TV

Arrested Development
1x04 Key Decisions
1x05 Charity Drive
It's always hard when you watch something regarded by so many as The Greatest Ever to determine whether you're meant to absolutely love it from the get-go or if it gets good later. The equally geek-beloved Community, for instance, apparently takes something like 19 episodes to get good. Arrested Development, I don't know -- it's certainly highly amusing, but not Best Thing Ever great.

Comedy World Cup
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Suburgatory
1x13 Sex in the Suburbs
Unnoticed downloading troubles meant I accidentally skipped 12. Just as they developed some proper ongoing storylines too! Ah well, no huge disturbance.

Wallander [film series]
Sidetracked Part 2 (of 2) (aka Villospår)
See yesterday.

TV

Pointless
6x43 (11/5/12 edition)


Wallander [film series]
Sidetracked Part 1 (of 2) (aka Villospår)

For those not in the know, this is what we (well, I) call "the other Swedish Wallander", despite it being the original screen iteration of the character. Having finished the 26 films staring Krister Henriksson in the role, BBC Four aired some of these Rolf Lassgård-starring adaptations from December 2010 to January 2011.

They promised more later that year, but clearly someone got distracted (probably by The Killing and co) and it took them until July 2012 to air some more. They're also thoroughly out of sequence: having started with the sixth they moved on to the eighth, back to the seventh, then the ninth (and final) one, and here we have the fourth (to be followed by the fifth).

This one was made in 2001 but looks cheaper and older, so goodness knows what the first three (made between 1994 and 1996) look like -- maybe that's why they've not shown them. Anyway, it's all suitably grim and European… and for some reason has its credits in German. Goodness knows.

Films

Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project (2011)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy: Review round-up
by Mayer Nissim (from Digital Spy)

After the single review yesterday, here's... well, it says, doesn't it.

TV

British Legends of Stage and Screen
1x03 Sir Christopher Lee
Interesting and informative documentary about the life and work of Sir Christopher Lee, based around a new interview with him.
[Watch it (again), for a fee, on Sky Go.]

The Graham Norton Show
11x05 (11/5/12 edition)

The Great British Bake Off
3x07 Sweet Dough
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

JK Rowling review: The Casual Vacancy breaks Harry Potter's spell
by Allison Pearson (from The Telegraph)

It's a three-star review, but by golly it's persuaded me I want to read the book! Can't wait to see the reactions from inattentive parents who merrily let their little kiddy Potter fans read it, and from Americans. Just Americans -- their moral reaction will be essentially of the level of kids, I expect.

TV

Mock the Week
11x09 (20/9/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x06 The Fix
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Rob Brydon Show
3x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vexed
2x05 Episode 5

TV

Arrested Development
1x01 Pilot
1x02 Top Banana
1x03 Bringing Up Buster
Everyone seems to go on about this being The Greatest Sitcom Of All Time Ever™, so as it's on Netflix, of which I am currently enjoying a free one-month trial, I decided to give it a go. And it is indeed very good. Hard to say how good, because of course it comes massively hyped and I'm only a few episodes in, but it is most definitely good. I particularly like the "next time" trails that are nothing or the sort. Very neat.

Once Upon a Time
1x18 The Stable Boy
And straight back down to its regular laughable level. Ah well. Only four left...

Suburgatory
1x11 Out in the Burbs
Having had to switch to downloads to keep up, I'm now pulling ahead of E4. Hey-ho.

Who Do You Think You Are?
9x05 Hugh Dennis
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 Won't Disappoint Bat-Fans
by Alex Zalben (from MTV Geek!)

I've had this for about a week or so now and haven't got round to it yet. Which is a shame, cos it's out tomorrow (Tuesday) in the US and I could've tied in a review. But hey-ho, this piece is interesting, and may inform my eventual comments.

TV

Downton Abbey
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Dragons' Den
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x05 Judgment
There was a lot of debate about the spelling of "judgement" recently, surrounding the posters for Dredd, which used "judgment" despite being a British thing. According to Wikipedia, both are acceptable in the UK, while only the E-less form is used in the US... but clearly we think of the with-an-E version as being British (in fairness, it's more common, and matches other spelling rules better). All this is relevant here because, while Channel 5's site uses the E-less form (see below), US site TV.com's listing for the episode is with-an-E (see above). So that's weird then.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Suburgatory
1x10 Driving Miss Dalia
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

RoboCop (1987)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

this week on 100 Films

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


Supervillain Showdown!

Despicable Me vs. Megamind

2010 saw the release of two apparently-similar animated films, both dealing with the superhero genre from the perspective of the supervillain. As it turns out only one really does that, but still, it seems a reasonable point of comparison.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...

Hot Fuzz (2007)

I wasn’t hyped enough about this film to pay £10 to see it a week before release, and instead paid just £3.75 to see it in a big screen with just myself and a friend. ... It’s five-and-a-half years on, so of course prices will have gone up, but nonetheless I have two observations:

1) The cost of a regular (peak time) adult ticket is now £9.
2) The cost of the equivalent ticket to the one I bought is £5.40. That’s a 44% increase.

Read more here.


James Bond @ 100 Films

With the Bond 50 Blu-ray box set out on Monday, I thought now was as good a time as any to bring 100 Films’ previous Bond reviews over to the new blog.

Featuring reviews of For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, Casino Royale (2006), and Quantum of Solace.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Comedy World Cup
1x01 Episode 1
Daft title, fun format: teams of comedians answer questions about comedy. I especially liked it because I did really well, particularly on the film round. If only I was a stand-up...
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]


Doctor Who
33x04 The Power of Three

How appropriate that this episode coincided with the release of the iPhone 5! Couldn't have planned it better if they tried.

That coincidence aside, I thought it was a very good episode. It looks the sore thumb amongst a raft of big blockbuster episodes (Daleks! Dinosaurs! Western! Angels! New York!), but if they're big bold exciting concepts and imagery than this was the episode of blockbusting emotions, with the Ponds and the Doctor giving serious thought to their relationships. The cubes were a neat idea with a spectacularly average resolution, but that barely mattered alongside the real point of the episode: the Doctor clashing with the Ponds' regular life.

Plus, genuine chills when they revealed the identity of Kate Stewart's father. Fabulous.

[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


QI
10x01 Jargon (XL edition)
Ah, the return of QI. Hilarious, yes, but another year of trying to ensure you've seen all the episodes amongst the BBC's random scheduling and surprisingly frequent ditching of the XL version. And considering they pump out a massive 16 (or more) episodes per series now, I have absolutely no idea if I've seen them all or not.

Films

Ip Man 2 (2010)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Crikey, is it really well over a year since I watched the first one?! Time flies.

Collection Count

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

This week, as well as new acquisitions, I finished my previously-half-hearted new shorts total -- hence why it's gone up by nearly 350 (plus one for Item 47). Which also proves it was worth doing. I thought I had a couple of collections and one or two here and there on various feature film releases, which I suppose might've reached 100-ish, so I was quite blown away by the final tally.

In the process the total number of films also somehow fell by 16 (and rose again with new purchases) and TV episodes went up by 19 (and, again, new purchases). Quite how that happened I have no idea, but it must've been warranted.

Number of titles in collection: 1,509 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 346 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,718 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,504 [down 14]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,679 [up 21]
Number of short films in collection: 365 ['up' 346]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gates
1x05 Episode 5 [season finale]
Enjoyed that overall. Be nice if they brought it back.


The Newsroom
1x10 The Greater Fool [season finale]

Well, that was a mixed bag. Just like the rest of the series, so it's only fitting.

The flashforwards/present-day-stuff meant there was absolutely no tension in any of the flashbacks, despite it being written and directed as if there was meant to be, while the Jim-Maggie-Don triangle teases us with the hope of resolution but, nope, it's going to soldier on regardless. At least Will's death threats didn't sink to the level of having him shot in some cliched attempt at a cliffhanger. Thank heavens for small mercies.

And yet despite all that, some of the dialogue is fast and funny and clever, and the meeting scene with Leona and Reese was kinda satisfying (even if Leona hadn't been in it enough to build up quite enough of a genuine threat), and all the stuff with how evil the Tea Party should be force fed to all Americans.

So, y'know, highs and lows.

TV

Adam Buxton's Bug
1x05 Episode Five
1x06 Episode Six

The Great British Bake Off
3x06 Puddings
Well, that was a particularly dramatic one!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Newsroom
1x09 The Blackout, Part II: Mock Debate
This could be so much better if it didn't keep getting distracted with its OTT relationship stuff. Also the implausible thing that there's someone on staff who knows or is related to someone in an important, relevant or vaguely worthwhile position related to every single major news story of the past couple of years. It was pushing things the first time, but now we're on the goodness-knows-what-th and it's just silly.

TV

Derren Brown: Svengali
Not Derren's best live show, in my opinion. The titular doll isn't even the finale! Though the big ending was quite clever, it also somehow lacked impact for me.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Newsroom
1x08 The Blackout, Part I: Tragedy Porn

Once Upon a Time
1x17 Hat Trick
Surprisingly, that was really rather good… apart from it being based around not-a-fairy-tale Alice in Wonderland. What next week, Winnie the Pooh? An orangutan who wants to be human? A fox who robs from the rich to give to the poor? (I could go on.)

Suburgatory
1x09 The Nutcracker
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

The Newsroom
1x07 5/1
The Newsroom does the death of Bin Laden (the title refers to May 1st). Unfortunately, it was all terribly American about it.

Suburgatory
1x08 Thanksgiving
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Vexed
2x04 Episode 4

Films

Avengers Assemble (2012)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]
aka Marvel's Avengers Assemble, aka Marvel Avengers Assemble, aka The Avengers, aka Marvel's The Avengers.

Articles

Disney Reponds To Avengers Blu-Ray Criticism
by Dave Golder (from SFX)

Ooh, the UK Avengers release has caused quite the fuss! It's been raging for a couple of days now -- weeks or months, actually, but so many people only notice when the discs actually come out. It's nice that, for once, awareness of these things from those-in-the-know has exploded into the mass population... though it also makes a point about bothering to do your research in advance, rather than just turning up and being shocked.

Anyway, there are loads of articles about this, and the situation seems to be still developing. I've linked to this one because it links on to one of the main articles while also offering commentary on it. Additionally, though, the BBFC have made a comment here that contradicts some of what Disney are saying.

TV

Mock the Week
11x08 (13/9/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x04 Cura Te Ipsum
What?! That's supposed to pass for an ending? Ugh, what a cop out. There's room for ambiguity in fiction, but you've got to know where to put it. Unless they intend to return to the theme of how far Reese is prepared to go, the climax of an episode of an on-going series isn't the place to leave stuff open-ended.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Suburgatory
1x07 Sweet Sixteen
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Dragons' Den
10x01 Episode 1
Ten series now! Crikey.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
3x05 Pies
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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

Marvel One-Shots (2011)

With Avengers Assemble out on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK next Monday, now seemed as good a time as any to post reviews of the first two Marvel One-Shots.

For those who don’t know, these are short films included on the home ent releases of their big movies, which take place within the same interconnected movie universe

For full reviews of The Consultant and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer, look here.

And new to my new blog...

A Study in Terror (1965)

it’s a decent Holmes movie, with an atmospheric rendering of Victorian London and a passably intriguing plot. However, the relatively light basis in the true story of Jack the Ripper may grate with some who approach it from that angle: there’s a Holmesian plot grafted onto a smattering of Ripper facts, as opposed to using Holmes to deduce one of the posited real solutions.

Read more here.

The X Files: I Want to Believe - Director's Cut (2008)

not the kind of X Files most people were expecting — i.e. Something To Do With Aliens — forgetting that the series was never just about extraterrestrials. The idea that I Want to Believe was a bit rubbish and thoroughly disappointing is consequently as much (if not more) the fault of those viewers who expected a different kind of film. That said, it’s a shame it isn’t wholly successful as the kind of film it’s trying to be either

Read more here.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x03 A Town Called Mercy
A bit of a serious one, this. Relatively, anyway. But I think it all worked rather nicely. The themes seemed somehow appropriate to the Western setting too. The location work really paid off because it looked fantastic, and Murray Gold's score was exemplary.
I had my doubts about this lot of episodes from the series trailer -- it didn't really excite me -- but it's shaping up to be a very solid run.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
3x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Fantastic Four (2005)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Collection Count

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

Last time I talked about changes to numbers, and this week they've been implemented -- at least in part. Firstly, I've added a short film count to my list of totals. I don't buy many shorts DVDs, but I have enough and they turn up now and then to make it a number that feels worth including.

Secondly, I've been reconsidering what I count as a film. Generally anything broadly feature-length that was the main feature on the DVD went down as a film, but is that right? Should it be only stuff I'd be happy to review at 100 Films, say? I've got quite a few concert DVDs and that kind of thing which were listed as containing 1 film, but they're not really films, are they? But nor are they shorts or TV episodes. Is it OK they're not counted at all? I'm not 100% on this one so it's a bit inconsistent. But then I'm also inconsistent about whether I count alternate cuts under the number of films or not, so... I ought to come up with more consistent 'policies' really, for my own state of mind.

Finally, as I'll be selling them and getting the incredibly huge Wizards Collection for Christmas, the totals below see my Harry Potter BDs removed. I'll be doing the same to my James Bond DVDs soon I imagine, which will see an even bigger drop.

Number of titles in collection: 1,507 [down 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 344 [down 7]

Number of discs in collection: 3,714 [down 31]
Number of films in collection: 1,518 [down 79]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,658 [up 9]
Number of short films in collection: 19 ['up' 19]

Said it'd be drastic.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gates
1x04 Episode 4

Lorraine's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food
1x03 Simple Classics
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Newsroom
1x06 Bullies

Once Upon a Time
1x16 Heart of Darkness
Every episode of OUaT is laughable, but there was one particularly hilarious bit in this episode:

Snow White: King George took James. I have to get him back.
Grumpy: No Snow, you can't do it!
Snow White: I can't let the King just kill him. He came back for me. It doesn't matter what happens to me now I have to try.
Grumpy: [angrily] That's not what I meant! [Snow frowns] What I meant was... You can't do it alone. But luckily you won't have to. [music swells, dwarves have cheesy expressions, etc.]

In action it's even more hilariously awful than it sounds when written down. I think the whole series is pretty much locked in So Bad It's Good territory at this point.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
3x04 Desserts
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
11x07 (6/9/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x03 Mission Creep

TV

Now all that sport is over, it's time for a massive catch-up...

The Great British Bake Off
3x03 Tarts
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wallander [British]
3x03 Before the Frost [season finale]

Articles

Wallander is on the case again, in six new Mankell thrillers
by Jorn Rossing Jensen (from Cineuropa)

Swedish actor Krister Henriksson has embarked on his third assignment as Ystad Detective Inspector Kurt Wallander - the lonely, slightly overweight, but excellent crime investigator - in an €11.3 milllion package of six thrillers based on Swedish author Henning Mankell's character...

Swedish director Agneta Fagerström-Olsson last week (May 28) started principal photography for The Troubled Man, from Mankell's tenth and last Wallander novel... The Troubled Man will be released theatrically, while the five following films will go straight to television-home entertainment.

Despite this news being months old, I've only just stumbled across it. Very exciting it is too. Hopefully BBC Four will pick them up once they're all done.

TV

Gates
1x03 Episode 3

London 2012: Our Greatest Team Parade
and
Our Greatest Team: Athletes' Parade Live
The Channel 4 and BBC coverage (respectively) of the TeamGB/ParalympicsGB celebratory parade, which I watched a bit of both of for failed-recording reasons. Worth it for Boris' speech alone.
[Watch the BBC's coverage on iPlayer, and Channel 4's on their Paralympics videos site.]

TV

The Great British Paraorchestra


London 2012 Paralympics
Day Eleven
Closing Ceremony

That's it! Shame it came to end with a glorified Coldplay gig, but hey, the sport stuff was good. Whatever will we do now?

[Watch archived coverage, including the closing ceremony, on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

this week on 100 Films

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

George Sanders as the Falcon
Reviews of the first three films in RKO's crime-adventure series: The Gay Falcon, A Date with the Falcon, and The Falcon Takes Over, the last of which is the first screen adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel (Farewell, My Lovely, to be precise).
Read more here.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Thematically it boils down to a man vs nature parable; about how we mistreat it, but also how we think we’re so far above it. Some of these themes may seem obvious, but they’re not overly spelt out — no one stands around bemoaning experimentation on animals, or lamenting man’s hubris in not taking the ape threat seriously enough.

Read more here.

And new to the new blog...

It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004)

If you’re into dance music/clubbing/Ibiza/etc, then this film is definitely aimed at you. As for the rest of us normal folk… well, to be honest, it’s actually a fair bit better than I was expecting!

Read more here.

The Outrage (1964)

If you’ve ever seen Akira Kurosawa’s classic Rashomon, the opening minutes of The Outrage will leave you in no doubt that you’re watching a Hollywood remake... But don’t mistake this effort for a thoroughly pointless rehash — though it can’t better the original, The Outrage has much going for it.

Read more here.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x02 Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Living up to their blockbustery aims here, I think, with an episode that's technically just as confined to a single facility as last week's but somehow feels grander.

There's an argument to be made it was the perfect evocation of Who: exciting, funny, emotional, subversive, with a clever continuity, and, most of all, utterly barmy. People have picked faults, but most of them are bad natured -- this is about having fun, and it achieves that massively with no serious problems. (Seriously, you're whinging the Triceratops was too slow? Go watch something else, you've missed the point!)

I imagine I'm in the minority, but while I did like Asylum of the Daleks, I properly enjoyed Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Fun wins.

[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


London 2012 Paralympics
Day Ten
Final day tomorrow! Final Last Leg tonight! Gonna miss it.
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

Collection Count

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

Quite a surge this week to the main numbers, as you'll see, but it's had a surprising minimal effect on the monthly running time update. That's because the 18 TV episodes are actually an adjustment I missed, so it's actually just five new films. Neat increase number though.

There may be some uncommonly big changes next week -- I'm thinking of making some changes to how I record the collection that could knock some numbers around. We'll see.

Number of titles in collection: 1,514 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 351 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,745 [up 8]
Number of films in collection: 1,597 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,649 [up 18]

And that running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
269 days, 7 hours, and 12 minutes.
(Up 22 hours and 22 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
1x07 Dawn of the Dead Man!
1x08 Fall of the Blue Beetle!

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Nine
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

TV

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Eight
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

Films

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (2009)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]
aka The Other Woman in the US.

TV

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Seven
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

TV

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Six
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

Films

The Hunger Games (2012)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

aka The Hunger Games: The Unseen Version in the UK, where it was originally released cut for violence (more details here). The unmodified "international cut" is now available on Blu-ray only.

TV

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Five
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

TV

Doctor Who
33x00f Asylum of the Daleks Prequel
Turns out today that Americans who subscribed to Who through iTunes or Amazon have been treated to an exclusive 2½-minute prologue to last night's new ep. So that's nice for them. British show and all that, eh. Anyway, it's typically unessential -- if it were essential it'd be in the episode, wouldn't it -- but, as these prequels go, it's quite good. You can watch it here or embedded below.

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Four
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

Films

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

this week on 100 Films

Four brand new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week.

But before that, we're now in September, so there's also my round-up of August. Not a bad haul this month.

Now, those new reviews...

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

but I can't say a naval inaction film with Russell Crowe held massive appeal. Turns out I was completely wrong. For starters, it's definitely not an "inaction" movie. It's not an action movie in the regularly understood sense of non-stop fights on varying scales, but there are a few stunningly realised naval battles

Read more here.

The Saint's Vacation (1941)

The Saint’s gone on vacation indeed — with the saintly George Sanders nabbed for RKO’s rip-off Falcon series, here we’re treated to fellow Brit Hugh Sinclair’s take on Leslie Charteris’ hero. For “treated” read “subjected”. I’ll come back to him, because sadly he’s not the only thing that makes this the worst film in the entire series.

Read more here.

The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943)

the series’ final film. Fortunately, it’s quite a good one. Whether it be by conscious effort or serendipity, several of the problems suffered by The Saint’s Vacation are rectified here. Consensus seems to hold this is even worse than Hugh Sinclair’s first Saint film, but I definitely preferred it.

Read more here.

The Spiral Staircase (2000)

it feels like an adaptation of one of those doorstop-sized airport romance paperbacks... Despite the implications of an “X months ago” prologue in which someone is followed by a spooky pair of eyes, the first half is more cheap, tacky, romance-of-the-week TV movie than serial killer thriller.

Read more here.

Plus, because of the above, I did a new Make/Remake piece on The Spiral Staircases, including my 2010 review of the 1945 version.

Finally, I added an editorial from a year ago to the new blog, 25 Films I Own That I Really Should Have Seen, complete with a one-year-on update. It's not very impressive.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x00b Pond Life Part 2
33x00c Pond Life Part 3
33x00d Pond Life Part 4
33x00e Pond Life Part 5
33x01 Asylum of the Daleks

I suspect Pond Life will work better as a single thing than it ever did in five parts, which is no bad thing.

And then the main course... Well, with the amount of attention thats's on Who -- including, apparently, no less than four preview screenings in four different countries -- it's incredible they managed to keep such a big secret for so long. What's also nice is that, as viewers with such a high awareness of behind-the-scenes machinations, we know this is going to have Big Consequences for Christmas and beyond; as will the ending, of course.

But until then, this works with their stated aim: to make a blockbuster movie every week. Not the most blockbustery movie episode ever, even by Who's standards (despite some grand bits, like the Parliament of the Daleks, Skaro, and the mountain range, it gets a bit self-contained once they're in the asylum), but pretty good nonetheless.

[Watch Pond Life and Asylum of the Daleks (again) at those links.]


London 2012 Paralympics
Day Three
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

Articles

Joss Whedon Talks All Things Marvel: The Avengers 2, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Show, and Cut Scenes
by Kyle Buchanan (from Vulture)

Some interesting snippets from Mr Whedon on various bits & bobs mentioned in that title. Don't expect great insights, it's too early for that.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,509 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,161 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 348 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,737 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,592 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,631 [up 13]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

London 2012 Paralympics
Day Two
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

Screenwriters - The BAFTA and BFI Lecture Series
1x05 Frank Cottrell Boyce
You can watch 10 minutes of 'highlights' of this episode on the BFI's website, or listen to the full audio on BAFTA Guru. The latter also has a complete transcript of the session, which is downloadable as a PDF from here.

TV

London 2012 Paralympics
Day One
Including The Last Leg with Adam Hills, their light-hearted end-of-the-day round-up, which I thought did a good job of hitting the tone between covering what happened and being amusing. Doesn't appear to have its own section on the C4 site though, or even be on 4oD, so...
[Watch archived and live (when it's on) coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site.]

TV

Jon Snow's Paralympic Show
Episode 6 (of 7)
Episode 7 (of 7)
Who ever thought Rick Edwards would do an immeasurably better job than Jon Snow?
[Watch episodes six and seven (again) on 4oD.]

London 2012 Paralympics
Opening Ceremony
[Watch coverage on Channel 4's Paralympics site and 4oD.]

A Touch of Cloth
1x02 Part 2 (of 2)

TV

Adam Buxton's Bug
1x03 Episode Three
1x04 Episode Four

Jon Snow's Paralympic Show
Episode 4 (of 7)
Episode 5 (of 7)
[Watch episodes four and five (again) on 4oD.]

The Rob Brydon Show
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Suburgatory
1x06 Charity Case
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

A Touch of Cloth
1x01 Part 1 (of 2)
Bloody funny, I thought. Glad that there's already two more commissioned.
Incidentally, the official site has some worthwhile bits & bobs, including a list of background gags you might've missed.

TV

Doctor Who
33x00a Pond Life Part 1
That was... brief. And quite funny, I suppose. It'll be better on DVD when they (presumably) edit it together into one four-and-a-bit-minutes thing rather than daily 50 second bursts.
[Watch it (again) on the official Doctor Who website.]

Lorraine's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food
1x02 Feel Good Food
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Meat Loaf: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
More slightly random music viewing thanks to Sky Arts. They really can be a treasure trove.

Person of Interest
1x02 Ghosts
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

The Falcon in Danger (1943)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

Leading ‘Ethical’ TV Show BitTorrent Tracker Shut Down By FACT
by enigmax (from TorrentFreak)

They're referring to UKNova, which was excellent for acquiring smaller UK TV shows that might not be picked up by bigger international torrent sites. They were ethical because anything commercially available was banned -- they'd even stop allowing series halfway through if a DVD/etc release had been announced.
As someone on twitter said, "So the message is: if you try to help the rightsholders, they will burn you anyway. So might as well offer everything." Shooting themselves in the foot & all that.

TV

The Function Room
Pilot Meet the Police
This seemed to gain a lot of praise in certain circles. It was mediocre at best.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Jon Snow's Paralympic Show
Episode 3 (of 7)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Stomp: Live

this week on 100 Films

Last week I posted eight reviews, commenting that I didn't believe there could be more than that this week. Well...

Two new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, including my 600th feature review!

Burke & Hare (2010)

This is a true story
Except for the parts that are not

Read more here.

Unstoppable (2010)

In tribute to the late Tony Scott, perhaps one of my favourite filmmakers, and normally a distinctly underrated one, 100 Films’s 600th feature review is of his final film.

Read it here.

Plus, new to the new blog, my only other Tony Scott review to date...

Deja Vu (2006)

The timey-wimey plot is quite fun, in some ways. Massively over-complicated — no one will blame you for switching off as the “how it’s done” technobabble washes over you; if you just accept this is all possible within the confines of the movie’s universe, there’s enough investigative thrills to sustain proceedings — but, if one does pay attention, a lot of it makes sense. Well, enough sense. It becomes a bit unravelled toward the end.

Read more here.

Also new to the new blog this week were...

Before Sunrise (1995)

Two 20-somethings meet on a train from Budapest to Paris, get off in Vienna and spend the night there until one of them has to fly out in the morning. A simple premise, though you may wonder how it sustains 95 minutes. The answer is, very well.

Read more here.

Before Sunset (2004)

It’s as simple a premise as Sunrise, and in many ways is very similar: it’s essentially two people talking, laughing and philosophising... These are the same people, but they’re older and changed.

Read more here.

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.

Read more here.

Mean Creek (2004)

A group of teenagers concoct a plan for revenge on a bully in this drama from first-time writer/director Estes. Whilst the premise might sound straightforward and liable to be morally simplistic, the writing, acting and direction combine to make a film that is complex, tense, tragic and ultimately believable.

Read more here.

Plus Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is on Sky Movies Premiere this week, so I posted my old reviews of the previous three Potters (Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part 1) in one go here.

And also, Sky Arts 1 are showing the Three Colours Trilogy this fortnight, so naturally I moved my old 'reviews' to the new blog. You can see them all together here.

That's 13 total; though last week included six brand new to this week's two. If only I posted that many new reviews regularly, I wouldn't be so far behind.

More (though it tempts fate, it really is hard to imagine there being more) next Sunday.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
11x04 (4/5/12 edition)

Jon Snow's Paralympic Show
Episode 2 (of 7)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Falcon Strikes Back (1943)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Collection Count

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

Despite some expectations, nothing turned up in this week's post. So...

Number of titles in collection: 1,507 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,160 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 347 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,733 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,591 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,618 [no change]

There will definitely be some changes next week, faithful reader.

TV

Jon Snow's Paralympic Show
Episode 1 (of 7)
Can't say I think much of Snow as a presenter -- constantly talking over people, cutting them off, not giving them time to answer, racing on to the next thing... It's good not to let a programme be too slow, but this seems over-stuffed considering the speed they kept having to move on.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Pointless
6x42 (10/5/12 edition)

Films

The Falcon's Brother (1942)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

TV

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
1x04 Invasion of the Secret Santas!
1x06 Enter the Outsiders!
I sort of have and sort of haven't caught up with Channel 5's airings now -- they've also had six episodes, but skipped the Christmas one (understandably). So... I mean, it doesn't matter, does it.

The Newsroom
1x05 Amen

Yes, Prime Minister
2x04 A Conflict of Interest

Films

The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

TV

Discovering Hergé
Documentary about the creator of Tintin, Georges Remi, aka Hergé, with specific focus on, well, Tintin.
It's a good informative piece, for my money. One review said it skirted round the controversies of his life, but to me it seemed those were the focus. It doesn't dwell on any one because it's 45 minutes and has more years than that to get through, but it seemed to me to skip past the Tintin books with less controversial content and focus on those that have provoked some debate. Which as it was about Herge and not Tintin seemed fair enough to me.

The Great British Bake Off
3x02 Bread
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Vexed
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Gates
1x02 Episode 2

Horrible Histories
4x11 Episode 11

Person of Interest
1x01 Pilot
So good it prompted US network CBS to move perenially-popular CSI out of its time slot for the first time in a decade, Person of Interest is a crime series with a difference: they're trying to prevent crimes, not solve them. It's always tough to judge a show from its pilot -- this could become just case-of-the-week filler, with the danger of becoming po-faced about it; but there's enough promise to keep going. And considering the people behind Lost are involved, there's a remarkable lack of hints at A Big Story. Not even a season arc, never mind a take-over-the-whole-show one. Maybe that's all to come.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

A Date with the Falcon (1942)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

Top 10 jokes of the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
(from The British Comedy Guide)
Oh, very good.

TV

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
1x03 Evil Under the Sea!
1x05 Day of the Dark Knight!
I don't know what Aquaman was like in the comics before, but his New 52 incarnation is certainly nothing like this! If you've seen Thor, essentially it's Thor and Loki. I didn't even know Aquaman had a brother.
And in the next episode, Green Lantern proves to be even more annoying than in his film, and Green Arrow isn't that likeable either. There's a lesson here...
(For some reason my download has episode five as episode four and episode four as episode five. Dunno why. Either way, next one's Christmas themed.)

Suburgatory
1x05 Halloween
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Gay Falcon (1941)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]
RKO's Saint-esque Falcon series begins here.

Articles

Hollywood director Tony Scott jumps to death from bridge
(from BBC News)

I've long admired Tony Scott's films, thinking he's been a bit overshadowed by the critical and awards success furnished on his older brother. The outpouring of praise across twitter, etc, today has shown that I wasn't alone in this belief. Sadly, I think he may be one of those people who's more appreciated after he's gone.

TV

Pointless
6x41 (9/5/12 edition)

Films

The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

The final film in RKO's eight-movie Saint series. My reviews of the first six can be found here, here and here.

this week on 100 Films

Six (yes, six) brand new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week! They were...

102 Dalmatians (2000)

It’s at its best early on, with Cruella de Vil turned nice. It’s different and allows more room to be original and funny. Director Kevin Lima imbues it with a kind of craziness that transcends being a Silly Children’s Film and borders on silliness-as-art. A moment where London is completely dalmatian-coloured is particularly good

Read more here.

The Saint Strikes Back (1939)

Sanders’ portrayal of Templar is witty and enjoyably knowing, even more so than Louis Hayward in the previous film. He’s at once more laid-back and less self-certain; by which I mean you can sometimes see him working out his devilishly clever plans as he goes along, rather than floating through with invulnerability... Though I’ve never seen the ’60s TV series, here I can see clearly how Roger Moore was suited to the role.

Read more here.

The Saint in London (1939)

Best of all is Sally Gray as Penny Parker, a charming girl Templar bumps into — as he’s wont to do — who forcibly strings along for the ride. Every film in the series contains a pretty young thing who falls for the Saint, and who he seems to fall for back before casually disregarding at the end. Of all the girls the series offers, though, plucky Penny is the one you’d wish had stuck around.

Read more here.

The Saint's Double Trouble (1940)

the way events unfold feels like no one paid a huge amount of attention to the plot. It all just about makes sense, if you care to think about it, and some of it is deliberately confusing... But I don’t think that excuses everything; instead, I believe it’s structured to sweep you along from one bit of derring do to the next.

Read more here.

The Saint Takes Over (1940)

Fernack has been suspended from the force. Naturally his BFF Simon Templar swings by to help. What ensues is a 180 from the usual formula: rather than Fernack constantly suspecting the Saint of being the actual perpetrator of the crimes he claims to be solving, here every murder occurs while the Saint is out of the room, but while Fernack has plenty of opportunity to commit it. Much fun ensues as Templar teases his chum.

Read more here.

The Saint in Palm Springs (1941)

Wendy Barrie is, for once, simply the ingénue and not some form of criminal mastermind. Don’t worry, there’s another girl for that: Linda Hayes, who seems a promising match for the Saint but, though prominent early on, is ultimately disregarded. The highlight for both women comes when they get invited along for a horse ride with the Saint and have a good bitch at each other. It’s a pickle quite unlike the ones Templar usually finds himself in!

Read more here.

And as if that weren't enough, I added a couple more animation reviews too...

Presto (2008)

Completely dialogue free, it quickly becomes a breakneck feast of visual, mostly slapstick, humour. It may be violent, but it’s also highly witty, marvelously inventive, and wholly entertaining… even if the hero is morally dubious. But then, Roadrunner was a total wanker and he always won.

Read more here.

Ratatouille (2007)

it is a good film, but it is also a flawed one. It’s not nearly funny enough for a kid’s movie — laughs are almost non-existent in the first half and hard to come by in the second — and it’s too long, needing a good chunk taken out of that duller first half. It’s a bit confused as to who the villain is, meaning there’s a lack of real menace from either of the candidates. Despite a professed aim to make rats lovable, they’re not really.

Read more here.

More (though I seriously doubt more) next Sunday.

TV

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
1x01 The Rise of the Blue Beetle!
1x02 Terror on Dinosaur Island!

This most recent of the many Batman animated series recently came to an end (well, nine months ago), but it's just begun being shown on Channel 5 over here. It started during the Olympics, so I'm playing catch-up now (they're up to episode five, so not much catch-up).

I believe it was consciously designed to be a lighter, brighter, more kid-centric Bat-cartoon, after decades of darkness across the likes of Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond. It means it's a crazy kind of colourful fun that you don't find anywhere else in the Bat-verse right now (and soon won't find any longer, as the new animated series replacing it -- Beware the Batman -- very much swings back towards the dark). Far from the gritty real-world / quasi-real-world of current Batman films and comics, these two episodes feature space travel through a wormhole to save an amoebic alien race on the other side of the galaxy and a battle against a race of gorilla-men on a dinosaur-populated island. You don't get much less "gritty" or "real" than that.

Each episode, Batman teams up with a different DC hero. That part doesn't work so well in these two episodes. I mean, they're not bad, but both feature a lesser-known member of DC's cast, and both have essentially the same character arc (prove they're worthy to be a hero, saving Batman in the process; while he also does some saving-y stuff so as to not appear useless). Hopefully there's more variety to come.


Lorraine's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food
1x01 Easy Entertaining
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


Once Upon a Time
1x15 Red Handed
That was, by OUaT's standards, exceptional. By anyone else's it was "quite good", but, y'know, every little helps.

Films

The Saint's Vacation (1941)
[#66 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Collection Count

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

Just another DVD-to-BD upgrade this week, this time of the TV series Rome -- so one less disc, and a whole lot of shelf space saved!

Number of titles in collection: 1,507 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,160 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 347 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,733 [down 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,591 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,618 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.