TV

Arrow
1x17 The Huntress Returns

Game of Thrones
2x09 Blackwater
This episode has been hyped since I-don't-know-when; certainly, long before season two even began airing. But it lives up to all expectations, because it's phenomenal. The action is quite incredible, but also the drama within the city's walls. It's a shame it cost them so much (a bonus on top of the season's regular budget) that we're not likely to see it repeated, because they can clearly pull off a battle incredibly well given the money.

Films

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Extended Version (2001/2004)
[#38a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[3rd watch]

Beginning a re-watch of the Harry Potter series, which will hopefully continue weekly for the next couple of months.

This will be the first time I've seen most of the films for years -- this blog kicked off in the middle of 2008, and since then I've only watched the last four; and 100 Films started at the beginning of 2007, and I've only watched the final four since then too.

By my reckoning, it's at least 8 years since I last watched Philosopher's Stone. The view count therefore is a guess; but I can say with certainty that it's the first time I've seen the extended version. It's around 7 minutes longer, but, even though much of the film was incredibly familiar, after so many years I have no idea where those new minutes were.

this week on 100 Films

You may have noticed that it's been April for the past month, which means it's time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at March.

This month's top five list is "favourite fantasy films" -- what are yours?


Additionally, one new review was published this week...


The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

It may lack the epic world-changing grandeur of Lord of the Rings, but as an epically-scaled action-adventure fantasy I found if to be most entertaining. It treads a tricky path mixing action, humour, world-building, politicking, legend, and plot... For me, the balance worked.

Read more here.



Nextly, premiering on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm is...


The King's Speech (2010)

Even if directorially and cinematographically The King’s Speech isn’t the triumph a film lover might like their Oscar winners to be, it’s more than made up for by an exceptional screenplay and an array of highest-quality performances.

Read more here.



And finally, also new to the new blog were reviews of...


A Bunch of Amateurs (2008)

It’s thoroughly predictable — most viewers could probably map out the plot before the film even begins, so it’s certainly easy to guess what’s coming next as it trots along — but there’s also something reassuring about that predictability — it’s exactly the sort of Quaint British Movie you expect it to be.

Read more here.


Dark City (1998)

Reposted in memory of the great Roger Ebert, this was a film he championed and I adored.

Read more here.


Insomnia (1997)

It’s generally taken as a rule that an original film is better than the remake, particularly so if that original is in a language other than English and the remake is American. But there’ll always be something to buck the trend, and in my view that’s Insomnia.

Read more here.


Insomnia (2002)

this is not a “whodunnit”: the killer’s identity is revealed around the halfway mark (assuming you haven’t already guessed it from the opening credits) and from then on the film gradually moves into murky moral territory, quickly leaving behind those early trappings for a set of more complex noir-ish moral conundrums.

Read more here.


Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

when the director of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park says something is “one of the greatest adventure movies of all time”, one really ought to listen.

Read more here.



More next Sunday.