Articles

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair Has Small Changes That Produce Big Results by Germain Lussier
(from /Film)
Seems they've been screening the single-film cut of Kill Bill in LA to celebrate Tarantino's birthday. Any chance of the long-promised DVD/Blu-ray release too, mm?

Peter Jackson Explains Why He’s Shooting The Hobbit at 48 Frames Per Second by Peter Sciretta
(from /Film)
If you're a filmy person like me, this is very interesting. For the layperson, probably not so much.

TV

Law & Order: UK
4x05 Shaken
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Yes Minister
3x06 The Whisky Priest

Films

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
[#43 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Directed by Sidney Lumet, who sadly died yesterday.

this week on 100 Films

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

Cloak and Dagger (1946)

A World War II espionage thriller about the OSS — spies, basically, and the forerunner to the CIA. Despite all the thrills this should elicit, especially when directed by Fritz Lang, I wasn’t particularly impressed... a bit pedestrian and lacklustre; certainly not up to the other Langs I’ve seen from his time in Hollywood.

The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)

One solution to the sequel problem is to “make it personal”, and that’s exactly what we get. A journalist and his girlfriend working for Mikael are murdered and Lisbeth is suspected of the crime. It’s somewhere around here that the coincidences begin to pile up. It makes perfect sense as a plot in itself, but in bringing Mikael and Lisbeth back together it doesn’t work

Monkey Business (1952)

we see a happily married couple wind up happily married having been through no real strain... the story consists of “Cary Grant behaves like a college boy” followed by “Ginger Rogers behaves like a stroppy newlywed” followed by “Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers behave like 6-year-olds”.

Monsters (2010)

Expecting an epic SF-action movie where soldiers kitted out with futuristic weaponry battle an alien menace? You might be disappointed... this is a science-fiction film that transcends the sci-fi genre. It’s got more in common with Lost in Translation or Before Sunrise than it does with Independence Day or Battle: Los Angeles.

Plus, later tonight look for my review of the final part of the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.

More next Sunday.

TV

Britain's Got the Pop Factor ...and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice
[2nd watch]
They repeated this last month to coincide with the new Comic Relief single. It's still remarkably accurate and hilarious funny... but, sadly, it wasn't actually "the talent show to end all talent shows".

Films

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2009)
[#42 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
And that concludes my viewing of the Millennium trilogy. You can read my reviews of the first two here and here; my review of this one should be up Sunday night/Monday morning (depending how you look at it).

TV

Doctor Who
31x01 The Eleventh Hour [3rd watch]
31x01a Meanwhile in the TARDIS
I've decided to try to re-watch the last series before the new one starts. Once upon a time I was working my way through the relaunched series one a year, but never got round to doing series four or the specials; really ought to go back to that. Anyway, I've got a couple of weeks 'til the sixth run starts; should be enough time for this lot.
Oh, and this time round I'll be watching the two Meanwhile in the TARDIS bits included on the DVD/Blu-rays -- a pair of short scenes that bridge the gap between two stories. This first one plugs the slight gap between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below.

Have I Got News For You
41x01 (8/4/11 edition)
Hurrah for HIGNFY being back! Boo for them not showing the extended version thanks to golf. Why is sport always allowed to rule the schedules?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
7x17 Fall From Grace
Helluvan ending on this one...

The Mentalist
3x15 Red Gold
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Articles

Behind the scenes of Secret Cinema by Dave Calhoun
(from Time Out London)
Someone in this article describes Secret Cinema as "impressive, if you can put up with a load of Hooray Henrys running around", which is more-or-less how it's always struck me. Despite having no desire to go anywhere near attending one thanks to the latter element, the first is enough to keep it intriguing. Something this article does too -- it refuses to reveal the next film, but has left me dying to know what it is.

Collection Count

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

After the ton of stuff last week, not so much this time. A couple of new BDs, including one upgrade that loses a disc but adds a film (with a different cut of the same feature).

Number of titles in collection: 1,291 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,102 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 189 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,216 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,360 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,794 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x11 (31/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friday Night Dinner
1x05 The Mercedes
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Twenty Twelve
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

My Neighbour Totoro (1988) [#41 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Articles

Spoiler Alert! by Chris
(from Catmachine)
Or, why some people who obsess about spoilers are stupid. The Joss Whedon/Buffy example is mind-boggling but priceless.
Be warned though, this article contains spoilers for The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects (I'm nice really, see).

TV

Family Guy
3x11 Emission Impossible
3x12 To Love and Die in Dixie [2nd watch]
3x13 Screwed the Pooch
3x14 Peter Griffin: Husband, Father...Brother?

Just Good Friends
3x01 Paris

The Mentalist
3x14 Blood For Blood
Good ending, but implausible setup -- surely a witness of that level would have more than one officer guarding him?!
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Monroe
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

BBC Doctor Who Press Screening roundup by Chuck Foster
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Does what it says on the tin. And it's a nicely thorough one, with lots of interesting quotes -- not all of them sycophantically positive either.

Where did all the projectionists go? by David Jenkins
(from Time Out London)

A quiet revolution is going on behind your back at the cinema. Old-style projectors are making way for spanking new hard drives. But is this a good or a bad thing?

There's a lot of nostalgia attached to projection and the 'art' of the projectionist; reaction to this article on twitter, for example, seemed largely to bemoan the death of 35mm projection in favour of digital.
But that's rubbish. Digital projection offers a more consistently high-quality experience -- you don't get damaged prints, you get badly-configured projectors less often, and so on. And as a projectionist in the article notes, "I don’t think 35mm projection was ever an art. It’s more a routine job with an opportunity to produce an okay presentation standard. There’s no personal signature".
The article's still worth a read, I just don't think (even as a fan of film and grain and so on) it's as much of a loss as some do.

TV

Extraordinary Dogs
1x09 A Study of Strength
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x04 Code Ed
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Silk
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
That's how you end a series when you're unsure of a second run -- Outcasts producers, take note. Also a damn good ending to a damn good series, so thank goodness there will be a second run.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Event
1x13 Turnabout
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Law & Order: UK
4x04 Duty of Care
Another particularly good one -- they're on a roll this series.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Monsters (2010)
[#40 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
It was almost a lovely coincidence: last year's #39 was another Brit-written/directed/produced flick set in America starring Americans, Kick-Ass. If only I'd watched Monsters slightly sooner...

TV

Family Guy
3x09 Mr. Saturday Knight
3x10 A Fish Out of Water

House
7x16 Out of the Chute

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x20 Day 20 [season finale]
And, thankfully, The Killing II will be on later this year.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The original title translates as Men Who Hate Women, which is certainly very apt. The subject matter is grim and dark; horribly plausible, in fact. It’s unwaveringly depicted with some brutal, hard-to-watch scenes. They’re not exploitative though, as a lesser film merrily would be, and that makes them appropriate to the tale being told.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

starts out like a relatively normal comedy/drama… but then weird touches begin to crop in. A house that’s on fire when a character buys it and continues to be on fire for the next several decades, for instance. No one in the film bats an eyelid. Then the really weird bit arrives... as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s theatre director begins to construct a life-size New York within a warehouse.

This week also sees a couple of other updates: firstly, the monthly summary for March -- in short: it's going well -- and secondly, I was nominated for a Stylish Blogger Award. Read about it (in the comments) on the about page. Plus, my review of The Girl Who Played With Fire will be available from midnight tonight.

More next Sunday.

TV

Just Good Friends
3x00 Christmas Special
It might seem like it was only recently, with Rock & Chips, that John Sullivan unveiled his long-held desire to write Proper Drama as well as comedy. This feature-length edition of Just Good Friends -- which tells the backstory of the characters, so central to the series proper -- tells a different story: it's surprisingly serious and, at times, quite dark... and it was made 25 years before Rock & Chips.

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x19 Day 19
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009)
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Friday Night Dinner
1x04 The Dress
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

This is Britain with Andrew Marr
Rather interesting survey of what the census tells us about Britain and how it's changed -- or hasn't --, often in surprising ways.

Articles

His Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: George R. R. Martin Talks Game of Thrones by Dave Itzkoff
(from Arts Beat at The New York Times)
That'd be the author of the fantasy book series talking about the forthcoming much-anticipated TV adaptation, amongst other things. Good interview.

Source Code is the best reviewed studio movie of the year so far and why that's great news by Mike Sampson
(from JoBlo.com)
Title sums up the topic. Read it to see why.

Collection Count

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

Quite a few shiny updates this week, most of them arriving last minute (i.e. yesterday or this morning), including the two TV series I mentioned last week, a DVD-to-BD upgrade, and a set of DVD-to-DVD upgrades. Typically, the last two were the ones that arrived this morning, so working all that out last-minute is why this update is a couple of hours late (not that anyone's noticed, I'm sure).

If you're interested, despite only going up 4, there's a total of 7 new acquisitions with 24 discs factored in this week.

There would've been one more too, but somehow my copy of Sin City had two Disc 2s and no Disc 1. Madness. It was ordered from bee.com, who don't do replacements (they do refunds, of course; they legally have to). The idea being you re-order if you have to return... except most of the stuff they sell seems to be limited stock sold dirt cheap, so by the time you've realised you need a replacement it's too late. Grr.

One other title is from them this week. It was new & sealed, but is marked "Rental Only. Not For Resale." I think I might give bee.com a miss from now on...

Number of titles in collection: 1,289 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,103 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 186 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,214 [up 15]
Number of films in collection: 1,357 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,794 [up 35]

Plus this week it's time for a running time update -- which just made adding those upgrades take even longer -- but anyway...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
230 days, 18 hours, and 55 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 8 hours, and 23 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x10 (24/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Monroe
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Day of the Locust (1975)
[#38 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Articles

Dirk Gently series commissioned by Paul Jones
(from Radio Times News)
I enjoyed the pilot, so this is super news.

Outnumbered renewed for fourth season by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)
And another bit of recommission excellence.

Thinking with another man's mind by Roger Ebert
(from rogerebert.com)
Ebert is always worth a read, so his review of Source Code is no exception. Sounds great too. And it reminds me that I really need to watch Moon...

TV

Family Guy
3x05 And the Wiener Is...
3x06 Death Lives
3x07 Lethal Weapons [2nd watch]
3x08 The Kiss Seen Around the World

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x18 Day 18
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Twenty Twelve
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Trailers

Doctor Who Series 6 Trailer
As they mucked up the broadcast, catch it online. It's brilliant and ever so exciting.

Articles

BBC One Controller Danny Cohen confirms recommission of Silk
(from BBC Press Office)
Hooray!

TV

Family Guy
3x01 The Thin White Line
3x02 Brian Does Hollywood
3x03 Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington
3x04 One If by Clam, Two If by Sea

Mark Lawson Talks To
David Mitchell
I ought to make more of an effort to watch Lawson's interviews more often, he's really very good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x03 The Truth About Dads & Moms
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Silk
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

New Tree Of Life Poster Online by Phil de Semlyen
(from Empire)
Empire managed to create something of a fuss online by revealing the UK release date for this film -- they were branded liars and contradicted by grumpy, self-righteous US critics -- but it looks like they were right after all. Fortunately, such kerfuffle has been somewhat overshadowed by this rather intriguing poster.

Why The Dark Knight Rises Could Be The Most Important Superhero Movie Ever by Devin Faraci
(from Badass Digest)
If we're lucky. But more than that, this is quite well-reasoned and reasonable (as opposed to just "cos Chris Nolan is awesome dude!")

TV

Law & Order: UK
4x03 ID
Particularly good one, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

2011.12: Raging Bull (1980) **** by ghostof82
(from Musings of the Ghost Of 82)
Ignore the title -- this is more about "the further difficulties of commenting on first watching a film so many years after it was made", and has some interesting things to say on that topic (some of them through the prism of Raging Bull).

TV

House
7x15 Bombshells
Taub loves classic Doctor Who? Butch and Sundance spoof? "Good thing I brought my axe-cane"? Best. House. Ever.

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x17 Day 17
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

3 Men and a Baby (1987)
[2nd watch]
This is one of those many films and TV series (like, for instance, Due South) that I know I saw when I was young but don't really remember any specifics of any more. Good fun, though I think it loses its way when the mother turns up -- no one asks or explains why she left the baby and where she's been!
Oh, and it's directed by Leonard Nimoy! Spock! Spock directed this! Madness.

High Plains Drifter (1973)
[#36 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Young Guns (1988)
[#37 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Good day for films, eh? And, quite by coincidence, two new Westerns too.

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, both of animated films, and they were...

Bolt (2008)

the 48th film in Disney’s animated canon, from their CG-only era that filled most of the ’00s. It’s a period already remembered as When Disney Lost Its Way... Things are looking up — it’s been followed by The Princess and the Frog — but it may be Bolt that comes to be seen as the true turning point, because it’s actually rather good.

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Steven Spielberg reportedly called it “one of the greatest adventure movies of all time”, and I’m inclined to agree. For starters, the action sequences are brilliant — exciting, inventive and varied. I don’t know if Spielberg saw this before tackling any of the Indiana Joneses, but you can feel the tonal connection.

I also had a little ponder about star ratings, which can be read here. Plus you can read my review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (at that link) from midnight tonight.

More next Sunday.

TV

Yes Minister
3x05 The Bed of Nails

Films

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
[#35 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Doctor Who
32x00a The Prequel to Episode 1
Doctor Who returns to our screens in a month's time, on Saturday 23rd April, but here's a short (under two minutes) prequel to the first story, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. It's more teaser trailer than mini-episode, but then they can hardly go putting an essential scene here -- it'll only be seen by a small fraction of the audience for the real episode. Still, nice little tease.
[Watch it on the BBC Doctor Who website.]

Family Guy
2x20 Wasted Talent
2x21 Fore Father [season finale]
3x22 When You Wish Upon a Weinstein [season finale; 2nd watch]

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x16 Day 16
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
3x13 Red Alert
Having earlier this season downloaded it because Five -- sorry, Channel 5 -- weren't showing it quickly enough, I now find myself catching up on them again. C'est la vie.
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Yes Minister
3x04 The Moral Dimension [2nd watch]

Films

The Three Musketeers Teaser Trailer
I know what I should think, but I can't decide if this actually looks bloody awful or bloody awesome.

Collection Count

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

Two TV series make the number-boosting this week. Should be some more next week too.

Number of titles in collection: 1,285 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,102 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 183 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,199 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,353 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,759 [up 22]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x09 (17/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Family Guy
2x16 There's Something About Paulie
2x17 He's Too Sexy for His Fat
2x18 E. Peterbus Unum
2x19 The Story on Page One

Monroe
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Yes Minister
3x03 The Skeleton in the Cupboard

TV

Christopher and His Kind
Quite good, though I have to say I wasn't that enamoured with Matt Smith in it. Good work from Imogen Poots and Pip Carter though.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Extraordinary Dogs
1x08 Critical Sight
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x15 Day 15
OK, this is definitely the final story arc now... right?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Night of the Demon (1957)
[#34 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 5 (of 5)
As the highlights series reaches its end, we've had clips from every game played except for two. I can only presume Room 101 and What's My Line just weren't funny enough.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x02 Wi-Fight
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Silk
1x04 Episode 4
Tough night for Clive in this episode! I imagine it'll all work out in his favour though, it usually seems to.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Twenty Twelve
1x02 Episode 2
I won't be surprised if this turns out to be the best thing to come of next year's London Olympics.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Event
1x11 And Then There Were More
1x12 Inostranka
A few people still seem to slag off The Event. Not entirely sure why -- it's not the greatest show ever, but it's better than something like FlashForward and it moves at a fair lick. I've missed it a little bit these past three months, and this double-bill return (only a week behind the US, as it turns out) certainly hits the ground running and keeps the pace up, so hurrah.
[Watch And Then There Were More and Inostranka (again) on 4oD.]

The Graham Norton Show
8x20 (11/3/11 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
7x14 Recession Proof

Law & Order: UK
4x02 Denial
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Yes Minister
3x02 The Challenge

Films

Death Race (2008)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Family Guy
2x11 A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Bucks
2x12 Fifteen Minutes of Shame
2x13 Road to Rhode Island [2nd watch]
2x14 Let's Go to the Hop
2x15 Dammit Janet!

this week on 100 Films

5 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, including three from 1953 (for no particular reason). And they were...

The Big Heat (1953)

The cast are excellent. Glenn Ford is a suitably square-jawed lead; Alexander Scourby a detestable gentleman-villain; Lee Marvin a truly brutal thug. The best part goes to Gloria Grahame however, in a role that moves from a ditzy minor broad to so much more. In the performance stakes, it’s certainly her film.

Genevieve (1953)

The titular Genevieve is a classic car — bearing in mind this was made in the early ’50s, we’re talking properly classic — that takes part in a two-day drive from London to Brighton and back again. It’s not a race, though competing friends turn it into one. That’s about the gist of it.

Let Me In (2010)

The nighttime scenes are bathed in the orange glow of street-lighting, a nice choice of colour scheme as it’s evocative of the real world, especially as it’s not unnaturally overdone: the colour is abundant where there is such lighting, but more natural tones are used in forests, etc.

Let the Right One In (2008)

We’re used to vampire films being Dark, visually, due to the necessity of a nighttime setting, but here the snow-covered locale makes most of the night scenes bright and white. Alfredson emphasises this with wide compositions that fill the frame with the white stuff.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Hepburn seems to be effortlessly likeable, and it’s easy to sympathise with the idea that seeing the sights and having fun in an iconic city is a lot more better than meeting a bunch of stuffy old men.

Having posted reviews of both Let the Right One In and its remake, I also did a bit of a comparison, which you can read here.

More next Sunday.

TV

Comic Relief 2011
The post-midnight bit, obviously, which (unlike Children in Need) actually includes new, good stuff. Particularly liked the celeb version of Newport State of Mind.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Jack and Kevin's Comic Relief Lock In
Comic Relief's regular "the main show's over so here's a pre-recorded clip show" bit, featuring some familiar sketches/sitcom clips alongside some never-shown-on-TV-before bits. Personally I hadn't see the majority, so that was nice.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Outcasts
1x08 Episode 8 [series finale]
And that's that. I shan't really miss it, and neither will most people, though it did get better towards the end. Nonetheless, I'm sure it'll be largely forgotten. Some mysteries left hanging though -- damn the makers' assumption they'd get a second run! Maybe someone will answer them at some point, somehow...
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Yes Minister
3x01 Equal Opportunities

Articles

The First Films by Peter Bogdanovich
(from Blogdanovich)

Today is the 116th anniversary of the first day ever a film was shot: March 19, 1895, in Lyon, France.

Good piece on this subject, basically.

TV

Comic Relief 2011
Very good one this year, I think -- lots of entertaining sketches and powerful films.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Collection Count

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

A couple of numbers go a couple up this week. Lovely.

Number of titles in collection: 1,283 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,101 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 182 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,192 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,353 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,737 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x08 (10/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 4 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Extraordinary Dogs
1x07 Instinct: The Sixth Sense 1
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friday Night Dinner
1x03 The Curtains
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Damned (1963)
[#31 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 3 (of 5)
Including Celebrity Juice, which is even worse than I always thought it was, something I didn't think possible. People actually watch this for pleasure? Really? Seriously? Seriously?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Family Guy
2x08 I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar [2nd watch]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2011
Episode 4 (of 4)
Very pleased about the winner. Made even better by seeing how annoyed the runner-up was, especially as he clearly thought he was going to win when the final two were announced. (In all honesty, I don't like him at the best of times, but that was especially satisfying.)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Monroe
1x01 Episode 1
Very good. I can see why there are constant comparisons to House in the press -- it's about a genius doctor, after all -- but they're also a tad unfair, because as a programme it's not really very like House.
I didn't like the music though; bit too far down the jolly route.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 2 (of 5)
A very game-show-y episode, in some cases a bit too cut-down. Oh well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How TV Ruined Your Life
1x06 Knowledge [final episode]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x01 Pilot
Hm, well, we'll see.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Silk
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Stand Up for the Week
2x01 (12/3/11 edition)
Slightly surprised to see this back. Still not sure if I like it or not.
Though Micky Flanagan's material is typically out of date. A routine about Gok Wan? Really? His show started five years ago and Flanagan begins, "there's this guy on TV now called Gok Wan". Ugh.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Twenty Twelve
1x01 Episode 1
As it turned out, very topical. They couldn't've asked for more.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Quarantine 2 Trailer Goes Viral by Owen Williams
(from Empire)
So the first film was criticised for being a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but the sequel -- sequels of course being known for their repetitive derivativeness -- is nothing like the plot of either the first film or the original's sequel? Mind = blown.

Steven Spielberg on Tintin: ‘It made me more like a painter than ever before’ by Rachel Abramowitz
(from Hero Complex at Los Angeles Times)
A brief, interesting piece on why Spielberg chose motion capture to realise his forthcoming Tintin film.

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 1 (of 5)
Remember when this happened live? Well now here's the highlights.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
7x13 Two Stories
An exceptionally entertaining episode, I thought.

Law & Order: UK
4x01 Help
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Yes Minister
2x07 A Question of Loyalty [season finale]

Articles

Interview: Ben Richards, writer/creator of Outcasts by Dan Owen
(from Dan's Media Digest)
A lot of discussion about what did (or didn't) go wrong with Outcasts. I don't agree with a lot of it -- especially what's said in the last two paragraphs -- but it's interesting to see the creator's perspective. (And, in case you haven't heard/guessed, it's been cancelled.)

TV

Outcasts
1x07 Episode 7
That was actually quite good. Still marred by myriad niggles, but better than most of the series. Too little too late, mind.
The last episode was on tonight. I read it doesn't contain all the answers, mainly because the makers hoped they'd get another series. Oh well.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

South Riding
Part 3 (of 3)
Well that turned out surprisingly grim...
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Back to just 1 new review being posted on 100 Films in a Year again this week...

Melinda and Melinda (2004)

If it wasn’t for the framing device that clearly tells us not only the thematic point of the film but also which bit is the comedy and which the tragedy, I don’t think it would be immediately possible to tell which was which. Indeed, one might think that was Allen’s point: life is neither tragedy nor comedy, but both at the same time, so of course you can’t tell the difference.

More (hopefully, more than one) next Sunday.

TV

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x14 Day 14
How are there six episodes left?! Surely all is nearly solved? It's ever so tense, exciting and moreish. This is what 24 used to feel like back when it was good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2011
Episode 3 (of 4)
That largely felt like watching a parade of irritating also-rans. Why are some of these people allowed to befoul my television screen? At least watching on iPlayer allows one to fastforward crap 'music' like The Wanted.

Top Gear
16x07 Best of Top Gear
I say I watched this -- I ended up fastforwarding the whole thing as, unlike what the listing said, it wasn't so much "the best of 2010" as "the best of a few week's ago". Indeed, they'd actually taken the start & end of one episode and the middle of another and just glued them together. Lazy. And, when the whole series is still on iPlayer, pointless. There's another "best of" this week -- probably not worth bothering with either.
[Watch it (again), if you really want, in HD on iPlayer.]

Yes Minister
2x06 The Quality of Life

Films

Let Me In (2010)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Having now watched both, and with this one out on DVD & Blu-ray from Monday, I shall aim to have reviews of both up by Sunday midnight. We'll see...

TV

Due South
3x11 Asylum [2nd watch]

Family Guy
2x03 Da Boom
2x04 Brian in Love

The Graham Norton Show
8x19 (4/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Let the Right One In (2008)
[#29 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
And tomorrow, Hammer's US remake, Let Me In.

Articles

10 o'Clock Live: an alternative (comedy) view by Laura Pledger
(from What We've Been Watching... at Radio Times)
10 O'Clock Live is an easy target, really, but this is nonetheless well observed and amusing.

Tarantino 'sues True Blood's Ball over macaws' by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
This is a quite spectacularly odd story.

Collection Count

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

This week's updates include a new TV series on Blu-ray, an upgrade of a TV series from DVD to BD, and a BD that isn't out 'til Monday. Shiny.

Number of titles in collection: 1,280 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,101 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 179 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,189 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,349 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,737 [up 7]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x07 (3/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Extraordinary Dogs
1x06 The Mystery of Healing 2
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Fast and Loose
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friday Night Dinner
1x02 The Jingle
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

My Life in Books
Episode 10 Robert Harris and Trinny Woodall (of 10)
While it would be going too far to say everyone's been worth listening to, this has been a consistently interesting series. Some more wouldn't go amiss... though whether the Beeb will consider it or just file it away as part of their "year of reading", who can say.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Guillermo del Toro Confirms He’ll Direct Pacific Rim; Talks Future of At the Mountains of Madness by Matt Goldberg
(from Collider.com)
Following on from yesterday's article, del Toro himself speaks a bit about what went wrong and why there's still a good deal of hope for the project.

Invasion of the stick figures from outer space! by Roger Ebert
(from rogerebert.com)
Ebert's beautifully scathing review of Battle: Los Angeles.

TV

Due South
3x10 Perfect Strangers [2nd watch]

Family Guy
2x05 Love Thy Trophy
2x06 Death is a Bitch
2x07 The King is Dead
In the unlikely event anyone's keeping track, this is where the UK Season 1 DVD comes to an end.

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x13 Day 13
If you've still not watched any of this, start it now and you can watch one a day (which, considering each episode covers a day (more or less) is rather neat) before it disappears from iPlayer. If you like high-quality thrillers or crime drama, you won't regret it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

My Life in Books
Episode 9 Larry Lamb and Sarah Millican (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Is it fair to blame Universal for the state of the industry today? by Drew McWeeny
(from Motion Captured at HitFix)
In the wake of Universal cancelling Guillermo del Toro's H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness, McWeeny looks at the reaction from other websites and explores why this decision is regrettable but completely understandable and, actually, not Universal's fault at all. A very interesting piece.

TV

Extraordinary Dogs
1x05 Above and Beyond Loyalty
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Family Guy
2x02 Holy Crap
2x09 If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'

House
7x12 You Must Remember This

How TV Ruined Your Life
1x05 Progress
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

My Life in Books
Episode 8 Duchess of Devonshire and Elizabeth McGovern (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

My Life in Books
Episode 7 Jeanette Winterson and Alastair Campbell (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Silk
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Yes Minister
2x05 The Devil You Know

Films

Unthinkable (2010)
[#28 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Outcasts
1x06 Episode 6
There are flashes (brief, brief flashes) of really-quite-good-ness in Outcasts... but most of it is just unremittingly poor writing, be that implausible dialogue or hole-riddled plotting. Still, only two episodes left.
[Subject yourself to it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

South Riding
Part 2 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
16x06 (27/2/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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

The Four Musketeers (1974)

this second effort has less action, which could be fine, but more importantly it’s less fun. In and of itself such a statement doesn’t make it bad, but it consequently fails to fulfil the promise of the first film. It’s also a little more ramshackle… Considering Three Musketeers has a kind of endearing scrappiness to it, that a similar factor becomes a negative point here either means they took it too far or there was a certain luck to the first film hanging together.

The Three Musketeers (1973)

Where to begin? The action, I suppose. It’s loaded with the stuff. It puts later movies — from eras when we’re more accustomed to non-stop, regularly-paced action than the ’70s — to shame with its barrage of sword fights. And if you think they’d all be the same and become repetitive, you’re dead wrong.

I do stick with alphabetical on this, but it feels silly now.

Anyway, there's also the February update this week.

More next Sunday.

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Saw various bits of this live webstream throughout the afternoon and evening, in which David Walliams (and others, naturally) complete 19 different panel shows in one 24 hour period. With lots of long breaks for set changes and that kind of malarky, which for viewers of the live stream means cutting to some budget presenters in a "pod". It's still going on right now (unless they're on a break, but you know what I mean) and is due to finish at midday. The (almost) complete schedule is here. BBC Three will be showing a series of highlights programmes next week.
[Watch the live stream here.]

The Culture Show
The Books We Really Read [special]
Part of BBC Two's Culture Show-based coverage of World Book Night (indeed, the only bit I properly watched), Sue Perkins looks at what makes blockbuster books sell while literary fiction... doesn't. Including Sophie Kinsella being reasonable and Lee Child coming across as a right idiot.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Due South
3x09 Dead Guy Running [2nd watch]

Faulks on Fiction
Part 4 The Villain [final episode]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x12 Day 12
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2011
Episode 2 (of 4)
As much as I enjoyed the tap dancing, I really didn't expect the British public to put it through first! Shame about Lulu too, though Noel Fielding has a better chance of beating Russell Kane, so...

My Life in Books
Episode 6 Sister Wendy and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (of 10)
A dry edition of what's otherwise been an entertaining and pleasantly fast-moving watch. I can see why this episode is tucked away in the middle of the run.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Cloak and Dagger (1946)
[#27 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Due South
3x08 Spy vs. Spy [2nd watch]
Even by Due South's standards, this episode was barmy.

Family Guy
1x07 Brian: Portrait of a Dog [season finale]
2x01 Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater
2x10 Running Mates

The Graham Norton Show
8x18 (25/2/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
[#26 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Christ, it's nearly two-and-a-half years since I read this! And I've been meaning to watch it ever since.

Collection Count

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

After everything turned up last week, there's still a few left over this week (just): three new titles and a DVD-to-BD upgrade. Thrilling. But on the bright side, running time update for the lot of it! Yay!

Number of titles in collection: 1,278 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,102 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 176 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 3,185 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,348 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,730 [up 22]

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

Total running time of collection (approx.):
228 days, 10 hours, and 32 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 13 hours, and 55 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x06 (24/2/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Due South
3x05 Seeing is Believing [2nd watch]

Family Guy
1x03 Chitty Chitty Death Bang
1x05 A Hero Sits Next Door
1x06 The Son Also Draws

My Life in Books
Episode 5 Peter Snow and Dan Snow (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]