TV

Blankety Blank
2x01 Episode 1
Is this only series 2? It feels like it's been back longer than that...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
6x06 Week 2: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Have I Got News for You
64x06 (28/10/2022 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended episode (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

La Grande Illusion (1937)
[#70 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
Blindspot 2022 #8

this week on 100Films.co.uk

It's Halloween tomorrow, and to mark the occasion, 100Films.co.uk has covered the entire Scream movie series (so far)...


Scream (1996)

simultaneously a spoof of the slasher genre and a genuine entry in it — potentially a tricky tightrope to walk (several major directors were rejected because they thought the film was just a comedy), but Wes Craven nails the tone so perfectly that he makes it look easy. So what might have been a last-hurrah commentary on what had already been instead turned out to be the beginning of a new wave; one which has helped fuel the genre for over 25 years since.

Read more here.


Scream 2 (1997)

Where the first was a forensic deconstruction of the slasher genre, the second is more of a vague gesture in the general direction of sequel tropes — less focused, less insightful, less funny. But, crucially, it’s still quite entertaining.

Read more here.


Scream 3 (2000)

The Scream movies were always noteworthy for the metatextual way in which they addressed and engaged with the tropes and clichés of slasher movies, but actually setting this one in Hollywood on the set of a slasher movie based on the events of the previous movies is perhaps taking the whole self-awareness thing one step too far.

Read more here.


Scre4m (2011)

the eleven years since the last movie gave the filmmakers enough fresh material to chew on to make the film a more-than-worthwhile addition to the franchise. For my money, the fresh perspectives make it easily the series’ best film since the first.

Read more here.


Scream (2022)

it gets to both have its cake and eat it by pointing out the laughable clichés and ridiculous tropes of other horror films, then doing them anyway. Some people dislike this approach — “pointing out that what you’re doing is a cliché doesn’t stop it from being a cliché” — but, personally, I think it’s part of the charm of these films. They don’t do the thing and then have someone go “that was so cliché!”, they tell you “wouldn’t it be clichéd if this happened?” and then it does. Too subtle a difference for some, I guess, but it works for me.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News for You
64x05 (21/10/2022 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended episode (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
20x12 Compilation
20x13 End of Year Special [season finale]
21x06 The History of... Part 1
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Mission (1986)
[#68 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2022 #8

Scream (2022)
[#69 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
+ the audio commentary. I only put it on to find out who the participants were (because the menu didn't say), then I wound up leaving it on for a bit, until eventually I decided I may as well just stick with it until the end.

Collection Count

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

As it's almost Halloween, spooky new additions this week include Ghostwatch, the BBC's (in)famous 1992 horror special. This is the third time I've bought it, even though I've never seen it, which is ridiculous, I know. The new edition is a Blu-ray — perhaps a bit pointless, seeing as it was made for TV back in the SD era, but it has new special features and whatnot, so I replaced my two previous DVD copies.

Four other new titles this week (one of which includes four different cuts of the same film) results in... this...

Number of titles in collection: 2,954 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,041 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,913 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 208 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 7,300 [up 4]
Number of films: 3,541 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 290 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 9,432 [down 2]
Number of short films: 1,007 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

The Guilty (1947)
[#67 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Films

Scre4m (2011)
[2nd watch]
[#66 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

TV

Doctor Who
39x09 The Power of the Doctor [BBC Centenary special]
Posted about this on Twitter and condensed most of those thoughts on Letterboxd, so go there if you want my opinion (but note, it's very spoilery).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

4 new reviews were published to 100Films.co.uk this week...


2022 | Weeks 27–28

Featuring...
- Johnny Gunman (1957)
- A Better Tomorrow (1986)
- Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015)
- The Lost Daughter (2021)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News for You
64x02 (30/9/2022 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended episode (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
21x05 (21/10/2022 edition)
The last-ever episode! But it's not a "series finale" because there's some kind of two-part "look back" to come.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Scream 3 (2000)
[2nd watch]
[#65 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Collection Count

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

A bunch of brand-new titles that were meant to arrive this week got delayed until next week, or even next month... but never fear, because a load of other stuff turned up! Mostly that can be broken down into two groups: another big order from the US (consisting of five 4K titles (two of them upgrades) and three regular Blus), and a handful of titles from Arrow's Shocktober sale (which would've included two box sets, but one of those didn't turn up as quickly as expected either).

All-in-all, that makes for 11 new titles, with 15 films between them, across 22 discs. Which actually totals up as follows...

Number of titles in collection: 2,951 [up 9]
Of which DVDs: 1,043 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,908 [up 9]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 208 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 7,296 [up 20]
Number of films: 3,536 [up 13]
Number of additional cuts: 287 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,434 [up 12]
Number of short films: 1,007 [no change]

And if all that wasn't enough, this week it's time for a slightly-delayed (i.e. it should've been here last week) running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
520 days, 23 hours, and 21 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friday Night Live
Really enjoyed that. Wouldn't mind C4 bringing it back properly.
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Newscast
(21/10/2022 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ros Atkins on the Week
1x01 Resignation of Liz Truss
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Have I Got News for You
64x03 (7/10/2022 edition; extended repeat)
64x04 (14/10/2022 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TVt

House of the Dragon
1x08 The Lord of the Tides

Films

The Thrill of It All (1963)
[#64 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Films

The Two Faces of January (2014)
[2nd watch]
[#62 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
I originally counted my rewatch of Encanto as #62, but that arguably throws up some conflicts with my rules (I've already counted Encanto once, when I watched it the first time). So, as this is another October rewatch that can qualify, it seems sensible just to count this instead.

Walk the Line (2005)
[2nd watch]
[#63 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
Not seen this since it was in the cinema, even though I've owned the DVD probably since it came out. It qualifies as this month's DVD watch, too... even though I didn't actually watch my copy (I was away from home and watched someone else's)... and it's in HD on Disney+, so even if I had been home, I probably wouldn't have watched my DVD. Kinda defeats the purpose of the DVD category (to watch more of my DVDs), but the rules don't actually specify it has to be my copy that gets watched (though it is kinda heavily implied), so...

Collection Count

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

Another big haul this week, primarily made up of an order from Indicator's sale. I picked up seven titles therein, although I also snagged an empty Hammer Volume Two box — I already owned two of the titles that go in it, and two of the seven I ordered were the other two. So, of course, that does slightly funny things to this week's totals (I never really know if those "funny things" show up in the end results, but I certainly have to think about them when computing the numbers).

Also this week: the reward from a Kickstarter I backed a year-and-a-half ago; two Masters of Cinema titles, one new (officially out Monday), one on offer (which has ended); and an Arrow release I picked up secondhand (to make sure I got the booklet) because 88 Films are releasing its sort-of-follow-up later this month, so I thought I ought to have both.

Number of titles in collection: 2,942 [up 8]
Of which DVDs: 1,043 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,899 [up 8]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 203 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 7,276 [up 13]
Number of films: 3,523 [up 11]
Number of additional cuts: 286 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,422 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,007 [no change]

This week should also have been the monthly running time update, but with so much going on I just haven't had time to work it out. Next week instead, then, faithful reader.