TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x02 Sex is Fun
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Gilmore Girls
2x07 Like Mother, Like Daughter [2nd watch]
I like it when headmaster Charleston gets a good talking-to. Pompous twonk.

Films

Cloudy 2: Extra Toppings (2013)
[#67a in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Three short films that will air before Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 on Sky Movies. They include Steve's First Bath, Super Manny, and Attack of the 50ft. Gummi Bear!. The Blu-ray includes a fourth short, Earl Scouts, which I also watched.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x06 Presenting Lorelia Gilmore [2nd watch]

The Last Leg
5x01 (1/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Clear and Present Danger (1994)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

A busy week at 100 Films in a Year! Our recap starts with the fact it's now August, meaning it was time for the July update.


Then, two brand-new reviews were published this week...


Blue Velvet (1986)

Before he brought the disquieting underbelly of small-town America to television audiences with Twin Peaks — and revolutionised the medium in the process — auteur David Lynch subjected cinemagoers to its perversions in this 1986 cult masterpiece, the first cohesive expression of concepts, themes and motifs (and cast members) that would inform the rest of his career.

Read more here.


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

it moves at a restless rate of knots, much as the first one did. That’s not something to be sniffed at, as it throws plot and humour at the viewer with wild abandon. Sometimes such a methodology is a recipe for “chuck everything at the screen and see what sticks” — with the latter usually being “not a huge percentage” — but here it creates a pretty fine hit rate.

Read more here.


And finally, seven classic reviews were new to the new blog...


Bhaji on the Beach (1993)

It was no doubt bitingly relevant, showcasing a different set of cultural rules and expectations... viewed today, the film feels less "this is how things are" and more "this is how things were then", emphasised by the ever-so-'90s costumes, cars, locations… It feels as much a period piece as, say, Ashes to Ashes.

Read more here.


Great Expectations (1946)

there’s little to dislike about the adaptation. John Mills is too old to convince as a 20-year-old Pip, but his performance is good and he’s ably supported. However, the main highlights are undoubtedly all in Lean’s brilliant direction.

Read more here.


Guess Who (2005)

The plot isn’t a direct copy of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, preferring to take the gist of the concept and a few of the story beats and surround them with a bunch of Funny Situations. [It] does manage the odd laugh or smile, increasingly so as it goes on (though this may be because I was getting increasingly inebriated).

Read more here.


Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

a white girl falls in love with a black man and brings him home to meet the parents... this is still the era of Martin Luther King Jr. battling for equality and when interracial marriage was still illegal in 14 states. Hollywood may be known for its liberal politics, but it’s not always so, which makes the outcome of the film — will they or won’t they be given permission to marry? — a constant guessing game.

Read more here.


Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (2005)

All comedy is an acquired taste, of course, but what Silverman offers here must take some acquiring. I mostly like what I’ve seen of her work in the past, but the lack of laughs here is enough to put me off bothering with her in future.

Read more here.


Solaris (1972)

one of those films I think we can safely say is Not For Everyone. There’s much to ponder for the so inclined, not least the intriguing ending. I feel certain I, much like the scientists in the film itself, have barely scratched the surface.

Read more here.


Waitress (2007)

looks like another breezy rom-com... a chick flick, or to sound inappropriately less derogatory, “woman’s film”. Waitress is a “woman’s film”, but in a good way: written and directed from a female perspective, with its central roles being female, it doesn’t pander to a perceived female demographic and nor does it bellow “this is what we women think, and it’s so different to you damn men” — it’s more subtle than that.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x05 Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
1x02 Sleight of Hand

Films

The Expendables 2 (2012)
[#66 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

This week's sole addition is a big one: Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery on Blu-ray, the definitive release of the series, featuring every episode, the movie, and a feature-length selection of long-awaited deleted scenes. Magnificent! I already own the series and movie on DVD (season one twice, too), but I'm loathe to sell those old copies just yet because they have extras that have now gone astray. There aren't many though, so the famous Gold Box may one day get sacrificed on the ebay altar.

Number of titles in collection: 1,687 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 486 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,201 [up 10]
Number of films in collection: 1,824 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,177 [up 30]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friday Night Dinner
3x06 The Big Day [season finale]
Martin being a pimp -- comedy gold.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Gilmore Girls
2x04 The Road Trip to Harvard [2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x02 Am I Not Monstrous?
Bit grim. Only half resolved. Ah well.

Films

Amélie (2001)
[#65 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #7

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x03 Red Light on the Wedding Night [2nd watch]

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x02 Hammers and Veils [2nd watch]

Mock the Week
13x06 (17/7/14 edition) [mid-season finale]

Films

Frozen (2013)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x01 Cupped by a Shammy Hand
Repeats shall fulfil my wish!
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Gilmore Girls
2x01 Sadie, Sadie... [2nd watch]
Picking up right where the last season ended (the next morning, it seems like) makes continuing straight on feel less weird than it sometimes does. In fact, this feels positively "just the next episode"-y.

TV

Gilmore Girls
1x21 Love, Daisies and Troubadours [season finale; 2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x01 Pure as the Driven
Ripper Street's first two series aired in the same year for some reason, so we've (semi-deliberately, semi-accidentally) created our own enlarged (over a year!) gap between them. (It's now nine months since this episode aired. I feel suitably tardy.) Plus, I'm also one of the people who signed a petition (or something; I forget) to get the series picked up as an Amazon/BBC co-production for a third season (on the strength of the first alone, obviously), so it's a doubly good idea to actually get the second run seen before that turns up. Anyway, good start. Bit different. Hope the cliffhanger-y ending is resolved next week rather than forcibly dragged out across the whole season.

Films

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
[#63 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
[2nd or so watch]
Said I'd watch it soon!

this week on 100 Films

One brand-new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


Night of the Big Heat (1967)

Opting for slow-burn tension rather than alien invasion excitement, the film takes rather a while to get to the point, attempting to distract us with a subplot about the sudden appearance of the pub landlord’s former mistress, who gets the already hot-and-bothered islanders hotter and bothereder. On the audio commentary, co-writers Pip and Jane Baker talk about how you had to sneak in and dash through such character/romantic subplots, because the audience wanted to get to the sci-fi stuff — which rather begs the question, why put it in at all?

Read more here.


I missed two days in my "post an archive review every day" mission this week, but that still means five reviews new to the new blog...


Flesh for Frankenstein [3D] (1973)

the European cast are unable to pronounce “laboratory” — every time it’s uttered it comes out as “lavatory”. Childish I know, but it’s one of the film’s few enjoyable moments. “I had to work for two years before I could even stick my nose in the lavatory” is an instantly classic line.

Read more here.


Happy Feet (2006)

There are a couple of enjoyable songs, a few exciting action sequences, and even some bits that actually make you laugh. Couple this with a positive (if improbable) pro-environment message, and an even better anti-religious one that's only half-hidden, and you have an entertaining film

Read more here.


The Last Days of Pompeii (1913)

The fact that it’s an old silent film will be enough to put most people off. Some of those are worth seeking out, of course, but I would hesitate to recommend this one.

Read more here.


The Paleface (1948)

It’s clearly designed as pure entertainment, mixing styles in a way no film would dare attempt today — there’s broad comedy, gunfights, horse chases, and even a song or two!

Read more here.


Russian Ark (2002)

Apparently some sort of artistic documentary on the history of Russia, told via a fantastical time-travelling-ish tour of a Russian museum, Russian Ark is certainly ‘artistic’. Unfortunately, it doesn’t teach you much and is at no point clear about what it’s covering.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
1x20 P.S. I Lo... [2nd watch]

Mark Lawson Talks To
Jo Brand
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Musketeers
1x01 Friends and Enemies
Finally getting round this (hopefully to squeeze it all in before the villain turns up in his new role!) It was good swashbuckling fun. Some of the dialogue felt like it could've done with an edit or polish, and a few of the actors were a little subpar... but then that impression might just be because I've only recently finished such an exceptional, subtle programme as The Americans. For big, bold, swordfight-y entertainment, The Musketeers is first rate.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,686 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 485 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,191 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,823 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
2x13 Echo [season finale]
Mysteries solved! Characters changed! Future plots teased! Can't wait for next season already...

Gilmore Girls
1x19 Emily in Wonderland [2nd watch]

Mock the Week
13x05 (10/7/14 edition)

Monty Python Live (Mostly)
[2nd half]