TV

Top Gear
18x00 India Special
This year's Christmas special sees the boys "set off on an epic road trip across India", which doesn't sound quite as iconically Christmas as last year's baby Jesus-themed thing.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
[2nd watch]
This was #70 in 100 Films 2011, and why I watched it again today will become obvious imminently...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
[#2 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]
That's a little over four-and-a-half hours of Potter today. Epic.

Also, last night...

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
[#1 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

TV

Great Expectations
Part 1 (of 3)
Love a bit of Gothic, and this is marvellously so.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
7x08 The Slutty Pumpkin Returns
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Little Crackers
2x11 I Was a Teenage Santa!

Sherlock
2x01 A Scandal in Belgravia
God that was good. I'd like to say which bits I liked, but they make Sherlock such a densely packed hour-and-a-half that it's difficult to know where to begin. Or end. Absolutely brilliant.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Happy New Year!

Anyway...

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week... but there was also the December update, being the first in my annual triumvirate looking back at the year (the next two looking back at the year, rather than just the month-and-by-association-of-it-being-the-last-month,-the-year).

Anyway, that review...

Gambit (1966)

Gambit is distinctly underrated. The huge advantage of this is that you’re not very likely to have had all the twists spoiled, which is wonderful news! Indeed, because the biggest twist is near the start, it’s pretty hard to review without giving it away. But I’ll do my best. Honestly though, avoid other reviews, just in case.

More next Sunday.

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2011
Last year I did massively well at this; this year, not so much... though 27 out of 38 was still respectable enough to land me second.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The A-Team: Explosive Extended Edition (2010)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
I did it, so I did! Hurrah!

The Man from Earth (2007)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Winnie the Pooh (2011)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

DVD Extras

Featurettes on The Man from Earth
Four short interview-based bits, coming to only a little over 12 minutes total, about life On the Set, discussing The Story of the Story, screenwriter Jerome Bixby's Sci Fi Legacy, and the process of taking the film From Script to Screen. Interesting, but it might be nice to have a little more detail on the themes of the piece, which are so central to a tale like this. The disc does include two feature-length commentaries, but that swings the other way and feels somehow excessive.

Winnie the Pooh and His Story Too
Short featurette on the US Blu-ray of Winnie the Pooh briefly explaining the character's history. Nice.

Collection Count

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

So, here's my Christmas haul, and a couple more too. And as it's now New Year's Eve, this is also the final tally for 2011! Whoo! Last year's equivalent post has allowed me to chart how the collection has increased in the past year, alongside the regular weekly increase.

Number of titles in collection: 1,423 [up 9 this week; up 165 in 2011]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [up 4 this week; up 48 in 2011]
Of which Blu-rays: 275 [up 5 this week; up 117 in 2011]

Number of discs in collection: 3,537 [up 20 this week; up 401 in 2011]
Number of films in collection: 1,514 [up 7 this week; up 180 in 2011]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,388 [up 50 this week; up 843 in 2011]

Crikey, that's a lot of TV! Wish I could remember what it all was...

As well as all that, it's also time for a (delayed) running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
256 days, 2 hours, and 26 minutes.
(Up 4 days, 19 hours, and 50 minutes from last month, and 31 days, 20 hours, and 11 minutes from last year)

And that's that for 2011! See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Dara O Briain: This is the Show
Three stand-up shows in as many days! I guess it's not just the DVD market that likes to pump these out at Christmastime these days.
Ironically, whereas the other two were English comedians filmed in Ireland, here we have an Irish comedian filmed in England! Well I never.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Felix & Murdo
One-off sitcom, and/or sitcom pilot, about two Edwardian gentlemen, played by Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, written by Men Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye. And that's an indicator of where this went. It was needlessly crass in places -- a list of sexual acts does not constitute a joke -- and slightly uncomfortably old fashioned -- all video-shot and studio-audience-laughter-getting-in-the-way -- but it had its moments. It probably wouldn't have seemed so bad if the Radio Times hadn't gushed about it so heavily.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Faintheart (2008)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
24 hours to go; three films to go. It's not impossible...

The Spider Woman (1944)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Bill Bailey: Dandelion Mind
roflysst
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

I've Never Seen Star Wars
2x00 Stephen Fry [Christmas special]
Two-and-a-half years since they last tried to bring this Radio 4 series to TV, it's back, with a new host, a new set, the same theme music, and only as a one-off. I enjoyed it first time round and I like it just as much now. More please.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Little Crackers
2x09 My First Christmas Number One
2x10 Papaji Saves Christmas

Films

Hotel for Dogs (2009)
[#95 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Right down to the wire. Doesn't look like I'll make 100 this year.

TV

Little Crackers
2x06 Shappi 4 Todd
2x07 My First Ton
2x08 The Daltons

Poirot
12x04 The Clocks [season finale]
It seems daft to bung a season finale tag on Poirot, seeing as how ITV seem to show them in whatever order they fancy over the course of several years per series, but hey-ho, technically this is the last in the 12th run.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Simon Amstell: Do Nothing Live
Stand-up from the former Buzzcocks host. I identified.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Graham Norton Show
10x09 Christmas Special
For some reason the BBC episode guide doesn't include this in the series' regular run, instead listing the next episode as number 9. Why? Yes, this edition was slightly longer and very mildly Christmas themed, but it was still mostly a regular episode with the regular kind of guests promoting their just-released/upcoming stuff. I don't care what you say, BBC -- this is episode 9.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
42x10 (23/12/11 edition; extended repeat) [Christmas special]
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Borrowers
Wasn't too sure what I'd make of this -- I loved the BBC series that was on when I was young, then read and enjoyed all the novels, but the American film that came out a few years afterwards was awful, and this new version looked uncertain. But I actually really enjoyed it. Sequel please.
Now I just need to see Ghibli's Arrietty... which fortunately is out on DVD & BD here in a fortnight. On the same day as this production. What a coincidence!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
32x13a The Prequel to The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
Oops, forgot to watch this before the episode itself! It is, of course, short and typically pointless -- if it was vital it would be in the programme itself, wouldn't it.
[Watch it (again) on the official Doctor Who website.]

Downton Abbey
2x09 Christmas Special
Advantage to watching it the day after: no ad breaks. It had a 125-minute slot on TV; we got through it in 93 minutes. Thats half-an-hour of my life saved.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Little Crackers
2x03 Barbra
2x04 Your Face
2x02 Daddy's Little Princess
2x05 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Daytime
Sky1's Christmas short films return for a third year with a second round of eleven celebrity-starring autobiographical tales. Jane Horrocks' and Jack Whitehall's were fine; Alan Davies' started darkly but had a sweet dog; Harry Hill's was stupid. I don't like Harry Hill. (The numbering is the order they were originally shown; the order they're listed is the order they were shown in an omnibus on Christmas Day and therefore the order I watched them.)

Michael McIntyre's Christmas Comedy Roadshow
Good fun.
According to the BBC website this is episode 3 of 6. Which is strange as it's the only episode scheduled -- even if there's a new series on the way, surely this is therefore episode one?
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
10x13 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
33x00 The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe [Christmas special]
I enjoyed that -- particularly good performances by Matt Smith and Claire Skinner, and the bit with the Bill Bailey-led whatsits was most amusing -- but it wasn't a patch on last year's, in my opinion, which I adore.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Gruffalo's Child (2011)
[#94a in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Rev.
2x07 Christmas Special [season finale]
Surprisingly glum. Well, maybe not surprisingly. I guess there was a reason it wasn't part of the Christmas Day schedule. Good though.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
9x27 Christmas Special 2011
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Nativity! (2009)
[#94 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Appropriate, no?

Comics

2000 AD #2012

The bumper-length Christmas Prog, because, as a weekly, 2000 AD stops publishing over Christmas. Plus this way we get four more pages of Thrill-power than we would in the three Progs it covers. Four!

It also usurps the regular numbering to take next year's 'name'. I don't know quite what they'll do when they reach the real Prog 2000. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't either. Plus there's a Prog 2000 and a Prog 2002 but not a Prog 2001 -- awkward. But hey, that's all 5 years away yet!

As a lot of this Prog is Christmassy themed and several of the strips take place out of the on-going storylines (or start new ones), I've jumped ahead to read some of it -- would be a bit odd to get all this Christmas Thrill-power when I finally catch up in January (or February, or March... God I'm behind...) Those that are on-going, or kick off new on-goings, I'll come back to when I catch up.

Anyway, because of the jumping ahead, no ECBT 2000AD reviews yet. I'll add them later. For now, some have links to relevant features on the 2000 AD website. (Naturally, these are only the ones I actually read.)

Judge Dredd Choose Your Own Xmas

Absalom Sick Leave

Aquila Prologue

Dandridge A Christmas Ghost Story

Sinister Dexter Now & Again

this week on 100 Films

Merry Christmas!

Anyway...

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

Beyond the Pole (2009)

Unfortunately it’s only mildly amusing rather than laugh-out-loud hilarious. Worse still, it’s occasionally a bit thumb-twiddly as the inevitable plot points inevitably happen. In fact, it goes a bit OTT with implausibility for my liking… On the bright side, it doesn’t go on about the green agenda too much

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

it can be surprisingly dramatic in places, at least more so than the trailer suggested. It’s not quite as all-out-fun as it looked… but then the job of a trailer is to sell you a film, so if the end result doesn’t match it 100% is that a failing? How are you meant to summarise the entire tone of a film in a two-minute spoiler-free sales burst anyway?

Cruise of the Gods (2002)

Though the film pokes fun (fairly good-naturedly) at sci-fi obsessives, the underlying story here is about a man overshadowed by his past. In this Brydon gives a strong performance — I think he’s a better actor than he’s normally given credit for — and he’s ably supported by Corden in particular

More next Sunday.

TV

Charley Boorman's Extreme Frontiers
Episode 4 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Life's Too Short
1x07 Episode 7 [season finale]
Well, that was that. Ricky Gervais says there'll be a second series. Not sure I can be bothered with it.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Lorraine's Last Minute Christmas
Why they didn't keep up the branding and call this Christmas Made Easy I don't know.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Merlin
4x13 The Sword in the Stone Part Two [season finale]
Ooh, much dramaticness! All set-up quite intriguing for a fifth -- and, possibly, final -- season.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
25x12 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
4x07 The Broken Santa [Christmas special]
The BBC don't give episode titles for Outnumbered, but this list on Wikipedia has them so they must've come from somewhere. (You'd assume the DVD releases, but this episode doesn't have one yet.)
Apparently this is our last Outnumbered for a while -- there's to be no series next year, but perhaps some specials. I can understand why they might want to finish it off as the kids are getting older, but wouldn't it be nicer to officially end it and give it a big proper send-off, rather than slowly wind it down so it sorta fades away?
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
2x08 Christmas Special 2011
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ruth Jones' Christmas Cracker
2011
Shown on BBC Two on Wednesday, and then in a slightly extended version on BBC One Wales-only the next day. But hey, that's on iPlayer, so naturally it's the longer one I've linked to here.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]