TV

The Voice UK
2x11 The Knockouts 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
[3rd watch]

The second Bourne film attracted much controversy and debate when it was first released, mainly to do with director Paul Greengrass' style of up-close, fast-cut, handheld photography. Watched nine years on, it doesn't look anything like as radical -- this style has become fairly standard. It's one I think works better on a small screen than in the cinema, I think. A wall-sized picture moving around at such a dizzying rate can be confusing and troublesome, but a smaller TV context makes it more followable.

As for the film itself, it's a worthy sequel. On IMDb the first one has the user voters' edge by something like 0.3 out of 10, and I'm inclined to agree -- they've both great (I'd rate both several higher than the IMDb averages, incidentally), and both have a lot to offer in slightly different ways, but overall the first one edges it.

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Chapters 6-8
Book Two, Chapters 1-5

Just to clarify, there is no "Book One" -- it's chapters 1 to 8, then Book Two (and, later, Book Three).

this week on 100 Films

You may have noticed that it's now June, so we begin this week's update by looking back at May. It's a bumper post this month, including some results from my Harry Potter poll and a top five of movie car chases, as well as the usual list and analysis of what I've been watching.

Alongside that, two brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Designed to launch Monty Python to a US audience who wouldn’t have seen the TV series, And Now For contains around 40 sketches [from the TV series]...

Ironically, US reviews were mixed and the film did little business at the box office, while in the UK it was popular enough to turn a profit, despite the fact it contained nothing new for British fans — “indeed many were disappointed that the film seemed to belie its title.”

Read more here.


The Lost Weekend (1945)

Directed by the inestimable Billy Wilder, winner of the Grand Prix at the first Cannes, winner of the Best Picture Oscar, and also Best Actor, Director, and Screenplay, it's a wonder that The Lost Weekend isn't better known...

Read more here.


And finally, new to the new blog...


Million Dollar Baby (2004)

it’s an incredibly anti-boxing movie. No good character’s life isn’t in some way ruined by the ‘sport’: Meg is paralysed and ultimately loses her life, not to mention realising how awful her family are; Morgan Freeman’s lost the sight in one eye and is reduced to cleaning up a run-down gym; ‘Danger’ gets beat-up; and Frankie’s lost his daughter, gets screwed over by his protégé, and ultimately loses Meg too. In no way is this a cheery depiction of boxing.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.