TV

Monroe
2x03 Episode 3
Apparently New Tricks is absolutely trashing this in the ratings, which is a shame because this is quite good while the BBC old timers cop show is actually quite rubbish. Hopefully ITV bear the regular dominance of said competition in mind when it comes to considering whether to recommission Monroe.
[For some reason currently unavailable on ITV Player.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
26x04 Episode 4
How can a show filled with such huge irritants (Nick Grimshaw, Conor Maynard, Nancy Dell'Olio) be so funny?!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

QI
10x05 J-Places (XL edition)
Every once in a while, you wonder if they couldn't've come up with a better episode title...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spy
2x01 Codename: Growing Rogue
So glad this is back, it's genius. And for 11 episodes too! Super.

Adam Hills signs a deal with Channel 4
(from The British Comedy Guide)

Who'd've thought a series about the Paralympics would be recommissioned? But The Last Leg went down so well you can see why they'd want to bring it back, and so they are -- hurrah! I imagine it won't be so wholly focussed on sport... probably...

TV

Comedy World Cup
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Hunted
1x02 LB
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
1x06 Episode Six
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Red Dwarf
10x03 Lemons

Films

War Horse (2011)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

Saga Chapter One by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

I've been hearing tonnes of praise for Saga for months now, but half ignored it for no particular reason. Inspired to look into it (again, for no particular reason), the description of it as a mature (as in "for grown-ups", not as in "hehehe porn") mixture of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones actually sounded right up my street. Then I discovered you can get this first issue for free on digital comics monopoly Comixology, so I did. Worth noting that it's double the length of a normal comic (more than double what you get in some these days), so it really is an exceptionally good free preview.

As for what it's actually like... Well, it certainly throws you in at the deep end of a complex world with lots of catching up to do. Thank goodness it is double length, because by the end of a typical first issue it's barely got anywhere. There's some intriguing stuff, but there's also a lot of good ol' modern decompressed storytelling, and I don't find the art detailed enough to support that personally. So, intrigued, but also unconvinced.

Additionally, I discovered the paperback collection of issues one to six is available in a "specially priced volume" -- presumably to get you started, then make you pay regular prices for future volumes. Not convinced it's worth spending money to continue though. I shall consider.

TV

Friday Night Dinner
2x02 Mr Morris
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
1x04 Episode Four
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Person of Interest
1x12 Legacy

TV

Cuckoo
1x03 Ken on E
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
3x10 The Final
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
44x01 (12/10/12 edition; extended repeat)
It's only four months since the last series ended?! It feels like forever when it's away.
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Dredd shows why the 3D film format is doomed… again
by Kieran Turner-Dave (from The Independent)

People have been decrying the death of the new 3D craze for years now, and still it totters along. On the one hand the evidence seems compelling -- see those changes in Pixar grosses -- but there's so much of the industry invested now (not just film production, but TV manufacturers, Blu-ray players and discs, TV channels, and so on) that you wonder if they'll just push through somehow.


Why did it take ten years to block the extradition of Gary McKinnon?
by David Allen Green (from New Statesman)

Or, "What you believe about the McKinnon extradition case is probably false". An interesting and informative read.

TV

Downton Abbey
3x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Person of Interest
1x11 Super

Suburgatory
1x18 Down Time

Films

Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

TV

Downton Abbey
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Dragons' Den
10x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

From Russia With Love (1963)
[4th or so watch]

Bond from the Beginning Mk.III makes it to its second film. Just 20 to go...

I'll be reviewing this as #83a in 100 Films 2012, alongside the other '60s Bond films, at a later date. I've also covered it on here before, back in June 2008.

this week on 100 Films

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


Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)

more amiable than its “oh, you didn’t” title might suggest, but that’s about all. Shakespeare certainly has nothing to worry about.

Read more here.


Additionally, new to the new blog were...


Knowing (2009)

There are attempts at giving the characters depth, but these are more about giving them a reason to care about the plot than making them three dimensional human beings. But I’d suggest if you’re watching a film like Knowing with the intention of focusing on the characters rather than the mystery then you’ve got the wrong end of the stick.

Read more here.


Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

packed to bursting with utterly ludicrous — but, consequently, ludicrously cool — action sequences. It’s fast-paced, witty, and endlessly inventive. As the action genre goes, this is pure entertainment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Merlin
5x02 Arthur's Bane Part Two
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Suburgatory
1x17 Independence Day

Films

Prometheus (2012)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

Skyfall Review Round Up! The best Bond film ever?
by Matthew Harkin (from CommanderBond.net)

I guess there was a Skyfall screening on Friday night, because just after midnight Saturday the 'net seemed to be flooded with reviews. The overall impression is very positive, and here's a thorough round-up.

Collection Count

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

Should've been more this week. A helluva lot more, actually. Bit disappointed. Oh well, it'll all turn up next week... probably...

Number of titles in collection: 1,493 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,143 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 350 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,706 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,508 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,679 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 367 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Mock the Week
11x12 (11/10/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

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

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
1x03 Episode Three
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Comedy World Cup
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Person of Interest
1x10 Number Crunch
Having started with no discernible arc plot(s), they've not only developed them but are really rattling on with them. I wonder if they have some very grand overarching plan, or are just going to burn out by the end of the first season, or start fast and then string things out forever...
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Tuesday 16th October.]

Red Dwarf
10x02 Fathers and Suns

Articles

This Batcave made of 20,000 LEGO bricks is fit for Bruce Wayne
by Cyriaque Lamar (from io9)

This. Is. Amazing. I want one.

More pics & stuff here and here.

TV

Friday Night Dinner
2x01 Buggy
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Great British Bake Off
3x09 Patisserie
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
26x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

RoboCop 2 (1990)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

The Entitlement Thing
by Stephen Gallagher (from Hauling Like a Brooligan)

A great piece on the attitude people have towards criticising TV/film/etc now, with specific reference to Doctor Who. If that doesn't quite make sense, here's a choice quote:

And disappointment seems to come very easily to many people, these days, with every new genre piece being released to the sound of sharpening knives. Our culture has become like a birthing pool full of crocodiles. There was a time when the response to new material was to invest in it, meet it halfway, go all the way to find something to love in it. [Now,] the default setting seems to be one of outrage that our specific expectations haven't been met.

TV

Hunted
1x01 Mort
New spy thriller from the makers of Spooks. Flawed, but quite good overall. Hope it can keep it up/improve. (Despite looking as if it's intended as a one-off serial, they've reportedly signed up a new writer in anticipation of a second run, so we'll go with series-ish episode numbering for now.)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
11x11 (4/10/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Suburgatory
1x16 Poetic Injustice

TV

Cuckoo
1x02 Family Meeting
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

QI
10x04 Jack and Jill (XL edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Shoot 'Em Up (2008)
[2nd watch]

I don't do much re-watching of films generally, mainly because I get focused on 100 Films and repeat viewings don't count, but after this was on Channel 5 last night and I posted my old review to the new blog (it was 2008's #66), I felt the urge. And it was as much daft OTT action-comedy fun as I remembered it being, so that was nice.

Articles

Fox Wanted Extended Prometheus Blu-ray, Ridley Scott Said No
by Brendon Connelly (from Bleeding Cool)

That perhaps explains some of the speculation/rumours that the BD was going to contain some form of Director's Cut. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the controversial film now that he Blu-ray's out... just got to wait for mine to turn up in the post...


Masters of Cinema Monthly October 2012 – Fear and Desire, The Blue Angel, Onibaba, City of Women, La Poison and an Interview with Soul Power Director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
by Craig Skinner (from Bleeding Cool)

The January and February releases from Masters of Cinema were announced today via Eureka's twitter feed, and Bleeding Cool's article has the most thorough coverage (press release, covers, initial extras).

To summarise what that typically unwieldy title already covers (more or less), the Blu-rays are, in January, The Blue Angel (including the simultaneously-shot English-language version) and Kubrick's Fear and Desire (both of which are must-buys for me), and in February, La Poison, Fellini's City of Women, and a Blu-ray upgrade for Onibaba (which are less thrilling for my personally).

For another concise personal take on the titles, see Hope Lies' piece.

TV

Busy day in front of the telly...

Downton Abbey
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Lorraine's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food
1x04 Baking It

Merlin
5x01 Arthur's Bane Part One
I think the popularity of Merlin has caught some people by surprise. It started off OK, a lesser Doctor Who-slot drama, but as the series has grown so its audience seems to have been established -- this season five premiere gained around 6 million viewers according to the overnights, leaving it just behind Strictly and X Factor. It's in the same ballpark as Who these days, rather than a couple of million behind it. I wouldn't argue it's that good, but it is still fun with an increased edge as it's grown older. And as the producers always said they had a five year plan, perhaps getting somewhere fast too.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
26x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Peep Show
4x03 Gym
4x04 Handyman
Remember when I watched the first ever episode of Peep Show and didn't like it so never watched it again (despite what I said)? Yeah. But this was on Dave when I wasn't feeling so well and I just let it happen. And it was quite good, actually.

Person of Interest
1x09 Get Carter
Much like Suburgatory, having to download to catch up got me in the habit and now I've overtaken C5. Oh well.
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Tuesday 9th October.]

Suburgatory
1x15 Fire with Fire

this week on 100 Films

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

But before that, October has just begun, so here's the September update.

And with that out of the way, those reviews...


The Negotiator (1998)

As premises go, “hostage negotiator turns hostage taker” is a doozy. You can immediately imagine all the drama to be had from pitting The Best Negotiator In The World against The Second Best Negotiator In The World — he’ll know all the techniques! He’ll… well, mainly the techniques one. But also his colleagues will be working against him — will they be on his side? Or against him? It practically writes itself.

Read more here.


Unknown (2011)

In the film’s special features, producer Leonard Goldberg talks about how, having made thrillers his whole life, when he starts reading or watching them he can usually figure it all out early on, but the novel on which Unknown is based managed to surprise him. Thinking if it could surprise him it might surprise others too, he snapped up the rights, and I must say I think he was right.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...

Melinda and Melinda (2004)

One might argue that this is a remake of Sliding Doors, but only in a superficial and unsustainable way. Here, two stories are told, both taking the same premise — a Manhattan dinner party is interrupted — but one is told as a tragedy and one is told as a comedy. The only common factor is Radha Mitchell’s Melinda, who takes on a very different role in each tale.

Read more here.


Taken (2008)

remember Man On Fire? The Tony Scott/Denzel Washington one. Well, replace Washington with Neeson and Dakota Fanning’s character with “his daughter” and you’ve more or less got it. Taken is practically a remake, only in Europe, with a happier ending, and an hour shorter. It’s also not as good, but that’s a different matter.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week. I'm a bit under the weather at the moment, hence the overnight delay in this post. I doubt anyone noticed.

And there's not much at all to notice this week, either. I would've had Prometheus and the Indiana Jones BDs in the past, but all websites seem to be rubbish at getting pre-orders out early these days; plus for those I went with sites who have always been bad at it, so what do you expect.

In other news, it's the running time update. Big new Bond box set could make a large impact... except it replaces all the equivalent films on DVD. Still, that makes it 4.167% longer anyway...

Number of titles in collection: 1,492 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,143 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 349 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,703 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,507 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,679 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 367 [up 2]

And the running time update goes as follows...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
269 days and 40 minutes.
(Down 6 hours and 32 minutes from last month.)

...oh. I must confess, I'm not entirely sure how it's gone down. But that's what it says, so...

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Comedy World Cup
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Dragons' Den
10x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Monroe
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
1x05 Episode Five
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Dr. No (1962)
[4th or so watch]

50 years ago yesterday, Dr. No hit cinemas and a phenomenon was born. What more appropriate to watch on James Bond Day (well, just after it) than this?

I'm also hoping it'll be the start of a complete re-watch of all the Bond films, now on Blu-ray. I've tried twice before (once covered in part on this very blog) but not yet made it all the way through in a reasonable period of time. Third time lucky…

And therefore, all going to plan, I'll be reviewing this as #81a in 100 Films 2012, alongside the other '60s Bond films, at a later date. This is also one of the ones I covered on here before, back in June 2008.

TV

QI
10x03 Journeys (XL edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vexed
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]

TV

Arrested Development
1x06 Visiting Ours
1x07 In God We Trust
1x08 My Mother, the Car

Once Upon a Time
1x21 An Apple Red as Blood
1x22 A Land Without Magic [season finale]
Well that's that then. Wait, this got recommissioned?! How?!
I jest -- of course I knew it had been recommissioned (it's already started Stateside). The "how" still stands though.

Mock the Week
11x10 (27/9/12 edition)

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
1x02 Episode Two
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Red Dwarf
10x01 Trojan
Hurrah for the Dwarfers' long-awaited return! It's three-and-a-half years since even Back to Earth, never mind the 13 since the cliffhanger-ended Red Dwarf VIII... not that I imagine we'll ever see that resolved.

Music

Skyfall by Adele

Technically this is out later (in a few minutes after this is posted, actually), but it was played on radio earlier today.

After one listen... it's quite good, rather Bond-y, a change of pace from the last two. Takes far too long to get going though -- hope that's where they make the inevitable cuts for inclusion in the title sequence. It's always best when the title appears on screen when it turns up in the lyrics, and as this is the first film for 10 years to have the title in the lyric...

TV

The Great British Bake Off
3x08 Biscuits
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x08 Foe
I suppose Alan Dale had to turn up at some point. Makes a change for him not to be set up as a recurring character.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Once Upon a Time
1x20 The Stranger

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
1x01 Episode One
Or #pogdogs, as per the hashtag that was displayed on screen five times in 22 minutes.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Suburgatory
1x14 The Body

TV

Cuckoo
1x01 The Homecoming
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Family Guy
10x23 Internal Affairs [season finale]
10x22 Family Guy Viewer Mail #2
BBC Three finished this season of Family Guy last night. The new season began in the US last night. Not everything makes it over here promptly yet then, I guess.
And they showed them the way round listed above, which does seem to make more sense. It was the second one I was watching for, because it contained (essentially) Family Guy If It Was British. Which was... alright. The bit from Stewie's point of view was better.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
26x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Once Upon a Time
1x19 The Return

The Rob Brydon Show
3x03 Episode 3

Music

The 2nd Law by Muse

This is out today, though it's been available to stream since last week sometime. I've had it since Saturday but only got round to it now. It's Muse's first album for three years, since the pretty brilliant The Resistance. It's more... shall we go with eclectic. Not bad, just less convinced.

Articles

M Is For Music
by Andrew Ellard (from Noise to Signal)

Long but great survey of Bond title songs and scores, and their relationship to one another. Published before Quantum of Solace so sadly not bang up-to-date, but that still leaves you with 21 films to read about.


Review of Muse: The 2nd Law
by Simon Jay Catling (from The Quietus)

Criticising an album for being overblown while writing the most overblown review ever is some kind of irony. Also, it cites the album's influences as including "Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, Gustav Holst's Mars The Bringer Of War, the James Bond theme tune [and] Queen" as if that's a bad thing. Weirdo. Kind of a fun read, but I fairly thoroughly disagree with it.

TV

Downton Abbey
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Dragons' Den
10x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x07 Witness
Clever, unexpected twist there, I thought. Neat.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Suburgatory
1x12 The Casino Trip
Last time I said it was "no huge disturbance" to have watched episode 13 first, but I was wrong: it's the first time Suburgatory has done, essentially, a two-parter, and I accidentally watched them the wrong way round. Typical.

Films

Quantum of Solace (2008)
[3rd watch]

It's been 3½ years since I last watched 2008's #73, and I think it just improves with age. I've always liked it, against the consensus, but I enjoy it more every time I see it.

It's fair to say that it's not that great as A Bond Film, lacking many of the requisite elements that define what people think of that as; but as an action-thriller starring the character of James Bond, it really is rather good. One that merits re-evaluation, and I hope comes to be better-liked with time.

Articles

Disney confesses to messing up UK Avengers Blu-ray and DVD release
(from Home Cinema Choice)

This must've been reported a little while ago (the article is undated), but I've only just seen it. Essentially, Disney admit they messed up the UK DVD/BD release of The Avengers -- and they lied about it. Shocking behaviour.

this week on 100 Films

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


The Other Guys (2010)

It doesn’t trade on the idea of the Amazing Cops vs the Regular Guys enough, and that’s where the humour lies for me... Wouldn’t it have been more fun if everyone actually hated The Big Damn Heroes who make it hard for the regular guys to do their job? If a pair of normal detectives were assigned The Big Case and had to prove themselves worthy?

Read more here.


Outland (1981)

Two years on from Alien, director Peter Hyams has adopted the same grungey, real-world, lived-in aesthetic for the mining outpost setting. It’s a style that doesn’t date, which means that it doesn’t feel 30 years old. The plot is even more timeless: lone hero stands up to bad guys that no one else is brave enough to confront. It works as well in space as it does anywhere else.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...

Copycat (1995)

The Radio Times compare this favourably to David Fincher’s excellent Se7en, because both are high-concept serial killer thrillers released in 1995 but only one has been widely remembered. The Radio Times consider this unfair, suggesting Copycat deserves a similar level of recognition. Unfortunately, they’re wrong.

Read more here.


Late Spring (1949)

Late Spring’s consistently cheery, bouncy music is a surprise [though] it would seem to reflect Noriko’s ceaseless smiling, laughing and happy demeanor; which all serves to increase the emphasis on her anger and sullenness when the prospect of marriage and leaving her father seriously raises its head.

Read more here.


The Night Listener (2006)

What sounds like an intriguing concept is actually based on a true story... and is executed with good performances, a well-paced screenplay and direction that renders the film tense or mystifying when it needs to be. Sadly it seems to go nowhere, the mystery fizzling out and the characters gaining little from the experience.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x05 The Angels Take Manhattan [mid-season finale]

Most of this episode was pretty great, in my estimation. New York looked wonderful, there were new and clever elements added to the mythology of the Angels (not least finally using the TARDIS to go back and retrieve someone dumped in the past, a waiting-to-be-used-as-a-major-plot-point part of their mythology if ever I saw one), some marvellously atmospheric and scary sequences, indeed great noir-ish direction throughout. Stuff like the book and the chapter headings were also clever.

Sadly, the ending -- the farewell to the Ponds -- didn't hold mustard for me. In a plot prone to holes as it was (and I'm sure there are even more if we stop to think about it), getting rid of the Doctor's beloved Ponds in a way that meant he could never see them again was surely #1 priority on the list of Things That Need To Make Absolute Sense. But no, it doesn't.

The Doctor can't travel back to New York in 1938 because of all the time paradoxes -- fair enough. Why not get them a few years later? Can the Doctor never ever go to New York ever again? Closes off that as a potential future location, but OK, it could be allowed. So why can't the Ponds leave New York? That's never established. Can the Doctor never visit anywhere else on planet Earth between 1938 and 2012? I doubt that. Can he not send them a letter? No one says why not. So why can't he send them a note to pop up the road, far enough away from all those TARDIS-bouncing paradoxes, and he'll go pick them up? If there's a reason why that can't be done, I missed it.

So for all the people crying about the Ponds' departure on twitter... I'm not one, because it doesn't hold up. And that's a shame, because "sent to the past by Angels to a place where the Doctor can't get them, but that's OK because they're happy together" is a nifty idea for an exit.

And still, everything up to that point was pretty good.

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



QI
10x02 Jam, Jelly and Juice (XL edition)

Collection Count

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

Big changes are afoot this week, thanks to three new releases. There's The Raid and Masters of Cinema's Cleopatra making tweaks, but the big wave is caused by the Bond 50 box set. Not only does it contain all 22 official Bond films to date on Blu-ray, it also replaces 21 of my 22 individual editions (depends on the state of special features, and if I can bear to part with its lovely box, whether I sell the Casino Royale Deluxe Edition).

So while the total number of films barely moves, it's a big old shift for total titles, DVDs and discs (all 21 of those upgrades go from two DVDs to a single BD). Exciting times.

Number of titles in collection: 1,491 [down 18]
Of which DVDs: 1,142 [down 21]
Of which Blu-rays: 349 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,702 [down 16]
Number of films in collection: 1,507 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,679 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 365 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

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.