TV

24
8x14 5:00AM - 6:00AM

Castle
3x19 Law and Murder
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
10x17 The Last One Part 1 [5th or so watch]
10x18 The Last One Part 2 [series finale; 5th or so watch]
In what feels like the blink of an eye (actually 8½ months), ten years have passed, and Friends is over once again. Until the next time...

this fortnight on 100 Films

Due to a basic mistake, I forgot to post a 100 Films in a Year update last week... so here's a double one!


Firstly, as it was May a couple of days ago, it's time to look back at April. This month's top five is my favourite movies from 1986. You can read why by clicking through.


Next, two new reviews were published in the past fortnight... well, in the past week, actually. Anyway, they were:


Bicycle Thieves (1948)

For my 800th review, it's the film Sight & Sound swiftly decided was the greatest of all time, and almost as swiftly changed their mind about.

Read more here.


Solomon Kane (2009)

The style is a fantasy-horror mash-up, recalling everything from the 1982 Conan to Witchfinder General, and plenty more besides. That’s not to say its a rip-off of those movies, or even some kind of cobbled-together reference-fest, but rather that its roots and inspirations are discernible. There’s some creepy creatures and sequences, but also a more-than-requisite amount of swordfighting

Read more here.


And finally, new to the new blog were:


L.A. Confidential (1997)

how does a 480-page, densely written, intricately plotted crime novel, spanning seven years and “no fewer than four and perhaps as many as a dozen major crimes”, translate into a two-and-a-quarter-hour film? With more than a few surprises, as it turns out, because the apparently minor changes near the film’s start turn out to be the proverbial pebble in a pond: their ripples spread so far that, by the second half, not even a reader who can remember the many details of the novel’s complex plot will know for sure what’s coming.

Read more here.


Mulan (1998)

The thing that stands out is how very Americanised it is. That’s nothing new for Disney, but it feels a little odd these days. When we’re so used to increased attempts at appropriate cultural reverence from Hollywood movies, it’s almost uncomfortable to hear such American accents from clearly Chinese characters.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.