TV

Arrow
5x05 Human Target

Castle
7x21 In Plane Sight

TV

Castle
7x20 Sleeper

The Flash
3x05 Monster

Junior Bake Off
4x09 Heat Nine
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
12x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
7x19 Habeas Corpse

Junior Bake Off
4x08 Heat Eight
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
5x04 Penance

Crisis in Six Scenes
Episode 1 (of 6)
Episode 2 (of 6)
Episode 3 (of 6)
Episode 4 (of 6)
Episode 5 (of 6)
Episode 6 (of 6)
Woody Allen's TV series is basically a long Woody Allen film chopped up into six segments.
[Watch it all (again) on Amazon Prime Video.]

this week on 100 Films

Just 2 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year again this week, and they were...


The Good Dinosaur (2015)

While it may take a while to warm up, The Good Dinosaur is ultimately a very affecting entry in Pixar’s canon. It’s by no means a perfect movie, but I do think it’s an underrated one. And, in all honesty, I enjoyed it more than Inside Out.

Read more here.


The Sting (1973)

Although often billed as a caper, sometimes even as a comedy, it actually has more of an edge. I mean, it’s not The Godfather, but it’s not Ocean’s Eleven either. The star power and chemistry of Redford and Newman are what give the movie a buoyancy to overcome the storyline’s inherent darkness, though I wouldn’t say that reaches far enough to regard the film as a romp

Read more here.


At least my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Toy Story (1995)

Pixar didn’t strike gold with Toy Story just because computer animation was New. It’s the likeable characters, how they develop and learn, the amusing situations they’re put in, plus some heartwarming messages about friendship. There’s more emotion and character development in these wooden-and-plastic toys generated with pixels in a computer than many a film can achieve with real human beings

Read more here.


Toy Story 2 (1999)

a sequel that is slicker, funnier, more exciting, and more emotional than its forebear. Even if it’s happening more often now, good sequels are still hard to do — trust Pixar to have got there ahead of the pack.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Class
1x07 The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Grand Tour
1x02 Operation Desert Stumble
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Video.]

Films

Jason Bourne (2016)
[#185 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

A whole bunch of titles this week leads to some relatively big boosts. It's that time of year -- lots of big releases in the run-up to Christmas. Speaking of which, this will be the last update until deep in December, because I'm going away. The next update may even be post-Christmas, so there'll surely be plenty to mention.

Coincidentally, it's also time for a running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 1,913 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,197 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 718 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,915 [up 8]
Number of films in collection: 2,113 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,483 [up 6]
Number of short films in collection: 500 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
363 days, 13 hours, and 47 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 2 hours, and 36 minutes from last month.)

See you next month, faithful reader.

TV

Junior Bake Off
4x07 Heat Seven
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Moonstone
Part 4 (of 5)
Part 5 (of 5)
[Watch parts four and five (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Napoleon (1927)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Acts III and IV, including the famous triptych finale.

TV

The Flash
3x04 The New Rogues

Junior Bake Off
4x06 Heat Six
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Moonstone
Part 3 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Red Dwarf
11x06 Can of Worms [season finale]
Probably the weakest episode of the season, and they save it for last. Shame.

Films

Napoleon (1927)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Act II. Two more to go.

TV

The Moonstone
Part 2 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Napoleon (1927)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Act I only -- this 5½-hour silent epic is going to take another two or three sittings to get through.

TV

Arrow
5x03 A Matter of Trust

Junior Bake Off
4x05 Heat Five
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Star Trek Beyond (2016)
[#183 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

The Flash
3x03 Magenta

Junior Bake Off
4x04 Heat Four
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Moonstone
Part 1 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
[#182 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Castle
7x18 At Close Range

Junior Bake Off
4x03 Heat Three
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Deer Hunter (1978)
[#181 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #11

this week on 100 Films

Once again, it's time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the past month on TV...




Also this week, I published just 2 brand-new reviews...


Enemy (2013)

There’s no denying that Enemy is atmospheric, but the actual story was a bit too elliptical for my taste. It was all going fairly swimmingly until it suddenly stopped just before it appeared to be going to offer answers. That naturally suggests you need to go back and reconsider / deconstruct what you’ve already seen, but it nonetheless makes it feel a bit frustrating, at least initially, and makes reading theories online a virtual necessity

Read more here.


A Knight's Tale (2001)

Renowned for its anachronistic use of rock music, there’s actually not much of that, but there’s plenty of comedy and adventure — too much: it’s a little long... An able cast keep it ticking: Heath Ledger hefts the derring-do and romance, with comic support from Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, and Paul Bettany; but love interest Shannyn Sossamon is clearly miscast.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Three Kings (1999)

Writer-director David O. Russell may have become increasingly acclaimed this decade with Oscar-nominated movies like The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Hustle, but for me this is still his best work. It mixes laugh-out-loud comedy with serious points about war and an ultimately emotional storyline, created with a filmmaking verve that is frequently exciting and inventive

Read more here.


Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Memorable Scene: Remote control car, James Bond style. Bond lies in the backseat of his BMW, driving it around a multi-storey car park with his mobile phone, deploying its weapons against a gang of attackers. It was a fun concept back in ’97, but I imagine you could do it yourself with an app now. Apart from the weapons. And the legal implications. So maybe not.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Castle
7x17 Hong Kong Hustle

Class
1x06 Detained
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
[#180 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

I thought there'd be a few more things to report this week, but they didn't materialise in the end, so there's just this:

Number of titles in collection: 1,908 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,196 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 714 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,907 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 2,108 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,477 [up 10]
Number of short films in collection: 500 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Grand Tour
1x01 The Holy Trinity

"Not At All Like Top Gear, Honest" begins... and is very entertaining, too.

And just in case you forgot that Amazon also own IMDb...

[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Video.]

TV

Castle
7x16 The Wrong Stuff

TV

The Musketeers
2x10 Trial and Punishment [season finale]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
9x04 (12/11/16 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Arrival (2016)
[#179 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Suicide Squad (2016)
[#178 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Castle
7x14 Resurrection
7x15 Reckoning

Junior Bake Off
4x02 Heat Two
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Swiss Army Man (2016)
[#177 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Arrow
5x02 The Recruits

Live at the Apollo
12x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Class
1x05 Brave-ish Heart
Including a short educational interlude about Sikhism, apparently.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Junior Bake Off
4x01 Heat One
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Red Dwarf
11x01 Twentica

Films

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
[#176 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

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


Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)

Holy nostalgia hit, Batman! This animated movie reunites the surviving stars of the enduringly popular ’60s Batman TV series (and spin-off movie) for a new adventure in the style of their classic ones — that is to say it’s funny and colourful, a world away from the Dark Knight version of Batman we’re so accustomed to these days.

Read more here.


Fantastic Four (2015)

What could have been a comfortable 3-star movie, maybe even 4 if it followed through well enough, is dragged down to 2 by studio meddling. Will they never learn? Nonetheless, I actually enjoyed enough of Fantastic Four that, while it won’t be going on the long-list of contenders for the best movies I’ve seen this year, I won’t be putting it on the list for the worst either.

Read more here.


Moneyball (2011)

it’s like turning on a real game of any sport you know nothing about: you can discern some stuff, but the coverage is not being produced for you. At one point it cuts to a match and a caption informs us it’s the “bottom of the 9th”. I’m sure that means something to baseball fans, but I can tell you the rest of us haven’t got the foggiest. Is the “bottom” at the beginning or the end? The 9th what? And is it the 9th of 9 or the 9th of 10? Or is it the fact it’s the 9th that’s significant here? For Moneyball as a movie in its own right, rather than some niche special interest thing, this attitude is a drawback.

Read more here.


The Survivalist (2015)

’70s self-sufficiency sitcom The Good Life meets bleak post-apocalypse drama The Road in this technically-science-fiction dramatic thriller, the BAFTA-nominated debut of writer-director Stephen Fingleton.

Read more here.


The Visit (2015)

Although Shyamalan has always moved in supernatural circles in his movies, he’s not really directed a proper Horror movie before now. Nonetheless, it’s not surprising that his skill set lends itself to the genre. Although the found-footage format is a little forced at times (isn’t it always?), it’s also used effectively to create some nailbiting sequences, putting you alongside the kids as they fear just what the hell is going in. And some of it is pretty darn freaky.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Star Wars (1977)

Lucas almost instantly conjures up a universe that feels wholly-imagined and genuinely lived-in... Throw in an array of likeable and entertaining characters, plus groundbreaking special effects, and you’re on to a winner. The plot may just be a classical hero narrative, but it’s in space and has laser swords — that counts for a lot.

Read more here.


Team America: World Police (2004)

“Matt Damon.”

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Castle
7x13 I, Witness

Class
1x04 Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Young Adam (2003)
[2nd watch]

Collection Count

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

Even more stuff! And there'll be more next week. And the week after. And...

Number of titles in collection: 1,907 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,196 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 713 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,902 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 2,108 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,467 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 500 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Castle
7x12 Private Eye Caramba!

The Musketeers
2x09 The Accused

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
5x05 Episode 5

TV

Castle
7x11 Castle, P.I.

TV

Castle
7x10 Bad Santa

Films

The Pianist (2002)
[#175 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #10

I accidentally missed doing one of these in October, and I watched #9 right at the start of September, so it's actually been over two months. Time flies!

TV

Castle
7x09 Last Action Hero

The Flash
3x02 Paradox

Films

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)
[#174 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Films

Love & Friendship (2016)
[#173 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Another (very) late update thanks to there being a massive load of additions and changes this time, including both DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrades and Blu-ray-to-Blu-ray upgrades to muddy the numerical waters. In all, eleven new titles were acquired, one of which will be somehow integrated into another,* and three titles were removed.**

On the bright side, all of this kerfuffle ended up arriving just inside this week (hence the delay), rather than tipping over to next as I had expected -- so it should be an all-round quieter time next week.

Number of titles in collection: 1,903 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,196 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 709 [up 9]

Number of discs in collection: 4,897 [up 13]
Number of films in collection: 2,104 [up 10]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,467 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 500 [up 4]

See you next week, faithful reader.


* I bought the Spider-Man Trilogy Blu-ray, which doesn't include the Spider-Man 3 bonus disc; so I also bought the original 2-disc release of Spider-Man 3 to get that disc. Now I have to work out how exactly to sell the duplicate, because... oh, it's quite boring, I'll stop there. Point is: I bought the Spider-Man Trilogy and Spider-Man 3 (2 titles), but because I'll put the latter in the former it goes into my collection as 1 title.

** Talking of Spider-Man, I should really be removing my DVDs of the trilogy now. But the DVD releases of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 2.1 each have over half-an-hour of special features not duplicated on the Blu-ray; the first film has a few bits & bobs not carried over, as well as being a DVD dear to my heart; and by that point, well, it'd be kinda weird to get rid of Spider-Man 3 (and I have it in an Amazon-exclusive special sleeve to boot). So, for now, they all stay. For now.

TV

Castle
7x08 Kill Switch

this week on 100 Films

This week on 100 Films in a Year began(-ish) with a look back at last month...




Then, just 2 brand-new reviews were published...


Cool World (1992)

It’s not a fundamentally bad story at a conceptual level, but its execution is a jumble, and the twisted Cool World is an unpleasant place to have to spend time. The darkness of the story is actually toned down from Bakshi’s original concept... but only so much: it’s still full of sex, references to sex, and general depraved behaviour.

Read more here.


The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

It’s even worse than the first one, because it’s boring. Some bits and bobs may actually be improved (some of the direction is slicker; Bella’s terrible voice over is reduced), but goddamn, it’s so dull. So little actually happens. It feels like it’s probably setting things in place for whatever’s to come next for an entire movie.

Read more here.


And The Guest made its UK TV premiere, so I wrote about that...




And finally, my 100 Favourites series continued, also with 2 more posts...


Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Spider-Man! Spider-Man does whatever a spider can — spins a web any size, catches thieves just like flies. Is he strong? Listen bud, he’s got genetically-modified blood. Wealth and fame he’s ignored, action is his reward… though he’s having doubts about if it’s worth it. With great power comes great responsibility, and neither sit well with a kid who wants a normal life.

Read more here.


Spy Game (2001)

“You don’t just trade these people like they’re baseball cards! It’s not a game!”
“Oh, yes it is. It’s exactly what it is. And it’s no kid’s game either. This is a whole other game. And it’s serious and it’s dangerous. And it’s not one you want to lose.”

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
9x03 (5/11/16 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
7x07 Once Upon a Time in the West

Would I Lie To You?
10x09 The Unseen Bits [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bridesmaids (2011)
[#172 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Castle
7x06 The Time of Our Lives

TV

Arrow
5x01 Legacy

The Great British Bake Off
7x11 Class of 2015 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stranger Things
1x08 Chapter Eight: The Upside Down [season finale]

Films

The Witch (2015)
[#171 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

aka The VVitch: A New-England Folktale