies... The remarkable thing, watching both movies, is just how many plot beats are so similar. Even when they’re not exactly the same, they’re functionally identical. For example, a plane shoots up Washington merely as a distraction to get the President sent to the White House’s bunker; in White House Down, an explosion at the Capitol is staged merely as a distraction to get the President sent to the White House’s bunker.

Read more here.


Room 237 (2012)

Possibly-crazy people offer definitely-crazy theories on the subtextual meaning of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in this controversial film analysis documentary.

Read more here.


Violet & Daisy (2011)

plays like Tarantino with a metric tonne of Quirk slathered over it. On the bright side, it’s sort of entertaining, albeit fundamentally derivative with a sheen of left-field try-hard wacky-uniqueness.

Read more here.


White House Down (2013)

where your opinion is likely to land is most succinctly summed up in Film4’s review by Rebecca Davis: “Whether or not you enjoy this film depends entirely on whether you judge it to be po-faced or parody. If you believe it’s the former, you’ll probably hate it. If you believe it’s the latter, you’ll have an absolute blast.” I definitely judge it to be a parody... not an out-and-out Airplane-style parody, but very much a self-aware retro-styled tongue-in-cheek Action Movie.

Read more here.


Finally, there were six archive reviews republished too...


Capote (2005)

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning lead performance dominates this movie... in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote’s work process, it’s the character of the man, and how it’s affected, that is really revealed to the viewer

Read more here.


Catfish (2010)

a documentary (probably -- we'll come to that) in which 20-something Nev falls in love with a girl somewhere else in America over the internet. He and his friends become suspicious that she's not who she claims and set off to find out The Truth. ...reflects our current relationship with social networking technology... how these tools are and can be used, and what effects this can have on human relations.

Read more here.


The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Wordy political intrigue tries to coexist with broad comedy which is squashed against swashbuckling adventure. The latter two could co-exist, but the film feels like it wants to be the former and so suffers for it. The comedy jars too much to be effective... It should at least be able to swash buckles effectively, but entirely fails to achieve this until the climax.

Read more here.


The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

If some later Disney ventures have lost sight of the correct spirit for Pooh’s adventures, at least this original is a great adaptation. Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, and, above all, fun fun fun fun fun.

Read more here.


The Naked City (1948)

Police procedural film noir, shot entirely on location in New York... The story is quite straightforward -- girl is murdered, police investigate -- but it exists mainly as a structure on which to hang perspectives of the city, its criminals and its law enforcement

Read more here.


New York Stories (1989)

Anthology of three shorts, connected only by the New York setting, directed by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Elementary
3x22 The Best Way Out is Always Through

Pointless Celebrities
7x05 British Film
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Expendables 3 (Extended Version) (2014)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

A nice big five additions this week. (Current prediction for the next six weeks: 0. Well, we'll see...)

Number of titles in collection: 1,772 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 564 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,394 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,911 [up 4]
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

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x04 (29/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Car Share
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Ending with one of the funniest episodes -- brilliant! Really hope they make more. The ratings were strong, so I guess it's just down to Peter Kay and co. And to think I wasn't going to even bother with it...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Game of Thrones
5x08 Hardhome

Films

Changing Lanes (2002)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]