Sunday, 29 January 2012

Films

2000 AD (2000)
[#9 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

DVD Extras

Audio commentary by Bey Logan and Gordon Chan on 2000 AD
Logan is an incredibly prolific commentator -- according to Wikipedia, he's recorded 123 to date! -- and I can rather see why even from just this, the first half of a single commentary. He's amiable and knowledgeable, and quite good at drawing out more information from his co-commentator, the film's director. Makes me appreciate/understand more about a film I didn't hugely enjoy.

Comics

Six issues read today...


All Star Western #3 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat

Funny issue, this one: the story from the first two is wrapped up quickly, but with bits apparently left hanging, then it picks up a new thing... which isn't new because it was in the beginning of #1 (I think, because I don't really remember it). Moritat's apparently scratchy, chunky, basic art is surprisingly detailed, which is wonderful, especially in action scenes. Plus it really suits the grimy, gritty tone of the book. But overall, it feels like it needs to get going on a proper meaty story, like the first issue seemed to promise, and if/when it does I'll enjoy it even more.

Elsewhere, the Gray/Palmiotti-penned Jordi Bernet-drawn back-up strip El Diablo comes to a conclusion even limper than its opening. Ho hum. Many they need to look to 2000 AD for a lesson in storytelling in 6-8 page chunks.


Batman: The Dark Knight #3 & #4 by David Finch & Paul Jenkins

Still by far the worst Batman book going. Finch & Jenkins seem to tell a well-paced story... until it stops suddenly with the end of the issue. The plot (by both creators) seems to be constructed around shoehorning in cameos at every turn, as if someone's tried to craft the ultimate Batman story and failed miserably by doing far, far too much. Jenkins (writing) attempts to add some emotional depth to proceedings in #4, but he doesn't seem to have the chops to pull it off. Finch's art is fine, occasionally great, when depicting superhero antics, but his human faces range from not-great to nasty.

So I'm sticking it out to the end of this arc, but I'm quite looking forward to dropping it. Sadly, based on the schedule for collected editions, that won't be until #9! And I doubt DC will follow me in ditching it -- the fact there are currently four Batman-starring books suggests they like having one every week. Though with Batman Incorporated returning in a few months, maybe they'll ditch this at the next round of changes.


Batwoman #3, #4 & #5 by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman

The absolutely stunning artwork alone would make this worth reading, but it's also backed up by an engrossing story featuring detailed and plausible characters. Surely one of the best books of the New 52, probably current mainstream comics full stop. It's technically the end of the current arc here, but there's a lot of story to go forward. It's changing artist next issue for some reason, so I hope that doesn't effect it too badly.

Definitely considering getting the collected edition of this story, especially if it's oversized, just to see the art again and appreciate it even more fully. Plus that collection will include #0, which I missed. It's out in June (in the US at least).

this week on 100 Films

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

Battle Los Angeles (2011)
There is an even better film tucked away inside Battle Los Angeles. One brief dialogue scene discusses the similarities between the human soldiers and alien grunts, but the intriguing idea that they’re intelligent beings following orders just like us is sadly not built upon. There are obvious parallels with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, but aside from the audience spotting shots that are reminiscent of news footage, the threads aren’t drawn out or commented on.

Ironclad (2011)
There are stretches some may find dull — there’s little new to be done with the whole Recruiting The Team bit, and once John gets the castle under siege and everyone’s twiddling thumbs and eating horses some viewers will be doing one of the two as well — but there are regular bursts of sword-swinging violence that achieve the film’s primary aims of creating a Hollywood-esque historical action movie on British soil

More next Sunday.

Saturday, 28 January 2012

TV

How I Met Your Mother
7x12 Symphony of Illumination
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Live at the Apollo
7x08 Episode 8 [season finale]

The Magicians
2x03 Episode 3
I enjoy the tricks and illusions on The Magicians -- the world-exclusive walking-on-fountains was particularly nice this week -- but the show itself feels like it's being put together by the work experience kids at times. This is prime time Saturday night BBC One for crying out loud, there shouldn't be mistakes like playing the Next Time trailer 10 minutes early in episode one, never mind by episode three!

The Mentalist
4x06 Where in the World is Carmine O'Brien?

Room 101: Extra Storage
12x01 Episode 1
Hurrah for the return of Room 101! I've seen some be quite critical of its new format, but I thought it worked well. And Fern Britton's silly sci-fi comments were suitably rebutted.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Nightwing
#3
by Kyle Higgins, Eddy Barrows & Eduardo Pansica
#4 by Kyle Higgins & Trevor McCarthy
#5 by Kyle Higgins & Eddy Barrows
The regular artist and on-going story takes a break (mostly) in issue 4 for a fairly fun one-and-done with Batgirl... then returns for another one-and-done. I like those, they make a change from modern comic's general long-form storytelling (even if these two take a fantastical aside from the general real-world feel of the current Bat-books), but there's an element of "get on with it" when you don't wrap a story up. Arcs are one thing, something left hanging is another. Good cliffhanger to #5 though.

Friday, 27 January 2012

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
5x03 (21/1/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

This week, my Blu-rays have almost made it to 300. I've a few more on order -- most of which should have arrived, but TheHut Group companies aren't as efficient as Amazon or HMV, or even Play.com -- so next week might see it tip over. If the aforementioned retailers get their act together.

Also this week, the first running time update of the new year! How many days/hours/minutes of entertainment have I bought since Christmas?

Number of titles in collection: 1,443 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 295 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 3,586 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,535 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,411 [up 2]

And as I said, it's time for a running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
258 days, 10 hours, and 17 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 7 hours, and 51 minutes from last month.)

That's the result of 29 new titles, by-the-by. All that since Christmas?! I'm mad.

Still, see you next week for even more, faithful reader.

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Articles

Oscar Index: The Beginning of the End
by S.T. Vanairsdale (from Movieline)
Movieline's weekly Oscar roundup has its first post-nominations-announcement look at how things are going and expected to go. It's full of graphs charting candidates' chances, and most interesting are the acting and directing categories -- look at all the previously-high lines that plummet out when they surprisingly don't get a nomination! Also, look how much War Horse has dropped in the Best Picture stakes!

Rufus Hound interview: 'Censorship will cause death of civilisation'
by Alex Fletcher (from Digital Spy)
Starts off about his recent Windows ad campaign, but then he goes on to make some good points about the ludicrous sense of entitlement among internet forum commenters.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Articles

Bad Rep – The War Against 35mm
by David Jenkins (from Little White Lies)
Or, why the future is grim for obscure old films.

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Articles

Masters Of Cinema Monthly February 2012 – Announcements, Le Silence De La Mer, Punishment Park, The Future Of DVD And An Interview With Monte Hellman
by Craig Skinner (from Bleeding Cool)

Mainly including this for the full coverage of MoC's April/May/June titles, which were announced on twitter today. Here, BC have cover art and initial extras lists for all of them. Lots of very exciting stuff there... indeed, I think all of it is of interest to me, much of it as soon as it's released.

They also announced that they've acquired the rights to silent classic, and 20th greatest and 206th most popular film of all time, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc). That's due out sometime in 2013 though. Long time to go, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

Monday, 23 January 2012

TV

The One...
1x03 Griff Rhys Jones

Comics

In my quest to get caught up, I'm generally starting with series where I'm three or more issues behind.

Batgirl #3 by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf
I last read Batgirl nearly 14 weeks ago. A lot of people seem to be loving this book but I wasn't sold (only enough to commit myself to at least finish the current story arc), and this issue does little to change my mind. Nice cliffhanger-resolving action with a twist at the start, but followed with too much business with Nightwing told in an overlong fashion. I thought this would be the end to said arc, but it's an aside. Next time... maybe...

Batgirl #4 by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf
..."yes", here it is. Much better, this one. Mirror's a great idea for a villain and he's well dealt with in their final battle. And despite saying I'd be leaving the book here, Simone pulls out a cliffhanger too intriguing to leave hanging. Guess Batgirl has me for at least a little longer... and so...

Batgirl #5 by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes
...I would've just listed these together if I hadn't written comments on each one when I wasn't expecting to read them all. As for this one, I find the stuff with Barbara's mum -- sorry, mom -- a bit unconvincing. After, what, a decade away, through Barbara's teens and young adulthood, she just turns up on her doorstep and they just pop out for a coffee? Don't buy it. Meanwhile, there's another intriguing superhero-y plot kicking off.
So my conclusion about Simone's writing, after five issues: don't buy her character/drama stuff, but the superheroics are pretty good.

Batman #3, #4 & #5 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
This is easily the best comic covered in this post... or quite a lot of other posts, to be honest. It feels like reading a classic in the making. CBR gave #5 the full five stars last week; personally I enjoyed the build up to it more -- lots of tension and revelations and action -- but it's all excellent.

Justice League #3 & #4 by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
The more you read, the more you can see why comic fans complain about decompressed storytelling in modern books -- even reading two issues back to back, it doesn't feel like things have moved on a great deal. That doesn't mean there's not good stuff in here, but it can take its time actually moving the plot forward, and when there's only about 20-22 pages an issue, for the prices they charge, that can feel a bit frustrating.

Uncanny X-Men #4 by Kieron Gillen & Brandon Peterson
Why would you relaunch a series only to keep telling stories reliant on events from the past? Other than as a cynical sales tactic, of course.

Wolverine and the X-Men #4 by Jason Aaron & Nick Bradshaw
Some intriguing stories being set up, once you decipher them from the mass of references to other books and past storylines. And American comics creators wonder why their sales are dropping! Old fans get fed up with the number of books they're expected to buy at increasingly high prices, new fans find it all too dense and self-referential to get on board with... plus the number of books they might need to buy at increasingly high prices. But it explained enough for me to follow in the end, and the first three issues were strong enough that I'll stick with it for now. Not so sure about Uncanny's long-term future in my reading...

Articles

Russell T Davies creates new children’s BBC drama
by Jack Seale (from Radio Times)
Co-created with Sarah Jane Adventures' head writer Phil Ford, it's called Aliens vs Wizards. Sounds cool.

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Films

Ironclad (2011)
[#8 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]
Eight is the number I need to see in January to stay on perfect target, so that's a solid opening to the year. With nine days to spare, there's still time for it to turn in to a great one. We'll see.

Comics

And that catching up continues apace...

Daredevil #7 by Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera
Christmassy one-and-done in which Daredevil has to save a bunch of blind kids after their school bus crashes in snowy mountains, killing the driver… except they end up rescuing him. How heartwarming. Didn't much care for it myself.

Uncanny X-Men #2 by Kieron Gillen, Rodney Buchemi, Jorge Molina & Carlos Pacheco
A bit twiddly-thumbs-y middle-part-y. Some beautifully drawn pages -- no idea which of the three pencilers, four inkers and four colourists are responsible for those ones, but they do look good -- but the story almost treads water for most of the issue.

Uncanny X-Men #3 by Kieron Gillen, Rodney Buchemi, Paco Diaz & Carlos Pacheco
That was better -- a conclusion to the current threat, but leaving other things open for the future. And relatively subtly laying things in for this summer's big X-Men event.

Wolverine and the X-Men
#2
by Jason Aaron & Chris Bachalo
#3 by Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo, Duncan Rouleau & Matteo Scalera
This book, however, is just bags of cartoony fun -- and utterly fantastic because of it. Enjoying it immensely.

X-Men: Regenesis by Kieron Gillen & Billy Tan
A one-shot prequel/bridging book for all the newly-relaunched X-Men series. Having read the first issues of the two main books, I thought it might be worth a look. It's a neat way of telling a story that could just be a list of people saying "I choose A" or "I choose B", but a great deal of it doesn't make sense to a newbie reader -- need a little list of backstory explanations to go alongside it.

this week on 100 Films

This week I forgot I'd snuck The Spider Woman in on Sunday, so not as many reviews as I'd intended. That said, there were still 2 new reviews posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Hotel for Dogs (2009)
Judged as simply a movie, on its story and its characters and all that regular palaver, I can see why Hotel for Dogs attracts so many poor scores. But as a kids' film I think it works well enough, and as a delivery system for cute dogs I loved it. I don’t think I’ve ever “aww”ed so much in a single film. Yep, I’ve gone all soft.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
this entry jumps back in time several hundred years for an origin of sorts, fleshing out flashbacks and backstory from the first two films. Unfortunately, we learnt pretty much all we needed to know in those flashbacks, and so in terms of both story and world-building Rise of the Lycans has little to add to the Underworld franchise.

More next Sunday.

Saturday, 21 January 2012

TV

How I Met Your Mother
7x11 The Rebound Girl
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Magicians
2x02 Episode 2

Pointless
5x45 (16/1/12 edition)
Including the most-pointlesses-scored round in Pointless history! Oo-ooh.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (2010)
[#7 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

Daredevil #6 by Mark Waid & Marcos Martín
Massively behind on masses of comics. Catching up time.