TV

The Big New Years & Years Eve Party
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x07 He Came! [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

23 Walks (2020)
[#207 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

A Study in Scarlet (1933)
[#206 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

That's it for another year of 100 Films. The last year? Well, we'll see...

TV

Death in Paradise
11x00 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x08 Free-From Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x44 Week 9: Thursday
5x45 Week 9: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x06 Part of the Family [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x40 Week 8: Friday
5x41 Week 9: Monday
5x42 Week 9: Tuesday
5x43 Week 9: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Anything Goes
I suppose I could count this as a film, as it was screened in cinemas, but it does feel like a filmed stage production (cf. One Man, Two Guvnors, Hamilton). Whatever you count it as, it's really good fun.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x37 Week 8: Tuesday
5x38 Week 8: Wednesday
5x39 Week 8: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
[#205 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
12x07 Caramel Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
13. Canaries [the end]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x10 Christmas Special [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x05 Something to Share?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Michael Ball & Alfie Boe: Back Together
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x07 Episode 7 [season finale]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x35 Week 7: Friday
5x36 Week 8: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

A bunch of new box sets turned up this week, just befoe Christmas... and their impact was completely wiped out by two of them being partial upgrades. One was Cartoon Saloon's Irish Folklore Trilogy, replacing my copy of the only one of trilogy I owned (Song of the Sea). Another was the latest classic Doctor Who Blu-ray release, which this time replaced three DVDs (and maybe another Blu-ray, Shada, although as there are some special feature differences, I'm hanging on to that for now). Take all that into account and the net increase in titles was... zero. Of course, evidence of the new arrivals exists elsewhere. For example, another was Arrow's Shawscope: Volume One box set, which alone added 12 films to that tally.

But then Christmas came, and with it a couple of Blu-rays as pressies, and so things ended up like this...

Number of titles in collection: 2,747 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,055 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,692 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 140 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,887 [up 19]
Number of films: 3,237 [up 17]
Number of additional cuts: 246 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 9,225 [up 38]
Number of short films: 909 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

Just a brief one from 100 Films in a Year this week...


Merry Christmas from 100 Films in a Year

this is — officially speaking — 100 Films in a Year’s last Christmas. I’ve been stuffing it with more Christmas films than I usually watch, but, ironically, not Last Christmas. Maybe tomorrow. (Maybe not, too.)

Read more here.


Big changes are coming soon...

TV

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x08 Christmas Special

Old Jack's Boat
2x00 The Christmas Quest
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
9x11 at Christmas
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Pointless Celebrities
14x17 Christmas Special 2021
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Last Train to Christmas (2021)
[#204 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

Doctor Who
39x06 Flux, Chapter Six: The Vanquishers [season finale; 2nd watch]
Conversation around this died off so quickly, I can't believe it's only been a couple of weeks since it was on. Indeed, so instantly did I drop it from my memory that I'd also forgotten my other half was away and hadn't seen it yet. Hardly a glowing recommendation, eh? But then it doesn't deserve one... although, removed of any expectations, I minded it less on a second viewing.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
11x06 Panto [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

A Boy Called Christmas (2021)
[#203 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
12. The Paradox Moon

TV

Blankety Blank
1x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x04 I Love Lucy
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Hawkeye
Part 5 Ronin
Part 6 So This Is Christmas? [finale]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x06 Episode 6

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x34 Week 7: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
11. A Day to Yourselves

TV

Hawkeye
Part 3 Echoes
Part 4 Partners, Am I Right?

Films

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
[#202 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
10. Missing Habitas Frond

TV

Hawkeye
Part 1 Never Meet Your Heroes
Part 2 Hide and Seek

Films

A Christmas Story (1983)
[#201 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
9. A Perfect Christmas

TV

Would I Lie To You?
15x00 At Christmas
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Final Countdown (1980)
[#200 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
As 100 Films is... changing... this is my last-ever official #200. The title seemed apt.

Jingle All the Way (1996)
[#199 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
8. A Girl Called Doubt

TV

Michael Bublé’s Christmas in the City
A bit of a cheesy sing-song of some Christmas standards? Perfect seasonal viewing.
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Wheel
2x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
7. Christmas with the Plasmavores

TV

The Wheel
2x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dreamcatcher (2003)
[#198 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973)
[#197 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
6. We Will Feed You to the Trees

Collection Count

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

This week's additions are mostly anime: that big sale order I've been talking about finally turned up, as did this week's single biggest addition (in every sense), the ultimate edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's huge, heavy, and gorgeous. Should it replace my Platinum Edition DVDs, though? I ought to double-check the special features and sort that out, because there's no point keeping DVDs of something I have on Blu-ray unless the Blu-rays are missing content. The DVDs are in a rather nice tin, though...

Number of titles in collection: 2,745 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,058 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,687 [up 11]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 139 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,868 [up 27]
Number of films: 3,220 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 243 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,187 [up 68]
Number of short films: 909 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader... though probably not on my usual day, as that's Christmas Day and I imagine I'll be busy. But you never know.

TV

Moriarty the Patriot
1x19 The White Knight of London Act 1
1x20 The White Knight of London Act 2
[Watch it (again) on Funimation.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
5. Visiting Hours

Films

Happiest Season (2020)
[#196 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
4. For the Girl Who Has Everything

Films

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
[#195 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
3. Inflicting Christmas

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
2. Father of the Daleks

Films

Black Widow 3D (2021)
[#194 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
Foreword
Introduction: The Wintertime Paradox
1. He's Behind You

Films

Pather Panchali (1955)
[#193 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
Blindspot 2021 #11

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
1. The Master: Anything You Can Do [the end]

Enjoyed that a lot. As with any anthology, some stories are better than others, but overall there were more hits than misses (and the misses aren't "misses" per se, they're just not direct-hits).

Now, as I mentioned back at the start, it's on to the next one...

TV

The Wheel
2x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
[#192 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
There are three cuts of this film, and the Blu-ray I own contains two of them. So, to clarify, I watched the UK/international theatrical cut.

Elf (2003)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2021 #33

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
2. Judoon: The Rhino of Twenty-Three Strand Street

Collection Count

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

So, last week I mentioned that I'd ordered a pile of stuff from All the Anime's sale. Frankly, I really thought it would turn up this week, but it hasn't. Even without it, this is a Big Week — with it, it would've been a record-shatterer. We'll see what happens when it does finally turn up.

Things that did arrive include StudioCanal's UK 4K release of Mulholland Drive. I now own three copies of the film, including a Special Edition DVD and Criterion Blu-ray, and I'll be keeping them all due to unique special features. But I guess I didn't know that when I bought the Criterion Blu-ray, because I'd removed the DVD from my list (but not actually got round to selling it, fortunately). So, this week it goes back in... despite never having left, really. Does this mean I'll soon get round to watching all those special features? Haha! That's another matter entirely...

Number of titles in collection: 2,735 [up 11]
Of which DVDs: 1,059 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,676 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 138 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 6,841 [up 24]
Number of films: 3,212 [up 21]
Number of additional cuts: 243 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [no change]
Number of short films: 907 [up 9]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
3. Daleks: The Third Wise Man

Films

Gremlins (1984)
[#191 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
4. Zygons: The King in Glass

TV

Moriarty the Patriot
1x17 The Riot in New Scotland Yard
1x18 The Merchant of London
When I started this back in July, I thought I'd race through it — I really enjoyed that first episode, and the ones that followed held definite promise. But here I am five months later, still with a bunch of episodes to go. That's because the early sheen has long worn off, and I've found it a bit of a plod since. I still intend to finish it — these two episodes felt like a slight improvement, although still with nagging things I dislike — but hopefully it won't take me too much longer.
[Watch it (again) on Funimation.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
5. Ood: The Heist

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
6. Silurians: The Red-Eyed League
Another really good one, this; so good it makes me want to read/listen to more stories of the Paternoster Gang. Of course, whether the other work that's been produced about the trio would match this is another matter...

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
7. Sontarans: A Soldier's Education

TV

Doctor Who
39x06 Flux, Chapter Six: The Vanquishers [season finale]
This season started well, but can Chibnall stick the landing?
...lol, no, of course he can't!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
8. The Silence: Student Bodies

Music

Pressure Machine by the Killers

Last year, I caught up on the Killers albums I'd missed in time for their new one. And this year, they've got another new one — but I'm on the ball this time. Well, I say "on the ball": I bought it when it came out back in August and have had it sat next to me on my desk waiting to be played for almost four months. Time flies, eh?

Anyway, this feels like a more folksy and melancholic offering from the band. It'd probably be interesting to look back over all their LPs and chart their change/development from zeitgeisty cool rock to this more adult, less radio-friendly style.

Collection Count

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

Among this week's additions is Criterion's UHD release of Citizen Kane. If you're a Blu-ray fan you'll probably have heard that BD 1 is faulty, but I'm not sure I can be bothered getting it replaced — I bought this for the 4K disc and special features, not the 1080p film disc. And this is my third copy of Kane (I own it on a UK DVD and US BD, which I'm keeping for the different special features), so I never needed that 'fourth' version anyway.

Number of titles in collection: 2,724 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,058 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,666 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 135 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,817 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,191 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 242 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [no change]
Number of short films: 898 [up 7]

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

Total running time of collection (approx.):
490 days, 16 hours, and 8 minutes.
(Up 2 days and 21 hours from last month.)

Oh, by the way, I just caved to ordering a massive haul in the All the Anime Christmas sale. So if that turns up promptly — along with various new releases I've got on preorder — next week could be a big'un. (Frankly, whenever the Anime order turns up, that week will be a big'un.)

See you then, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

No new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week (as usual these days), but it was time for the monthly review — and in it, a tease about the blog's future...





Writing this post made me realise that I never actually shared the October montly review! So, here's that too...





More (perhaps, but probably not) next Sunday.

TV

The Wheel
2x05 Episode 5
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Falling for Figaro (2020)
[#190 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
9. Cybermen: Ghost in the Machine
Another cracker of a story, this, which gives us insight into the mind of a Cyberman. You might not think that was a thing of interest or worthwhile, but here, it is. Superb.

Films

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
[#189 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
10. Time Lords: Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir
This is a superb little story, a pastiche of hardboiled crime novels with a Time Lord private eye operating in the Gallifreyan underworld. I'd love to a read a whole series like this.

Poetry

What Sort Of Bird Are You? by Tessa Foley
Old Bird
It's a very long time since I've properly read any poetry, so it would probably be unfair for me to try to assess this.

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
11. Ice Warriors: Red Planet

Films

Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
[#188 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
Introduction: Halfway Into the Dark
12. The Weeping Angels: Grey Matter

Dave Rudden has now written two collections of Christmas-themed Doctor Who short stories. Frankly, I hadn't really paid them any attention — nothing personal, I'm just not up-to-date with Who publishing in general — but then one of the stories from this first collection came up in a thread I happened to be reading on Twitter last month, and I looked into the books, and they seemed like good Christmastime reading. Plus, there's a total of 25 stories across the two volumes — how perfectly advent-y! So, I intend to read one a day between now and Christmas Day. We'll see how that goes...

Also: I'm not reading the book backwards for some reason — the chapter numbers count down, as in The Twelve Days of Christmas.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Long Call
1x04 Episode 4 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x31 Week 7: Monday
5x32 Week 7: Tuesday
5x33 Week 7: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
39x05 Flux, Chapter Five: Survivors of the Flux
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x03 The Woodworm Men
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x06 Pastry Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

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

Films

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2021 #32. Watched the "alternate widescreen version" on the Blu-ray's second disc, because it turned out disc 1 was faulty and wouldn't play past a certain point in the film. Although I believe this version is comprised of different takes (rather than just the regular version cropped), it didn't seem strikingly 'wrong' — not that I'm particularly familiar with the film, having only seen it once before, about 15 years ago.

TV

Doctor Who
39x04 Flux, Chapter Four: Village of the Angels [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

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

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x28 Week 6: Wednesday
5x29 Week 6: Thursday
5x30 Week 6: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
[#187 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Collection Count

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

The forecast 'trickle' begins — all new releases this week. Though I did just cave to some titles in HMV's Black Friday sale, so next week may be a little larger.

Number of titles in collection: 2,719 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,059 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,660 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 133 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,806 [up 4]
Number of films: 3,186 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 241 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [no change]
Number of short films: 891 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
39x03 Flux, Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x02 A Lot to Take In
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x05 German Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

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

Films

The Last of Sheila (1973)
[#186 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x05 Episode 5

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x27 Week 6: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Red Notice (2021)
[#185 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Films

La Haine (1995)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
Blindspot 2021 #10

TV

Bo Burnham: Inside
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Doctor Who
39x04 Flux, Chapter Four: Village of the Angels
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
14x11 The Best Bits [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Face/Off (1997)
[4th watch]
Rewatchathon 2021 #31. Did the "watch it on TV with ad breaks even though I own it on Blu-ray" thing. I feel like that’s somehow the perfect way to watch this movie.

TV

The Wheel
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Jungle Cruise (2021)
[#183 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Collection Count

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

Last week I suggested there might be a trickle of releases each week for the rest of the year, although I did also note I had four new releases on the way plus two packages stuck at an Australian airport. Well, all of those titles turned up throughout this week, plus a couple of packages from America, making for a bumper 13 additions — once again, not quite a record, but certainly more than a trickle! And with some upgrades and whatnot amongst them, this week sees changes to every category tracked below. The last time that happened was only two months ago, but it's not a regular occurence.

Number of titles in collection: 2,716 [up 11]
Of which DVDs: 1,059 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,657 [up 13]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 132 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,802 [up 21]
Number of films: 3,183 [up 17]
Number of additional cuts: 241 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [up 4]
Number of short films: 891 [up 1]

Nonetheless, I do think it'll be back to a trickle from now on. Some weeks will be busier than others, but I'm going to try extra hard to avoid sales and random purchases and just stick to new titles. Though, with quite a few US releases included among those new titles, and the unpredictability of international shipping, they may end up arriving in clumps anyway — just like this week. Time will tell...

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Nobody (2021)
[#182 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

Squid Game
Part 8 Front Man
Part 9 One Lucky Day [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Squid Game
Part 5 A Fair World
Part 6 Gganbu
Part 7 VIPS
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Squid Game
Part 3 The Man with the Umbrella
Part 4 Stick to the Team
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Doctor Who
39x03 Flux, Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Moriarty the Patriot
1x15 The Phantom of Whitechapel Act 1
1x16 The Phantom of Whitechapel Act 2
[Watch it (again) on Funimation.]

Squid Game
Part 2 Hell
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

Squid Game
Part 1 Red Light, Green Light
I sat out 2020’s Netflix craze because, frankly, I couldn’t care less; but this one seems more up my street (it was recommended to me even before it was everywhere), so I’ve finally given in / found the time to start it. It's a promising first episode, so we'll see how it goes. At the very least, the colourful production design looks superb in UHD+HDR.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Collection Count

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

New additions continue to come in — not exactly a flood, but more than a trickle. I think it might be this way for the rest of the year now, I've got so much on preorder (and quite a few things in the post, including half-a-dozen titles from Australia that have been sat at Melbourne airport or weeks).

This week, almost everything's a new release, including one that isn't out 'til next Monday. And, talking of things in the post, I've got four more titles out on Monday already on their way to me, hopefully to arrive on release day. Just got to find time to actually watch them now...

Number of titles in collection: 2,705 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,061 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,644 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 131 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,781 [up 12]
Number of films: 3,166 [up 12]
Number of additional cuts: 237 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,115 [no change]
Number of short films: 890 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Would I Lie To You?
14x10 The Unseen Bits
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Death in Paradise
10x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
39x02 Flux, Chapter Two: War of the Sontarans
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Goes Wrong Show
2x05 The Cornley Drama Festival Part 2 [season finale]
I wasn't convinced this "drama festival" concept would work — I thought it might be too sketch-show-y — but I still enjoyed it on the whole. Bring on series 3, please!
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Films

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
[#181 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

this week on 100 Films

Wonders will never cease: there was a new review published to 100 Films in a Year this week!


The Fear of God: 25 Years of “The Exorcist” (1998)

As with almost any documentary about a specific film, your interest in it is likely to depend on your interest in the original film. So, assuming you care to know the behind-the-scenes story of The Exorcist, this is definitely a good film. I get the impression it’s the original source for a lot of interviews and stories that have been repeated around the place; ones that I’ve personally picked up through osmosis down the years. Despite that, I still learnt new stuff

Read more here.


Just the one, though.

Hopefully, more next Sunday.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
12x04 Dessert Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
6x10 Partners 'Til the End [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x26 Week 6: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games Night
2x06 Group 2: Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Royal Wedding (1951)
[#180 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Collection Count

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

Another load of new additions this week, again thanks to sales. It's made up of two Criterions from the current UK 2-for-£25 offer; three Masters of Cinema titles from Zavvi's 20% off offer; and six Indicator titles from Powerhouse's 5th anniversary sale. That's 11 newcomers — one of them a DVD upgrade (two of them, actually, but in one case I'm hanging onto the DVD for now), so a net total of 10 new titles. That's actually a fairly large increase for a single week, but after last time's record-pushing 13, it's doesn't seem quite so busy.

Oh, and I've landed on exactly 2,700 titles, which is a nice round number. Cool.

Number of titles in collection: 2,700 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,061 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,639 [up 11]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 129 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 6,779 [up 10]
Number of films: 3,154 [up 10]
Number of additional cuts: 235 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,115 [no change]
Number of short films: 890 [up 3]

Also this week, it's time for the monthly running time update. Well, it's more than time, because it's two weeks late — making this more like the month-and-a-half-ly running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
487 days, 19 hours, and 8 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 22 hours, and 6 minutes from last month.)

That's a pretty large increase... except it's got 1½ times as many weeks in it as normal, so it's not a fair comparison. Ho hum.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Goes Wrong Show
2x04 The Cornley Drama Festival Part 1
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
6x09 Goodbye, Lucifer
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x04 Episode 4

Richard Osman's House of Games Night
2x05 Group 2: Week 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
6x08 Save the Devil, Save the World
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x25 Week 5: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games Night
2x04 Group 2: Week 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x03 Bread Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
6x07 My Best Fiend's Wedding
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

The Goes Wrong Show
2x03 There Is No Escape
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x03 Episode 3

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x24 Week 5: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x23 Week 5: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
39x01 Flux, Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x22 Week 5: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Search for Danger (1949)
[#179 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
The final Falcon film. The series doesn't exactly go out on a high, but it's the best of the three starring John Calvert.

TV

Blankety Blank
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x21 Week 5: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Going in Style (2017)
[#178 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Collection Count

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

And this week, we're back in "biggest ever" territory — although it's not quite a record-breaker.

The week started off normally enough, with three new releases arriving on Monday. I say "normal", but I don't think I typically buy that many new releases on any given week (although, as their arrival tends to get spread across Friday–Tuesday nowadays, the impact is normally diluted, so...)

But then I caved to Arrow's Shocktober sale. Try as I might to cut down my order, I went for a whopping 9 titles. Those all arrived this morning... and Arrow threw in one for free, apparently (I don't know if that was a mistake on their end or a deliberate free gift, but it's a title I don't own, so...)

Altogether, that's 13 new titles this week — and every one of them brand-new to my collection, too; no upgrades.

How does that compare to the spate of "biggest week[s] ever" I had in the middle of 2020? It's up there amongst them, but, as I said, not a record-breaker: my biggest-ever increase remains in April 2020, when 18 new additions made net +16 increase in titles. And before that, there was a +14 in July 2011. There were a couple of other weeks in March 2020 where I received 13 new titles, but with upgrades and whatnot they came down to +11 or +12 — so you could say this week settles into 3rd place.

Anyway, here are the numbers...

Number of titles in collection: 2,690 [up 13]
Of which DVDs: 1,062 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,628 [up 13]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 129 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,769 [up 20]
Number of films: 3,144 [up 15]
Number of additional cuts: 233 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,115 [no change]
Number of short films: 887 [up 1]

It was also meant to be the monthly running time update this week, put off from last week; but with so many titles arriving just this morning, I just don't have the time today to work it out. Of course, that means the backlog of titles I need to add in is just getting bigger! But hopefully I'll work it out for next week — by which time it'll be the month-and-a-half-ly running time update. Hey-ho.

See you then, faithful reader.

TV

Lucifer
6x06 A Lot Dirtier Than That
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x02 Episode 2

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x20 Week 4: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x18 Week 4: Wednesday
5x19 Week 4: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x17 Week 4: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
12x02 Biscuit Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x16 Week 4: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

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

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x15 Week 3: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Another belated count this week, primarily because it was meant to be the monthly running time update but I haven't had time to work it out. So, that's bumped to next week, and here's just last week's new additions — of which there were five, but three were upgrades.

Number of titles in collection: 2,677 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,062 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,615 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 127 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,749 [up 5]
Number of films: 3,129 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 232 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,115 [no change]
Number of short films: 886 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Death in Paradise
10x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Goes Wrong Show
2x02 The Most Lamentable...
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
6x05 The Murder of Lucifer Morningstar
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x14 Week 3: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
[#177 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

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

Grantchester
6x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Lucifer
6x04 Pin the Tail on the Daddy
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x13 Week 3: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Leverage
3x15 The Big Bang Job
3x16 The San Lorenzo Job [season finale]

Lucifer
6x03 Yabba Dabba Do Me
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Dune (2021)
[#176 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
aka Dune: Part One

TV

The Great British Bake Off
12x01 Cake
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
6x02 Buckets of Baggage
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x11 Week 3: Monday
5x12 Week 3: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Goes Wrong Show
2x01 Summer Once Again
Nothing else makes me laugh as much as this show. It's so silly and often predictable, and yet utterly hilarious.
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Lucifer
6x01 Nothing Ever Changes Around Here
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Richard Osman's House of Games Night
2x03 Group 1: Final
[Watch House of Games Night (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Leverage
3x14 The Ho Ho Ho Job
Very much a "Christmas special" kinda episode. I probably should've saved it for December.

Richard Osman's House of Games Night
2x01 Group 1: Week 1
2x02 Group 1: Week 2
The first series of House of Games Night was basically "the same, but on in the evening". This time, at least they've tried to make it more obviously different, with a new set, an audience, and distinct rounds. So that's nice.
[Watch House of Games Night (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Capernaum (2018)
[#175 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Films

Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)
[2nd watch]

Collection Count

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

A variety of stuff this week, including a new-ish release of a new title (Another Round, which came out a couple of weeks ago — unusual for me: I normally either preorder or leave until a sale), a brand-new release of an archive title (Unbreakable in 4K), a release so new it's not actually out until Monday (The Sabata Trilogy, ordered direct from Eureka), an older limited edition that's been replaced with a regular edition but that I still managed to get at a reasonable price (Eureka's release of Spaghetti Western The Specialists), and a couple of older titles on offer. So that's nice, then.

There's plenty more in the post or due to ship soon (including, unusually, two packages from Australia), so expect these numbers to continue. And, with plenty more exciting releases out before the end of the year, I don't really see it letting up 'til after Christmas.

Number of titles in collection: 2,675 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,064 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,611 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 125 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,744 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,126 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 232 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,115 [no change]
Number of short films: 886 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
29x04 (15/10/2021 edition)
With guest Jodie Whittaker and the premiere of the new Doctor Who trailer.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900)
[#174a in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
This 30-second short barely feels worth logging... but I watched it and it's technically a film, so... It's also the first screen appearance by Sherlock Holmes, so it's undoubtedly significant.

TV

Strictly Come Dancing
19x05 Week 3 (aka Movies Week)
19x06 Week 3 Results
[Watch these episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

For the first time in almost five months, 1 new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week! And it was...


No Time to Die (2021)

Make no mistake: this is an immensely entertaining Bond film... I foresee it settling in as a well-liked entry in the series, and I’m sure it will cement a reputation as the greatest last-Bond-film for any actor... But, on the flipside, it doesn’t quite hit the dizzying heights of Casino Royale or Skyfall. Is that a problem? Nah. Not everything has to be “the greatest ever” to have merit.

Read more here.


Hopefully, more next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
62x01 (9/10/2021 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
2020/21 Episode 13
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

After a busy month, back to a quiet week: just one new addition, a 4K upgrade that doesn't replace my BD copy (because it's in a box set). But I've got loads of stuff on preorder, some of it already in the post, so don't expect it to stay quiet for long.

Number of titles in collection: 2,669 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,064 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,605 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 124 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,733 [up 2]
Number of films: 3,118 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 232 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,115 [no change]
Number of short films: 886 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.