TV

Have I Got News For You
49x08 (29/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rush (2013)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
[2nd watch]

Films

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[2nd or so watch]

TV

Game of Thrones
5x10 Mother's Mercy [season finale]
I watched this in the early hours, right after it was on in the US, rather than wait 24 hours as I normally do (for various reasons). I'm glad I did — so much that would almost inevitably have been spoiled in those intervening hours! Great episode, though.

TV

Episodes
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dogma (1999)
[2nd watch]


Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005/2011)
[3rd watch]

After a three-week interruption (for various reasons), the Star Wars re-watch resumes. Sith isn't as bad as the other two prequels, but it's not really as good as the original trilogy, is it? As for the Machete Order, exactly how well it works hinges on how Jedi plays next week...

this week on 100 Films

Five brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)

Some claim the film hinges on in-jokes and references to the numerous Partridge series, but that’s poppycock: as someone who’s never watched one, I didn’t even sense I was missing something. Indeed, even as someone who’s never seen the character’s appeal, I thought the film was hilarious.

Read more here.


The Expendables 3 (Extended Version) (2014)

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sylvester Stallone continues his examination of masculinity and machismo amongst older men in this trilogy-forming instalment of his Expendables franchise. You think I’m joking… because I am. But there is actually an element of that in this latest action-fest, as the leader of the titular band of mercenaries chooses to retire his team of ageing soldiers and replace them with younger models.

Read more here.


The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The film has the feel of an artisan confection: candy-coloured, precisely designed and constructed, sweetly enjoyable, but with a hidden bite. Something like that, anyway.

Read more here.


Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Despite being a moderately-starry big-budget Hollywood effort, Jack the Giant Slayer feels cheap as chips across the board. For starters there’s the woeful screenplay, with its first-draft-level dialogue and poor construction. [Then,] if you told me any of the CG-driven sequences were from a Syfy miniseries, I’d probably believe you.

Read more here.


Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Part of the setup is “My Fair Lady with gentlemen spies”, as chavvy Eggsy is reshaped to be an old-fashioned besuited gent, inspired by the story of how Dr. No director Terence Young took a rough young Scottish chap called Sean Connery under his wing and taught him how to dress and behave as a gentlemen in preparation for his star-making role as the original superspy. It’s one of those ideas that you wonder why no one thought of developing into a fiction sooner.

Read more here.


Plus seven archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Anne Frank Remembered (1995)

In this Oscar-winning documentary, Jon Blair exposes the ‘untold story’ of Anne Frank. He adds to her words with the perspective of her friends, other people who knew her, and relatives of her companions in the annex... The film also reflects on Anne herself, and what it uncovers is not always positive. Such an honest approach could be contentious, but its attempt to uncover the truth — rather than paint a false saintly picture — is admirable.

Read more here.


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 Rob Brydon gives a strong performance, and he’s ably supported by James Corden in particular

Read more here.


Dark Floors (2008)

You may remember Lordi, the surprise winners of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. If that doesn’t help, they were the Finnish rockers all dressed up in monster suits. Here in the UK we gave them our highest number of points. You’d be easily forgiven if you had forgotten them, but clearly someone hasn’t as they not only made this film, someone thought they were big enough to use in its promotion — it’s subtitled “The Lordi Movie” on posters, DVD covers and what have you. Maybe they’re still well-known in Europe. Or Finland.

Read more here.


Hamlet (1996)

It’s the first ever full-text screen adaptation, which means it clocks in just shy of four hours; he unusually shot it on 70mm film, which means it looks gorgeous; and, while he grabbed the title role himself, he assembled around him a ludicrously star-packed cast from both sides of the pond... Even Ken Dodd’s in there!

Read more here.


Hamlet (2009)

[A] notable facet of David Tennant’s interpretation of the character is humour. Hamlet’s madness here is almost unrelentingly funny — even in deadly serious situations, like capture following a murder, Tennant’s Hamlet can’t resist taunting the other characters, keeping the viewer onside by keeping his apparent insanity entertaining rather than scary or darkly intense.

Read more here.


Ministry of Fear (1944)

To say too much about what Ministry of Fear is actually about would ruin it, which I don’t want to do because in fact it’s a great twisty little thriller, a rather Hitchcockian ‘wrong man’ tale with a baked MacGuffin

Read more here.


Mrs Brown (1997)

Period drama focusing on the friendship between Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown, alongside political threats faced by the British monarchy in the 1860s.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x02 (30/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

After last week's busy ol' update, nothing to report (except one small correction). My prediction that it will remain that way for a further five weeks still stands, too. For now.

Anyway, it's not all boring this week: there's a running time update! (Thought: if there genuinely remains nothing to add for the next five weeks, the next running time update will show no change -- I think that'd be a first. I imagine I'll cave to some impulse purchase in that time, though.)

As I was saying: anyway...

Number of titles in collection: 1,772 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 564 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,395 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,911 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

And that running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
317 days, 9 hours, and 51 minutes.
(Up 11 hours and 52 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x05 (5/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Elementary
3x23 Absconded

Person of Interest
3x10 The Devil's Share
Well that must be HR done now, then (hurrah!)

Vicious
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Interview (2014)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Episodes
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x23 Fast Enough [season finale]

Game of Thrones
5x09 The Dance of Dragons

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x01 Eurovision Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Forever
1x22 The Last Death of Henry Morgan [series finale]
Cancelled before its time, perhaps, but at least it wrapped up most of the mysteries.

Have I Got News For You
49x07 (22/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Now You See Me (2013)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Vicious
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Ladyhawke (1985)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]