TV

Gogglesprogs
Christmas Special 2018
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Madness Rocks Big Ben Live
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Les Misérables
Part 1 (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Sheffield University v Manchester University
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The ABC Murders
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Travel Man
8x00 96 Hours in Jordan [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

The latest addition to Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror universe is the kind of work that pushes at the boundaries of form and medium — and therefore is the kind of work that challenges how I count things at 100 Films. Is it a film? An episode of TV? A video game? Or is it genuinely something new? Well, it’s not really a video game — it’s not interactive enough to qualify as that. So is it a TV episode, then? It carries the Black Mirror branding, and that is a TV series. Plus it’s not a theatrical release… but then, neither are most Netflix films. It's promoted by Netflix as an “interactive film”. So, taking them at their word, I’ve decided that means it counts as a film.

Read more here.


Christine (2016)

The true, tragic story of newswoman Christine Chubbuck is told in this affecting drama. For those that don’t know, it’s the ending that is why her story is famous: Christine was the first person to commit suicide live on television. The film attempts to help us understand Christine’s life and mental state, and what led her to that moment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This week, it's time for the delayed running time update (as mentioned here), as well as all the whole-year stats increases. Of course, there are actually a couple of days left in 2018, and some titles that should have arrived but haven't could still turn up on Monday... but, eh, they'll just have to count towards 2019.

Number of titles in collection: 2,178 [up 3 this week; up 103 in 2018]
Of which DVDs: 1,145 [no change this week; down 21 in 2018]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,033 [up 3 this week; up 124 in 2018]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [no change this week; up 9 in 2018]

Number of discs in collection: 5,622 [up 34; up 297 in 2018]
Number of films: 2,486 [up 42; up 172 in 2018]
Number of TV episodes: 8,328 [up 16; up 323 in 2018]
Number of short films: 651 [up 2; up 52 in 2018]

I don't think I've bought any short film collections this year, and yet the odd one or two here and there do mount up.

Total running time of collection (approx.):
414 days, 23 hours, and 23 minutes.
(Up 5 days, 2 hours, and 9 minutes from last month.)
(Up 21 days, 5 hours, and 43 minutes from last year.)

That's my smallest year-on-year running time increase since 2014! It's good, really, because I shouldn't buy so much stuff... but I'm gonna keep doing it!

And so, as ever, see you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Black Mirror
5x00 Bandersnatch
The interactive Black Mirror "movie", as many sites/articles are calling it. Netflix call it an "event", which feels more accurate; though they also go with "interactive film", which, y'know, is also accurate. I thought about it a lot, because it's also 'just' an episode of Black Mirror. That's how I'm listing it for now, though I have a suspicion I'll change that imminently.
But whatever you call it, I thought it was superb throughout. There's a great article on how it was made from Wired, and another interesting (and slightly less techy) piece about its creation from The Hollywood Reporter.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Exeter University v Birmingham University
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
3x03 If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed? [2nd watch]
3x04 Sigh No More [2nd watch]
[Watch If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed? and Sigh No More (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #50

Articles

The BBC's crazy scheduling may have killed off the Film Show, but movie criticism is more alive than ever
by Robbie Collin (from The Telegraph)

A good article on the ignominious demise of the BBC's Film programme.

TV

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x06 Christmas [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

A Christmas Carol (2018)
[#260 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2018
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Pembroke College, Cambridge v King's College, London
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
[2nd or so watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #49. I rewatched the first film last Christmas, and intended to get round to this sequel too. Well, it's only taken me 371 days…

TV

The Dead Room
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mrs Brown's Boys
Exotic Mammy [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Westminster University v University of East Anglia
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
3x07 A Crow Christmas Carol [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Click & Collect
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
10x00 Ding Dong Merrily on Live [Christmas special]
10x00 Ding Dong Merrily on Live [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
So good I watched it twice.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2018 Brasenose, Oxford v Bristol
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
[#259 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

The Chase
The Bloopers
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Have I Got News For You
56x11 Have I Got 2018 News For You [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
1x01 Edinburgh [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Murder on the Blackpool Express
[2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]

Watership Down
Part 3 The Escape
Part 4 The Siege
[Watch parts three and four (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Not too much to report in the past week at 100 Films in a Year, but it did include the monthly TV review...





...and just 1 new film review...


Ready Player One (2018)

Steven Spielberg’s latest foray into the style of popular moviemaking he helped create in the ‘70s and ’80s — the summer tentpole action-adventure mega-blockbuster — is an adaptation of a novel so bedded in the popular movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s that the whole thing is a bit too meta: it’s a movie obsessed with the brilliance of ‘80s pop culture, made by one of the primary creators of that culture. At least Spielberg insisted that all references to his own work be cut, otherwise it could’ve become a mite self-congratulatory. Though it does mean that Spielberg becomes conspicuous by his absence in a Spielberg movie. Oh, it’s enough to make your head spin…

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Goodness Gracious Me
Christmas Special
20 Years Innit!
A documentary marking the sketch show's 20th anniversary by discussing some of its landmark sketches, and the Christmas special from 1998.
[Watch the Christmas special and 20 Years Innit! (again) on iPlayer.]

Watership Down
Part 1 The Journey
Part 2 The Raid
Some thoughts here.
[Watch parts one and two (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

I thought there was going to be stuff to report this week, but some distribution errors mean nope, nothing whatsoever.

Number of titles in collection: 2,175 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,145 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,030 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,588 [no change]
Number of films: 2,444 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,312 [no change]
Number of short films: 649 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader, for the post-Christmas end-of-year tally.

TV

Doctor Who
37x09 It Takes You Away [2nd watch]
37x10 The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [season finale; 2nd watch]
[Watch It Takes You Away and The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
24x12 (21/12/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
37x08 The Witchfinders [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Insert Name Here
4x01 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
[#258 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x06 Demons of the Punjab [2nd watch]
37x07 Kerblam! [2nd watch]
[Watch Demons of the Punjab and Kerblam! (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x06 Episode 6 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
37x05 The Tsuranga Conundrum [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
7x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Poirot
2x06 Double Sin
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

TV

Poirot
2x04 The Cornish Mystery
2x05 The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
[Watch The Cornish Mystery and The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim (again) on the ITV Hub.]

TV

Best Christmas Ever with Alexander Armstrong
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Royal Variety Performance 2018
I used to watch this every year but haven't for yonks (this ever-handy blog informs me it was 2012). This year I only watched because it was on shortly after the aforementioned Christmas programme and I got sucked in. And it was actually rather good on the whole, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

this week on 100 Films

The week began with a special announcement at 100 Films in a Year...





Click the image for more.

After that, 5 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Light the Fuse... Sartana is Coming (1970)

Arrow’s blurb claims this “brings the series to a fine conclusion”; that it “sees Sartana sign off on a high [in] one of the best entries in the series”. I’d almost go so far as to say the opposite — it was one of my least favourite. There’s fun along the way, to be sure, but the plot borders on the meaningless and therefore becomes a tad boring. It’s not a bad film, as this series goes, but it certainly feels like a generic one.

Read more here.


A Monster Calls (2016)

The most immediately striking element of A Monster Calls may be that it stars a giant tree monster with the grumbling voice of Liam Neeson, but this isn’t just a fantasy adventure, it’s a powerfully emotional drama about the pain of impending loss and grief. In this respect it’s not just a good movie, but potentially an important one — I can imagine it being of great help to children who find themselves in similar circumstances

Read more here.


The Shape of Water (2017)

I still can’t quite believe a creature-feature fantasy romance won Best Picture. It remains surreal to see a genre movie conquer the Oscars like that. Even The Lord of the Rings, for all its so-Fantasy-it-defined-the-genre-ness, has a lot of the “historical war epic” in its form (not to mention the genre-transcending cultural impact that film trilogy had), and so its win seems less striking than this out-and-out monster movie. Naturally, The Shape of Water doesn’t actually conform to the commonly-understood connotations of what a “monster movie” is, and therein lies what makes it something fresh, and therefore Best Picture material.

Read more here.


Shrek Forever After (2010)

DreamWorks’ golden-goose animated franchise was running out of fairytales to subvert, so this fourth — and final (for the time being) — movie turns its attention on the series itself... The filmmakers take this as an opportunity to give us a look at how characters might’ve turned out in a Shrek-less world... and it’s in this upending of familiarity that the film finds its greatest entertainment value.

Read more here.


Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

lives up to the hype, if you give it the time to get there. It's a movie that will satisfy comic book fans in particular, I think, but also anyone who enjoys animation as an artform. This isn't your standard Disney/Pixar/Illumination/etc fare, but a thrillingly-realised vision of what animation can do.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Michael McIntyre's Big Show
4x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
16x25 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
12x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Normally this post would have a running time update, because it's been four weeks since the last one, but I've decided to put that back a couple of weeks in order to do my usual "end of year" numbers post-Christmas.

For now, all there is to report is one new Blu-ray box set, its increases half wiped out by selling an old DVD.

Number of titles in collection: 2,175 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,145 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,030 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,588 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,444 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,312 [no change]
Number of short films: 649 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader, when (depending on the whims of Royal Mail) there may see a pre-Christmas surge.

TV

Have I Got News For You
56x08 (30/11/18 edition)
56x09 (7/12/18 edition)
56x10 (14/12/18 edition) [season finale]
[Watch these episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
24x11 (14/12/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)
[#257 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x07 A Christmas Carol Wendelson
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Live at the Apollo
14x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Death Becomes Her (1992)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #48

Films

The Shape of Water (2017)
[#256 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x06 Pool Show
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Music in Darkness (1948)
[#255 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Scooby-Doo (2002)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #47

TV

Doctor Who
37x10 The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Light the Fuse… Sartana is Coming (1970)
[#253 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
[#254 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

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


Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Entertainment is definitely the name of the game here, and to that end director Peyton Reed and the five credited screenwriters (including star Paul Rudd) set out to tickle various emotional responses. The most obvious one is, as mentioned, the funny — there are laugh-out-loud moments here, as well as a never-ending barrage of one-liners and comedic business. But it also takes time to be emotive and heartfelt.

Read more here.


Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)

a frustratingly imperfect experience. I believe it’s fundamentally a unique-enough variation on the material that it could’ve escaped the shadow of Disney’s film, but a few misguided creative decisions have dragged it down almost irreparably.

Read more here.


Sorry to Bother You (2018)

It felt like everyone was on about Sorry to Bother You early this year, after it was released in the US in July. It’s taken ’til now to make it to UK screens — I don’t know if that was a conscious delay, or if the outpouring of recommendations from critics and audiences on social media had something to do with creating demand for distribution. Anyway, it’s fortunate that, as a small movie, most of the discussion (that I saw) was about urging people to see it and not giving away the twist (naturally, this review is equally spoiler-free.), because it is indeed a helluva turn to come across unaware. As for the rest of the movie, well, I was less convinced.

Read more here.


February Review Roundup

Featuring:
- Being John Malkovich
- I Origins
- WarGames

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This post is a bit later than usual (not that there's anyone who'll notice) because a whole bunch of stuff only arrived this morning that required some working out to add to (and subtract from) the tallies below.

For starters, there's a 4K UHD Blu-ray box set which upgrades several Blu-rays... except I'm also keeping the original releases because they all have bonus discs. That's a whole bunch of discs I don't need and cases taking up space. Ugh. But I do love special features.

There's also a Blu-ray box set which upgrades a bunch of DVDs... except I'm keeping most of the DVDs too, for now, because the box set doesn't duplicate all of their special features. Ugh. But I do love special features.

As well as that, there's quite simply a pile of brand-new Blu-rays. It's been like Christmas here! Heck, I'll probably get fewer things than this for Christmas itself...

Number of titles in collection: 2,175 [up 8]
Of which DVDs: 1,146 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,029 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 9 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,586 [up 26]
Number of films: 2,441 [up 14]
Number of TV episodes: 8,312 [up 18]
Number of short films: 649 [up 8]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
24x10 (7/12/18 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)
[#252 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Snowpiercer (2013)
[#251 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Blindspot 2018 #12

TV

Great News
2x05 Night of the Living Screen
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Live at the Apollo
14x02 Episode 2
14x03 Episode 3
[Watch episodes two and three (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Princess Bride (1987)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #46

Films

Sorry to Bother You (2018)
[#250 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Great News
2x04 Award Show
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Torment (1944)
[#249 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Doctor Who
37x09 It Takes You Away
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
[#248 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

A perfect way to start the festive season.

this week on 100 Films

A new month began this weekend, and so it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the last one...





Also this week, 4 brand-new reviews...


Creed (2015)

I feel wrong enjoying Creed the most out of the Rocky movies — like I’m just going for the most recent one, as if new = best — but the major reason I loved it so much is the way it has reverence for and builds on the past. As a standalone movie, it’s more-or-less equal to the best of the original Rocky films; but as specifically the seventh film in the Rocky series, it stands atop that 40-year history to add extra weight to everything.

Read more here.


The Greatest Showman (2017)

I can see why The Greatest Showman was unpopular with critics but a huge hit with audiences — it’s a proper crowd-pleaser; a big, cheesy, easy extravaganza, similar to its pop-style music. That’s not the sort of thing critics are enamoured of, but it is the kind of thing that tickles the fancy of the masses. On the whole, it didn’t appeal to me... but it did have its moments.

Read more here.


Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (1970)

Gianni Garko's back in the saddle as the titular roguish hero for the fourth official Sartana movie, which is apparently regarded as the best one — that's what the guys on Arrow's commentary track say, anyway, and it's borne out by viewer ratings on websites like IMDb. I can't say I felt similarly, though after listening to that audio commentary, their enthusiasm and highlighting of the good stuff did help increase my enjoyment.

Read more here.


RoboCop (2014)

It should be cutting and provocative, but it’s just bland. That’s the biggest shame, because if there’s a movie 2018 needs it’s one about corrupt businessmen hijacking the government’s decision-making while right-wing TV chatterers cheer them on and police officers are replaced by an ultimate-killing-machine robot.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Ant-Man and the Wasp 3D (2018)
[#247 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

This week's update includes all sorts: a DVD to 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrade, a Blu-ray to Blu-ray upgrade, a Blu-ray to 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrade, and two plain ol' new additions, too.

Number of titles in collection: 2,167 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,019 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 8 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,560 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,427 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,294 [no change]
Number of short films: 641 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.