TV

Maniac
Part 3 Having a Day
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Before Midnight (2013)
[#205 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

+ half-hour behind-the-scenes documentary After Before

this week on 100 Films

It was time for another TV column this week over at 100 Films in a Year...





Plus, 2 brand-new film reviews...


Happy Death Day (2017)

a high-concept slasher movie that could be described as Groundhog Day meets Scream via Legally Blonde. Normally those kind of “X meets Y” descriptions give a general sense of tone or some coincidental similarities, but if you could put those three films in a blender, Happy Death Day is almost certainly what would come out. But while there’s no doubt that it is derivative, that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining.

Read more here.


What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

a mix of overwrought melodrama, plausible real-life horror, and mature psychological thriller. It’s really driven by the acting of the two leads. Joan Crawford gets a less showy role, having to play it straight as the reasonable, sensible older sister... Bette Davis, on the other hand, is allowed to cut loose. She starts the film batty and only gets less mentally stable from there. It’s quite an extraordinary performance

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Maniac
Part 1 The Chosen One!
Part 2 Windmills
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
[2nd watch]
Did not realise it'd been a whole year since I last watched this. I guess it makes sense when I think about it, but oof, time flies!

Step Brothers (2008)
[#204 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

Just one new addition this week. There'll be a bunch more next time, though I don't expect this month to hit the same kinda levels as last month!

Number of titles in collection: 2,150 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,153 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 997 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,516 [up 1]
Number of films: 2,399 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,293 [no change]
Number of short films: 636 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Before Sunset (2004)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #37

TV

The Imitation Game
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Ran (1985)
[#203 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #9

+ the restoration featurette among the Blu-ray's (insanely extensive) special features, to see how they justified the bizarre teal-tinged colour balance. "This is how it was always meant to look," allegedly...

Films

Before Sunrise (1995)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #36

Films

Mary and Max (2009)
[#202 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Magic for Humans
1x06 Love [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Network (1976)
[#201 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Bodyguard
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Sholay (1975)
[#200 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

200 films in a year!

this week on 100 Films

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


Gods of Egypt (2016)

it is kind of a terrible film… but if you embrace it, it’s also campy fun. It’s a film where the men are burly, the women are breasty, and the CGI is blurry, but there’s a certain irreverence that stops it from being stodgy, and a light-hearted tone to the dialogue that occasionally hits home. For all the whizzy video game-ish visuals, it’s an old-fashioned adventure quest at heart, capable of pulling off the occasional thrilling sequence or amusing verbal exchange.

Read more here.


The Post (2017)

Perhaps the timeliest historical movie ever made, The Post is, in its plot, about the publication of the ‘Pentagon Papers’, a leaked report that examined decades of US government decisions about the Vietnam war; but, thematically, it’s about press oversight of a government lying to its people to cover up their own wrongdoing, including trying to forcibly stop the press from performing that role — sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Read more here.


Zatoichi and the Chess Expert (1965)

Even if Chess Expert doesn’t thrill as much as some of the other movies, nor differ from the formula as thoroughly as some others, it does have its own charms for those prepared to indulge a somewhat more contemplative and chewy Ichi tale... For me, it doesn’t crack the very top tier of Ichi flicks, but is still an above-average adventure for everyone’s favourite blind masseur swordmaster.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Bodyguard
1x04 Episode 4
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch episodes four and five (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
3x03 If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Solo: A Star Wars Story 3D (2018)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #35

Fiction

Zorro by Isabel Allende (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Part 1 (pages 69-90)

Collection Count

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

Two new additions this week, though I also got rid of one title and found a couple of filing errors, so the changes are a bit bumpy.

In more exciting news, it's time for the running time update. It's a big'un: just over 7 whole days -- a week of solid viewing! That's the biggest increase since November 2015, when 246 episodes of TV saw it jump by almost 11 days. This month, it's thanks to "just" 173 episodes of TV: the complete Mission: Impossible set that I acquired at the start of the month, which alone accounts for almost 5 days & 18 hours.

Number of titles in collection: 2,149 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,153 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 996 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,515 [up 3]
Number of films: 2,398 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,293 [no change]
Number of short films: 636 [up 10]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
408 days, 1 hour, and 8 minutes.
(Up 7 days and 39 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Bodyguard
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Imitation Game
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Magic for Humans
1x05 Guilt Trip
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)
[#199 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Articles

The Walking Dead studio Telltale hit with devastating layoffs as part of a ‘majority studio closure’
by Megan Farokhmanesh (from The Verge)

Well, this sucks -- Telltale always seemed to represent a possible renaissance for the kind of games I love: adventure games like Monkey Island. But it seems things haven't been right there for a while, as the next article explains:

Toxic Management Cost an Award-Winning Game Studio Its Best Developers
by Megan Farokhmanesh (from The Verge)

TV

Bodyguard
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
3x02 Wild Laughter in the Throat of Death
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Gods of Egypt 3D (2016)
[#198 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Daniel Sloss: Jigsaw
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Bodyguard
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Simpsons
13x11 The Bart Wants What It Wants
Can't remember the last time I watched an episode of The Simpsons (I was going to say "not in the lifetime of this blog", but then I found this and this), but I happened across this on TV and for some reason stuck with it. It was quite good.

Films

Courage Under Fire (1996)
[#197 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Heathers (1988)
[#196 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Daniel Sloss: Dark
The first of two live shows bundled together on Netflix as Daniel Sloss: Live Shows (does what it says on the tin, I guess). This show lives up to its title, but it's also very clever and hilariously funny.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Iron Fist
2x09 War Without End
2x10 A Duel of Iron [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Iron Fist
2x08 Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Who Do You Think You Are? [USA]
9x01 Courteney Cox
Didn't set out to watch this, but caught the start and was surprisingly engrossed -- more by the story from British history than anything to do with Courteney Cox, to be honest.

this week on 100 Films

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


All the Money in the World (2017)

All the Money in the World does not star Kevin Spacey. But I expect you knew that. Indeed, if you only know one thing about the film, I expect that is what you know. Spacey’s firing, and his speedy replacement by Christopher Plummer, was such a big news story that it instantly became what the movie was most famous for — and, I suspect, is what it will always be most famous for, because the film itself isn’t good enough to transcend its own reputation.

Read more here.


The Tree of Life (2011)

Whether you love it or hate it — and there are certainly plenty of perfectly reasonable people at both extremes — it’s definitely an Experience; one every person who considers themselves serious about film appreciation needs to have.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 2,148 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,154 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 994 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,512 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,398 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 8,293 [no change]
Number of short films: 626 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Hang Ups
1x05 Episode 5
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch episodes five and six (again) on All 4.]

Films

The Hunt (2012)
[#195 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Blindspot 2018 #9

TV

The Imitation Game
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Iron Fist
2x06 The Dragon Dies at Dawn
2x07 Morning of the Mindstorm
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Iron Fist
2x04 Target: Iron Fist
2x05 Heart of the Dragon
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Magic for Humans
1x04 Seeing is Believing
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x05 Horror [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Compulsion (1959)
[#194 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Zorro by Isabel Allende (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Part 1 (pages 56-68)

TV

Iron Fist
2x02 The City's Not for Burning
2x03 This Deadly Secret...
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

I Kill Giants (2017)
[#193 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, and they were...


The Disaster Artist (2017)

Franco and friends (the lead cast includes his brother, his brother’s wife, and his best mate) seem to be having a jolly old time recreating their favourite bad movie, and they’re certainly not above patting themselves on the back for how well they’ve done it... For aficionados of The Room such dedication pays off: there are lots of fun references — not just the obvious stuff (the recreation of actual scenes), but scattered lines and nods throughout the movie.

Read more here.


I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (1969)

The second official movie to star Western antihero Sartana is, according to the blurb on Arrow’s Blu-ray release, “a more playful film than its predecessor, possessing an inventive visual style and developing its central character into a more creative and resourceful figure.” That’s bang on — and it’s a better film for it.

Read more here.


My Life as a Courgette (2016)

the film takes a more cartoonish style, at least on the surface. In fact, the whimsical production design belies the very serious nature of the story — it’s not as monumentally grim as it could be, given the subject matter, but it doesn’t shy away from some very dark areas. It handles these with an understated, calm maturity that is both befitting and refreshing.

Read more here.


Rocky IV (1985)

Interpreting a sports movie as really being about the conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union might normally be considered subtextual analysis, but that’s not the case here — it couldn’t be more blatant. Sometimes this is as hilariously preposterous as you’d expect (Rocky’s victory speech is greeted by a standing ovation from the Soviet politburo!), but other bits actually work quite well.

Read more here.


Rocky VI (1986)

An early work from Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (one of those world cinema names I recognise but couldn’t tell you a single film by), Rocky VI is not, in fact, the sixth entry in the Rocky franchise, but a short parody of the fourth one (the Roman numerals in the title being an inversion of the real film’s IV, obv.). Kaurismäki described the short as “my revenge on Mr. Stallone, who I think is an asshole.” Don’t hold back, Aki, tell us what you really think!

Read more here.


The Room (2003)

Ostensibly the story of the relationship woes of twentysomethings in San Francisco, there is nothing wrong with The Room… for the first two minutes. Then Tommy Wiseau enters a room and opens his mouth. There are no words to accurately describe Wiseau — he has to be witnessed to be believed. From there out, the film is distractingly ridiculous

Read more here.


Film Noir Review Roundup

I’ve made a conscious effort to watch more film noirs this year, and today’s roundup contains a few results of that:
- The Narrow Margin (1952)
- Accomplice (1946)
- Shockproof (1949)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Iron Fist
2x01 The Fury of Iron Fist
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

The Tree of Life (2011)
[#192 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the special features on the current Blu-ray (mainly, half-hour documentary Exploring The Tree of Life)

Collection Count

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

After last week's massive update (6 films! 61 discs! 188 episodes of TV!), this couldn't be more different: absolutely nothing to report! More next week though, guaranteed.

Number of titles in collection: 2,145 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,154 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 991 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,508 [no change]
Number of films: 2,394 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,293 [no change]
Number of short films: 624 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Jack Ryan
1x06 Sources and Methods
1x07 The Boy
1x08 Inshallah [season finale]
Despite how this looks, I didn't burn through almost half the season just to get it done for Iron Fist. Well, obviously I watched all these episodes within 24 hours, but I didn't sit and watch them back to back. (Just so we're clear on this important information.)
[Watch it (again) on Prime Video.]

Upstart Crow
3x01 Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

April and the Extraordinary World (2015)
[#191 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Zorro by Isabel Allende (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Part 1 (pages 49-55)

TV

The Imitation Game
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Jack Ryan
1x05 End of Honor
I'd hoped to have this finished by today, because Iron Fist season 2 is out tomorrow. Oh well. (It's good, I just haven't had the time.)
[Watch it (again) on Prime Video.]

Fiction

Zorro by Isabel Allende (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Part 1 (pages 32-49)

TV

Reported Missing
2x01 Episode 1
Not normally my kind of programme, but the write-up in the Radio Times was too intriguing: a dad reports his five-year-old son missing, having not seen him for two years after a custody dispute with the mother; but when the police track her down, she says the boy doesn't exist and she doesn't even know the man who made the report. To say much more would spoil the twists and turns as the case unfolds...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Skyline (2010)
[#190 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Zorro by Isabel Allende (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Part 1 (pages 13-32)

Films

Avengers: Infinity War 3D (2018)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #34

Fiction

Zorro by Isabel Allende (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Part 1 (pages 1-12)

I bought this novel about 13 years ago and never read it (where does time go, seriously?) It was seeing it in a box the other day that (perhaps subconsciously) inspired me to watch Zorro, and enjoying that inspired me to dig this out and finally start it.

TV

Hang Ups
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jack Ryan
1x03 Black 22
1x04 The Wolf
[Watch it (again) on Prime Video.]

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x04 Science Fiction
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Lost in Space (1998)
[#189 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

Darkman (1990)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #33

Sartana's Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin (1970)
[#188 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

Yesterday saw the start of a new month, meaning it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the old one...





Plus, the past week also saw the latest TV review column...





And in regular activities, 3 brand-new reviews were also published...


The Hunt for Red October (1990)

they don’t make big-budget spy thrillers like this anymore, but maybe they should, because Red October’s qualities stand the test of time: its story is driven by well-drawn, interesting characters and an overall sense of suspense, rather than elaborate stunts or computer-generated effects. I like the latter too, but there’s room for variety in the cinematic landscape.

Read more here.


Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

What plays out is a solid plot, smattered with decent action sequences. Frankly, it’s nothing incredible, and you’d have reason to expect more distinctive work from a director of the calibre of Edward Zwick, but it’s still a good action-thriller.

Read more here.


Seoul Station (2016)

Before he made zombie masterpiece Train to Busan, director Yeon Sang-ho was an animation director with several features to his name. So perhaps it’s not surprising that, to accompany his aforementioned live-action debut, he also helmed this animated prequel. [...] Like Train to Busan, Seoul Station revolves around a struggling father-daughter relationship — though this one’s of a very different sort. That’s apparent from the off, but to say too much more would be a last-act spoiler. Suffice to say, it all comes to a very dark, grim ending, with none of the redemption or hopefulness of the main film.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Jack Ryan
1x02 French Connection
[Watch it (again) on Prime Video.]

Films

The Elephant Man (1980)
[#187 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #8

Music

The 2nd Law by Muse
[2nd listen]

As I just realised, I listened to this once when it came out six years ago... and then never again! (Aside from two tracks that I listened to a lot.) Until today, when I listened to the whole thing again. It's mostly okay, with a couple of great tracks (Supremacy, Panic Station).

Collection Count

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

This week: a BD-to-BD upgrade that changes nothing on the stats, two DVD-to-BD "upgrades" that don't replace my DVD copies, and a trilogy box set that doesn't replace the copy of the first film I already own. Plus: a 47-disc 173-episode complete series box set. And I'm supposed to be thinking about slimming down my collection...

Number of titles in collection: 2,145 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,154 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 991 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 5,508 [up 61]
Number of films: 2,394 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 8,293 [up 188]
Number of short films: 624 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.