TV

Preacher
1x01 Pilot
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x05 The Door
Hodor.

TV

The Flash
2x20 Rupture

Gilmore Girls
7x09 Knit, People, Knit!

Films

Just Friends (2005)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

First up on 100 Films in a Year this week, it's the monthly TV review -- including coverage of David Tennant's Big Finish Doctor Whos...




Back to films: 3 reviews were published this week...


300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

In every respect — from the clunky structure, to the leaden dialogue, to the poor performances, to the cheap visuals, to the fake CGI — this doesn’t feel like the $110 million blockbuster it is, but like a direct-to-Syfy TV movie.

Read more here.


The Fighter (2010)

I don’t normally care for boxing movies (I even gave the sainted Raging Bull just 3 stars), but I rather enjoyed this. Perhaps that’s because it’s about the familial drama as much as it is pugilism, but then the same could be said of Bull, so who knows — maybe I’m just becoming inured to the sport. Heck, I even found myself invested in the outcome during the climactic bout.

Read more here.


Warrior (2011)

It’s a constant surprise to me that Warrior is on the IMDb Top 250 — and in a very secure 146th place, too — for two reasons: firstly because I’m not sure I’d ever heard anyone actually talk about it, except in passing as part of “the rise of Tom Hardy”-type passages; and secondly because, from the outside, it doesn’t look like a very Top 250-y kind of film... Having chosen to watch it in part to assuage that confusion, I still find its placement just as baffling.

Read more here.


And finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Gladiator (2000)

Memorable Quote: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” — Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius; father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.

Read more here.


The Godfather (1972)

Has it really been almost eight years since the IMDb Top 250’s unshakeable #1 was usurped? The Godfather sat pretty at the top of that user-voted ranking for the best part of nine years, its balance between critically-acclaimed filmmaking finesse and quotable gangster machinations almost perfectly calibrated for that website’s prevailing demographic. (It’s since settled at #2, hardly a failure.)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x10 Progeny

Elementary
4x23 The Invisible Hand

Films

Hamlet (1964)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
aka Gamlet, or Гамлет
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Nothing to report this week, but next should see at least four additions.

Number of titles in collection: 1,862 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 653 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,765 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 2,036 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
4x19 Canary Cry

Gilmore Girls
7x08 Introducing Lorelai Planetarium

Have I Got News For You
51x06 (13/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x03 Death and the Queen [season finale]
Read my opinion on all three Big Finish 10th Doctor adventures in the 100 Films monthly TV round-up, here.

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x02 Time Reaver
Less good than the first story, but a decent adventure nonetheless.

TV

The Flash
2x19 Back to Normal

Game of Thrones
6x04 Book of the Stranger

Gilmore Girls
7x07 French Twist

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x01 Technophobia
Tennant returns! Off to a strong start. (I'll write more in 100 Films' monthly TV update on Thursday.)

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x09 Left Behind

Upstart Crow
1x02 The Play's the Thing
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
4x18 Eleven-Fifty-Nine

Elementary
4x22 Turn It Upside Down

Gilmore Girls
7x06 Go, Bulldogs!

Films

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
[#95 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

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


Calvary (2014)

Calvary may in fact be a great film, if only I could put my finger on what I think it’s really trying to get at, which remains frustratingly out of my reach, at least for now. However, I will say it’s a very good one, and anyone who likes a character-driven drama scattered with dark but hilarious humour would do well to seek it out.

Read more here.


Captain America: Civil War (2016)

As complicated as the plot sounds once you start trying to succinctly summarise it, Civil War is easy to follow as it unfurls. In fact, it’s to its credit that it can’t be readily summarised in any more detail than “Cap and Iron Man disagree; fight” without really getting into it. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have followed up the political thriller of Winter Soldier with another global thriller storyline, again bringing different genre textures to the superheroics that are nonetheless present and correct.

Read more here.


The Hateful Eight (2015)

I’m not the first to observe that The Hateful Eight actually functions like a murder mystery, Agatha Christie style. It might be easy to miss because the film doesn’t begin with a murder or feature a detective, but then neither do all of Christie’s stories. Instead, there’s a long period setting up all the players and suggesting their motivations, and then eventually the proverbial does hit the metaphorical fan, after which deductions must be made.

Read more here.


The Raid 2 (2014)

outclasses its predecessor in every possible way, from the deeper and more involving story, to the jaw-dropping feats of choreography and performance, to the more assured and polished filmmaking. An instant action classic.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Ghost in the Shell (1995)

In a future world where humans can undergo varying degrees of cyberisation, Major Motoko Kusanagi is a “full-body prosthesis augmented-cybernetic human” — only her brain is organic. Her body is a generic mass production model, so she can blend in while being a kick-ass law enforcement officer.

Read more here.


Ghostbusters (1984)

Our Villain: Gozer the Gozerian, a Sumerian god of destruction. Likes to turn his servants into supernatural hounds and allow the good guys to choose the form of their ‘destructor’ — which is how you end up having to fight a 112½-foot marshmallow man.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Stockholm 2016
As the jury vote was coming to a close, I thought, "The new vote-counting method is a good idea, but it looks like we've got a year where it's not actually going to make a difference." Ha ha ha, how wrong was I? Point made, new system. Point made.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Ted 2 (Extended Edition) (2015)
[#94 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,862 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 653 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,765 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,036 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [up 3]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

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

Total running time of collection (approx.):
348 days, 8 hours, and 14 minutes.
(Up 20 hours and 38 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.