Films

Knocked Up (2007)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Logan Lucky (2017)
[#65 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the two short deleted scenes that are the entirety of its special features.

Films

Baywatch: Extended Cut (2017)
[#62 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
[#63 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

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


Benji (2018)

Benji himself is a clear 5-out-of-5, both super cute and super smart. Yes, I know the film’s edited to make him preternaturally clever (there’s an awesomely daft sequence where he thinks back over everything he’s seen and comes up with a plan), but the tricks he performs without the aid of editing show that he’s a damn well trained doggy.

Read more here.


The Boss Baby (2017)

For all its daft humour, the reason The Boss Baby is so successful (for an adult viewer) is that it’s actually a really neat way of tackling the whole “sibling displaced by new baby” thing, from the kid’s point of view. That’s the thematic and subtextual meat that makes it more than just “wouldn’t it be funny if a baby was a businessman!”

Read more here.


The Hurricane Heist (2018)

If The Hurricane Heist had been made 20 years ago it probably would’ve been a major blockbuster. It certainly looks like the CGI was produced back then. Now… well, it’s gone direct to Sky Cinema, hasn’t it? Maybe it’ll find a cult following, but I’m not sure it’s quite barmy enough to achieve that so-bad-it’s-good love.

Read more here.


Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964)

it’s probably the most artfully directed Zatoichi film so far. Or if not artfully then certainly energetically — it’s full of more unusual angles and editing tricks than the previous films put together. But director Kazuo Ikehiro isn’t just a show-off, knowing when to not over-complicate matters: if a sequence calls for a simpler series of shots (in a dialogue scene, for example) then that’s what we get. The cinematography looks superb too, with a palpable richness.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)
[#61 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

The Hurricane Heist (2018)
[#60 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

Five new titles this week, including a nowadays-rare DVD-to-DVD upgrade (I'm sure they must still release such things sometimes, but as a Blu-ray buyer I'm usually looking at that format).

Number of titles in collection: 2,094 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 931 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 5,364 [up 8]
Number of films: 2,336 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 8,017 [no change]
Number of short films: 606 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

The Director and the Jedi (2018)
[#59 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
The feature-length making-of on the Last Jedi Blu-ray is a legitimately great film in its own right.

Shrek 2 (2004)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #14. My Shrek rewatch continues... and ends, because I've never seen the third and fourth (or any of the other spin-off bits, except for Shrek 4D). I've not seen this one for a similar amount of time to the first (to be exact, I know my family watched it at Christmas 2004, so just over 13 years ago). Watching now, I actually enjoyed it more than Shrek 1. However, the musical after-bit (Far Far Away Idol) wasn't even as good as Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3x17 Adrian Pimento

The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off
1x05 Episode 5 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
2x11 Stewardess Interruptus

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3x16 House Mouses

Line of Duty
4x05 Episode 5
4x06 Episode 6 [season finale]

A Series of Unfortunate Events
2x09 The Carnivorous Carnival Part One
2x10 The Carnivorous Carnival Part Two [season finale]

TV

Line of Duty
4x04 Episode 4

A Series of Unfortunate Events
2x07 The Hostile Hospital Part One
2x08 The Hostile Hospital Part Two

Who Dares Wins
11x02 (31/3/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Line of Duty
4x03 Episode 3

Lucifer
2x10 Quid Pro Ho

A Series of Unfortunate Events
2x05 The Vile Village Part One
2x06 The Vile Village Part Two

Films

Paddington 2 (2017)
[#58 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

dinnerladies diaries
Part 3 Final Toast

Line of Duty
4x02 Episode 2

Not Going Out
9x04 Pets
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

A Series of Unfortunate Events
2x03 The Ersatz Elevator Part One
2x04 The Ersatz Elevator Part Two

this week on 100 Films

It's the first of a new month, which means today 100 Films in a Year looks back at the last one...





Also this week, there were 6 brand-new reviews...


Bad Boys (1995)

The debut feature from director Michael Bay, Bad Boys displays a lot of the things he would become known for: fast-cut action scenes; a sense of style over substance; a little light lasciviousness… Even from his first film, some of his flourishes look over the top.

Read more here.


Bad Boys II (2003)

Probably the Michael Bay-iest Michael Bay movie that Michael Bay ever Michael Bay-d— er, made. If the first Bad Boys suggested where Bay’s style would go, Bad Boys II is him in full flow.

Read more here.


Beetlejuice (1988)

Ironically, I’d like the whole film a lot more if the title character wasn’t in it. Okay, I know not everyone’s going to feel this way — I imagine some people love him — but, for me, he’s by far the worst thing about the film. He starts off with just a couple of small appearances that are only a little irritating, but when he enters the story properly… ugh.

Read more here.


Cars 3 (2017)

Easily the best film in the Cars trilogy... Although I wouldn’t say sports movies are my bag, I think Cars 3 probably benefits from taking a more clean approach to that genre, ditching all the spy hijinks distractions of the last one. That purity of genre keeps it straightforward and focused.

Read more here.


The Silent Child (2017)

There’s a clear social-conscience motivation behind the creation of this film, highlighted by a downbeat ending that’s well calibrated to anger you into wanting change. It’s depressing that this isn’t set 50 years ago, but is the situation today. It seems hard to believe any parents would be so horrid and low-key abusive as Libby’s, but then I bet they voted Tory, so, y’know. Even then, the cold hard stats presented at the end are sobering. The cumulative effect is powerful and worthwhile.

Read more here.


The Villainess (2017)

This isn’t one of those films that’s trailed like an action movie but, actually, only has a couple of stunts and is mostly something else. No, this really, really pays off just as a two-hour adrenaline kick; but it’s also, simultaneously, something more complicated. Put both sides together and I think there’s a good chance this will, deservedly, become regarded as a genre classic

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3x15 The 9-8

Episodes
5x01 Episode 1
Almost three years since the previous season, and seven months since it was on in the US, we finally get the final episodes of Episodes.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Line of Duty
4x01 Episode 1

A Series of Unfortunate Events
2x01 The Austere Academy Part One
2x02 The Austere Academy Part Two

Collection Count

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

No new additions this week (though there's a bunch of stuff on the go-slow in the post for next time), but it's the time of the month for a running time update, so at least there's that.

Number of titles in collection: 2,090 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 927 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,356 [no change]
Number of films: 2,332 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,017 [no change]
Number of short films: 605 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
395 days, 8 hours, and 4 minutes.
(Up 11 hours and 59 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Lucifer
2x09 Homewrecker

Room 101
7x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rocky (1976)
[#57 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #3

The Silent Child (2017)
[#57a in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
This year's Best Live Action Short Oscar winner, which you can watch on iPlayer for the next month.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3x14 Karen Peralta

The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
2x08 Trip to Stabby Town

TV

Lucifer
2x07 My Little Monkey

Films

The Hangover Part II (2011)
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]