TV

Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry
1x03 Episode 3
Some (I believe on the Radio Times letter page) have complained that these re-edits slow the pace too much with the Stephen Fry interludes. But you can never have too much Stephen Fry!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Lee Mack's All Star Cast
1x03 (2/7/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Luther
2x02 Episode 2
Catching up on dramas like this now that six weeks of tennis is over. I believe this series of Luther finishes tonight, so... yeah.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Scott & Bailey
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Not quite what I was expecting from the final episode, which is often a good thing. It's been mostly enjoyable and pleasantly different to most cop shows -- second run please, ITV.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Spirit of Wimbledon
Part 2 Pastures New
They've not bothered to put this on series link, so if you're interested you need to get on to it quick-sharp:
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
17x02 (3/7/11 edition)
I'm not a Formula 1 fan any more, but even I appreciate how amazing it would be to drive round the Monaco circuit.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Review of 100 Silent Films by Bryony Dixon by Pamela Hutchinson
(from Silent London)
I do enjoy some silent cinema, and this sounds like a great book on the subject.

TV

Castle
1x03 Hedge Fund Homeboys
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Lead Balloon
4x05 Blade
An excellent two-hander, with just Jack Dee and Robbie Coltrane, that seems to be bringing some of the series' themes to a head. Which as this week's is supposedly the last ever seems like a good idea.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Spirit of Wimbledon
Part 1 Grass Roots
Now this is what the big, primetime 125th anniversary documentary should've been like! Instead, we got that disorganised lightweight fluff scheduled prominently while this was buried at 10:30am on weekdays on BBC Two. Shame on you, BBC.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Mock the Week
10x04 (30/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
17x01 (26/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wimbledon 2011
And today was the gentlemen's final... and not much else, because that's all-important, and it's the last day anyway. Wasn't particularly supporting either, so I guess the best I can say is at least Nadal didn't get any closer to taking any of Federer's records.
[Watch the gentlemen's final, and many other matches, on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

4 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, as part of a sort-of-themed 'vengeance week'. They were...

Harry Brown (2009)

Michael Caine killing hoodies. How great does that sound? As a film premise, that’s awesome. If it doesn’t get you excited about seeing this movie, then what kind of film fan are you, eh? A mentally mature one, probably. But hush, don’t spoil our fun — those of us who may occasionally hanker for a morally simple form of voyeuristic vigilante justice want to see Sir Michael shooting yobs

High Plains Drifter (1973)

As the story progresses we get a gradual unveiling of a mystery in the town’s past, hinted at in flashbacks and dreams; who was responsible for it, what the others did about it — or didn’t do. It’s all revealed nicely across the course of the film, leading to a finely staged conclusion in a vision of Hell.

Jonah Hex (2010)

It’s difficult to know where to begin trying to praise Hex because, as I’ve implied, there isn’t much to praise. Unless you’re a 12-year-old boy, that is. Horses with Gatling guns! Giant cannons firing explosive balls! Corpses coming to life! Megan Fox’s corset-boosted cleavage! The undemanding pre-/early-teen is well catered for here. Possibly the undemanding child-minded adult too.

Law Abiding Citizen: Director's Cut (2009)

the setup makes it more interesting than your regular revenge movie... we’re presented with a situation where there are no clear-cut heroes and villains. Butler wants the killers of his family to suffer — normally, this vigilante is the hero. But... he’s a terrorist, normally the villain. Similar goes for Foxx — he’s the attorney, the good guy, he locks up criminals… but he’s part of a corrupt system that let a guilty man go free.

Also this week, the monthly update covering June, the halfway point of the year. Are we there already?! Crikey.

More next Sunday.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
6x18 A Change of Heart
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Scott & Bailey
1x05 Episode 5
Not the kind of stuff you expect from the penultimate episode. Which is probably why it's there -- more surprising. That said, I'd guessed the 'twist' right from the start.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Wimbledon 2011
Ladies' final day... though more interesting (certainly more fun) was the senior doubles between Mansour Bahrami & Andrew Castle and Pat Cash & Mark Woodforde. They relegate that kind of thing to red button and don't put it on iPlayer though, sadly.
[Watch the ladies' final (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Locket (1946)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Most of it, anyway, until BBC iPlayer Desktop started being a bastard with its eagerness to delete things. I'll finish it off as soon as I can... get hold of it again...

Fiction

Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver
Friday: Down to Gehenna, Chapters 53-72 [the end]

Deaver's plotting is quite good -- full of twists and reveals -- even if he has a tendency to describe events then in the next chapter reveal he'd left out a small detail that completely changes the situation. A neat trick, but one rather overused here. Plus his dialogue is too on the nose, especially the swathes of exposition.

And though his twists and reveals are clever, they're rather packed in and rushed through at the end. Perhaps they should've been spaced out and used more, rather than dispatched in a handful of chapters. Or even pared back entirely. By rushing through them it makes for too much of a change of pace, feels wasteful of decent ideas, and undermines the (apparent) villain. It'd probably work in another novel, but it doesn't fit Bond. Indeed, the whole novel becomes less Bondian as it goes on.

Also, this makes for two new Bonds in a row that have finished with slightly drawn-out after-the-apparent-climax conclusions. Odd.

The subplot about the death of Bond's parents is quite well-handled, though. It reveals enough that it's wrapped up within the novel, but also leaves enough threads hanging if it's decided to continue the Bond novels as direct sequels to this one. Neat.

Collection Count

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

A few late arrivals (quite a few, actually) have led me to bump this to Saturday again. I ought to just move it permanently, it's not as if anyone's going to object. This week's lot include a DVD-to-BD upgrade, except it's not an upgrade as I'm keeping both (the BD includes none of the extras sadly, but was part of a very attractively priced box set), and a pile of stuff from Masters of Cinema's recent bargain-packed sale.

Also, a nicely round set of numbers in this first block. Lovely.

Number of titles in collection: 1,340 [up 14]
Of which DVDs: 1,120 [up 8]
Of which Blu-rays: 220 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 3,329 [up 17]
Number of films in collection: 1,413 [up 15]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,992 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
9x11 (24/6/11 edition)
One of the best sets of red chair people ever, but Kim Cattrall's constant obliviousness to the fact that Lee Mack wasn't being serious was painful to watch.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wimbledon 2011
Gentlemen's semifinals day, which this year meant matches between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga & Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal & Andy Murray. First match didn't go my way (boo!), less sure how I feel about the second.
[Watch Tsonga v Djokovic and Nadal v Murray on iPlayer.]

Articles

Peter Jackson: Doctor Who Fanboy by MacKenzie Wilson
(from The Whoniversity at BBC America)
Meant to mention this the other day; forgot. S'cool.

Rockets from Russia: great Eastern Bloc science-fiction films by Alex Cox
(from guardian.co.uk)
Many of these sound interesting, so it's a shame it's an article about a cinema season in London rather than a DVD release (or anything else more widely accessible).

TV

$#*! My Dad Says
1x17 Lock and Load
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The South Bank Show
36x04 Disney.Pixar
I watched the final-ever South Bank Show back in May, but this is the last one I have knocking about to watch.
Broadcast in October 2009 (11/10/09, to be precise -- neat date) -- before Up was out, and while The Princess and the Frog was still at a stage where clips here are unfinished -- this edition both recounts the history of Pixar and examines its philosophy, and how this has gone on to influence how Disney is managed today. It doesn't shy away from the problematic history between Pixar and Disney either, which is good. In fact, it's a great demonstration of why The South Bank Show should never have been cancelled: it treats one of the most popular of popular culture things as serious art worthy of examination and documentation. Damn you, ITV.

Tim Vine: So I Said To This Bloke...
One of Vine's live shows, from 2008, shown on ITV4 for the first time recently. I like his style, but it gets a bit wearing over a whole hour.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Wimbledon 2011
Ladies' semifinals day, which this year meant matches between Victoria Azarenka & Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova & Sabine Lisicki. Hurrah for Azarenka going out, but shame for Lisicki.
[Watch Azarenka v Kvitova and Sharapova v Lisicki on iPlayer.]

Articles

10 TV Shows We Wish Got Another Season by Eric Goldman & Matt Fowler
(from IGN TV)
Including shows I definitely agree about, like Firefly, Twin Peaks and Deadwood; shows I haven't got round to yet, like Flight of the Conchords and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; and almost half-a-dozen others too.

Marvel Studios to Start Producing Short Films? by Angie Han
(from /Film)
This seems like a good idea -- a way to test (or just flat out use) second-string characters on the big (or small) screen. The suggested Pixar model -- i.e. putting a short before every feature released -- seems like a very good one.

Wednesday Comics Review: CLiNT #9 Now With Added Jimmy Carr by Rich Johnston
(from Bleeding Cool)

The biggest change to CLiNT #9, in UK shops tomorrow and US shops in a month, is the lack of articles.

CLiNT was always sold as a collection of comics and articles, with an eye on the newstand mainstream market, almost with comics snuck in there... And it was the articles that suffered the greatest criticism, seen as filler, bland irrelevance in many cases...

That’s all gone. And we’ve got 74 pages of comics [and just 4 pages of articles]. That’s a massive jump in terms of comics content. Titan reps have told me that while the magazine hasn’t succeeded as they’d have liked on the newsstand, it’s had a much bigger reception in comic stores, so it may well be that is reflected in the new mix.

Ironically, this is probably the first issue since the first to attract significant media attention (I've seen several articles about it floating around today, anyway), thanks to the presence of a strip "written" by Jimmy Carr (he's actually just provided the story).

TV

Archer
2x09 Placebo Effect
This episode should be called Terms of Enrampagement. That flaw aside, it was great; one of my favourite Archer episodes.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
10x03 (23/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wimbledon 2011
Including Federer's disappointing loss to Tsonga. I like Tsonga -- indeed, he's my favourite player left as we go into the semi-finals -- but I was hoping Federer would win it this year. Hey-ho.
[Watch Federer vs Tsonga (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

James May's Things You Need to Know
1x02 The Universe
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lee Mack's All Star Cast
1x02 (25/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Sex Researchers
Episode 2 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

300 spinoff Xerxes retitled Battle of Artemisia by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Or, 300 prequel given title Americans can pronounce.

DC Comics no longer 'writing for the trade' by Hugh Armitage
(from Digital Spy)

DC Comics will no longer be structuring its storylines to fit into graphic novel format... Writers have been told to write the story they want to write and not worry about the trade collecting

We'll see how long that lasts -- collected trade paperbacks are incredibly lucrative for comic publishers. That said, if they can turn it back to people buying individual issues it'll earn them even more money.

Friday from the Cheap Seats by Greg Hatcher
(from Comics Should Be Good! at Comic Book Resources)
Much has been written about DC's big September relaunch, but I don't think I've mentioned it here before. Here's a neat piece of analysis though, of which I think the (lengthy, I know) fifth thought is especially pertinent. The way the comics industry is run looks crazy to any reasonable outsider -- some of the biggest, most recognisable characters/properties in the world selling to and aiming themselves at a tiny hardcore fanbase. DC's #1s idea is a start, but I won't be surprised if a more fundamental overhaul of the whole industry occurs in the next decade. The fans won't like it... but, as always, they'll come along anyway.

Is Hollywood Over Its Love Affair With Geek Culture? by Graeme McMillan
(from Spinoff Online)

Reports that movie studios are abandoning this year’s San Diego Comic-Con have started to circulate... But it does raise one important question: Has Hollywood realized that San Diego was always a waste of their time? ... Why? Well, maybe because we’re just not useful enough.

Insightful. It's also something I've been thinking for years, but studios and/or fans only now seem to be waking up to.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
6x17 Garbage Island
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

James May's Things You Need to Know
1x01 The Human Body
If more documentaries moved this fast, we'd learn a lot more. And they wouldn't need to be as long. That said, how much of it goes in at this speed is another matter. Interesting while it's on though.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Middle Sunday at Wimbledon means no play, which means TV catch-up day for me...

125 Years of Wimbledon: You Cannot Be Serious
Odd documentary to commemorate the 125th championships at Wimbledon. Rather than telling the history of the tournament, as you might expect from such a documentary, it jumped back and forth to tell brief famous snippets. Such brevity and disconnectedness also meant some tales weren't very well told. Weird, and slightly disappointing because of it.

Case Histories
1x05 When Will There Be Good News? Part 1
1x06 When Will There Be Good News? Part 2 [season finale]
It's amazing how reliant on coincidences all three of these plots have been. In most writing it would be considered a shockingly huge weakness; in the world of Jackson Brodie and work of Kate Atkinson, I presume (or hope, at least) it's supposed to be A Thing.
Also, lead guest star this episode was Gwyneth Keyworth, who I've previously noticed in a Sarah Jane Adventures story and as the daughter in The Great Outdoors. She was on some list of young actors to watch out for, I believe, and I'd have to agree. One to watch.
[Watch parts one and two (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Castle
1x02 Nanny McDead
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry
1x01 Episode 1
Kids' series Horrible Histories has proved remarkably popular and awards-winning, despite being 'buried' on CBBC. So, to capitalise on its consistent word-of-mouth, here the BBC edit together highlights from series one & two, with new links by Stephen Fry, and show them to a primetime Sunday audience. Good idea.
(Sadly they've not series linked it on iPlayer, so I can't direct you to it if you still missed it. Here's episode two, though.)

Lead Balloon
4x04 Off
That cliffhanger would've been a great shock... if the following episode hadn't been quite well promoted already.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Penn & Teller: Fool Us
1x02 Episode 2
As I watched two hours' worth of this only two days ago, I'd intended to save the new episode for a bit longer. But I couldn't resist. Darn it's good.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Scott & Bailey
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

this week on 100 Films

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

Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. (2009/2010)

The second new Evangelion film isn’t as straight-up enjoyable as the first. It starts incredibly well, but then it feels like its getting too bogged down in the politics of a world that hasn’t been properly established for us and in the intricacies of some thematic considerations — the latter is especially worrying as it was this that made the ending of the TV series so unsatisfactory

Salt: Director's Cut (2010)
including a comparison to the Theatrical and Extended versions.

Salt’s mystery is one of its strong points. The plot developments are well-paced throughout, shifting our expectations rather than stretching it all for a glut of final act reveals. In this regard... it has twists and follows storylines you wouldn’t expect in a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

Unthinkable (2010)

the vast majority of the action takes place in a deserted high school commandeered as a temporary military base, where Samuel L. Jackson conducts his interrogation in a sort of one-way-glassed torture tank placed in the gym. So there’s no 24-style thrills as people rush around the city/country hunting out bombs — Unthinkable is wholly reliant on the script and performances to draw us into its story, and its debate.

More next Sunday.

TV

Lee Mack's All Star Cast
1x01 (18/6/11 edition)
That was... uh... Oh dear.
And yet I know I'll keep watching the series.

Mystery Science Theater 3000
3x21 Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
That was more accessible. Plus, a TARDIS reference! Yay!

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
4x08 (18/6/11 edition) [season finale]