Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,859 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,211 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 648 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,755 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 2,031 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,211 [up 14]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x16 Bridesmaids Revisited

Films

Pixels (2015)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Elementary
4x18 Ready or Not

Game of Thrones
6x01 The Red Woman
It's back! A slow start to the season, but then they almost always are on Thrones -- reminding you what's happened, dealing with some of its repercussions, and positioning pieces for what comes next. I suspect considerable excitement is just around the corner...

Gilmore Girls
6x15 A Vineyard Valentine

Person of Interest
4x17 Karma
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

Badlands (1973)
[#87 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Arrow
4x15 Taken

Gilmore Girls
6x14 You've Been Gilmored

Have I Got News For You
51x02 (15/4/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x13 Friday Night's Alright for Fighting

Grantchester
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

this week on 100 Films

First up this week at 100 Films in a Year, my latest TV round-up:




As well, 4 brand-new reviews were published this week:


Locke (2013)

“Tom Hardy goes for a drive and makes some phone calls” is the plot of this film, which is often mislabelled as a thriller. That’s not to degrade its thrillingness, but rather to say that if you’re expecting a single-location single-character phone-based thrill-ride... you’re not going to get it. In reality, Locke is a drama about a man dealing with some woes that are both everyday and life-changing, but as a film it’s been made in an unusual and interesting manner.

Read more here.


Maleficent (2014)

a revisionist re-telling of Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of its villainess... It's an interesting idea to take an archetypal villain who's evil for evil's sake and try to give her motivation, to understand why she did terrible things. Maleficent makes a fair fist of this

Read more here.


Super 8 (2011)

Before he started star warring and between bouts of star trekking, director J.J. Abrams teamed up with producer Steven Spielberg for this homage to the kind of movies Spielberg produced in the ’80s. Those films have endured down the decades; I’m not sure Super 8 endured as far as Abrams’ next lens flare showcase... Which is a little bit of a shame because, by being Abrams’ most personal film, it may also be his best.

Read more here.


Veronica Mars (2014)

There’s no denying that this is primarily a film for fans of the TV series — well, they did fund it, after all. The best way to get the most out of the film is to have watched all 64 episodes of the show first; preferably soon before, in fact, so you can remember who all the minor characters are. However, creator-cowriter-director Rob Thomas is no fool... [It's] accessible to neophyte viewers. You might sense there’s references and whatnot that are passing you by, but everything that’s relevant is explained.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts:


For a Few Dollars More (1965)

The Man With No Name (who this time is called Monco) is played as coolly as ever by Clint Eastwood. This time he teams up with The Man In Black — not Johnny Cash, but Colonel Douglas Mortimer. Much older than Monco, but played with equal amounts of cool by Lee Van Cleef.

Read more here.


From Russia with Love (1964)

They may not be as grandiose as the volcano-dwelling types that came later in the series, but From Russia with Love has two of Bond’s most memorable adversaries: the hard former KGB officer Rosa Klebb, with her deadly shoe (well, it sounds silly when you put it like that), and assassin Red Grant, who may not know what wine to have with fish but could certainly gut you like one. A fish, that is. Not wine. You can’t gut wine.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x12 Just Like Gwen and Gavin

Person of Interest
4x16 Blunt
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

The Iron Giant (1999)
[#86 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #4

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,857 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,211 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 646 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,751 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 2,030 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,197 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Flash
2x15 King Shark

Gilmore Girls
6x11 The Perfect Dress

Films

Christine (1983)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Elementary
4x17 You've Got Me, Who's Got You?

Gilmore Girls
6x10 He's Slippin' 'Em Bread... Dig?

Films

Veronica Mars (2014)
[2nd watch]

This was #22 in 100 Films 2014, but I never got round to reviewing it, so I'm re-watching to jog my memory. Also because it's great.

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x09 The Prodigal Daughter Returns

The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story
1x05 The Race Card

Person of Interest
4x15 Q&A
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x05 Fail-Safe

Gilmore Girls
6x07 Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number
6x08 Let Me Hear Your Balalaikas Ringing Out

Films

Maleficent (2014)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x06 Welcome to the Dollhouse

Person of Interest
4x14 Guilty
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

Locke (2013)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x05 We've Got Magic to Do

Films

A Royal Night Out (2015)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Wuthering Heights (2011)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Color Purple (1985)

because it’s a Spielberg film, it never quite feels like we’re getting the full force of the story’s brutality. That’s a mixed blessing: as a viewer, we’re spared all the horrors you can infer from what actually happens; at the same time, how much should a story about such horrors be sparing us from them? Though as it was at one point advertised with the tagline, “Remember how good it made you feel… See it again.”, someone clearly thought it was meant to be a feel-good movie.

Read more here.


The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Although the story features a lot of back-and-forth-ing to little avail, there are parts to commend it — the sequence where one son brutally inducts himself into a Buddhist temple is fantastic. Less clever: proving he isn’t too war-obsessed to become a monk by… fighting the other monks.

Read more here.


Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

My main takeaway from the film was a massive list of films I now want to see... Even though the talking heads in the documentary keep saying how awful all of these movies are, the film makes them look awesome. I mean, not “award-winning” awesome, or even “genre classic” awesome, but like magnificently trashy fun.

Read more here.


Home on the Range (2004)

The plot, such as it is, locates us in the Old West, where a trio of singing cows hunt for an outlaw in order to save the farm they live on. The early ’00s box office was not a great place for musicals, Westerns, or traditional animations, so one does have to wonder what inspired Disney to make their 45th Animated Classic a traditionally-animated musical Western.

Read more here.


The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Undoubtedly a comedy, Eastwick is less laugh-out-loud, more wryly amused by small-town tittle-tattle. Nicholson was made for devilish characters like this, but the rest of the film isn’t as focused.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Face/Off (1997)

Our Hero: Sean Archer, super cop. Looks like John Travolta, until he looks like Nicolas Cage. Don’t overthink it, it works just fine when you’re watching the film.
Our Villain: Castor Troy, super villain. Looks like Nicolas Cage, until he looks like John Travolta. Don’t overthink it, it works just fine when— wait, I did that bit.

Read more here.


Flash Gordon (1980)

In 2009 I said that Flash Gordon was better than Star Wars. Well, I mean, I don’t know if I exactly stand by that, but I’m also not going to contradict it — Flash Gordon is awesome.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x04 Always a Godmother, Never a God

The Voice UK
5x15 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Fighter (2010)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Next week, Star Wars: Episode VII and the Criterion Collection both finally come to UK Blu-ray.

But this week, it's the monthly running time update!

Number of titles in collection: 1,855 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,211 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 644 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,748 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,028 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,197 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
347 days, 11 hours, and 36 minutes.
(Up 15 hours and 54 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
4x14 Code of Silence

Gilmore Girls
6x03 The UnGraduate

Have I Got News For You
51x01 (8/4/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Lost River (2014)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Elementary
4x16 Hounded
When did they decide to start doing adaptations on this show?!

The Flash
2x14 Escape from Earth-2

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x02 Fight Face

The Night Manager
Part 6 (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Film

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x01 New and Improved Lorelai

The Night Manager
Part 5 (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Caesar Must Die (2012)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
aka Cesare deve morire

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x22 A House is Not a Home [season finale]

The Night Manager
Part 4 (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story
1x04 100% Not Guilty

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x21 Blame Booze and Melville

Person of Interest
4x13 M.I.A.
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

Ghosts of Mars (2001)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

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


The East (2013)

In this atypical espionage thriller, Brit Marling is a private security employee sent to infiltrate an underground activist group who are exposing the illegal activities of mega-corporations. Faced with the group’s honourable intentions vs. her employers’ indifference, will she go native?

Read more here.


King Boxer (1972)

Released in the US as Five Fingers of Death, this popularised kung fu Stateside… there’s a good level of action (the primary reason to watch any kung fu movie worth its salt, surely), and a particularly stunning, casually inventive, multi-fight climax.

Read more here.


The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

the contentious parts are its strengths: it humanises Jesus, as he shows uncertainty about his God-given role and the earthly concerns that tempt him. Willem Dafoe makes Christ a plausible human, but Harvey Keitel’s Brooklyn-accented Judas feels like a spoof.

Read more here.


Of Human Bondage (1934)

When Bette Davis is off screen, it feels like the film is waiting for her to return. Her arc aside, it’s a take-it-or-leave-it damp squib of a drama — there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not all that engaging.

Read more here.


Starman (1984)

The film is an oddity on director John Carpenter’s CV, [but his] horror roots are on display: there are stalking POV shots as the alien arrives at Karen Allen’s house, and then it grows a human body, a sequence in which the ugliest (prosthetic) baby you’ve ever seen stretches and creaks as it grows into an adult in mere minutes. It’s pretty freaky. Indeed, as per the BBFC, Starman “contains mild language, sex, violence and sci-fi horror”, but is rated PG. Ah, the good old days!

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Donnie Darko (2001)

The film makes strong use of contemporary pop music. It all seems to sit perfectly, which is a little ironic as a good number of tracks were changed because they couldn’t afford the rights on such a low budget. The director’s cut restores some of the original choices, which was a mistake.

Read more here.


The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

R2-D2 is the best supporting character in every Star Wars film, but in this one we are introduced to Yoda. Looks like a Muppet, as cheeky as a Muppet, much wiser than a Muppet. Probably. It’s hard to be certain.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x20 How Many Kropogs to Cape Cod?

Person of Interest
4x12 Control-Alt-Delete
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Election (1999)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,854 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 644 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,747 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 2,027 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,197 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x19 But I'm a Gilmore! [2nd watch]
My Gilmore re-watch is officially over — I'm back where I was seven years ago! So I guess from next episode it's just a "Gilmore watch".

The Night Manager
Part 3 (of 6)

The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story
1x03 The Dream Team
I didn't give up on this, as you might've thought if you noticed I haven't watched it for nearly 6 weeks. I just got distracted by other things, like Daredevil, which is now done, so I'm back on the Juice.

Films

The Limey (1999)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x18 To Live and Let Diorama [2nd watch]

Grantchester
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Warrior (2011)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x17 Pulp Friction [2nd watch]

The Night Manager
Part 2 (of 6)

Films

Cool World (1992)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Daredevil
2x13 A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen [season finale]
Awesome stuff. After those cliffhangers, I wonder if we'll get a third season before The Defenders? With Jessica Jones season two and first seasons for Luke Cage and Iron Fist also on the way, I guess not... but you never know...

Films

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Of Human Bondage (1934)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

It's April, which means it's time to look back at March on 100 Films in a Year...




5 brand-new reviews were also published this week...


Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Despite being a sequel to Man of Steel and featuring a Superman-heavy supporting cast (from Batman’s world we have Alfred; from Superman’s we have Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lex Luthor, Martha Kent, and (spoiler for something that was in the trailer) Doomsday), Batman v Superman is really a Batman movie.

Read more here.


Bridge of Spies (2015)

it’s a mature, equanimous work. It would be easy to take a tale like this, fraught with issues of patriotism and the threat of foreign agents operating on domestic soil (which therefore screams “topical relevance!”), and give in to the same histrionics that some of the supporting character demonstrate. Indeed, a director like Spielberg — oft criticised for the vein of sentimentality that is ever-present, and sometimes dominating, in his movies — might be expected to err in that direction, even if it was only slightly. The film itself manages to maintain the same calm demeanour as its two headline performances, however.

Read more here.


The Five Venoms (1978)

Some say The Five Venoms is one of the very best martial arts films ever made. Some say it’s the best. I’m afraid I have to disagree. Strongly.

Read more here.


Lincoln (2012)

Daniel Day-Lewis allegedly stars in this account of the final months of President Abraham Lincoln’s life, which might more pertinently be called The 13th Amendment due to where its focus lies. I say “allegedly” because I’m not convinced they didn’t find a way to resurrect Lincoln to appear as himself, then just pretended it was Day-Lewis acting.

Read more here.


Turbo Kid (2015)

the point is not the storyline, but the genre and era elements that have been used to build it, and the stylistic elements that have been cribbed to execute it. I can't cite many specific points of reference, because I’m not au fait enough with the kind of cheapo, grindhouse-y, watched-on-video-by-’80s-kids genre films that the film’s trio of writer-directors are riffing off... but the general feel of those kind of films is certainly evoked.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Dogma (1999)

it will let you turn a more satirical eye to the absurdities of the modern church bureaucracy and hopefully make you laugh a little bit about how ridiculous some of this shit is. It’s okay to have faith in a higher power, but getting too extreme with your ideals can make you an asshole.

Read more here.


Dogville (2003)

The famous bare set — a black soundstage with chalk markings on the floor to represent the houses, and minimal other features or props — was inspired by the theatre of Bertolt Brecht; as was the film’s plot, so it’s rather apt. The set (or lack thereof) seems like a very “art house” idea, and a distancing one for the viewer, but it’s surprising how quickly you forget and accept it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Daredevil
2x11 .380
2x12 The Dark at the End of the Tunnel

Gilmore Girls
5x15 Jews and Chinese Food [2nd watch]
5x16 So... Good Talk [2nd watch]

The Voice UK
5x14 The Semi-Final
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

The one-per-week pre-orders end this week... but a bunch of Easter sale stuff has stepped into the breach to bolster numbers further. Next week should have some more, too.

Number of titles in collection: 1,853 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 643 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,743 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 2,026 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,197 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Daredevil
2x09 Seven Minutes in Heaven
2x10 The Man in the Box
More tempting cliffhangers! And I once again had to resist.

Gilmore Girls
5x13 Wedding Bell Blues [2nd watch]
5x14 Say Something [2nd watch]

The Night Manager
Part 1 (of 6)
Finally making a start on this. Excellent opening episode, indeed.