TV

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
1x04 N or M? Part One
1x05 N or M? Part Two
1x06 N or M? Part Three [season finale]
These two adventures were good fun, and very watchable even in three-hour single sittings. Hope they make more.
[Watch N or M? parts one, two and three (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
[#118 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Celebrity Fifteen to One
(28/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Would I Lie To You?
9x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Stranger by the Lake (2013)
[#117 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? (2015) (2015)

Jon Schnepp’s widely-reviewed documentary about the batshit-crazy Nic Cage-starring Tim Burton-directed Superman movie that almost happened in 1999. If all you’ve seen are the photos of a stoned-looking Cage in a light-up abomination of a Superman costume that leaked onto the internet a few years ago, prepare to be amazed.

Read more here.


Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson here turns his hand to adapting reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 opus. It met with notably less success than most of his previous works. The Alliance of Women Film Journalists were one of few organisations to recognise it come awards season, with a gong for “Movie You Wanted to Love, But Just Couldn’t”. Apt.

Read more here.


Now You See Me (2013)

the whole film works on many of the same principles as a magic show: it’s there to dazzle you, confound you, make you guess how the tricks were done. That there’s eventually a reveal and a twist is an end unto itself, regardless of the believability of the plot or the depth of the characters

Read more here.


RED 2 (2013)

The “retired, extremely dangerous” agents return for more of the same. “More of the same” is all the recommendation — or unrecommendation, or disrecommendation, or whatever the antonym of “recommendation” actually is — you really need.

Read more here.


Scanners (1981)

If you’re versed in sci-fi/fantasy cinema, you’ve heard of Scanners even if you haven’t seen it: it’s the one with the (in)famous exploding head. That moment is distinctly less shocking for those of us coming to the film as a new viewer at this point: gore perpetuates genre cinema nowadays, so it’s less striking, and the scene it’s in is quite obvious, so you know it’s coming. Fortunately, Scanners is so much more than one famous moment.

Read more here.


The Theory of Everything (2014)

Felicity Jones gives a first-class performance as Jane, building genuine poignancy by being impeccably understated. Eddie Redmayne contorts himself into the form of Stephen Hawking with uncanny accuracy, a truly remarkable performance of a truly remarkable man.

Read more here.


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


100 Films on a Cover

Empire, not content with conducting a ludicrously huge reader poll to find the 500 greatest films ever made, also roped in 150 (as yet unnamed) "key directors and producers" and "the world's most influential film critics" to have their say. And Empire, not content with conducting a ludicrously huge reader poll and gathering the opinion of key directors, producers and critics to find the 500 greatest films ever made, also created a "magazine milestone" — 100 different covers for the issue featuring the list

Read more here.


Alien vs Predator - Part 1

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, my repostathon is recapping my recaps of the Alien and Predator film series. In Part 1, the beginnings of them both...

Read more here.


Alien vs Predator - Part 2

Aliens and The Other Two Alien Movies...

Read more here.

(Part 3 will be live tomorrow, and so will feature in the next weekly update.)


The BAFTAs 2008

I won’t offer a comprehensive list of winners, or even many thoughts on them — such things are easily found elsewhere — but I will instead offer my thoughts on one of the few ceremonies this year to be presented in full (well, relatively speaking), and the only film awards ceremony that receives a terrestrial television airing in the UK.

Read more here.


An extended musing on falling in love with films

when was the last time I ‘fell in love’ with a film? It’s got me pondering not only that, but also what caused me to ‘fall for’ the films I do like? Was it the critical reaction as much as my personal opinion? The in-built notion of This Is A Good Film making sure I liked it?

Read more here.


My Quantum of Solace Film Season

Back in 2008, I marked the release of the 22nd James Bond film by watching a bunch of unrelated stuff.

Read more here.


Watchmen 2: a couple of suggestions

After finding Total Film's humourous suggestions for a Watchmen sequel a little lacking in the funniness department, I thought I'd jot down a few myself. It doesn't mean they're actually any better, obviously, but it kept me amused for a few minutes.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Americans
3x11 One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Yonderland
2x07 The Last Fahl

Films

Shivers (1975)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapter 5 [2nd read]

Collection Count

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

Last week I promised a bumper crop this time, and here it is: five releases, 15 discs, nine films. Exciting times.

Number of titles in collection: 1,791 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 583 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,456 [up 15]
Number of films in collection: 1,939 [up 9]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,634 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 454 [up 6]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
3x10 Stingers

Celebrity Fifteen to One
(21/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x15 (21/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Person of Interest
3x22 A House Divided
3x23 Deus Ex Machina [season finale]
[Watch A House Divided and Deus Ex Machina (again) on Demand 5.]

TVT

The Americans
3x09 Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?

The Great British Bake Off
6x04 Desserts
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 11 The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapter 4 [2nd read]

TV

The Americans
3x08 Divestment

Yonderland
2x06 Game of Crones

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 10 Movies to Change the World

TV

The Americans
3x07 Walter Taffet

Two Tribes
2x40 (31/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
9x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 8 New Directors, New Form
Part 9 American Cinema of the 70s

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapter 3 [2nd read]

TV

The Americans
3x06 Born Again

Two Tribes
2x35 (30/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 6 Sex & Melodrama
Part 7 European New Wave

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapters 1-2 [2nd read]

I never re-read books, in part because I don't read enough in the first place (and if I did, there's always so much more to read!) Obviously, this is an exception. I first read it years ago, at uni, and have been wanting to re-read it for a while. I was spurred on by watching Inherent Vice the other day, of course, and also by it only being a short'un. It's not quite as I remember it -- I think the stuff that really stuck with me, that I really enjoyed, must be to come later. We'll see.

this week on 100 Films

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


Interstellar (2014)

criticism/acceptance seems to hinge on the final act. Without getting into spoilers, then, “it’s too far-fetched” is one criticism I’ve seen. Of a science fiction movie. I guess it depends what you’re expecting. The rest of the film is grounded in realistic or plausible science, so when it really pushes at the boundaries of the unknown at the end, some people struggle to accept that

Read more here.


TMNT (2007)

The kids’ phenomenon of the ’80s/’90s has never quite gone away, and this film is one thing that kept it ticking over in the ’00s. I watched out of nostalgia, which may’ve been a mistake.

Read more here.


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


A Few Good Men (1992)
I really ought to watch this again, next time without over two months between most of the film and the final half hour! (Can't believe I stood for that back then...)
Read my review here.


The Prestige (2006)

A well-handled complex narrative (it again jumps about in time, but never to the audience’s confusion), even if the twists are relatively easy to guess. A credit, then, that the film doesn’t totally rely on them.

Read more here.


Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

After the widespread disappointment with Insurrection, the ninth big screen outing for Star Trek, fans hoped this tenth would mark a return to their old adage “even ones good, odd ones bad.” They had reasons to be hopeful: a new director, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and (potentially) the final outing for the beloved Next Generation crew... Sadly, it wasn’t to be: Nemesis was a critical and commercial flop... And quite rightly, because it isn’t very good.

Read more here.


Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

F.W. Murnau's first film in America, throughout the decades hailed as one of the greatest film ever made. Maybe it is, in some respects -- for a film made 80 years ago it certainly stands up very well today.

Read more here.


What makes a film a film?

I don’t mean “as opposed to a book”, or “as opposed to a pile of rubbish”; but rather, “as opposed to a TV special”, or different to a direct-to-DVD movie — indeed, is there a difference?

Read more here.


And that's the end of the archive reviews! Yes, really! Here's a word on what's next:


Archive Reposts: Mop-up & More

After 14 months of dedicated effort, yesterday's repost of my Sunrise review means I've finally reached the end of my archive reposts... at least as far as reviews are concerned. There are a few posts left to go until I've fully re-uploaded all my priceless older content, and I've split them into the following categories...

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Americans
3x05 Salang Pass

Films

Inherent Vice (2014)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

The Theory of Everything (2014)
[#114 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 couple of releases from the US finally made their way to me this week. Next week, a bumper crop of stuff I bought on offer.

Number of titles in collection: 1,786 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 578 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,441 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,930 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,634 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x14 (14/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Americans
3x04 Dimebag

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
7x07 (7/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

The Americans
3x03 Open House

The Great British Bake Off
6x03 Bread
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Two Tribes
2x34 (29/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 5 Post-War Cinema

TV

The Americans
3x02 Baggage

Person of Interest
3x21 Beta
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Two Tribes
2x33 (28/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 3 The Golden Age of World Cinema
Part 4 The Arrival of Sound

TV

The Americans
3x01 EST Men
This returns to the UK on ITV Encore this Wednesday, but I don't get that, so we've got it through... other means. As usual. Also as usual, intending to watch it over the next two or three weeks. You should also watch it, because it's awesome.

Two Tribes
2x32 (27/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 1 Birth of the Cinema
Part 2 The Hollywood Dream

1,000! I could say more about why this counts & that, but you can just read such information here. In case you don't know, however, it's 15 hours long, so I'll be watching it over the coming few days/week(s).

TV

Would I Lie To You?
9x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

End of Watch (2012)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

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


Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Leading us into the uniquely bizarre world of the outrageous musician, Soderbergh keeps a sure grasp on the resultant drama/humour balance. If anything, the entertaining and well-received trailer makes the film look more outrageous than it is, distilling most of the best laughs into a two-minute burst. Indeed, some of the jokes play better in that form

Read more here.


Sherlock Holmes (1922), aka Moriarty

The story diverges from the canon so much it’s liable to give any particularly canon-focused Sherlockians a conniption. It begins in Cambridge... There, a student, Prince Alexis, third in line to the throne of somewhere-or-other-in-Europe, has been accused of stealing from the university, but he claims innocence. His friend John Watson recommends he seeks the assistance of a chap in his year, one Sherlock Holmes. Yes, shades of 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn there are fewer CGI stained glass window knights here, though.

Read more here.


The Thing (1982)

At its heart, John Carpenter’s film is a psychological thriller: an alien is in the group’s midst; it has taken on the form of one or more of them; who can you trust? How can you tell? It’s both a dilemma in an abstract “sci-fi concept” sense, and no doubt a parallel from an era when spying and the threat of ‘the other’ infiltrating society were still major issues.

Read more here.


The Thing (2011)

The Thing 2011-variety is not a remake of The Thing 1982-variety because, primarily, it takes place before The Thing ’82, and also because of drastic changes like making the lead character female and having some of the cast speak Norwegian sometimes. Other than that, what unfolds is just a variation on a theme.

Read more here.


The archive review reposts are getting near the end now. This week, multiple shorts and one all-time classic. But first, a literary remake...


Brideshead Revisited (2008)

It’s entertainingly written and performed, firmly in the tradition of the ‘heritage’ films and TV series that Britain churned out through the ’80s and ’90s — it’s the natural successor to the work of Merchant-Ivory, who of course produced the tonally-similar (at least at first) A Room With a View

Read more here.


Gasman (1997)

“Gritty”, “realist” and “indie” are just some of the stock terms that immediately jump to mind when watching this short, which directly enabled director Lynne Ramsay to make her first feature, Ratcatcher. [It] succeeds in using the associated techniques to tell a simple story of complex emotions and meaning for the characters involved.

Read more here.


How Long is a Minute? (2001)

Pummell’s film succeeds by not over-reaching itself. He has a single philosophical thought, conveyed succinctly with a mixture of image and sound. That’s worth 60 seconds, surely.

Read more here.


The Lunch Date (1990)

Short films are paid minimal attention by most people, but a good one can launch a career. Take this, for example, which won the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1990 and the Oscar for Best Live Action Short in 1991. Writer/director Davidson may not have had a significant film career since, but he has directed episodes of Dexter, Deadwood, Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order, Lie to Me, Lost, Rome, Shark, Six Feet Under, True Blood, and more.

Read more here.


Rashomon (1950)

Justifiably, much has been written about Rashomon, both critically and analytically. As such I’m not going to dig too deeply here, but instead just highlight a couple of reasons why it’s so acclaimed.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Celebrity Fifteen to One
(14/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Yonderland
2x05 Nanny La Roo

Films

Interstellar (2014)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

There should've been a lovely box set bolstering the numbers this week. Unfortunately, it arrived damaged and has had to go back for a replacement. Next time, then.

As it stands, however, no changes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,784 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 576 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,438 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,928 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,634 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
3x20 Death Benefit
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Superman: Red Son
Part 1 News of Superman
The first of a 25-part 'motion comic' adaptation of Mark Millar's acclaimed Elseworlds tale. (It’s commonly bundled into 12 instalments, with each one containing multiple parts.) It has some plus points over previous motion comics (like the Watchmen one) -- namely, that there are multiple voices, so there's not some bloke putting on a squeaky tone to play the female characters. It's still not a proper animation, though, so it feels a bit pointless. I shan't be bothering with the rest of it.
[Watch Part 1 on YouTube (legally, I think).]

Films

Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

The Last Leg
7x06 (31/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Two Tribes
2x39 (26/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
6x02 Biscuits
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Man on Earth
1x01 Alive in Tucson
1x02 The Elephant in the Room
[Watch Alive in Tucson and The Elephant in the Room (again) on UKTV Play.]

Person of Interest
3x19 Most Likely To...
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Yonderland
2x04 Up the Workers

TV

Castle
5x01 After the Storm
Thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime, no more waiting for Channel 5 -- hurrah!

Would I Lie To You?
9x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Contagion (2011)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x13 (7/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Last Leg
7x05 (24/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Person of Interest
3x17 /
aka The Episode Channel 5 Skipped For No Discernible Reason. It's an arc-heavy one too, so goodness knows what they were thinking. Perhaps they somehow overlooked it thanks to that damn stupid title...

Two Tribes
2x38 (24/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
1x01 The Secret Adversary Part One
1x02 The Secret Adversary Part Two
1x03 The Secret Adversary Part Three
Didn't necessarily intend to watch the entire serial in one sitting, but it was good fun. I guess it'll be three weeks 'til the next for me now, then...
[Watch The Secret Adversary parts one, two and three (again) on iPlayer.]

Cowboy Bebop
1x14 Bohemian Rhapsody
1x15 My Funny Valentine
Sometimes I'm concerned about my ability to monitor the passing of time: it's well over a year since I last watched Cowboy Bebop, and over two since I started it! Here I go again, but hopefully now I'll finish it off in a reasonable timeframe...

this week on 100 Films

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


Life of Pi (2012)

it concerns, literally, the story of a boy stuck on a lifeboat with a tiger, and, figuratively, the very nature of storytelling itself — not to mention the purpose of religion and the existence of God. Never has “from the director of Hulk” seemed less pertinent.

Read more here.


Red Sonja (1985)

From the sword and sorcery ‘boom’ of the ’80s, Red Sonja concerns a warrioress going after the evil queen who slaughtered her family and has now seized a magical MacGuffin that will destroy the world or somesuch. The first remarkable thing is that I don’t think anyone in it can act.

Read more here.


Space Station 76 (2014)

The film’s visual aesthetic is a loving recreation of classic SF, from the set design to the gorgeous model-like CGI exteriors. I don’t think anything in particular was being referenced — at least, not obviously so — but it’s all reminiscent of the likes of the original Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Space: 1999, and so on. It’s been created with such care that it borders on the beautiful.

Read more here.


Videodrome (1983)

even though it’s 32 years old and the tech being depicted is similarly dated, its fears about the influence of the media and the changes it brings to society could’ve been shot yesterday. These thought-provoking themes are in part conveyed through Cronenberg’s familiar stomping ground of body horror, with top-drawer prosthetics giving tangible visual life to nightmarish ideas

Read more here.


Whiplash (2014)

Chazelle’s screenplay is admirable in its psychological complexity here, particularly as it’s contained in a straightforward-seeming master/pupil, abuser/abusee drama that also functions as a surface-level dramatic thriller. The extra levels come from these exact characters and their exact relationship.

Read more here.


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


Cut (2009)

When the violence comes, it’s moderately brutal. And here’s the rub — it’s arguably not brutal enough to cover the horrid reality of what some people have to suffer. It’s been made suitable to be shown on TV in a slot where people will see it — which, for its aims as an awareness advert, is completely appropriate.

Read more here.


Enchanted (2007)

it’s the one that starts out as a traditionally animated Disney film, before The Normal Girl Who Will Marry A Prince is thrown into a Magic Portal by The Evil Stepmother and finds herself in present-day New York. It’s one of those concepts so good it just makes you think, “why haven’t they thought of that before?” Thankfully, they pull it off.

Read more here.


Flushed Away (2006)

Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based company most famous for Wallace & Gromit and Creature Comforts, branch out into CGI for the first time with this tale of rats trying to save the sewers of London. CGI rats? Yes, thoughts of Ratatouille are inevitable. Can Aardman beat Pixar at their own game? You might be surprised…

Read more here.


Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

For those who’ve never heard of MST3K, it’s a bit like a DVD commentary… except instead of people involved with the film recounting anecdotes or academics offering analysis, we have people taking the piss out of it. I say “people” — one person and two robots. Who are obviously voiced by people. Look, that’s not the point.

Read more here.


Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

Kim Stanley’s performance is stunning. Initially just a Hyacinth Bucket-esque overbearing wife, as the film continues we learn more about her almost solely from what Stanley brings to the role. By the final scene, when the truth of her character is laid bare, there’s little doubt that she’s given an extraordinary performance.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Celebrity Fifteen to One
(7/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Ripper Street
3x08 The Peace of Edmund Reid [season finale]
Great finale to a great season. It really feels like a final end, though, so it'll be interesting to see where everyone goes in the next two seasons.
[Watch it now on Amazon Instant Video, or on BBC One (edited) in a few weeks.]

Films

Life of Pi (2012)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Only two titles added this week... but it's also the running time update, and that entire TV series I added a couple of weeks back has made its presence felt.

Number of titles in collection: 1,784 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 576 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,438 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,928 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,634 [up 2]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
320 days, 10 hours, and 57 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 13 hours, and 50 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
3x18 Allegiance
So, for no apparent reason, Channel 5 chose to skip an entire episode -- and they haven't even tried to hide it by renumbering the episodes on their site. Brazen! Torrents to the rescue it is, then.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Yonderland
2x03 A Vicious Circle

Films

Sherlock Holmes (1922), aka Moriarty
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x12 (31/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Great British Bake Off
6x01 Cake
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
7x04 (17/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Mock the Week
14x06 (16/7/15 edition) [mid-season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ripper Street
3x07 Live Free, Live True
[Watch it now on Amazon Instant Video, or on BBC One (edited) in a few weeks.]

Yonderland
2x02 The Winging Detective

Films

Shallow Grave (1994)
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

The Last Leg
7x03 (10/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Person of Interest
3x16 RAM
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Two Tribes
2x37 (23/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Thing (2011)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Mock the Week
14x05 (9/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ripper Street
3x06 The Incontrovertible Truth
[Watch it now on Amazon Instant Video, or on BBC One (heavily edited) in a few weeks.]

Films

Inside Man (2006)
[2nd watch]

Space Station 76 (2014)
[#103 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

August started yesterday, so it's time for the 100 Films in a Year monthly update, looking back at July:




Also this week, two brand-new reviews were published. They were...


Gone Girl (2014)

“Horrible people do horrible things to each other” is the Post-it Note summary of this dark drama-thriller from director David Fincher, adapted by screenwriter Gillian Flynn from her own novel, which is short on heroes and overloaded with villains. An alternative brief summation is, “modern society is shit.”

Read more here.


Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

With Bond going “real world” and gadget free in the Daniel Craig era, and the Bourne series having blazed a trail of “we shot it all handheld and shaky and grainy so it must be real” veracity, it seems the task of providing audiences with a contemporary version of the spy action, just-ahead-of-reality gadgets, and larger-than-life spectacle that the Bond movies specialised in during the ’60s and ’70s, has fallen upon the Mission: Impossible franchise. For my money, it’s taken the baton with aplomb.

Read more here.


Finally, three archive reviews were reposted...


1945-1998 (2003)

Is 1945-1998 actually a film? Or is it a piece of video Art? Or just another online video? Its setup is quite simple: it charts every nuclear explosion between the titular years; the total, by-the-way, is 2,053. These explosions play out as flashing dots on a world map; different colours indicate which country was responsible for the explosion, accompanied by running totals.

Read more here.


Easy Virtue (2008)

it’s frequently hilariously funny. You’d expect nothing less from a work taken from Noel Coward, I suppose... There’s a decidedly wicked streak to the humour at times (a subplot about the fate of the family Chihuahua; lots of double entendres), which is welcome. The overall tone is light, largely, but not light in the head.

Read more here.


Fargo (1996)

the latest film to have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry, donchaknow. It’s also 105th on the IMDb Top 250 [it’s now 153rd], and the 21st film from the 1990s. So it’s pretty much a modern classic then.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Episodes
4x09 Episode 9 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
3x15 Last Call
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Would I Lie To You?
9x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

This week, nothing. Next week, hopefully something.

Number of titles in collection: 1,782 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 574 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,436 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,926 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,632 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.