TV

Gogglesprogs
Christmas Special 2018
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Madness Rocks Big Ben Live
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Les Misérables
Part 1 (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Sheffield University v Manchester University
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The ABC Murders
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Travel Man
8x00 96 Hours in Jordan [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

The latest addition to Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror universe is the kind of work that pushes at the boundaries of form and medium — and therefore is the kind of work that challenges how I count things at 100 Films. Is it a film? An episode of TV? A video game? Or is it genuinely something new? Well, it’s not really a video game — it’s not interactive enough to qualify as that. So is it a TV episode, then? It carries the Black Mirror branding, and that is a TV series. Plus it’s not a theatrical release… but then, neither are most Netflix films. It's promoted by Netflix as an “interactive film”. So, taking them at their word, I’ve decided that means it counts as a film.

Read more here.


Christine (2016)

The true, tragic story of newswoman Christine Chubbuck is told in this affecting drama. For those that don’t know, it’s the ending that is why her story is famous: Christine was the first person to commit suicide live on television. The film attempts to help us understand Christine’s life and mental state, and what led her to that moment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This week, it's time for the delayed running time update (as mentioned here), as well as all the whole-year stats increases. Of course, there are actually a couple of days left in 2018, and some titles that should have arrived but haven't could still turn up on Monday... but, eh, they'll just have to count towards 2019.

Number of titles in collection: 2,178 [up 3 this week; up 103 in 2018]
Of which DVDs: 1,145 [no change this week; down 21 in 2018]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,033 [up 3 this week; up 124 in 2018]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [no change this week; up 9 in 2018]

Number of discs in collection: 5,622 [up 34; up 297 in 2018]
Number of films: 2,486 [up 42; up 172 in 2018]
Number of TV episodes: 8,328 [up 16; up 323 in 2018]
Number of short films: 651 [up 2; up 52 in 2018]

I don't think I've bought any short film collections this year, and yet the odd one or two here and there do mount up.

Total running time of collection (approx.):
414 days, 23 hours, and 23 minutes.
(Up 5 days, 2 hours, and 9 minutes from last month.)
(Up 21 days, 5 hours, and 43 minutes from last year.)

That's my smallest year-on-year running time increase since 2014! It's good, really, because I shouldn't buy so much stuff... but I'm gonna keep doing it!

And so, as ever, see you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Black Mirror
5x00 Bandersnatch
The interactive Black Mirror "movie", as many sites/articles are calling it. Netflix call it an "event", which feels more accurate; though they also go with "interactive film", which, y'know, is also accurate. I thought about it a lot, because it's also 'just' an episode of Black Mirror. That's how I'm listing it for now, though I have a suspicion I'll change that imminently.
But whatever you call it, I thought it was superb throughout. There's a great article on how it was made from Wired, and another interesting (and slightly less techy) piece about its creation from The Hollywood Reporter.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Exeter University v Birmingham University
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
3x03 If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed? [2nd watch]
3x04 Sigh No More [2nd watch]
[Watch If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed? and Sigh No More (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #50

Articles

The BBC's crazy scheduling may have killed off the Film Show, but movie criticism is more alive than ever
by Robbie Collin (from The Telegraph)

A good article on the ignominious demise of the BBC's Film programme.

TV

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x06 Christmas [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

A Christmas Carol (2018)
[#260 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2018
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Pembroke College, Cambridge v King's College, London
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
[2nd or so watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #49. I rewatched the first film last Christmas, and intended to get round to this sequel too. Well, it's only taken me 371 days…

TV

The Dead Room
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mrs Brown's Boys
Exotic Mammy [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Westminster University v University of East Anglia
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
3x07 A Crow Christmas Carol [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Click & Collect
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
10x00 Ding Dong Merrily on Live [Christmas special]
10x00 Ding Dong Merrily on Live [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
So good I watched it twice.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Brasenose, Oxford v Bristol
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
[#259 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The Chase
The Bloopers
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Have I Got News For You
56x11 Have I Got 2018 News For You [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
1x01 Edinburgh [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Murder on the Blackpool Express
[2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]

Watership Down
Part 3 The Escape
Part 4 The Siege
[Watch parts three and four (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Not too much to report in the past week at 100 Films in a Year, but it did include the monthly TV review...





...and just 1 new film review...


Ready Player One (2018)

Steven Spielberg’s latest foray into the style of popular moviemaking he helped create in the ‘70s and ’80s — the summer tentpole action-adventure mega-blockbuster — is an adaptation of a novel so bedded in the popular movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s that the whole thing is a bit too meta: it’s a movie obsessed with the brilliance of ‘80s pop culture, made by one of the primary creators of that culture. At least Spielberg insisted that all references to his own work be cut, otherwise it could’ve become a mite self-congratulatory. Though it does mean that Spielberg becomes conspicuous by his absence in a Spielberg movie. Oh, it’s enough to make your head spin…

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Goodness Gracious Me
Christmas Special
20 Years Innit!
A documentary marking the sketch show's 20th anniversary by discussing some of its landmark sketches, and the Christmas special from 1998.
[Watch the Christmas special and 20 Years Innit! (again) on iPlayer.]

Watership Down
Part 1 The Journey
Part 2 The Raid
Some thoughts here.
[Watch parts one and two (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

I thought there was going to be stuff to report this week, but some distribution errors mean nope, nothing whatsoever.

Number of titles in collection: 2,175 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,145 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,030 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,588 [no change]
Number of films: 2,444 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,312 [no change]
Number of short films: 649 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader, for the post-Christmas end-of-year tally.

TV

Doctor Who
37x09 It Takes You Away [2nd watch]
37x10 The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [season finale; 2nd watch]
[Watch It Takes You Away and The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
24x12 (21/12/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
37x08 The Witchfinders [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Insert Name Here
4x01 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
[#258 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x06 Demons of the Punjab [2nd watch]
37x07 Kerblam! [2nd watch]
[Watch Demons of the Punjab and Kerblam! (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x06 Episode 6 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
37x05 The Tsuranga Conundrum [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
7x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Poirot
2x06 Double Sin
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

TV

Poirot
2x04 The Cornish Mystery
2x05 The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
[Watch The Cornish Mystery and The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim (again) on the ITV Hub.]

TV

Best Christmas Ever with Alexander Armstrong
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Royal Variety Performance 2018
I used to watch this every year but haven't for yonks (this ever-handy blog informs me it was 2012). This year I only watched because it was on shortly after the aforementioned Christmas programme and I got sucked in. And it was actually rather good on the whole, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

this week on 100 Films

The week began with a special announcement at 100 Films in a Year...





Click the image for more.

After that, 5 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Light the Fuse... Sartana is Coming (1970)

Arrow’s blurb claims this “brings the series to a fine conclusion”; that it “sees Sartana sign off on a high [in] one of the best entries in the series”. I’d almost go so far as to say the opposite — it was one of my least favourite. There’s fun along the way, to be sure, but the plot borders on the meaningless and therefore becomes a tad boring. It’s not a bad film, as this series goes, but it certainly feels like a generic one.

Read more here.


A Monster Calls (2016)

The most immediately striking element of A Monster Calls may be that it stars a giant tree monster with the grumbling voice of Liam Neeson, but this isn’t just a fantasy adventure, it’s a powerfully emotional drama about the pain of impending loss and grief. In this respect it’s not just a good movie, but potentially an important one — I can imagine it being of great help to children who find themselves in similar circumstances

Read more here.


The Shape of Water (2017)

I still can’t quite believe a creature-feature fantasy romance won Best Picture. It remains surreal to see a genre movie conquer the Oscars like that. Even The Lord of the Rings, for all its so-Fantasy-it-defined-the-genre-ness, has a lot of the “historical war epic” in its form (not to mention the genre-transcending cultural impact that film trilogy had), and so its win seems less striking than this out-and-out monster movie. Naturally, The Shape of Water doesn’t actually conform to the commonly-understood connotations of what a “monster movie” is, and therein lies what makes it something fresh, and therefore Best Picture material.

Read more here.


Shrek Forever After (2010)

DreamWorks’ golden-goose animated franchise was running out of fairytales to subvert, so this fourth — and final (for the time being) — movie turns its attention on the series itself... The filmmakers take this as an opportunity to give us a look at how characters might’ve turned out in a Shrek-less world... and it’s in this upending of familiarity that the film finds its greatest entertainment value.

Read more here.


Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

lives up to the hype, if you give it the time to get there. It's a movie that will satisfy comic book fans in particular, I think, but also anyone who enjoys animation as an artform. This isn't your standard Disney/Pixar/Illumination/etc fare, but a thrillingly-realised vision of what animation can do.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Michael McIntyre's Big Show
4x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
16x25 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Normally this post would have a running time update, because it's been four weeks since the last one, but I've decided to put that back a couple of weeks in order to do my usual "end of year" numbers post-Christmas.

For now, all there is to report is one new Blu-ray box set, its increases half wiped out by selling an old DVD.

Number of titles in collection: 2,175 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,145 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,030 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,588 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,444 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,312 [no change]
Number of short films: 649 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader, when (depending on the whims of Royal Mail) there may see a pre-Christmas surge.

TV

Have I Got News For You
56x08 (30/11/18 edition)
56x09 (7/12/18 edition)
56x10 (14/12/18 edition) [season finale]
[Watch these episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
24x11 (14/12/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)
[#257 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x07 A Christmas Carol Wendelson
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Live at the Apollo
14x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Death Becomes Her (1992)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #48

Films

The Shape of Water (2017)
[#256 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x06 Pool Show
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Music in Darkness (1948)
[#255 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Scooby-Doo (2002)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #47

TV

Doctor Who
37x10 The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Light the Fuse… Sartana is Coming (1970)
[#253 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
[#254 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

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


Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Entertainment is definitely the name of the game here, and to that end director Peyton Reed and the five credited screenwriters (including star Paul Rudd) set out to tickle various emotional responses. The most obvious one is, as mentioned, the funny — there are laugh-out-loud moments here, as well as a never-ending barrage of one-liners and comedic business. But it also takes time to be emotive and heartfelt.

Read more here.


Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)

a frustratingly imperfect experience. I believe it’s fundamentally a unique-enough variation on the material that it could’ve escaped the shadow of Disney’s film, but a few misguided creative decisions have dragged it down almost irreparably.

Read more here.


Sorry to Bother You (2018)

It felt like everyone was on about Sorry to Bother You early this year, after it was released in the US in July. It’s taken ’til now to make it to UK screens — I don’t know if that was a conscious delay, or if the outpouring of recommendations from critics and audiences on social media had something to do with creating demand for distribution. Anyway, it’s fortunate that, as a small movie, most of the discussion (that I saw) was about urging people to see it and not giving away the twist (naturally, this review is equally spoiler-free.), because it is indeed a helluva turn to come across unaware. As for the rest of the movie, well, I was less convinced.

Read more here.


February Review Roundup

Featuring:
- Being John Malkovich
- I Origins
- WarGames

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This post is a bit later than usual (not that there's anyone who'll notice) because a whole bunch of stuff only arrived this morning that required some working out to add to (and subtract from) the tallies below.

For starters, there's a 4K UHD Blu-ray box set which upgrades several Blu-rays... except I'm also keeping the original releases because they all have bonus discs. That's a whole bunch of discs I don't need and cases taking up space. Ugh. But I do love special features.

There's also a Blu-ray box set which upgrades a bunch of DVDs... except I'm keeping most of the DVDs too, for now, because the box set doesn't duplicate all of their special features. Ugh. But I do love special features.

As well as that, there's quite simply a pile of brand-new Blu-rays. It's been like Christmas here! Heck, I'll probably get fewer things than this for Christmas itself...

Number of titles in collection: 2,175 [up 8]
Of which DVDs: 1,146 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,029 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,586 [up 26]
Number of films: 2,441 [up 14]
Number of TV episodes: 8,312 [up 18]
Number of short films: 649 [up 8]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
24x10 (7/12/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)
[#252 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Snowpiercer (2013)
[#251 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Blindspot 2018 #12

TV

Great News
2x05 Night of the Living Screen
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Live at the Apollo
14x02 Episode 2
14x03 Episode 3
[Watch episodes two and three (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Princess Bride (1987)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #46

Films

Sorry to Bother You (2018)
[#250 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x04 Award Show
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Torment (1944)
[#249 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x09 It Takes You Away
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
[#248 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

A perfect way to start the festive season.

this week on 100 Films

A new month began this weekend, and so it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the last one...





Also this week, 4 brand-new reviews...


Creed (2015)

I feel wrong enjoying Creed the most out of the Rocky movies — like I’m just going for the most recent one, as if new = best — but the major reason I loved it so much is the way it has reverence for and builds on the past. As a standalone movie, it’s more-or-less equal to the best of the original Rocky films; but as specifically the seventh film in the Rocky series, it stands atop that 40-year history to add extra weight to everything.

Read more here.


The Greatest Showman (2017)

I can see why The Greatest Showman was unpopular with critics but a huge hit with audiences — it’s a proper crowd-pleaser; a big, cheesy, easy extravaganza, similar to its pop-style music. That’s not the sort of thing critics are enamoured of, but it is the kind of thing that tickles the fancy of the masses. On the whole, it didn’t appeal to me... but it did have its moments.

Read more here.


Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (1970)

Gianni Garko's back in the saddle as the titular roguish hero for the fourth official Sartana movie, which is apparently regarded as the best one — that's what the guys on Arrow's commentary track say, anyway, and it's borne out by viewer ratings on websites like IMDb. I can't say I felt similarly, though after listening to that audio commentary, their enthusiasm and highlighting of the good stuff did help increase my enjoyment.

Read more here.


RoboCop (2014)

It should be cutting and provocative, but it’s just bland. That’s the biggest shame, because if there’s a movie 2018 needs it’s one about corrupt businessmen hijacking the government’s decision-making while right-wing TV chatterers cheer them on and police officers are replaced by an ultimate-killing-machine robot.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Ant-Man and the Wasp 3D (2018)
[#247 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

This week's update includes all sorts: a DVD to 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrade, a Blu-ray to Blu-ray upgrade, a Blu-ray to 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrade, and two plain ol' new additions, too.

Number of titles in collection: 2,167 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,019 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 8 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,560 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,427 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,294 [no change]
Number of short films: 641 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Justice League 3D (2017)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #45

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018)
[#246 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x03 Honeypot!
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dad's Army (2016)
[#245 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Crisis on Earth-X
Supergirl 3x08 Part 1
Arrow 6x08 Part 2
The Flash 4x08 Part 3
Legends of Tomorrow 3x08 Part 4

I gave up on Arrow and The Flash almost a whole year ago, just before this big four-show crossover arrived (I stopped with episode 6 and the crossover was, as you can see, in episode 8). I'd aimed to at least make it through this event before maybe stopping, but my interest just petered out before that. Anyway, I've been intending to watch the crossover anyway for the best part of a year now (even though I didn't think much of the last one), and with a new one imminent it was about bloody time I got round to it.

On the whole, it was a lot better than the last one -- this actually felt like it was conceived as one long story, rather than three separate-but-connected episodes with a rushed conclusion -- but I'd forgotten how soapy these shows can be. I'm not going to be starting to watch them again regularly.

Films

Boy (2010)
[#244 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

Danger: Diabolik (1968)
[#243 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x08 The Witchfinders
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Creed (2015)
[#242 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the Blu-ray's short selection of special features (a commentary would've been nice)

this week on 100 Films

It was already time for another TV roundup at 100 Films in a Year this week...





Plus, there were 2 brand-new film reviews...


Rocky Balboa (2006)

Writer-director-star Sylvester Stallone returns to his boxing saga to give it the ending he fluffed 16 years earlier. Even as someone who didn’t dislike Rocky V, I don’t think it’s a great send-off for the character. Stallone felt the same, which is why he conceived this as a proper capstone for the series.

Read more here.


Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (1966)

the ‘lost’ Zatoichi movie: at some point the Weinsteins bought the rights to it because Quentin Tarantino was considering a remake, with the side effect of making it unavailable legally for years. Clearly it was felt to be worth the wait, because it’s a highly-regarded instalment in the series... As Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan of The Digital Bits put it, Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage is “one of the crown jewels of the series.” It’s little wonder Tarantino was considering a remake.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Absolutely nothing to report this week. Various things on their way for next time, though.

Number of titles in collection: 2,165 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,149 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,016 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 5 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,551 [no change]
Number of films: 2,424 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,294 [no change]
Number of short films: 641 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
24x08 (23/11/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Great News
2x02 Squad Feud
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Great News
2x01 Boardroom Bitch
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Redline (2009)
[#240 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Zatoichi's Cane Sword (1967)
[#241 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
[#239 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Thor: Ragnarok 3D (2017)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #44. Looks fantastic in 3D, doubly so with the frequent shifts into an IMAX ratio.

TV

Live at the Apollo
14x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Music

Simulation Theory by Muse
[2nd listen]

A more attentive second listen, though I can't say it changed my opinion. Still, listening to it twice within a week is better than I managed with The 2nd Law, which I recently realised I'd listened to once when it came out in 2012 and then never again!

Films

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
[#238 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x07 Kerblam!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
[4th watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #43
+ the audio commentary. As it went on, I began to realise I'd listened to it before -- and I hardly ever listen to audio commentaries, so that was weird; and this is a weird one to have listened to twice! It's a comedy one, though, y'see, and doesn't even last the whole length of the film, so that's a bit different to re-listening to a regular commentary, I think.

this week on 100 Films

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


Bao (2018)

This short film from Pixar played before Incredibles 2 in cinemas, so naturally it accompanies it on Blu-ray too. In it, a Chinese-Canadian woman is steaming dumplings (the titular bao) when one comes to life and grows into a little dough boy, who she begins to raise as a son.

Read more here.


The Hunt (2012)

one of the film’s great strengths is how plausibly the matter is handled. There are no screaming histrionics and no raging against the world from Mikkelsen, as slowly the entire town turns against him based on a few misguided and poorly-understood words from a confused child. Instead, he mainly conveys a lot of quiet desperation — a man who knows he’s innocent but can’t work out how to prove it, and is increasingly hurt as people he called friends almost all turn against him.

Read more here.


Incredibles 2 (2018)

At its most basic, Incredibles 2 is a gender-reversed do-over of the first movie… to a fault, in fact. The closing moments of the first film suggest a “family of superheroes” future for the Parrs, with them battling crime together. The sequel immediately works to put everything back in its place: the kids aren’t allowed to use their powers (until they must for the climax, natch); one of the parents gets to go off and be a superhero, while the other has to stay at home. The difference is it’s the man staying at home, and where Helen was consummate at looking after the kids, Bob finds it a challenge — because Men, amirite?

Read more here.


They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

Commissioned by 14-18 NOW (the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary) and the Imperial War Museum to see what he could do to make their old World War One footage more engaging for a modern audience, director Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson’s initial tests at restoring the footage were so successful that the project was eventually worked up into this feature-length documentary. It tells the story of the Western Front from the point of view of ordinary Tommies living and fighting on the frontline, using only footage from the period (plus photos, posters, artwork, maps, and so on) and narration taken from interviews with men who were really there — no historians to provide context or analysis here.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Another funny one this week: three new single-disc titles and a box set that replaces some old sets, but... well, this happened...

Number of titles in collection: 2,165 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,149 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,016 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 5 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,551 [up 6]
Number of films: 2,424 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,294 [no change]
Number of short films: 641 [no change]

It's also time for a running time update, which goes like this...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
409 days, 21 hours, and 14 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 7 hours, and 6 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Children in Need 2018
I can't remember the last time I actually watched Children in Need — well, this blog tells me it was 2014 — and I didn't even watch all of it this year, but I saw a fair bit (including the Mastermind special, which might've been the best bit). It was… fine. I swear there used to be more special sketches and stuff...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Greatest Showman (2017)
[#237 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
1x09 Carol Has a Bully
1x10 Carol's Eleven [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

We Are Most Amused & Amazed
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Music

Simulation Theory by Muse

Muse are one of the few bands where I'll still buy any new album they release, but this... wasn't great. I mean, it has some decent tracks, but overall... it's okay-ish. Ah well.

TV

Great News
1x08 Celebrity Hacking Scandal
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

What Do Artists Do All Day?
Peter Jackson
About the making of They Shall Not Grow Old.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015)
[#236 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The Great Model Railway Challenge
1x06 Grand Final: A Journey Through Time [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

Paper Moon (1973)
[#235 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x06 Demons of the Punjab
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bao 3D (2018)
[#233a in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
[#234 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

[There has been] a huge divide in the opinions of critics and audiences: whereas the former gave it a Rotten Tomatoes rating of just 55% when it released, audiences have driven it to be the #1 film at the worldwide box office and placed it on the IMDb Top 250 (at #126 as of writing). Well, there’s a scene in the film where Bohemian Rhapsody debuts on the radio, and as it plays the screen gradually fills with quotes from contemporary reviews, all of them mercilessly slagging it off — the irony, obviously, being that we all know what a ginormous hit the song would become. Some things never change, eh?

Read more here.


Darkest Hour (2017)

The Dunkirk connection was certainly played up in the film’s marketing (the trailers made it look like Dunkirk 2), but while that situation does have a significant role to play, it’s only part of what this film’s actually about. Which does actually make it quite a neat companion piece to Nolan’s movie: it expands on the political backdrop surrounding Dunkirk, placing those events in a wider context. In doing that, it presents a different perspective on familiar events.

Read more here.


Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Fallen Kingdom is built on decent ideas and concepts, and it’s executed with some stylish direction by franchise newcomer J.A. Bayona, but it’s all let down by a terrible screenplay from Jurassic World co-writers Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow. The story is poorly constructed — not in the sense that it’s unfollowable, but in that it’s wonkily put-together, frequently showcasing scenes that are nothing but exposition, with a pace and emphasis that feels unbalanced. [...] If they’d bothered to hire some solid writers, instead of just People Who Have Ideas, then maybe those ideas could’ve been turned into a cohesive whole that’d be a worthy sequel.

Read more here.


Outlaw King (2018)

Outlaw King kicks off in style, with a superb eight-minute single-take that moves in and out of a candle-lit tent during daytime (a feat of camera operating to seamlessly handle the changing exposures required… assuming it wasn’t faked), during which we take in important scene-setting political discussions, a playful (but not really) sword fight, and the siege of a distant castle by a gigantic trebuchet. As opening salvos go, this is first rate.

Read more here.


Persepolis (2007)

Adapted from co-director Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel, this is the story of an Iranian girl coming of age in the ’70s and ’80s, during and after the Iranian Revolution. Such a broad description is probably the only way to succinctly summarise it, because it’s kind of a sprawling film, about many different things — just like a life, I suppose. As well as being part biography, it’s also part history lesson, with a normal-family’s eye-view of the revolution and what followed.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Great Model Railway Challenge
1x05 Heat Five: Waterworld
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Great News
1x06 Serial Arsonist
1x07 The Red Door
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Incredibles 2 3D (2018)
[#233 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

Four new titles this week, but it's one of those times when they play silly buggers with the stats. Mainly, the acquisition of a box set (as mentioned last week) which replaces five DVDs with one Blu-ray set containing fewer discs. The disc count evens out to "no change" thanks to two of the other newcomers, while the fourth is a Blu-ray-to-Blu-ray upgrade that changes nothing but my bank balance.

Number of titles in collection: 2,163 [down 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [down 5]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,015 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 4 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,545 [no change]
Number of films: 2,421 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,294 [no change]
Number of short films: 641 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Great News
1x05 Snowmageddon of the Century
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Mars
1x01 Novo Mundo
With a second season of this coming at the weekend, I thought it was about time I got round to my Blu-ray of season one (which aired two years ago!) Turns out, it's not that good. Maybe it'll improve...

Films

Attack the Block (2011)
[#231 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Blindspot 2018 #11
+ the audio commentary with writer/director Joe Cornish and executive producer Edgar Wright... though not all of it, because I dozed off (not because of the quality of the track, just because it was late and I was, clearly, tired!)

Outlaw King (2018)
[#232 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
[#230 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Have a Good Funeral My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (1970)
[#229 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the audio commentary on Arrow's Blu-ray release

TV

Great News
1x03 Chuck Pierce Is Blind
1x04 War Is Hell
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

The Great Model Railway Challenge
1x04 Heat Four: Fire and Ice
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
[#228 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the 46 minutes of deleted scenes included on the Blu-ray. Some were interesting and could've been kept in the film. Others... less so.

TV

Batman: The Animated Series
1x14 Heart of Ice
2x19 Deep Freeze
The complete series was released on Blu-ray in the UK today, and now I own it -- hurrah! So why am I starting with this random selection of episodes? Well, the box set also includes the two films that are canon with the TV series, Mask of the Phantasm (which I watched relatively recently*) and SubZero (which I've never seen). The SubZero disc also includes four TV episodes to present the whole story of Mr Freeze in chronological order. I decided to inaugurate my set by watching SubZero, because I've been meaning to get round to it for years, but it seemed to make sense to watch all the lead-up episodes first. As well as these two, there's the New Batman Adventures one and the Batman Beyond one (see below!), which are both set after SubZero. I'll watch all of these again when I reach their respective places in the series proper... whenever I get round to watching that (goodness knows when that'll be!)

Batman Beyond (aka Batman of the Future)
1x05 Meltdown
I've arranged everything in alphabetical order here as normal, and SubZero is of course in a separate post, so here's the order they actually go in (and the order I watched them in): Heart of Ice, Deep Freeze, SubZero, Cold Comfort, Meltdown. Sorted.

Great News
1x01 Pilot
1x02 Bear Attack
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

The New Batman Adventures
1x03 Cold Comfort
This is counted as season three of B:TAS by the box set, but everywhere online (well, Wikipedia and IMDb, at least) count it as a separate series, for various reasons I won't go into here. On the evidence of this episode, it's not as good as the prior series.

* It turns out "relatively recently" here means "a whole year ago this week"! Where does time go?!

Films

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998)
[#227 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
[#226 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

+ a 40-minute documentary about how The Other Side of the Wind was finally put together, A Final Cut for Orson: 40 Years in the Making, which is hidden under the "trailers" tab on Netflix and is definitely worth a look.

TV

Doctor Who
37x05 The Tsuranga Conundrum
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 3D (2018)
[#225 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

This week, 100 Films in a Year looked back at October...





...and there was 1 brand-new review too...


The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)

for all the terribleness, I sort of feel I can’t hate it, because the rubbish bits are too funny, and the mad bits too bonkers (for a movie that is primarily aimed at romantically-inclined teenage girls, at least). While I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, it was entertaining to sit through — kind of like The Room, for example, only still not quite as transcendently appalling.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Going for Golden Eye (2017)
[#224 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Jurassic World 3D (2015)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #42

Articles

Nudity on screen matters, so why are we afraid of it?
by Abby Robinson (from Digital Spy)

Shockingly, it turns out Digital Spy is still capable of decent writing sometimes, with this article presenting an interesting discussion of the topic.

Collection Count

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

Two new titles this week. Should've been more, but something seems to have been lost in the post.

Number of titles in collection: 2,165 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,153 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,012 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 4 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,545 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,418 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,294 [no change]
Number of short films: 639 [up 3]

Next week: a big box set turns up... but it's a Blu-ray upgrade from DVD, so it might actually push some numbers down. See you then, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
37x04 Arachnids in the UK [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Their Finest (2016)
[#223 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x02 The Ghost Monument [2nd watch]
37x03 Rosa [2nd watch]
[Watch The Ghost Monument and Rosa (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
7x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

TV

Doctor Who
37x01 The Woman Who Fell to Earth [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x03 Episode 3 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great Model Railway Challenge
1x03 Heat Three: Globetrotting
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #41

Films

Face/Off (1997)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #40. I included this in my "100 favourite films" series back in 2016, but didn't actually rewatch it first. Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't've included it had I done that rewatch, but I don't think I'd've given it the full five stars.

TV

Doctor Who
37x04 Arachnids in the UK
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Inside No. 9
5x00 Dead Line [live Halloween special]
Never watched Inside No. 9 before, but always meant to catch up. As this episode was going out live, though, it seemed a good idea to watch it when it was on... and, for all the tomfoolery and playing with form, I think it was. Nonetheless, you can still:
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
16x12 Week 6 Results (aka Halloween)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Batman Ninja (2018)

“This is madness,” exclaims Batman at one point relatively early on in this anime interpretation of the DC superhero. He could be speaking on behalf of us viewers... although, at that point, he — and we — don’t even know the half of it…

Read more here.


Hitchcock (2012)

I’ve no idea how true it is, but the setup — the acclaimed Master of Suspense who’s so established that people are judging him over the hill, determined to do a striking new project no one else believes in to prove he’s still got it — is a good’un. It’s especially effective precisely because it’s about Hitchcock and Psycho: it’s the film that defines him for many people now; so, yes, we know the ending, but that lends dramatic irony — how do we get from that starting point to the acclaimed classic we all know?

Read more here.


Phantom Thread (2017)

if there’s one thing writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film is not, it’s histrionic. It’s plot may be that of a Gothic melodrama, and if it were a novel perhaps we’d class it as one, but Anderson hasn’t taken on the skin of a Tim Burton or Guillermo del Toro here — in the quiet but forceful and precise way it plays out, Phantom Thread is as stringently produced as one of Reynolds’ gowns.

Read more here.


The Purge (2013)

When this first came out, I ignored it because its premise was inherently daft. Then they made some sequels, which I ignored because the premise was still inherently daft. Then two things happened: one, some people who I think are worth listening to said some decent things about it; and two, Trump came to power, and suddenly that daft premise doesn’t feel so far outside the confines of what’s possible.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.