Non-Fiction

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Chapters 23-28

TV

Twin Peaks
3x16 The Return Part 16

Films

Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2008)
[#117 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

TV

Designated Survivor
1x21 Brace for Impact [season finale]

Twin Peaks
3x15 The Return Part 15

Non-Fiction

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Chapters 18-22

TV

Designated Survivor
1x19 Misalliance
1x20 Bombshell

Game of Thrones
7x07 The Dragon and the Wolf [season finale]

Non-Fiction

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Chapters 11-17

TV

Designated Survivor
1x18 Lazarus

Films

Eddie the Eagle (2016)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Non-Fiction

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Chapters 8-10

this week on 100 Films

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


Death Note (2006)

the Death Note is so all-powerful that there’s little drama in Light using it, especially as he isn’t morally conflicted himself — he’s sure he’s doing the right thing, despite people around him voicing their disagreement with Kira. The story therefore comes to focus on the battle between Light and L, a pair of self-proclaimed geniuses who work to constantly outwit each other. This is where the film begins to falter, because a lot of their supposed intelligence comes from leaps of logic designed to make them look clever.

Read more here.


Death Note: The Last Name (2006)

Fundamentally, The Last Name resumes Light and L’s cat-and-mouse game in the same style as the first movie — in case you didn’t get it, near the start of the film their figurative chess game is represented by a literal chess game. This time there are the added complications of Light being on L’s team and the second Death Note being in play, which at least adds some variety.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Designated Survivor
1x16 Party Lines
1x17 The Ninth Seat

Who Dares Wins
10x09 (26/8/17 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Death Note (2017)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Non-Fiction

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Chapters 1-7

The book that inspired the film 21, which I watched the other day. Apparently the film was heavily fictionalised, so I was curious to read the real story. What's kind of interesting is that the book apparently takes quite a few liberties with the truth as well. It also reads more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. Thus far, it's actually fairly similar to the film; as similar as most fiction-to-movie adaptations are, at least. Presumably it deviates more later.

Articles

Interview: Steven Soderbergh
by Amy Taubin (from Film Comment)
An interesting interview, primarily about Soderbergh's new film, Logan Lucky, but, him being him, there are lots of interesting tangents too.

Netflix is Using The Defenders to Understand Its Audience
by Angela Watercutter (from Wired)
Another interesting piece (hence why I'm sharing them both!), this one about both how Netflix compiles data on what it's users watch, and how The Defenders provides a unique opportunity in that regard.

Collection Count

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

A couple of late arrivals to add this week ("late" as in "part of an order that mostly arrived last week"). Next week: looking like nothing. Gasp!

Number of titles in collection: 2,019 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,173 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 846 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,187 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,249 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 7,910 [no change]
Number of short films: 584 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Designated Survivor
1x14 Commander-in-Chief
1x15 One Hundred Days

Films

21 (2008)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

TV

Designated Survivor
1x13 Backfire

The Persuaders!
1x20 That's Me Over There

TV

The Defenders
1x07 Fish in the Jailhouse
1x08 The Defenders [season finale]

Designated Survivor
1x10 The Oath
1x11 Warriors
1x12 The End of the Beginning

TV

The Defenders
1x05 Take Shelter
1x06 Ashes, Ashes

Designated Survivor
1x07 The Traitor
1x08 The Results
1x09 The Blueprint

Rick and Morty
1x01 Pilot
People keep going on about this so I've decided to try at least a couple of episodes. This one isn't that promising, but we'll see.

TV

Game of Thrones
7x06 Beyond the Wall

TV

The Defenders
1x03 Worst Behavior
1x04 Royal Dragon

Designated Survivor
1x05 The Mission
1x06 The Interrogation

this week on 100 Films

Not that much to report this week from 100 Films in a Year, though the two things I did post were quite lengthy.

First, my latest TV review roundup, including Game of Thrones, Line of Duty, Peaky Blinders, Top of the Lake: China Girl, Twin Peaks, and more...





Secondly (and finally), another film review roundup, including quick thoughts on Headshot, Money Monster, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Big Screen Edition...





More next Sunday.

TV

The Defenders
1x01 The H Word
1x02 Mean Right Hook

Designated Survivor
1x03 The Confession
1x04 The Enemy

Collection Count

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

There wasn't much to say this week, but then a bunch of stuff turned up surprisingly early on Saturday, and instead of one title with one film there was... well, all of this...

Number of titles in collection: 2,017 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,173 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 844 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 5,185 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,247 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes: 7,910 [no change]
Number of short films: 584 [up 1]

Also, it's time for another running time update! Hurrah!

Total running time of collection (approx.):
386 days, 4 hours, and 16 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 13 hours, and 38 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Designated Survivor
1x01 Pilot
1x02 The First Day

TV

The Musketeers
3x04 The Queen's Diamonds

The Persuaders!
1x19 A Home of One's Own

TV

The Bletchley Circle
2x03 Uncustomed Goods Part 1
2x04 Uncustomed Goods Part 2 [series finale]

TV

The Bletchley Circle
2x01 Blood on Their Hands Part 1
2x02 Blood on Their Hands Part 2

TV

Game of Thrones
7x05 Eastwatch

Twin Peaks
3x14 The Return Part 14

Films

The Girl on the Train (2016)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Films

Death Note 2: The Last Name (2006)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
aka Desu nôto: The last name

My plan to watch loads of films this weekend has, uh, not gone to plan.

this week on 100 Films

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


Arrival (2016)

An intelligent sci-fi movie released by a major studio? What madness is this? A good kind of madness, because Arrival is one of the best — and, importantly, most humane — science fiction movies for years.

Read more here.


Free Fire (2016)

If an hour-long gunfight doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, maybe Free Fire isn’t the movie for you. Conversely, this isn’t a Jason Statham flick: instead of an hour of highly-choreographed gunplay, most of the participants get injured early on and end up seeking cover around the rubble-strewn floor of an abandoned factory, occasionally taking potshots at each other. Most action movies are defined by their characters sprinting about — in this one, they crawl.

Read more here.


The Fugitive (1993)

Once upon a time this was a blockbuster; nowadays it’d be a mid-budget thriller… and probably wouldn’t get made because Hollywood doesn’t do those anymore. It’s a pleasingly ’90s manhunt movie — they can’t just track his mobile phone or zoom in with a satellite or what have you — but, aside from the nostalgia kick, the quality is a bit wobbly at times. It has strong performances, a breakneck pace (at least early on), and some stunning sequences, but the behind-the-scenes story of many, many drafts and a rushed schedule occasionally leave their mark on the screen

Read more here.


Shin Godzilla (2016)

Written and directed by Hideaki Anno of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame, Shin Godzilla is not just a film about a giant beastie stomping on things. Most obviously, it pitches itself as a kind of political thriller, as an intrepid gang of semi-outsiders battle establishment red tape to get anything done. In this respect it’s something of a satire, though not an overtly comedic one. It also seems to be taking on Japanese society, with the in-built deference to age or rank being an obstacle to problem-solving when it's the young who have the outside-the-box ideas

Read more here.


Suicide Squad (2016)

That there were editing tussles becomes evident almost immediately: the way it introduces Deadshot and Harley before cutting to Waller pitching her plan is a little clunky, surely a re-ordering to get the big-name characters on screen ASAP... However, it really goes awry when Waller’s pitch and introduction of the Enchantress is immediately followed by another meeting where Waller makes her pitch and introduces the Enchantress. Maybe the screenplay was that clunkingly constructed to begin with, or maybe they just made a ham-fisted job of the restructuring.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Jaws (1975)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2017 #28

Nashville (1975)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
Blindspot 2017 #8

Collection Count

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

Not a great deal to report this week. Well, four new additions, which would be a lot to most people, but things get crazy around here sometimes, and they arrived in two batches almost a whole week apart so it didn't feel like so many.

Anyway...

Number of titles in collection: 2,014 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,174 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 840 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 5,176 [up 6]
Number of films: 2,242 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes: 7,910 [no change]
Number of short films: 583 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Arrival (2016)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2017 #27
+ all the UK Blu-ray's special features, and the Eternal Recurrence: The Score featurette the left off it.

Death Note (2006)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
aka Desu nôto

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x03 (19/8/16 edition)

I used to watch this regularly, back when it started, because it's silly and funny but sometimes kinda clever. Then it took off and they started making far too much of it, so I stopped. That was almost two years ago. But I was at a loose end this evening and caught this one on 4seven.

[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

TV

The Bletchley Circle
1x02 Cracking a Killer's Code Part 2
1x03 Cracking a Killer's Code Part 3 [season finale]

Films

Ghost in the Shell 3D (2017)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2017 #26

My full review from when I watched this at the cinema is here, and I left a short comment on Letterboxd about this rewatch.

TV

The Bletchley Circle
1x01 Cracking a Killer's Code Part 1

The Persuaders!
1x18 The Long Goodbye

Twin Peaks
3x13 The Return Part 13

TV

Game of Thrones
7x04 The Spoils of War

The Musketeers
3x03 Brothers in Arms

Peaky Blinders
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]

TV

Peaky Blinders
2x05 Episode 5

Films

The Fugitive (1993)
[2nd or so watch]

Rewatchathon 2017 #25

+ the Blu-ray's special features (bar the commentary)

this week on 100 Films

It was a brand-new month back on Tuesday, meaning it's time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the month before...





There was also just 1 brand-new reviews published this week...


22 Jump Street (2014)

they’ve taken one of the most memorable and likeable bits of the first movie — the meta-jokes at the expense of the film itself — and ramped them up to 11. And it works. Or, at least, it did for me. Is this the most meta comedy ever? I dunno, but I can’t think of another that so relentlessly riffs off both the expected tropes of its genre and its own status as a sequel.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Peaky Blinders
2x03 Episode 3
2x04 Episode 4

Films

This is the End (2013)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Collection Count

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

Ten new acquisitions this week, but the net change is just +5 thanks to various upgrades -- some DVD to Blu-ray, some 2D to 3D, and one collating several individual DVDs into a single Blu-ray set. The total of actual new-to-my-collection titles? Five. Well, I guess that's kinda appropriate then.

Number of titles in collection: 2,010 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,174 [down 4]
Of which Blu-rays: 836 [up 9]

Number of discs in collection: 5,170 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,237 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 7,910 [no change]
Number of short films: 582 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Peaky Blinders
2x02 Episode 2

The Persuaders!
1x17 The Time and the Place

TV

Peaky Blinders
2x01 Episode 1

Who Dares Wins
10x08 (29/7/17 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Shin Godzilla (2016)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

TV

The Musketeers
3x02 The Hunger

Twin Peaks
3x12 The Return Part 12