TV

The Americans
6x10 START [series finale]

Films

Finding Dory 3D (2016)
[#122 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

The Warriors (1979)
[#123 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The Americans
6x09 Jennings, Elizabeth

Films

All the Money in the World (2017)
[#121 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The Americans
6x08 The Summit

Films

Deadpool 2 (2018)
[#120 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
[#119 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The Americans
6x07 Harvest

Archer
5x12 Archer Vice: Filibuster
5x13 Archer Vice: Arrival/Departure [season finale]
Further to my thoughts on episode titles last time, I can kind of see what they were getting at -- there's a three-week time jump, so these aren't exactly Parts 3 and 4 of the exact same story that was being told before. Equally, if the previous two episodes were a two-parter, this pair definitely is as well. I mean, it doesn't really matter -- it's just a title, and not one they even show on screen -- but that's almost why it bothers me more...

Car Share
3x02 The Finale [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Americans
6x06 Rififi

Westworld
2x05 Akane no Mai

Films

It (2017)
[#118 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

9 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, including...


Coco (2017)

Pixar’s 19th feature is an American-produced animated fantasy movie that co-opts a foreign culture to tell a story about a guitar-playing kid remembering his dead family — wait, doesn’t that sound familiar? Yes, in broad strokes, Coco is Kubo and the Two Strings Pixar-style. But, instead of Japan, this is Mexico, based around the famed Day of the Dead festival — which has also already been the subject of an American animated movie, The Book of Life. But that didn’t get the best notices, and Kubo didn’t get the respect it deserves, and this is Pixar in non-sequel mode, and so Coco has been praised to the high heavens. And it is good. But I didn’t think it was that good.

Read more here.


Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964)

It’s a bit ironic that whoever chose the English-language titles for the Zatoichi films decided to emphasise fighting in the name of this eighth instalment, because it’s perhaps the least concerned with Ichi’s sword skills so far. That’s not to say there aren’t a couple of nifty sequences of blade-clashing fun, but they’re not the film’s focus. You might think that’s antithetical to the series’ purpose, and yet Fight, Zatoichi, Fight is widely regarded as one of the series’ finest instalments, perhaps even the best of all.

Read more here.


Muppets from Space (1999)

there’s almost a good thematic thing about belonging, and who your real family is or can be, but it’s only loosely nodded at early on before sort of popping up right at the end, without enough building blocks in between to really make it work as a payoff. But we don’t come to the Muppets for the themes, we come for the gags, and in that respect From Space is… fine. Well, I mean, it’s not really all that funny… or interesting… It just kind of toddles along until an underwhelming ending

Read more here.


The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

this one seems to miss the mark. There’s some occasional funny stuff, the odd good skit, but mostly Take Manhattan just kinda plods along. Personally I thought Caper was a bit of a poor sequel, but this is less good again. It straight up lacks some of the things that make the Muppets so memorable — there isn’t a single fourth wall break, for instance.

Read more here.


The Pixar Story (2007)

Made to celebrate the first 20 years of Pixar, Leslie Iwerks’ documentary charts not only the genesis, founding, and rise to industry-changing prominence of the beloved computer animation company, but also the birth of computer animation itself.

Read more here.


Shrek the Third (2007)

Thematically, Shrek’s disinterest in being royalty was covered in the last film, though at least this time it’s bolstered with a fatherhood angle. The choice of villain, however, straight up takes the last film’s secondary antagonist and recycles him as a primary antagonist — if there’s a more literal example of sequels representing diminishing returns, I can’t think of it.

Read more here.


Trekkies (1997)

Trekkies begins with the proclamation that “Trekkies are the only fans listed by name in the Oxford English Dictionary.” That’s not true anymore (“Whovian”, at least, is in there), and that speaks to an interesting truth about this entire documentary. When it was released 21 years ago, Trekkies was exposing a niche thing to wider awareness, and these fans were seen as weirdos, fundamentally. Watching it today, though, you see that it’s mostly just cons and cosplay — stuff that’s been virtually mainstream for a few years at this point.

Read more here.


Trekkies 2 (2004)

Such is the strangeness of Time that, just 24 hours after I watched Trekkies, I jumped forward seven years to catch up with some of that film’s featured fans in this lesser-seen follow-up. It’s not just repeat visits to old friends, though — if you thought America had a monopoly on crazies, well, Trekkies 2’s got news for you!

Read more here.


Vintage Tomorrows (2015)

Heard the term “steampunk” but don’t really know what it is? Or have an idea, but you’d like a fuller picture of the whole subculture? Then this is the film for you, my friend, because Vintage Tomorrows is basically Steampunk 101.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Americans
6x05 The Great Patriotic War

Archer
5x10 Archer Vice: Palace Intrigue Part I
5x11 Archer Vice: Palace Intrigue Part II
TV series do funny things sometimes. Like, I've no idea why this is labelled as a two-parter when it ends mid-plot to continue next time, which isn't called "Part 3". I mean, what makes this a two-parter if it isn't an entire story?

Films

Allied (2016)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Colossal (2016)
[#117 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Articles

The Two Crucial Filmmaking Elements Causing All Your Movie Feuds
by Film Crit Hulk (from Observer)

A long but insightful read about movies and our reactions to them -- what causes those reactions, why they're right and wrong, and so on. Some big, interesting ideas.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 2,112 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,159 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 953 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,393 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,354 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,020 [no change]
Number of short films: 611 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
6x04 Mr. and Mrs. Teacup

Archer
5x06 Archer Vice: Baby Shower
Finally, the displaced episode I mentioned. While it is fairly standalone, as I suspected, it has enough arc stuff that it doesn't really belong where it is. So, that's not good, Netflix.

Films

The Wild Bunch (1969)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Blindspot 2018 #5

The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage (1996)
[#115a in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Basically a DVD extra-style making-of, but it was made in the era before DVDs and so was released as a short film (and was nominated for an Oscar!)

TV

The Americans
6x03 Urban Transport Planning

Archer
5x09 Archer Vice: On the Carpet

TV

The Americans
6x02 Tchaikovsky

Films

Christine (2016)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Dick Tracy (1990)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #20

TV

The Americans
6x01 Dead Hand
The final season! Hopefully I've timed this just right to watch an episode a day until the finale...

Archer
5x08 Archer Vice: The Rules of Extraction
So, having discovered I'd "missed an episode" only after I watched the last one, I had a little look-see before watching this one, and discovered that the episode listed as #6 everywhere online is actually #9 on Netflix. Based on the production codes (as listed on Wikipedia), Netflix has the episodes in production order, while everyone else goes with the original US broadcast order. I guess the ep that was moved is a standalone one that's flexible in terms of running order. Anyway, I'll stick with the Netflix order now and see if I'm correct when I get there.

Films

Live by Night (2016)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Lupin the Third: The Secret of Mamo (1978)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the only extra on the UK DVD, a gallery of concept art.

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 22-24 [the end]
Well, I enjoyed that. Forever and a Day is out in 10 days -- maybe I'll get round to that a bit sooner than I did this!

Films

Game Night (2018)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 20-21
Remember the gag from Austin Powers about the home lives of henchmen? In Chapter 20, Horowitz does a serious version of that... and makes it work!

this week on 100 Films

Time for another jam-packed TV review on 100 Films in a Year...





Plus, 3 brand-new reviews this week...


Atomic Blonde (2017)

It’s based on The Coldest City, a graphic novel [that] I got the impression was a Le Carré-style thriller, so I was very surprised to eventually learn it was the basis for this film, the trailers for which promised a hyper-stylised actioner from the director of combat-focused John Wick. Watching the film, however, it’s easier to see how I might not’ve been wrong about the novel after all — take out the elaborate fight scenes and shoot it more like Tinker Tailor Solider Spy than The Guest, and this could indeed be a Le Carré-esque Cold War thriller.

Read more here.


Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)

anyone expecting a straight-up adaptation may be disappointed, but taken as a film in its own right, for the most part it works. Having all the different familiar characters pop up makes it feel like a proper Batman tale, rather than a Ripper story that happens to have a costumed vigilante in it. Most prominent is Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, although she isn’t really the latter here — Batman gets fully suited up, but the most Miss Kyle gets is a whip. The relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina is one of the film’s best aspects, in fact, with the Elseworld setting seeming to allow a different focus than the usual antagonism that pairing has in screen adaptations

Read more here.


Superman (1978)

Every member of the cast is excellent, though none more so than Christopher Reeve in the dual role of Clark Kent / Superman — he makes them feel like two different people, each equally believable. Richard Donner’s direction is first-rate, keeping our interest through a long storyline that could be slow but in fact never drags. There’s a pure heart here, a childlike sense of wonder and excitement that shines off the screen. Superman’s “boy scout” image could be a barrier in our modern, cynical world, coming across as twee and old-fashioned, but instead the film somehow makes it triumphant and magical.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Archer
5x07 Archer Vice: Smugglers' Blues
I appear to have accidentally skipped an episode. Oops. Must remember to go back to it (this one ends on a cliffhanger, so probably won't plug the gap straight away).

Westworld
2x04 The Riddle of the Sphinx

Films

The Pixar Story (2007)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

After a busy fortnight (twelve new additions across the previous two weeks), the past seven days have been quieter... but still see three titles added to my collection (it was going to be quieter still, but one that isn't out until next week turned up early).

Those additions push the number of Blu-rays I own past 950. With seven-and-a-half months of the year left, based on my purchase rate so far this year (9.1 BDs per month) and last year (15.1 BDs per month), there's a very real chance I'll reach 1,000 Blu-rays before 2018 is over -- heck, probably several months before the end of the year. But, you never know -- I'm not aiming for it, just if it happens, it happens.

Number of titles in collection: 2,111 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,159 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 952 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,391 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,353 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,020 [no change]
Number of short films: 611 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Adventures of Zatoichi (1964)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Coco 3D (2017)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

Inferno 3D (1953)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the UK Blu-ray's extras, which are just a couple of trailers and a religion-focused interview with star Rhonda Fleming. The US disc gets a commentary and a 15-minute making-of, damn'em.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #19. Apparently I'm watching this once every six years (could've sworn last time was my third watch, not second, but apparently not).

Films

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 16-19

Films

Deadpool (2016)
[2nd watch]
Sequel tomorrow! (Well, I haven't booked, so maybe that should be "hopefully". Not because I don't think I'll get a seat, just because I've got to get off my arse and out the door.)

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 13-15

Films

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the audio commentary, which was quite interesting, and the making-of featurette, which wasn't so great, to be honest.

Superman (Expanded Edition) (1978/2000)
[3rd or so watch]
RIP Margot Kidder

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 11-12

Films

Jigsaw (2017)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D (1991)
[#103 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
I've seen the 16-minutes-longer Special Edition of T2 several times before (three, according to my guesstimated records), but I'm pretty sure I've never seen the original theatrical cut, and I've definitely never seen it in 3D, so it gets a new number.

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 6-10

this week on 100 Films

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


Anon (2018)

Many a lazy review has described Anon as “like a Black Mirror episode”, which is not wholly inaccurate but is getting to be a stale descriptor — Charlie Brooker didn’t invent high-concept dystopian sci-fi about the dangers of future technology, so why wheel out the comparison every time anyone else dares venture into the same ballpark nowadays? Nonetheless, that is the ballpark Anon is playing in, but mixing speculative sci-fi with an equal dose of hardboiled noir to keep things spicy.

Read more here.


The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The poster child for German Expressionist cinema, as well as featuring “cinema’s first true mad doctor” and “cinema’s first unreliable narrator” (at least according to David Cairns on the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray — I haven’t verified those statements for myself), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari certainly has a lot to unpack for a film that’s barely an hour-and-a-quarter long. Or does it? Because one has to wonder if there’s an element of style over substance here.

Read more here.


Drew: The Man Behind the Poster (2013)

If you don’t know the name Drew Struzan, there’s a fair chance you know his work: he’s the poster artist behind the likes of the Back to the Future trilogy, almost everything Indiana Jones related, many iconic Star Wars posters (including the primary art for the prequel trilogy), and so many more. Even when not painted by Drew himself, his style has been a major influence on blockbuster posters across the board, even in today’s era of Photoshopped collages. Nonetheless, you may wonder if the topic can really support a feature-length documentary. How much is there to say? Turns out, plenty.

Read more here.


The Hangover Parts II & III

The Hangover was a surprisingly big hit back in 2009 (was it really so long ago?), so naturally it spawned a sequel. That went down less well, mired in criticisms of just being a rehash of the original. I don’t know what people expected, really — The Hangover was sold on its high-concept setup, so naturally they repeat that for the sequel.
[...]
Clearly the people in charge of the Hangover series took on board criticism that Part II just rehashed Part I’s plot, because Part III takes the same characters and spins them off onto a wholly different narrative. There isn’t even a hangover involved. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either: based on ratings found across the web, it’s the least popular of the trilogy.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Lisbon 2018
Well, that was eventful. The UK entry deserved better, but what do we expect?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
23x06 (11/5/18 edition)
With Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin plugging Deadpool 2.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hangover Part III (2013)
[#102 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Articles

32 Sassiest Graham Norton Comments During Eurovision 2018
by Scott Bryan (from BuzzFeed)

As ever, the best bit of Eurovision was Graham.

Collection Count

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

Another big tile of titles in the post this week -- seven Blu-rays added to my collection, to be precise. One new release, one new release that turned up nearly a fortnight early, and a selection from HMV's 5-for-£30 offer. Three of those were upgrades from DVDs I already had, which leaves my collection looking like this...

Number of titles in collection: 2,109 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,160 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 949 [up 7]

Number of discs in collection: 5,387 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,350 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 8,020 [no change]
Number of short films: 609 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Shrek the Third (2007)
[#101 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Stalker (1979)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #5

TV

Westworld
2x03 Virtù e Fortuna

Films

FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Car Share
3x01 Unscripted [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Trekkies 2 (2004)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Episodes
5x07 The Final Episode [series finale]
[Watch it on iPlayer from Friday 11th May.]

Lucifer
2x18 The Good, the Bad, and the Crispy [season finale]

Who Dares Wins
11x06 (5/5/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Trekkies (1997)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3x20 Paranoia

Episodes
5x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
2x17 Sympathy for the Goddess

Not Going Out
9x07 Bust Up [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Articles

Afrofuturism: Why black science fiction 'can't be ignored'
by Gena-mour Barrett (from BBC News)

Good primer on this mainstream-hitting subgenre and why it's particularly relevant right now.

TV

Episodes
5x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
2x16 God Johnson

Who Dares Wins
11x05 (28/4/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Anon (2018)
[#95 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 3-5

this week on 100 Films

April was a bumper month on 100 Films in a Year, necessitating a big monthly summary post...





There were also 6 brand-new reviews published in the past seven days, including...


3 Long Films That I Didn’t Enjoy Directed by Martin Scorsese

Reviews of Silence (2016), Casino (1995), and New York, New York (1977).

Read them here.


Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

It’s a very different setup to the original movie, which is refreshing — it could’ve just been a rehash with modern effects (while the Robin Williams movie still has a lot going for it, the mid-’90s CGI is definitely not one of them). That said, it’s not as innovative or inventive as the first movie. The way that brought the board game’s environment to life in the real world was a unique concept, whereas this sequel merely offers an Indiana Jones-esque jungle adventure, albeit with self-aware characters.

Read more here.


ManHunt (2017)

With its unoriginal innocent-man-on-the-run story and disengaging production quirks, it’s tempting to give up before the half-hour mark. However, director John Woo does begin to sneak in some of his trademark flair... If you can make it through the first half, the second begins to revel in its own silliness. It stops mattering that everyone has to deliver dialogue in at least two languages but none of them can actually act in more than one. It stops mattering that the plot barely makes sense — in fact, it actually improves the crazier it gets.

Read more here.


My Cousin Rachel (2017)

Is she a scheming murderess intent on using her wiles to acquire the family’s estate, or did Philip’s imagination get the better of him? That mystery is really the heart of My Cousin Rachel, which unfurls as a classy, lightly Gothic melodrama. It’s a puzzle that’s not so much investigated as gradually hinted at, leaving the audience to make up their own mind.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Episodes
5x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friday Night Dinner
5x01 The Other Jackie
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
2x15 Deceptive Little Parasite

Not Going Out
9x06 Lollipop Man
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

ManHunt (2017)
[#94 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Prologue
Chapters 1-2

With Anthony Horowitz's new Bond novel, Forever and a Day, out in a couple of weeks, I thought I ought to finally get round to reading the last one -- it's only been out for three years, after all.

Collection Count

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

All those discs I mentioned last week turned up, and then some more too, so we've got a nice chunky update here -- plus that delayed running time update as well. Exciting times!

Number of titles in collection: 2,105 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 942 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 5,383 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,346 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes: 8,020 [up 2]
Number of short films: 608 [up 1]

Plus this week it's time for a running time update, so...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
396 days, 9 hours, and 50 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 1 hour, and 46 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Episodes
5x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
2x14 Candy Morningstar

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1x08 The Double Affair

Westworld
2x02 Reunion

Films

Laura (1944)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3x18 Cheddar
3x19 Terry Kitties

The City and the City
Part 4 Breach [finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Phantasm (1979)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The City and the City
Part 3 Orciny
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Who Dares Wins
11x04 (14/4/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
[#91 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The City and the City
Part 2 Ul Qoma
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
9x05 Pants on Fire
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Wild Strawberries (1957)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Blindspot 2018 #4