TV

And Then There Were None
Part 1 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Britain's Favourite Children's Books
Read the full list of 100 titles here.
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Celebrity Mastermind
2015/2016 Episode 1 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
8x14 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dreamgirls (2006)
[#195 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Not many additions this Christmas, but here they are nonetheless -- including how things have changed in the past year.

Number of titles in collection: 1,825 [up 2 this week; up 106 in 2015]
Of which DVDs: 1,212 [up 1 this week; up 7 in 2015]
Of which Blu-rays: 613 [up 1 this week; up 99 in 2015]

Number of discs in collection: 4,665 [up 5 this week; up 362 in 2015]
Number of films: 1,993 [up 1 this week; up 141 in 2015]
Number of TV episodes: 7,063 [up 12 this week; up 611 in 2015]
Number of short films: 465 [no change this week; up 27 in 2015]

Plus it's time for the final running time update of the year...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
340 days, 12 hours, and 7 minutes.

(Up 1 day, 10 hours, and 24 minutes from last month.)
(Up 29 days, 5 hours, and 8 minutes from last year.)

Last year the year-on-year increase was 15½ days, the year before it was 19 days, and now it's over 29 days! Madness! Though in 2014 I only added 75 titles and 354 episodes of TV, so several of this year's numbers are much bigger.

See you next week, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

7 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

In terms of consumer advice, you’re not going to watch this sequel without having seen the first, and therefore “more of the same (more or less)” will suffice for a review. In terms of a more analytical mindset… well, what is there to analyse, really? I’m not sure this movie has anything to say.

Read more here.


Boyz n the Hood (1991)

John Singleton became the first African-American Best Director Oscar nominee, as well as the youngest, for this debut. 23 years on, his story of the lives and troubles of young black men in L.A. remains sadly pertinent.

Read more here.


Horns (2013)

Did Daniel Radcliffe murder his girlfriend? Sprouting devilish horns doesn’t help his case… Ostensibly a fantasy-horror murder-mystery, in execution this is mostly black comedy

Read more here.


Jurassic World (2015)

the plot is fundamentally a rehash of the first movie, but the devil is in the details, and in my book Jurassic World does enough new to shrug off any kind of “stealth remake” allegations. What it does definitely retain is a faithfulness to the Spielbergian tone of the first movie — a stated goal of director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow, and one I feel he’s absolutely pulled off. There’s adventure, humour, a sense of scale and wonder.

Read more here.


Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

You can certainly watch Fury Road as just a two-hour chase and (presuming you like action antics) get something out of it. The volume of action, the style with which it’s executed, and the impressive audacity of the stuntwork, all mean the film functions on a purely visceral level.

Read more here.


Terminator Genisys (2015)

some people will already be predisposed to hate the film. Why mess with a classic, etc. I can see where they’re coming from; at the same time, it’s an interesting idea. Time travel is a key part of the Terminator series, and John grows up with the knowledge that one day he will send Reese back to 1984 to save his mother — but what if Skynet knew that too?

Read more here.


The Wrestler (2008)

Mickey Rourke’s Oscar-robbed performance is the primary draw of this drama about a washed-up pro wrestler struggling to make ends meet.

Read more here.



Plus, Merry Christmas!




More next Sunday.