Saturday 30 November 2019

TV

The Great Model Railway Challenge
2x03 Heat Three: Best of British
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Michael McIntyre's Big Show
5x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
17x21 Week 11 (aka Musicals)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 2,271 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,125 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,146 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 37 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,902 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,634 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,649 [no change]
Number of short films: 675 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Friday 29 November 2019

Monday 25 November 2019

Sunday 24 November 2019

TV

Agatha Raisin
2x01 The Wizard of Evesham [2nd watch]

Films

Easy Virtue (2008)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #26

this week on 100 Films

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


Judy & Punch (2019)
There’s no set version of Punch and Judy — each puppeteer has their own spin on the events of the tale and which characters show up — but there are certain elements that are, I suppose, considered standards and widely associated with the show. Here, Foulkes takes all of those familiar tropes and remixes them into a freshly imagined origin story... The setting is somewhere in Europe (never specified, and there’s a wide-ranging mix of accents to be heard), sometime in the past (it seems quite medieval, but there are buildings and notions that date from later), in a town called Seaside… which is nowhere near the sea. Judy & Punch comes with a hefty dose of absurdity and whimsy that calls to mind the work of Terry Gilliam
Read more here.


Shorts of FilmBath Festival 2019
Across the 2019 FilmBath Festival programme, 46 short films were screened — 23 attached to feature films, 17 at a dedicated ‘Shorts Showcase’, and six at the IMDb New Filmmaker Award ceremony (five in competition, one the film made from the winning screenplay of the IMDb Script to Screen Award). I saw 14 of these, one way or another, and have compiled my reviews into this (commensurately long) post.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Saturday 23 November 2019

TV

Doctor Who Series 12 Trailer
Exciting!

Films

What We Did on Our Holiday (2014)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #25

Collection Count

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

Three new purchases this week, though as one is a BD-to-BD upgrade it doesn't register at all on these stats.

Number of titles in collection: 2,270 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,125 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,145 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 37 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,900 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,633 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,649 [no change]
Number of short films: 675 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Thursday 21 November 2019

Wednesday 20 November 2019

TV

World on Fire
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys
1x03 New Zealand
No offence to the featured people of New Zealand, who all seem thoroughly lovely and likeable, but this episode kind of plays like a Taika Waititi mockumentary.
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Tuesday 19 November 2019

TV

Novels That Shaped Our World
1x01 A Woman's Place
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

World on Fire
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The five nominees for the IMDb New Filmmaker Award at FilmBath Festival 2019. The winner was Gladiators on Wheels, while the audience award went to Hey You.

Facing It (2018)
[#145e in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Gladiators on Wheels (2019)
[#145b in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Hey You (2019)
[#145a in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Tight Spot (2018)
[#145c in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

When Voices Unite (2017)
[#145d in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Monday 18 November 2019

TV

His Dark Materials
1x03 The Spies
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 17
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sunday 17 November 2019

TV

His Dark Materials
1x02 The Idea of North
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Jojo Rabbit (2019)
[#145 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
[#144 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


Little Monsters (2019)
Strumming a ukulele in her yellow sundress as she communicates with children on their level, Miss Caroline screams “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”. Fortunately, in the hands of Oscar-winner Nyong’o, there’s more to her than that, be it her savvy handling of Dave (clearly the latest in a long line of lustful dads) or wielding a spade to fight the undead. That sentiment perhaps extends to the film as a whole: it may be constructed from familiar building blocks, but its peppered with enough little moments of freshness
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Saturday 16 November 2019

Collection Count

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

Two new titles this week; an adjustment to the total number of discs (which I somehow totally messed up last week); and the monthly running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 2,268 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,125 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,143 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 37 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,898 [down 3]
Number of films: 2,631 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,649 [no change]
Number of short films: 675 [up 1]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
431 days, 9 hours, and 55 minutes.
(Up 8 hours and 56 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

Friday 15 November 2019

Thursday 14 November 2019

TV

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 16
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

And Then We Danced (2019)
[#142 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Spooning (2019)
[#141b in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Terra (2019)
[#141a in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Wednesday 13 November 2019

Films

Filmfarsi (2019)
[#141 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

My Theatre (2019)
[#140a in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Tuesday 12 November 2019

Monday 11 November 2019

Sunday 10 November 2019

TV

His Dark Materials
1x01 Lyra's Jordan
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

I was away last week and forgot to get the post setup; but as there was only one new addition, and it was a fairly straight DVD-to-BD upgrade, its changes would've been barely noticeable anyhow.

Though they're even less noticeable after one of this week's additions -- something complicated that turned up last minute, hence this update being late (not that anyone cares). That was the Batman Beyond Blu-ray set, which upgrades the series DVD but, in the UK release, doesn't include the movie on Blu-ray (despite how it was advertised). So, I've kept my uncut US DVD of the movie (for now -- I intend to upgrade to a standalone BD version later), and the six-disc BD series set replaces the nine-disc DVD series set -- which means that, despite adding four new titles this week, overall there's a drop in the number of discs.

Number of titles in collection: 2,266 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,125 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,141 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 37 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,901 [down 1]
Number of films: 2,629 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,649 [no change]
Number of short films: 674 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

Only 1 new post at 100 Films in a Year this week...


FilmBath Festival – Opening Night
FilmBath is a local festival giving local people a chance to see previews ahead of general release; films that have already been released but didn’t make it to one of Bath’s cinemas; and smaller, interesting movies that might be difficult to see at all outside a festival. The opening night kicked off the festival with a double bill of the first of those, including an exciting late addition to the lineup — so late it didn’t even make the brochure... I saw both films, and I’ll write full reviews nearer their wide releases, but for the time being here are some thoughts.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Saturday 9 November 2019

Friday 8 November 2019

TV

The Graham Norton Show
26x07 (8/11/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
58x04 (1/11/2019 edition)
58x05 (8/11/2019 edition)
[Watch the 1/11 and 8/11 editions (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 15
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
13x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Thursday 7 November 2019

Tuesday 5 November 2019

TV

The Graham Norton Show
26x06 (1/11/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain.
by Martin Scorsese (from the New York Times)

This Scorsese fella is a clever and insightful chap. I think he'll go far.

Monday 4 November 2019

TV

Comedians Giving Lectures
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]

Would I Lie To You?
13x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sunday 3 November 2019

TV

Prince Charles: Inside the Duchy of Cornwall
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

this week on 100 Films

It's been a very quiet time of late at 100 Films in a Year. In fact, it's nearly a whole month since the last "this week on 100 Films" post. But this week finally saw a bit of activity.

Firstly: we're in a new month, so it was time to recap the old one -- what there was of it.





There was also a very belated TV column...





Finally, there was one new film review...


The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)
Sometimes I think the people who made these movies shouldn’t be allowed to work again. The dialogue, the editing, the obvious green screen, the cheapo effects… it’s not just that it’s a crummy story with dubious morals, it’s that the films are so shittily made.
Read more here.


More next Sunday (hopefully!)

Saturday 2 November 2019

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 31

I thought it'd been a couple of days since I read any of this, but it turned out to be almost two weeks... then I still didn't get round to reading more, and now it's been over a month! But I haven't given up on it, accidentally nor deliberately, I've just been really busy (hence why I went so long without realising).