TV

The Flash
1x03 Things You Can't Outrun

Gilmore Girls
2x17 Dead Uncles and Vegetables [2nd watch]

The Missing
Part 3 The Meeting
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Elementary
3x01 Enough Nemesis to Go Around

Have I Got News For You
48x06 (7/11/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
9x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
New run starts soon, figured I ought to finish this one.

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

TV

Grantchester
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Running Man (1987)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

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


Backfire (1950)

doesn’t seem to be very well regarded on the whole... This may be because at times it feels more like an Agatha Christie mystery than a film noir: a pair of clean-cut amateur sleuths bumble their way through a string of clues, learning more and more about the plot thanks to other characters’ flashbacks. I like a good Christie mystery though, so the pairing of styles isn’t a problem for me.

Read more here.


La Belle et la Bête (1946)

I imagine you know the story — it’s a tale as old as time, after all — but let’s recap anyway: in lieu of her father, Belle (Josette Day) goes to be the ‘guest’ of the animal-like Beast (Jean Marais) in his castle. Initially repulsed by him, Belle comes to realise there’s something there that wasn’t there before as she grows attracted to her captor. Meanwhile, Belle’s would-be suitor (Marais again) resolves to kill the Beast…

Read more here.


Chronicle (Extended Edition) (2012)

The obvious route for a found-footage superhero movie is surely in the Kick-Ass/Super mould: a wannabe dressing up in a funny costume and setting out to fight crime, in the real world. [Director Josh] Trank and screenwriter Max Landis have grander ambitions, however, setting their sights on characters who develop Superman-esque powers.

Read more here.


Plus four were new to the new blog...


Beauty and the Beast (Special Edition) (1991/2002)

Do you need me to tell you how great Beauty and the Beast is? I imagine not. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know. If you haven’t, you really should, and then you’ll know.

Read more here.


Hairspray (2007)

while the key to Hairspray’s success may be its positive attitude and memorable songs, perhaps the key to its quality -- and the eventual score of this review -- are the issues it tackles around those.

Read more here.


The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

It manages to avoid the sugary sentimentality that you might expect and in the process makes for a fair tale of the underdog succeeding.

Read more here.


Total Recall (1990)

For me, the joy of Total Recall is in discovering another ’80s blockbuster (ignore the fact it was released in 1990), the kind of thing I grew up watching on rented videos and BBC One Bank Holiday schedules... whose practical effects and general style and tone vividly recall that era for me

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who Extra
1x12 Death in Heaven [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x24 (15/11/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,705 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 502 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,251 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,842 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,254 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Children in Need 2014
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Chronicle (Extended Edition) (2012)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
6x18 The Invasion Episode Eight
Hm. Not sure I liked this as much as the consensus would have it. The Cybermen are barely used, there's some weird writing/editing (it just skips over stuff), some terrible music (a jaunty tune that's both irritating and bizarrely played during exciting/tense moments)... There were good bits, including the unintentionally slightly-camp pair of human villains, but still, it's no Tomb.

Gotham
1x05 Viper
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x10 Episode 10
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Machete (2010)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
6x17 The Invasion Episode Seven

Gareth Malone's All Star Choir
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
7x04 Anna
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Only Connect
Children in Need: Noggins v Curiosities
Last time I watched Only Connect, I also watched the animated X-Men's version of Days of Future Past, and today... well. That's one freaky coincidence.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Arrow
3x02 Sara

Doctor Who
6x16 The Invasion Episode Six

Forever
1x06 The Frustrating Thing About Psychopaths

TV

Doctor Who
6x15 The Invasion Episode Five

The Missing
Part 2 Pray for Me
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pioneers of Television
3x04 Miniseries

TV

Grantchester
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

this week on 100 Films

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


The 10th Kingdom (2000)

Said story takes place in both present-day (well, turn-of-the-millennium) New York and the fantasy world of the Nine Kingdoms... the place all our fairytales come from — the part of the narrative set there takes places “almost 200 years” after the “Golden Age”, when the events we know from stories actually happened.

Read more here.


John Dies at the End (2012)

Based on the cult novel by Cracked.com editor David Wong, John Dies at the End is a bizarre horror-fantasy that defies easy explanation or summary.

Read more here.


A Late Quartet (2012)

Set in the rarefied world of classical music performance, A Late Quartet charts the fallout among the members of a highly-acclaimed New York string quartet when their leader (Christopher Walken) announces his impending retirement.

Read more here.


Space Battleship Yamato (2010)

A live-action adaptation of the popular, influential and long-lasting anime franchise... Set in a future where Earth has been ravaged by alien assault, a nearly-defeated humanity... set off on a last-ditch mission to save mankind.

Read more here.


Plus three were new to the new blog...


Inception (2010)

about people who can get into dreams and steal ideas. Now they’re employed to get into a dream and plant an idea. This is either impossible or extremely hard, depending on which character you listen to. And that’s the setup — it’s really not as complicated as some would have you imagine.

Read more here.


The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

At times it feels like a collection of subplots linked only by the monthly book group meetings, with whichever plot thread is the focus of a scene becoming the de facto main story… until the next scene begins, of course. A working knowledge of Austen’s novels is helpful too.

Read more here.


March of the Penguins (2005)

I think March of the Penguins gained such popularity in America because they don’t have the rich history of wildlife documentaries that the BBC has bestowed upon us Brits. This is a solid documentary, but it has a narrow focus and isn’t a patch on something narrated by David Attenborough.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Detectorists
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Lovely. More please.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
34x12 Death in Heaven [season finale]
Hm. Kind of mixed, hard to know quite what to make of it. Some properly great stuff, some very weak bits, some that might be one or might be the other. Odd indeed. Loved the ending and the mid-credits tease, though.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)
Episode 5 (of 5)

Pointless Celebrities
6x23 Writers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

As is the way of the world, the two titles that didn't arrive last week turned up on Monday. Add a Monday new-release that arrived on Tuesday, and we have...

Number of titles in collection: 1,704 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 501 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,250 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 1,841 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,254 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

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

Doctor Who Extra
1x11 Dark Water
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
48x05 (31/10/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)
Episode 2 (of 5)
Episode 3 (of 5)
Episode 4 (of 5)