TV

Mock the Week
9x07 (9/9/10 edition)
Back from the six-week break it took for the Fringe. (I know, my comments are frequently invaluable.)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mountain Gorilla
Part 2 Last Stand of the Silverback King
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Heroes cancellation: Source says NBC not moving forward with movie that will wrap up series by Lynette Rice
(from at EW.com)
Title says it all. No surprise, really -- Heroes was a long way from popular by the end (hence why it got cancelled).

Torchwood writer John Fay excited by The New World, plus why killing Ianto was ‘right thing to do’ by XXNAPOLEONSOLO
(from scyfilove)
Again, the title more-or-less sums this up. It's an interview though, so there are a few more tidbits for fans to pick up on (though nothing about the plot of The New World, really, just the way it's being written and the point it starts from).

Collection Count

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

The numbers are all over the place this week, thanks to a couple of oversights and a new Blu-ray set that replaces four DVDs (it would've been more dramatic if another set had turned up to replace another four, but that's still in the post).

So, the number of titles go down, the number of DVDs goes down, and the number of Blu-rays goes up. The number of discs also goes down, thanks to BDs having plenty of room to house a two-disc-DVD's extras on a single disc. The number of films goes up slightly, due to a mistake last week, while the number of TV episodes goes down massively due to an error goodness-knows-when.

Ooh, exciting stuff.

Number of titles in collection: 1,214 [down 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,105 [down 4]
Of which Blu-rays: 109 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 2,971 [down 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,278 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,181 [down 24]

Statistic of the week:

Number of Batman titles in the collection:
12
(0.99% of the total)

Inspired by upgrading my four two-disc '80s/'90s Batman film DVDs to the Blu-ray set (yep, that's the box set I was referring to) (and, if you're interested, I upgraded both the Nolan films early in my BD days), I thought I'd round up how many Batman titles I own. It's perhaps more than you'd think (though it would've been 3 greater a few days ago!)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Grandma's House
1x05 The day Simon felt the family was ready to be healed
...he was wrong.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mad Men
4x01 Public Relations
Hurrah for the unusually-early return of Mad Men to British TV! Lots of intriguing threads already set in motion, and I'm sure there are many more to come. Can't wait to find out what the next twelve weeks have in store.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
1x05 Reply All
Many of the series' plots reach their apex this episode, making it less comedic and more dramatic/tragic as everything explodes. Certainly leaves things in an interesting place for tomorrow's final episode. Incidentally, just to reiterate from past weeks, this is an excellent series; critics who dismissed it were, I think, expecting a Comedy, whereas in fact it's more of a drama that, in accurately observing real life, is often very funny.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Universal Lands Stephen King's The Dark Tower And Plans Unprecedented Feature/Network TV Adaptation by Mike Fleming
(from Deadline New York)

"Unprecedented" almost seems like an understatement. Look what craziness they're planning:

The plan is to start with the feature film, and then create a bridge to the second feature with a season of TV episodes. That means the feature cast — and the big star who’ll play [lead character] Deschain — also has to appear in the TV series before returning to the second film. After that sequel is done, the TV series picks up again, this time focusing on Deschain as a young gunslinger... The third film would pick up the mature Deshain as he completes his journey. They will benefit from being able to use the same sets cast and crew for the movie and TV

It'll either be a fantastic, revolutionary success, or an embarrassingly huge flop.

TV

Derren Brown Presents Hero at 30,000 Feet

I normally have a comment after a Derren Brown special, but... no, not really. Other than to note the whole live bits seemed purely so they could set another countdown in motion! I guess we can expect another live special on 8th October at around 10pm, then.

Actually, one other comment: some people seem to feel cheated that he only landed a simulator. What, you really thought they were going to let a completely untrained man who was afraid of flying be responsible for landing a plane filled with hundreds of people? You really, genuinely believed that?

[This will be available to watch (again) on 4oD "soon".]

Films

Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Read my review here.

Magazines

SFX #200
Gradually making my way through this. Thought I ought to mention it at least once, as it's their 200th and full of celebratory things.

TV

Dragons' Den
8x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Even Hit Like Kick-Ass Can Seem Like Miss at Debut by Brooks Barnes
(from the New York Times)
Kick-Ass was considered a flop after its US opening weekend (which, incidentally, was nonetheless at #1), but it went on to make 3½ times its budget at the worldwide box office and is now storming away on DVD and Blu-ray too -- which means a sequel will be coming (hooray!) This discrepancy (between opening weekend & total gross) is the point of the article: you can't (and shouldn't, though many do) judge a film by its opening weekend alone. See also: How to Train Your Dragon (labelled a flop, earned $479 million, sequel in the works), Date Night (labelled a flop, earned $152 million), and more.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
5x15 Rabbit or Duck
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

My Funniest Year: 2000
Quite funny. Bit long.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Webseries

CarPool
Episode 2 Jonathan Ross

Ah, CarPool. I've been meaning to try this out for a while because it looked an interesting idea, and today I finally did by accident. The concept, for those who've missed it, is that Robert Llewellyn (aka Kryten off Red Dwarf) drives someone somewhere and chats to them.

It's like a chat show with a twist, essentially. And only one guest. It's been running on the web for quite a while now (since January '09) and amassed quite a few episodes (74, to be precise), and there's soon to be a TV version on Dave (of course). This is one of the earliest ones (well, as you can see) and also one of the shortest. I have no idea if it's exemplary of the whole series or not.

Also, if you're interested, the video announcing the TV series is a kind of "best bits" + reminder of what it's all about, and that kind of thing. Lovely. Plus, a camera test/interview with the producer of the TV version with some more details. Oh, and they get pulled over by Anti-Terrorism Police.

Got that covered, then.

Magazines

CLiNT #1

And lo, the new great hope for comics in the UK has launched. So after the middling reaction it's received in some quarters (that one review is representative of several I've seen), what's issue one actually like?

Well, that depends on one of two things: your age; or your ability to connect with your inner schoolboy. Features on "Hot TV Mums" and interviews with questions like "Would you fuck your dad to save your mum?" are not for the intellectually developed. I'm sure they must be pleasing to a certain demographic though; namely, the teenage/underdeveloped-twentysomething CLiNT has to convince to buy it for decent sales figures and 'mainstream' acceptance. That said, I found the Jimmy Carr interview interesting (it wasn't the one with the above-cited question).

Alternatively, you can just ignore the features and stick to the comics. For your £3.99 you get two full-length (as in US-full-length, i.e. 20-something pages) comics, which is already cheaper than you'd pay to buy them regularly, plus there's moderately decent amounts of three others. It's a disappointment that Kick-Ass 2 is a bite-sized opening snippet rather than a proper full-length edition. I don't know if this will change in future, but I hope so -- I want it in real chunks, not drip-fed in quarter-issue size. And, of course, the more full-length comics there are the better value for money.

What of the strips themselves? The two full-length strips are Jonathan Ross' Turf, which has been widely praised and rightly so, even if it is a bit text-heavy, and Mark Millar's Nemesis (soon to be a major motion picture from Tony Scott), which I haven't read yet but looks to have potential.

Of the shorter strips, I've already noted my disappointment at Kick-Ass 2's brevity (though the actual content is decent enough); Huw Edwards Presents Space Oddities is a 'wittily' named 3-or-4-page anthology series so will vary from issue to issue, but this example is quite good (I have no idea what, if any, involvement Huw Edwards actually has in this); and Frankie Boyle's Rex Royd is much better than the universally negative reviews led me to believe -- not perfect, but an interesting start. I enjoyed it anyway.

So that's CLiNT, issue 1. Certainly not perfect, but certainly aimed at a different demographic (both age-wise and experience-of-comics-wise) than most who've reviewed it. Will it be a success with the intended audience? No idea. But it does show promise, and if it's a success it might lead someone else -- or several someones -- to launch similarly comics-centric mainstream title(s) with a more adult/intelligent bent. And that would definitely be good news.

Articles

Sonic Screwdriver [Wii] Controller coming by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)
I'm gonna get a Wii. Then this. Then use it to play GoldenEye. I'm sure you don't need me to explain why that's awesome.

Tesco goes to Trolleywood by Patrick Barkham
(from guardian.co.uk)
With the first direct-to-DVD-exclusive-to-Tesco movie out today (the first of many, they plan), I wound up stumbling across this article (from last month) which goes behind the scenes on said film, as well as hinting more broadly at the supermarket's plans. Quite interesting, even if the film -- a Jackie Collins adaptation -- holds very little interest in itself.

TV

Dexter
4x09 Hungry Man
I managed to guess the revelation Deb had last episode, but I didn't see that final twist coming. (Apologies if this is vague -- trying to keep it spoiler free.

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert Documentary
With highlights of the concert itself (yes, the one I watched yesterday), plus interviews with many of the acts about the significance/importance of Freddie, Queen, this concert and AIDS.
(Today was Freddie's birthday, incidentally, which I'd like to claim I knew before choosing to watch these but... I didn't.)

Would I Lie To You?
4x07 (3/9/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

The classic Doctor Who monster that terrified young John Barrowman by Carole E. Barrowman
(from io9)

Carole Barrowman talks about growing up as a fan of Doctor Who alongside her younger brother John — who became famous as the Doctor's sexiest companion, Captain Jack Harkness, in this excerpt from the anthology Chicks Dig Time Lords.

Do note, John didn't become famous as Captain Jack in this anthology. Just in case you read the sentence as it was written.

Renamed Dredd wants to lure you in with new title, dark story by Nathalie Caron
(from Blastr)
That's Judge Dredd to you and I. And that's not a good move. I know titles shouldn't really matter, but now it sounds like a crap horror with a 'cleverly' misspelt title. And it's needless -- are people really so stupid as to think "the old film was rubbish, so the new one must be, even though it has no relation besides the same character"? Really? And that's if they even remember a near-20-years-old flop.
All that aside, the rest of the news about this project does sound promising. Fingers crossed...

Ridley Scott Talks Alien Prequels by Adam Quigley
(from /Film)
More hints emerge about Scott's plans for the two new Alien prequels. Not sure if I think it sounds intriguing or franchise-ruining.
The full interview from which the quotes come is here, in which Scott talks about his whole career, the reception and forthcoming Director's Cut of Robin Hood, and generally sounds a bit too self-agrandising.

there is an "I" in "TEAM"

via Dash M and @tweet_fail

this week on 100 Films

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

Dragonslayer (1981)

a little scrappy, in a way — the narrative, the acting, the effects — and yet, for that, it’s a minor treat... as someone who in his childhood watched many examples of this kind of film on video from the small rental place in town, it fits nostalgically into that era. And there’s a lot to be said for nostalgia.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007)

allegedly based on Susan Cooper’s five-volume fantasy series, The Dark is Rising, and specifically the second novel, The Dark is Rising, changes from book to screen abound... the lead character is changed to an ex-pat American, because, of course, Americans would never go to see a fantasy movie starring a British kid.

Terminator Salvation: Director's Cut (2009)

it turns out McG is a surprisingly good director — he certainly does better work than the cheap hack job Jonathan Mostow made of Terminator 3. I doubt everyone agrees on this point, but whatever else you may wish to say about McG, he knows how to put an action sequence together. Most of the time.

You may also have noticed we passed into September this week. Ah, the bliss of children finally back in school. But it also meant it was time for the August update -- also blissful, in its own way.

More next Sunday.

TV

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness
Plus most of the DVD extras, mainly Freddie montages from the first half of the show.
Sadly, said first half isn't on the DVD (it was included on previous VHS releases), not to mention the deletion of Innuendo and cropping the picture to widescreen. Ho hum.

TV

Dexter
4x08 Road Kill

Mountain Gorilla
Part 1 Kingdom in the Clouds
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]