Friday, 31 January 2020

Thursday, 30 January 2020

TV

The Twilight Zone
3x10 The Midnight Sun
3x16 Nothing in the Dark

Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series
Part 8 (of 18) [2nd watch]
In UHD as part of the From Z to A box set (the only episode included in UHD, aside from the original pilot) -- hence why I'm only watching one episode from the middle of the series.

Wednesday, 29 January 2020

TV

The Twilight Zone
5x17 Number 12 Looks Just Like You

Films

Twin Peaks (1990)
[5th watch]
aka Twin Peaks: Pilot (Original Version)

Rewatchathon 2020 #5

Yeah, this is really an episode of TV... but it's presented in a standalone manner on the From Z to A Blu-ray set (by being the only original series episode included in UHD), so I thought I'd count it.

I also rewatched the 19-minute alternate ending. It has some good bits (all of which Lynch nabbed to recycle in the series proper), but it's not as good an ending as... well, the season-and-a-half of TV that followed the original.

Tuesday, 28 January 2020

TV

Star Trek: The Next Generation
6x26 Descent [season finale]
7x01 Descent, Part II
More episodes I'm watching as background for Picard. Unlike the last one, however, I don’t think these can be amongst the best of TNG. The first part has some interesting stuff with Data struggling to understand if he’s started to experience emotions, but the second half is an underwhelming bit of something-and-nothing, only really noteworthy for the relish with which Brent Spiner plays Data’s evil twin brother. (I do intend to watch all of TNG in full someday, not just random episodes now and then like I've been doing for the past few years.)

Films

(1963)
[#11 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Blindspot 2020 #1

aka Federico Fellini's 8 1/2

Monday, 27 January 2020

TV

The Twilight Zone
1x34 The After Hours
5x25 The Masks
It's been a few months (alright, six), but I'm finally getting back on to watching more classic Twilight Zone.

Films

Ad Astra (2019)
[#10 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Sunday, 26 January 2020

TV

Doctor Who
38x05 Fugitive of the Judoon
Well, that was certainly a lot of unexpected stuff! I feel like Chibnall's playing at being Moffat now (with wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey mysteries that threaten to rewrite the show's long-standing continuity), but we'll see. At least it's interesting.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Star Trek: The Next Generation
5x23 I Borg
Widely regarded as one of the very best TNG episodes (it is, indeed, excellent), and likely to be of importance to the events of Picard (hence why I'm watching it now).

this week on 100 Films

1 new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
I don’t know how thoroughly the film adapts the novel's 768 pages, but it feels like it’s trying to cram in as much as possible. It rattles by at a whipcrack pace, which is both one of its greatest assets, because it moves like the clappers, and its biggest drawbacks, because it winds up feeling a bit too long... This is a minor complaint, though, because while those 119 minutes may be a few more than seems strictly necessary, what’s within them is frequently riotously funny.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Saturday, 25 January 2020

TV

QI
17x12 Quagmire
17x13 Quills
[Watch Quagmire and Quills (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bait (2019)
[#9 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Collection Count

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

Two new releases this week, one an acclaimed British film from last year (Bait), the other not actually out until Monday (the latest Doctor Who Collection Blu-ray, which upgrades three DVDs (but leaves one behind, for now)).

Similarly, a Blu-ray upgrade for the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series. It's been available for years in other countries (the US, Germany, Italy, etc), but BD-adverse ITV simply won't release it here, so I've finally given in and imported it (for a very nice price).

And the net result of all that is "no change" to the title total!

Number of titles in collection: 2,279 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,119 [down 4]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,160 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 40 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,962 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,672 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,744 [up 3]
Number of short films: 681 [up 5]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Friday, 24 January 2020

TV

The Ready Room
2x01 "Remembrance" Recap
After-show for Picard, only available in the US -- except, of course, where there's a will there's a way... Whether it's worth finding that way depends on your tolerance for these kinds of things. The bit about the making of the theme music was interesting, though.
[Watch it on YouTube.]

Star Trek: Picard
1x01 Remembrance
[Watch it (again) on Prime Video.]

Thursday, 23 January 2020

Wednesday, 22 January 2020

Films

What Did Jack Do? (2017)
[#8a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Oh, David Lynch...

Tuesday, 21 January 2020

TV

Friday Night Dinner
5x02 The Tin of Meat
Coming up to two years since I last watched this, but here we are. Hurrah for the wonders of on-demand viewing.
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Monday, 20 January 2020

TV

Death in Paradise
9x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
1x07 The Fight to the Death
1x08 Betrayal [season finale]
[Watch series 1 (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x25 Boo Normal [bonus episode]
Skipping ahead a little here, but it's recommended. At the end of season 3 they made two episodes for inclusion in season 4; when the show was cancelled (before being picked back up by Netflix), they released those two as "bonus episodes". According to co-showrunner Joe Henderson, this one fits best between episodes 15 and 16, so that's where I've watched it.
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Sunday, 19 January 2020

TV

Doctor Who
38x04 Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
1x03 Bread
[Watch series 1 (again) on Netflix.]

His Dark Materials
1x05 The Lost Boy
1x06 The Daemon-Cages
[Watch series 1 (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #3

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #2

this week on 100 Films

Just one new post on 100 Films in a Year this week: my 12 picks for 2020's Blindspot challenge...





More next Sunday.

Saturday, 18 January 2020

TV

Doctor Who
38x03 Orphan 55 [2nd watch]
I didn't think much of this the first time, but its flaws only become more obvious on a rewatch.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Goes Wrong Show
1x04 The Lodge
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
1x02 Biscuits
[Watch series 1 (again) on Netflix.]

His Dark Materials
1x03 The Spies [2nd watch]
1x04 Armour
[Watch series 1 (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x15 High School Poppycock
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Collection Count

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

From one extreme to the other: after the absolute quite of last week, there's something new for every category this week -- although for DVD it's just a further reduction. (It's not an unrelenting downward slide nowadays, but the last year my DVD tally actually increased was 2015, and then it was only by 7 across the entire year.)

This week's big addition is the Twin Peaks: From Z to A box set (out in the UK on Monday). Theoretically it should upgrade the previous Blu-ray box sets... but then they should've upgraded the previous DVDs and I hung on to them, so for the time being I'm keeping the lot. In some cases that's never likely to change (the season one DVD has audio commentaries that David Lynch won't allow to be included on future releases, so I'll hang on to those), but in others I really ought to just give in and sell (the only thing stopping me in most cases is the nice packaging, which is daft really). So, really From Z to A should've barely changed the numbers at all, but instead it adds piles of stuff. Most notably, though: it includes the original pilot and season three's Part 8 in UHD, so counts to that tally.

As you can see, it's one of three UHD additions this week. I haven't had anything to report there in over two months, and now three at once! The others were Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Don't Look Now (which is the upgrade responsible for dropping a DVD). Finally, anime movie Time of Eve adds some short films to round out every category.

And all of that looks like this:

Number of titles in collection: 2,279 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,123 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,156 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 40 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,958 [up 26]
Number of films: 2,670 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,741 [up 48]
Number of short films: 676 [up 2]

Not counted: soundtrack CDs. There are two this month (in Don't Look Now and Time of Eve). Back when I first started tallying my DVD collection, I decided CDs "didn't count" -- because they were CDs and this was a list of DVDs (duh). But now I've got so many releases with soundtrack CDs bundled in, I wish I had kept a record. Maybe I should go back and count them in somehow? Maybe their own count; or I could just straight-up add them to my disc count -- it might not skyrocket exactly (it's already at nearly 6,000 and I doubt there's more than a few dozen CDs, max), but it would give it a notable bump (as I said, possibly a few dozen).

Or maybe I just can't be bothered.

See you next week, faithful reader.

Friday, 17 January 2020

TV

The Great British Bake Off
1x01 Cakes
I joined Bake Off with series 2 (so slightly ahead of the mass popularity, then) and always meant to go back and catch up on this first series somehow -- once upon a time that meant "hoping to see it repeated on some odd satellite channel", but nowadays it's just all on Netflix. It's a funny experience watching it now: so much of it is like the Bake Off we all came to know and love, but there are little bits here and there that aren't quite right. They obviously tweaked (and perfected) the formula for series 2.
[Watch series 1 (again) on Netflix.]

His Dark Materials
1x01 Lyra's Jordan [2nd watch]
1x02 The Idea of North [2nd watch]
[Watch series 1 (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x14 My Brother's Keeper
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Not Going Out
10x08 Halloween [special]

Thursday, 16 January 2020

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2019/2020 Episode 2 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Death in Paradise
9x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
38x02 Spyfall Part Two [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x13 Til Death Do Us Part
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Wednesday, 15 January 2020

TV

The Goes Wrong Show
1x03 A Trial to Watch
Friendly reminder that this series is absolutely magnificent.
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x12 All About Her
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Not Going Out
10x07 Builder [season finale]

Films

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
[#8 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Tuesday, 14 January 2020

Monday, 13 January 2020

Sunday, 12 January 2020

TV

Doctor Who
38x03 Orphan 55
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

My review of last year finally came to an end this week over at 100 Films in a Year, with the following posts...


2019 Statistics
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas — that’s well and truly over now, isn’t it? No, I mean this — the day I publish my annual statistics post! As the guy who does the introductions to films at Odeon might say, “ooh, yeah, the statistics. I love the statistics.”
Read more here.


The Best & Worst of 2019
Where others may do a top ten, or twenty, or fifty, nowadays I do a top 10%. This year I watched 151 films, so my ‘top ten’ has 15 films... As well as my favourite films I saw during 2019, this final review-of-the-year post also includes my least favourite films, as well as a list of 2019’s most noteworthy releases that I missed.
Read more here.


Finally for now, a look back at some Christmas TV...





More next Sunday.

Saturday, 11 January 2020

Films

Dial M for Murder 3D (1954)
[#5 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

+ the Featurette and theatrical trailer on the Blu-ray. The former was informative, the latter was a trailer.

Collection Count

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

After all the busy-ness around Christmas, there's nothing to report this week. I'm sure things will pick up soon.

Number of titles in collection: 2,276 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,124 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,152 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 37 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,932 [no change]
Number of films: 2,667 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,693 [no change]
Number of short films: 676 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Wednesday, 8 January 2020

TV

Dracula
Part 3 The Dark Compass [finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer in the UK or Netflix elsewhere.]

In Search of Dracula with Mark Gatiss
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Little Women (2019)
[#4 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Tuesday, 7 January 2020

TV

Dracula
Part 2 Blood Vessel
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer in the UK or Netflix elsewhere.]

Films

Zatoichi at Large (1972)
[2nd watch]

Rewatchathon 2020 #1. I first watched this last August, but didn't get round to reviewing it. Looking at it and my notes again the other day, I realised I didn't remember it in the slightest -- makes it a bit difficult to review, that. So here I am again.

Monday, 6 January 2020

TV

Dracula
Part 1 The Rules of the Beast
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer in the UK or Netflix elsewhere.]

Sunday, 5 January 2020

TV

Doctor Who
38x02 Spyfall Part Two
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x11 City of Angels?
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Not Going Out
10x06 Whodunnit?

Vienna Blood
1x03 The Lost Child [season finale]
[Watch the it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Over at 100 Films in a Year, I'm part way through my review of last year. It all started with the usual look back at the last month...





...and has continued with these...


2019: The Full List
Here we are once again, dear readers: another year over, another long list of films. The final tally of new feature films I saw in 2019 is 151.
Read more here.


My Most-Read Posts of 2019
2019 may’ve given us the highest grossing film of all time, but TV reviews once again dominate my most-viewed posts of the year... But this is still theoretically a film blog, so — as usual — I’ve compiled my five most-read TV posts and then my five most-read film reviews.
Read more here.


I would like to have had the entire review of the year up by now, but I've been busy this weekend. More of it next Sunday.

Saturday, 4 January 2020

TV

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

The Goes Wrong Show
1x02 The Pilot (Not the Pilot)
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
3x10 The Sin Bin
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Collection Count

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

Well, I say that -- it's been two weeks this time. It wasn't meant to be! As I mentioned last time, I always intended for this update to be a little late, to serve as my usual end-of-year totaliser. But then there was a lot to compile for it (I'd been getting tardy), so it gradually slipped even later than intended, eventually ending up a whole week late. Oops. But nothing's been added to my collection in the last few days, so it's still a wholly honest post-Christmas / end-of-2019 set of figures. Lovely.

And with that said, on with the numbers...

Number of titles in collection: 2,276 [up 4 this week; up 98 in 2019]
Of which DVDs: 1,124 [no change this week; down 21 in 2019]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,152 [up 4 this week; up 119 in 2019]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 37 [no change this week; up 28 in 2019]

Number of discs in collection: 5,932 [up 17 this week; up 310 in 2019]
Number of films: 2,667 [up 23 this week; up 181 in 2019]
Number of TV episodes: 8,693 [up 12 this week; up 365 in 2019]
Number of short films: 676 [no change this week; up 25 in 2019]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
434 days, 7 hours, and 3 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 21 hours, and 8 minutes from last month.)
(Up 19 days, 7 hours, and 40 minutes from last year.)

That's my smallest year-on-year running time increase since 2014 -- which was also the case last year, but this year it's even lower again. And, as I said then, it's good really, because I shouldn't buy so much stuff... but I'm gonna keep doing it!

And therefore, as ever, I'll see you next week, faithful reader.

Friday, 3 January 2020

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2019/2020 Episode 4 (of 10)
Watching out of order because someone said this contained "one of the TV moments of 2020" already. They were exaggerating.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
10x05 Memory

Films

Rocketman (2019)
[#3 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Thursday, 2 January 2020

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2019
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
3x09 The Sinnerman
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Films

Evil Under the Sun (1982)
[#2 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Articles

Gavin and Stacey Christmas special is most-watched TV comedy for 17 years
(from BBC News)

That headline buries the real story: that the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special was the only scripted programme among the top ten most-watched programmes of the entire decade. Mad. (The other nine included eight sporting events and one X Factor final.)

Wednesday, 1 January 2020

TV

Criminal: United Kingdom
1x02 Stacey
1x03 Jay [season finale]
This is an odd old show. Will try to gather some more thoughts for my next 100 Films TV column.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Doctor Who
38x01 Spyfall Part One
A superb return to form, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Miranda
My Such Fun Celebration [10th anniversary special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Crooked House (2017)
[#1 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]