TV

Game of Thrones
6x06 Blood of My Blood

Have I Got News For You
51x07 (20/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
1x03 The Apparel Proclaims the Man
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
4x20 Genesis

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x11 The Magnificent Eight

Elementary
4x24 A Difference in Kind [season finale]

The Flash
2x21 The Runaway Dinosaur

Gilmore Girls
7x10 Merry Fisticuffs

Films

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #5

Comics

Boys' Night by Max Landis & AP Quach

This comic -- about a middle-aged Mickey Mouse & friends hanging out, getting drunk, like real middle-aged guys -- was recommended somewhere a couple of days ago as an example of why Max Landis is worthwhile, and... well, it's fine... but I don't get what's so great about it. Hey ho.

this week on 100 Films

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


Hamlet (1964)

A black-and-white, two-and-a-half hour Shakespeare adaptation in subtitled Russian? No, wait, come back! Actually, don’t bother, because if you’re turned off by any or all of that description then, yeah, this isn’t for you. If you don’t object, however, then you’ll find a film that the likes of Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, and Sir Kenneth Branagh have hailed as the greatest film adaptation of arguably the Bard’s most revered play.

Read more here.


SuperBob (2015)

begins as a faux-documentary; a film being made about Bob and his life, which makes sense because who wouldn’t be interested in a documentary on the world’s only superhero? For us real-life viewers, though, it’s a form that feels a little tired at this point — I involuntarily groaned out loud when I realised that’s where it was going. Stick with it, though, because the conceit is all but dropped fairly early on, and the film begins to develop in nice directions.

Read more here.


X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

With so many characters to deal with, the film becomes a little overburdened with subplots. It’s trying to be a trilogy-former for the remnants of the First Class cast... but it’s also trying to introduce the new-old gang of X-Men, and establish their characters to head-up future movies; and it also has to deal with establishing its villain and his plans. It’s a big ask, and while director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg do manage to keep all the plates spinning and achieve something with most of them... some plot threads do feel perfunctory

Read more here.


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


GoldenEye (1995)

Pierce Brosnan is Bond, James Bond, for the first time. After the almost-franchise-killing seriousness of Timothy Dalton, Brosnan nails Bond for the nostalgic ’90s: a dash of Sean Connery’s grit, a dash of Roger Moore’s raised-eyebrow humour, a whole lot of suaveness. For a while, the old “Connery or Moore?” question became “Connery, Moore or Brosnan?”

Read more here.


Gone with the Wind (1939)

It’s an epic in the truest sense of the word, with a story spanning many years and many miles, passing by historical events in the process. However, at it’s core it’s the story of a tumultuous romance between two people, who may love each other or may hate each other, but who, with their unique, selfish, manipulative perspectives, are surely perfect for each other.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Assassin (2015)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

There's a tasty pile of new additions this week...

Number of titles in collection: 1,868 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 659 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 4,777 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 2,050 [up 14]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine #500

Awesome double-magazine 500th issue, including a very candid interview with Steven Moffat, with snippets like this.

Films

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Preacher
1x01 Pilot
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x05 The Door
Hodor.

TV

The Flash
2x20 Rupture

Gilmore Girls
7x09 Knit, People, Knit!

Films

Just Friends (2005)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

First up on 100 Films in a Year this week, it's the monthly TV review -- including coverage of David Tennant's Big Finish Doctor Whos...




Back to films: 3 reviews were published this week...


300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

In every respect — from the clunky structure, to the leaden dialogue, to the poor performances, to the cheap visuals, to the fake CGI — this doesn’t feel like the $110 million blockbuster it is, but like a direct-to-Syfy TV movie.

Read more here.


The Fighter (2010)

I don’t normally care for boxing movies (I even gave the sainted Raging Bull just 3 stars), but I rather enjoyed this. Perhaps that’s because it’s about the familial drama as much as it is pugilism, but then the same could be said of Bull, so who knows — maybe I’m just becoming inured to the sport. Heck, I even found myself invested in the outcome during the climactic bout.

Read more here.


Warrior (2011)

It’s a constant surprise to me that Warrior is on the IMDb Top 250 — and in a very secure 146th place, too — for two reasons: firstly because I’m not sure I’d ever heard anyone actually talk about it, except in passing as part of “the rise of Tom Hardy”-type passages; and secondly because, from the outside, it doesn’t look like a very Top 250-y kind of film... Having chosen to watch it in part to assuage that confusion, I still find its placement just as baffling.

Read more here.


And finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Gladiator (2000)

Memorable Quote: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” — Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius; father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.

Read more here.


The Godfather (1972)

Has it really been almost eight years since the IMDb Top 250’s unshakeable #1 was usurped? The Godfather sat pretty at the top of that user-voted ranking for the best part of nine years, its balance between critically-acclaimed filmmaking finesse and quotable gangster machinations almost perfectly calibrated for that website’s prevailing demographic. (It’s since settled at #2, hardly a failure.)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x10 Progeny

Elementary
4x23 The Invisible Hand

Films

Hamlet (1964)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
aka Gamlet, or Гамлет
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Nothing to report this week, but next should see at least four additions.

Number of titles in collection: 1,862 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 653 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,765 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 2,036 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
4x19 Canary Cry

Gilmore Girls
7x08 Introducing Lorelai Planetarium

Have I Got News For You
51x06 (13/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x03 Death and the Queen [season finale]
Read my opinion on all three Big Finish 10th Doctor adventures in the 100 Films monthly TV round-up, here.

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x02 Time Reaver
Less good than the first story, but a decent adventure nonetheless.

TV

The Flash
2x19 Back to Normal

Game of Thrones
6x04 Book of the Stranger

Gilmore Girls
7x07 French Twist

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x01 Technophobia
Tennant returns! Off to a strong start. (I'll write more in 100 Films' monthly TV update on Thursday.)

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x09 Left Behind

Upstart Crow
1x02 The Play's the Thing
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
4x18 Eleven-Fifty-Nine

Elementary
4x22 Turn It Upside Down

Gilmore Girls
7x06 Go, Bulldogs!

Films

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
[#95 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

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


Calvary (2014)

Calvary may in fact be a great film, if only I could put my finger on what I think it’s really trying to get at, which remains frustratingly out of my reach, at least for now. However, I will say it’s a very good one, and anyone who likes a character-driven drama scattered with dark but hilarious humour would do well to seek it out.

Read more here.


Captain America: Civil War (2016)

As complicated as the plot sounds once you start trying to succinctly summarise it, Civil War is easy to follow as it unfurls. In fact, it’s to its credit that it can’t be readily summarised in any more detail than “Cap and Iron Man disagree; fight” without really getting into it. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have followed up the political thriller of Winter Soldier with another global thriller storyline, again bringing different genre textures to the superheroics that are nonetheless present and correct.

Read more here.


The Hateful Eight (2015)

I’m not the first to observe that The Hateful Eight actually functions like a murder mystery, Agatha Christie style. It might be easy to miss because the film doesn’t begin with a murder or feature a detective, but then neither do all of Christie’s stories. Instead, there’s a long period setting up all the players and suggesting their motivations, and then eventually the proverbial does hit the metaphorical fan, after which deductions must be made.

Read more here.


The Raid 2 (2014)

outclasses its predecessor in every possible way, from the deeper and more involving story, to the jaw-dropping feats of choreography and performance, to the more assured and polished filmmaking. An instant action classic.

Read more here.


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


Ghost in the Shell (1995)

In a future world where humans can undergo varying degrees of cyberisation, Major Motoko Kusanagi is a “full-body prosthesis augmented-cybernetic human” — only her brain is organic. Her body is a generic mass production model, so she can blend in while being a kick-ass law enforcement officer.

Read more here.


Ghostbusters (1984)

Our Villain: Gozer the Gozerian, a Sumerian god of destruction. Likes to turn his servants into supernatural hounds and allow the good guys to choose the form of their ‘destructor’ — which is how you end up having to fight a 112½-foot marshmallow man.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Stockholm 2016
As the jury vote was coming to a close, I thought, "The new vote-counting method is a good idea, but it looks like we've got a year where it's not actually going to make a difference." Ha ha ha, how wrong was I? Point made, new system. Point made.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Ted 2 (Extended Edition) (2015)
[#94 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: 1,862 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 653 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,765 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,036 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [up 3]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

Plus this week it's time for a running time update, so...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
348 days, 8 hours, and 14 minutes.
(Up 20 hours and 38 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Elementary
4x21 Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing

The Flash
2x18 Versus Zoom

Gilmore Girls
7x05 The Great Stink

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x08 Night of the Hawk

Upstart Crow
1x01 Star Crossed Lovers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
4x17 Beacon of Hope

Gilmore Girls
7x04 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous

Have I Got News For You
51x05 (6/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD (2014)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Elementary
4x20 Art Imitates Art

Game of Thrones
6x03 Oathbreaker

Gilmore Girls
7x03 Lorelai's First Cotillion

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x02 That's What You Get, Folks, For Makin' Whoopee

Person of Interest
4x21 Asylum
4x22 YHWH [season finale]
[Watch Asylum and YHWH (again) on My5.]

Films

Captain America: Civil War (2016)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

The British Academy Television Awards 2016
Magnificently political this year!
Also, more prizes were covered in the usual Extra Time programme.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Calvary (2014)
[#91 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

Even though we're now 8 days into a new month, my review of the last for 100 Films in a Year was a little delayed -- so here, now, is my look-back at April:




Elsewise, just 1 brand-new review was published this week:


The Book of Life (2014)

A myth-like animated musical adventure based around Mexico’s Day of the Dead, most notable for its unique art style that presents gorgeous visuals throughout.

Read more here.


But my 100 Favourites series did continue with the regular 2 new posts:


The Game (1997)

I remain a little dubious about its re-watch value — not because it’s poorly made (far from it), but because the twists and reveals are such a big part of its appeal, and once you know them, you know them.

Read more here.


Gangs of New York (2002)

Although he’s a ruthless killer, and the unquestionable villain from the outset, Daniel Day-Lewis manages to render Bill a perversely charming creation, who unavoidably captivates your attention whenever he’s on screen.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Flash
2x17 Flash Back

Gilmore Girls
7x01 The Long Morrow

Person of Interest
4x20 Terra Incognita
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Films

The Raid 2 (2014)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Birthday haul: couple of new things, couple of upgrades. End result:

Number of titles in collection: 1,861 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 652 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,764 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 2,036 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,211 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x07 Marooned

Gilmore Girls
6x22 Partings [season finale]

Have I Got News For You
51x04 (29/4/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hateful Eight (2015)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

+ the Blu-ray's mediocre special features.

TV

Arrow
4x16 Broken Hearts

Elementary
4x19 All In

Gilmore Girls
6x21 Driving Miss Gilmore

TV

The Flash
2x16 Trajectory

Gilmore Girls
6x20 Super Cool Party People

Person of Interest
4x19 Search and Destroy
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x06 Star City 2046

Game of Thrones
6x02 Home

Gilmore Girls
6x19 I Get a Sidekick Out of You

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x18 The Real Paul Anka

Person of Interest
4x18 Skip
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

TV

Gilmore Girls
6x17 I'm OK, You're OK

Have I Got News For You
51x03 (22/4/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Sword in the Stone (1963)
[2nd or so watch]

this week on 100 Films

It was 1999 Week on 100 Films in a Year this week! Read my introduction here:




As part of that, 5 brand-new reviews were published:


Election (1999)

the whole film has a conflicted idea of identification. It has you side with a teacher who wants to tear down the dreams of a bright, dedicated, enthusiastic young student. And I don’t mean it tries to get you to side with him — you do side with him. But then it proceeds to tear his whole life apart, as if in punishment for what he wanted to do; and, by extension, it punishes you for wanting him to do it.

Read more here.


The Iron Giant (1999)

The animation is stunningly well done, exhibiting exceptional fluidity and detail in its character animation, in particular. That’s in spite of the film having a reduced budget and time schedule thanks to the box office failure of previous animations by the studio — in Bird’s words, they had “one-third of the money of a Disney or DreamWorks film, and half of the production schedule”, but that meant greater production freedom

Read more here.


The Limey (1999)

The movie jumps back and forth in time — not from scene to scene, but from shot to shot. For instance, Stamp’s arrival at the home of his daughter’s friend, and the conversation that follows, is jumbled up with shots of him on the plane, driving in the city, the people his daughter was associating with, and even within the conversation itself, sometimes speech continues on the soundtrack while we watch the characters not talking, or doing something else. This isn’t a conceit Soderbergh uses for one scene, or wheels out now and then, but an overall approach.

Read more here.


Office Space (1999)

there’s sort of a wish-fulfilment thing going on here, which must partly explain its popularity. It’s a film about low-level white collar workers, stuck in unfulfilling office jobs, having to do the repetitious and sometimes stupid bidding of the higher-ups — guys who don’t actually do anything, really, but will certainly get to keep their jobs when lay-offs are needed, even as the little guys who actually do the work get the sack. Wouldn’t it be great to find yourself in a position where you could stick it to Management?

Read more here.


The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Throw in a couple more sex scenes (and a few less high-profile contributors) and you’d have late-night TV filler. There’s virtually no swearing and certainly no violence, but with some gratuitous boobs you’ve got a 15/R-rated flick. The film doesn’t really need such titillation to attract attention, because it’s a strong cat-and-mouse thriller in its own right. On the other hand, it doesn’t shy away from sexuality and the part that could play in such a ‘game’, so in that respect it’s more plausible than a million other neutered movies.

Read more here.


My 100 Favourites series got in on the action too, with 2 related posts:


Fight Club (1999)

Quote Most Likely To Be Used in Everyday Conversation: “You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else.” — Tyler Durden

Read more here.


Galaxy Quest (1999)

Our heroes arrive in the bowels of their screen-faithful ship to find “a bunch of chompy, crushy things” impeding their path — for absolutely no reason. “We shouldn’t have to do this, it makes no logical sense, why is it here?… This episode was badly written!”

Read more here.


More next Sunday.