The Assistant (2019)
[#192 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Tuesday, 18 August 2020
Monday, 17 August 2020
TV
Derren Brown: 20 Years of Mind Control
I've been a fan of Derren's since the start, so this special was both a welcome celebration and made me feel old (20 years!) The reminiscences and clips were nice (it makes me want to go back and properly rewatch so much stuff), but the new live trick was a bit of a damp squib. The ‘subliminal’ messages were so obvious (it seems like all of Twitter spotted them) that I assumed there was a double-bluff coming... but no, it was what it appeared. Ho hum. (Of note, the version on All 4 last night omitted all the live bits (fortunately I recorded it because I wasn't free to watch live), but it has now been updated.)
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]
I've been a fan of Derren's since the start, so this special was both a welcome celebration and made me feel old (20 years!) The reminiscences and clips were nice (it makes me want to go back and properly rewatch so much stuff), but the new live trick was a bit of a damp squib. The ‘subliminal’ messages were so obvious (it seems like all of Twitter spotted them) that I assumed there was a double-bluff coming... but no, it was what it appeared. Ho hum. (Of note, the version on All 4 last night omitted all the live bits (fortunately I recorded it because I wasn't free to watch live), but it has now been updated.)
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]
Articles
Derren Brown on 20 years of blowing our minds and why he’s planning to do less TV in future
by Simon Hattenstone (from Radio Times)
A long-ish interview tied to Derren's 20th anniversary TV special.
by Simon Hattenstone (from Radio Times)
A long-ish interview tied to Derren's 20th anniversary TV special.
Sunday, 16 August 2020
Fiction
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1 A Scandal in Bohemia [2nd read]
The first Sherlock Holmes short story (after two novels), and it reads like it -- it feels quite like an introduction (not a total introduction, but a bit of one) compared to the other stories I've been reading lately. Also, I suspected I might've actually read this one before, and now I'm fairly sure I had. It's good though, so not exactly harm done reading it again!
1 A Scandal in Bohemia [2nd read]
The first Sherlock Holmes short story (after two novels), and it reads like it -- it feels quite like an introduction (not a total introduction, but a bit of one) compared to the other stories I've been reading lately. Also, I suspected I might've actually read this one before, and now I'm fairly sure I had. It's good though, so not exactly harm done reading it again!
this week on 100 Films
I suppose I could call this post "this fortnight on 100 Films in a Year", because I didn't do a post last week; but that was because there was nothing to share, so it is still a week's worth of stuff.
Anyway, just 1 new review was published this week...
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
More next Sunday.
Anyway, just 1 new review was published this week...
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
plays with a lot of the same comedic ideas as its predecessor — i.e. the mismatch between real-life person and in-game persona — but mixes up who’s imitating who. [Then] they head off on an Indiana Jones-type adventure — again, much like the first movie. For many, this repetition of ideas has been a stumbling block. [But] to me, it feels like they took what worked in the first movie and polished it. It’s still fundamentally the same kind of comedy action-adventure — if you disliked the first movie, there’s no reason this should appeal to you more — but refined.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 15 August 2020
Films
The Dancing Pig (1907)
[#189a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
[#189 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ reading the booklet accompanying Masters of Cinema's new Blu-ray release
[#189a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
[#189 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ reading the booklet accompanying Masters of Cinema's new Blu-ray release
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
I actually bought two DVDs this week! Both silent serials, one of which I very much doubt will ever end up on Blu-ray (if it were going to, it would've been released at the same time as this DVD edition), the other of which might but, well, there's no sign of it. Both were second-hand bargains on eBay -- the pair cost less than just one would have new. I'm very pleased.
But I also upgraded a DVD to 4K, so the DVD total only increases by one. Still, that's the first time it's actually gone up in over a year -- although it was over 40 titles higher back then.
Number of titles in collection: 2,432 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,089 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,343 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 70 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 6,254 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,734 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 178 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,958 [up 23]
Number of short films: 759 [no change]
FYI, the serials are counted under TV episodes. Although they're really films (what with TV not existing at the time), they're also all under feature-length, making them shorts... but they're not really shorts, because they're episodes. So, yeah, not really TV, but that still seems the fairest place to count them. (It's also what I've previously done for other serials whose episodes are below feature length.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
I actually bought two DVDs this week! Both silent serials, one of which I very much doubt will ever end up on Blu-ray (if it were going to, it would've been released at the same time as this DVD edition), the other of which might but, well, there's no sign of it. Both were second-hand bargains on eBay -- the pair cost less than just one would have new. I'm very pleased.
But I also upgraded a DVD to 4K, so the DVD total only increases by one. Still, that's the first time it's actually gone up in over a year -- although it was over 40 titles higher back then.
Number of titles in collection: 2,432 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,089 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,343 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 70 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 6,254 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,734 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 178 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,958 [up 23]
Number of short films: 759 [no change]
FYI, the serials are counted under TV episodes. Although they're really films (what with TV not existing at the time), they're also all under feature-length, making them shorts... but they're not really shorts, because they're episodes. So, yeah, not really TV, but that still seems the fairest place to count them. (It's also what I've previously done for other serials whose episodes are below feature length.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 14 August 2020
Films
Color Out of Space (2019)
[#188 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Frankenstein (1910)
[#188a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
The first screen adaptation of the novel. There's a restored HD version on YouTube here if you're interested.
[#188 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Frankenstein (1910)
[#188a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
The first screen adaptation of the novel. There's a restored HD version on YouTube here if you're interested.
Thursday, 13 August 2020
Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Films
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #35. Disney seemed to have officially retitled this in the UK as of it being on Disney+, but it'll always be Basil the Great Mouse Detective to me.
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #35. Disney seemed to have officially retitled this in the UK as of it being on Disney+, but it'll always be Basil the Great Mouse Detective to me.
Tuesday, 11 August 2020
TV
Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years
1x01 Boys from the Dwarf
Three-part history of the show currently airing on Dave. I imagine it covers a lot of the same ground as the extensive documentary series they made for the DVDs, albeit with new talking head interviews recorded now (but presumably the heads' memories are the same!) Of course, those DVD docs will only have been seen by relatively die-hard fans, whereas this series is being broadcast on a popular TV channel, so fair enough (especially nowadays, what with physical media sales being what they are). Presumably this'll get a DVD release eventually, thereby completing the circle! (The series was originally supposed to air alongside The Promised Land back in April (it was delayed by (what else) the pandemic), so I guess it would've been a special feature on that disc if all had gone to plan. Whether or not it'll still be remembered by the time Series XIV rolls around...)
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]
1x01 Boys from the Dwarf
Three-part history of the show currently airing on Dave. I imagine it covers a lot of the same ground as the extensive documentary series they made for the DVDs, albeit with new talking head interviews recorded now (but presumably the heads' memories are the same!) Of course, those DVD docs will only have been seen by relatively die-hard fans, whereas this series is being broadcast on a popular TV channel, so fair enough (especially nowadays, what with physical media sales being what they are). Presumably this'll get a DVD release eventually, thereby completing the circle! (The series was originally supposed to air alongside The Promised Land back in April (it was delayed by (what else) the pandemic), so I guess it would've been a special feature on that disc if all had gone to plan. Whether or not it'll still be remembered by the time Series XIV rolls around...)
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]
Films
The Stunt Double (2020)
[#186a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Short film by Damien "La La Land" Chazelle, designed to show off shooting on the iPhone 11 Pro and a vertical aspect ratio. It is of mixed success. You can watch it here.
[#186a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Short film by Damien "La La Land" Chazelle, designed to show off shooting on the iPhone 11 Pro and a vertical aspect ratio. It is of mixed success. You can watch it here.
Fiction
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1 The Adventure of Silver Blaze
Expanding on that 1999 poll I mentioned yesterday, the guy who ran it has a website about it with lots of additional facts and stuff -- more than I'm personally interested in, to be honest. But one thing he's done is produce a table that compiles the results from major Sherlockian polls run in 1944, 1954, 1959, 1989, and his 1999 poll, giving a sort of "poll of polls" ranking of all 56 short stories. I'm not necessarily using this as a slavish guide for which stories to read next, but it's nice to have the info.
On this ranking, The Speckled Band and The Red-Headed League remain first and second, with A Scandal in Bohemia third, and Silver Blaze fourth. It's not a favourite of the Pocket Essentials guy (who scores it 3 out of 5, describing the plot as "rather on the dull side"), thereby justifying my search for a more objective ranking!
1 The Adventure of Silver Blaze
Expanding on that 1999 poll I mentioned yesterday, the guy who ran it has a website about it with lots of additional facts and stuff -- more than I'm personally interested in, to be honest. But one thing he's done is produce a table that compiles the results from major Sherlockian polls run in 1944, 1954, 1959, 1989, and his 1999 poll, giving a sort of "poll of polls" ranking of all 56 short stories. I'm not necessarily using this as a slavish guide for which stories to read next, but it's nice to have the info.
On this ranking, The Speckled Band and The Red-Headed League remain first and second, with A Scandal in Bohemia third, and Silver Blaze fourth. It's not a favourite of the Pocket Essentials guy (who scores it 3 out of 5, describing the plot as "rather on the dull side"), thereby justifying my search for a more objective ranking!
Monday, 10 August 2020
Fiction
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2 The Red-Headed League
Yesterday I expressed a desire to find a more 'definitive' ranking of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Well, I've not got one yet, but I did discover an international poll from 1999 that generated a readers' top 12. First place went to The Speckled Band, which I read yesterday, and second to The Red-Headed League, hence today's reading. Incidentally, those were also the first and second stories in Doyle's own list of favourites. (I presume these rankings were limited to the short stories, because neither includes a single one of the novels, which I find unlikely.)
2 The Red-Headed League
Yesterday I expressed a desire to find a more 'definitive' ranking of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Well, I've not got one yet, but I did discover an international poll from 1999 that generated a readers' top 12. First place went to The Speckled Band, which I read yesterday, and second to The Red-Headed League, hence today's reading. Incidentally, those were also the first and second stories in Doyle's own list of favourites. (I presume these rankings were limited to the short stories, because neither includes a single one of the novels, which I find unlikely.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)