TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x11 (14/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x21 Romeward Bound
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

The Good Life
4x04 The Weaver's Tale

Comics

Superman: Red Son #1 by Mark Millar & Dave Johnson

I just got an iPad, and Comixology are having a Superman sale, so I managed to get digital copies of all three issues of this for a total of just over £2. Sounds like a deal to me.

TV

Dexter
7x03 Buck the System

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Ripper Street
1x05 The Weight of One Man's Heart

TV

Horrible Histories
4x12 Episode 12

Mock the Week
12x01 (13/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Queen's
Rally Against Cancer
A charity event from the final day of this year's Aegon Championships tennis at Queen's Club. Featuring Andy Murray and Tim Henman vs Ivan Lendl and Tomáš Berdych, and Murray vs Henman with rotating teammates including Jonathan Ross, Jimmy Carr, Michael McIntyre, Eddie Redmayne, Richard Branson and Boris Johnson. Much hilarity.
[Watch it (again) soon on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

found itself going head-to-head in the awards season with No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood... in some kind of thematic and stylistic triumvirate: they’re all products of what I’d call “American mainstream art house” cinema; all classifiable as Westerns, though none in a strictly traditional sense; all more concerned with their characters and their lives than the machinations of the plot.

In the end, No Country garnered most of the awards, There Will Be Blood seems to have settled in as a critical darling, but, for my money, this purest Western of the three is by far the best.

Read more here.


The Harry Potter Films of David Yates

Later than promised, but here it is: a director-focused overview of the final four Harry Potter films.

Plus, some closing thoughts on the series as a whole.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...


The Cube Trilogy
An overview of:

Cube (1997)

In its series of careful, measured, necessary reveals, the film strikes a perfect balance between what it lets the viewer know and what it keeps hidden, either for the viewer to deduce or interpret for themselves

Read more here.

Cube²: Hypercube (2002)

The new cube set is bigger, shinier, simpler, emptier, always one plain colour, and devoid of traps. Consequently, but perhaps inadvertently, it seems to symbolise the film itself.

Read more here.

Cube Zero (2004)

answers too many questions, which might be acceptable if the answers were remotely original or satisfying, but, of course, they aren’t: they’re derivative and, worst of all, quite irritating.

Read more here.


Plus:


Coraline (2009)

[The novel] won a Hugo, Nebula and Stoker, while the film adaptation was Oscar-nominated (naturally it lost to whichever Pixar film was eligible) and widely well reviewed (an 89% Tomatometer). All of which seems to set it up for a fall. But... Coraline, in short, is excellent.

Read more here.


Transporter 2 (2005)

In spite of the odd bit of CG-aided silliness, or the lack of anything as inspired as the first film’s oil fight, the fights are still a lot of fun; one involving a fire hose is especially well executed.

Read more here.


Transporter 3 (2008)

Megaton over-directs and over-edits the action (and a lot else besides) too often — it would be nice to tell what’s going on. Someone also needs to tell him that speeding up footage of two cars racing doesn’t make it more exciting, it just makes it look silly.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Dexter
7x02 Sunshine and Frosty Swirl

The Voice UK
2x14 The Semi-Finals
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

5 Versions Of Jurassic Park You Never Saw
by Drew Taylor (from The Playlist)

An interesting insight into the development of Jurassic Park, which is 20 this year (bloody hell!)

Most interesting bit: for all the talk of its pioneering effects and extensive use of CGI, it has just 15 minutes of dino action, and only 6 of those are computer generated!

Collection Count

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

Just one new addition this week (another Doctor Who DVD), but it's also time for a running time update, so there's that.

Number of titles in collection: 1,569 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,165 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 404 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,914 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,773 [up 2]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

And finally...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
281 days, 21 hours, and 33 minutes.
(Up 9 hours and 26 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader, when there may be nothing to report at all! Gasp!

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x10 (7/6/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Hoff's Best Film ...Ever!
1x02 The Hoff's Best Horror Film ...Ever!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
3x08 (22/12/12 edition)

Articles

How Hit Movies Become Flops
by Matt Singer (from Criticwire)

As the new Superman movie hits cinemas, a look back at how the last one was and is regarded. The general gist:

Weird fact: Superman Returns got good reviews when it was released, and made more money than Batman Begins. Now it's considered a flop.

What a Doctor Who-ha!
(from Private Eye)

Private Eye on the recent problems that have dogged Who. Nothing significantly new, though it does sum it up neatly. Especially this bit:

between January 2012 and June 2014, when under Doctor Who’s previously-accustomed schedule 41 episodes would have been broadcast, the BBC will actually put out a grand total of 16. That period includes the show’s 50th anniversary year, during which Moffat had announced: “I promise you, we’re going to take over television, trust me.”

TV

Dexter
7x01 Are You...?
The final season of Dexter is imminent in the US (it starts on the 30th), so it's a good time to crack on with the penultimate one, which I believe finished airing in the UK a few weeks ago. There's a lot of weight on this episode, having to deal with the immediate fallout from last season's game-changing cliffhanger, as well as set-up the pieces and plots for this season's arc story. As such it's a bit establishing-y, but at least it comes to a conclusion even more unavoidable than last episode's.

How I Met Your Mother
8x20 The Time Travelers
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Up the Women
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
[#57 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Articles

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predict film industry 'implosion'
by Ben Child (from the Guardian)

"There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

"I think eventually the Lincolns will go away and they're going to be on television," Lucas added. "As mine almost was," Spielberg interjected. "This close – ask HBO – this close."

"The pathway to get into theatres is really getting smaller and smaller," said Star Wars creator Lucas, pointing out that his own passion project, the war drama Red Tails, barely scraped into cinemas last year. "We're talking Lincoln and Red Tails – we barely got them into theatres," he said. "You're talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can't get their movie into a theatre!"

TV

The Job Lot
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Poirot
13x01 Elephants Can Remember
And so the last-ever series of Poirot begins, funnily enough with an adaptation of the last novel written. Apparently the novel isn't that well regarded, but I thought it made for a good episode.
There are four more to go, but this being ITV they're not on weekly, so I hope they plan to screen the final one around the TV series' 25th anniversary, at the start of January 2014.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Podcasts

Nerd Poker: Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn & Friends
Episode 8 The Survivors

TV

Mad Men
6x10 A Tale of Two Cities

Vicious
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
The series on the whole has been of variable quality, but I really liked this final episode. Weird how it paid off all the running jokes, though, as if they assumed it wouldn't be coming back -- there's a Christmas special, if nothing else.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

The Good Life
4x03 Our Speaker Today
Guest starring Robert Lindsay as a pervy young offender! Weird.

Podcasts

Nerd Poker: Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn & Friends
Episode 7 Follow the Whispers

Five episodes in eight days, then nothing for a month, then nothing for six weeks? Such is my way.

TV

Have I Got News For You
45x09 (31/5/2013 edition; extended repeat) [season finale]
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Ripper Street
1x04 The Good of This City

Films

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

This lost out on a number of awards (especially at the Oscars) thanks at least in part to that year's pair of awards darlings, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Personally, I thought it was considerably better than either of those.

As of Monday morning, you can read my full review here.

Articles

Neil Gaiman: 'Iain Banks was one of us, whatever that meant'
by Neil Gaiman (from the Guardian)

A beautiful tribute to the author, who died today.

this week on 100 Films

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


The Bourne Legacy (2012)

About 52 minutes in I paused it and went to the kitchen. Not for any particular reason; I just needed a break. There, I saw a slug crawling into my dog’s water bowl, drinking the water or something, I don’t know. I’d never seen that before. I ended up watching that slug slowly edge around the bowl for 15 minutes or more rather than go back to the film. It’s that engrossing.

Read more here.


But there were also three new to the new blog...


300 (2006)

Everyone's favourite movie about men with glistening muscles slicing evil Easterners

Read more here.


The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

This final instalment in the action-thriller trilogy was Empire magazine’s film of 2007, following wide praise on release that dubbed it the best action movie in a long time. Unfortunately, I fear it may’ve become a victim of its own hype.

Read more here.


Night Watch (2004)

Urban action fantasy from Russia; the first part of a trilogy... It makes for a pretty entertaining tale, with a neat ending that both concludes this film’s plot and leaves everything wide open for what’s to come.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Voice UK
2x12 The Quarter-Finals
2x13 The Quarter-Finals Results
[Watch the Quarter-Finals and the Results (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Fiction

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Chapters 7-10

The film clearly follows the novel's broad strokes, but still less than a quarter of the way through and it feels completely different. It makes it hard to judge, because I prefer the film, but that doesn't make the book bad.

Collection Count

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

All new releases this week: a Doctor Who, a Western, and a documentary (actually out next Monday -- can't remember the last time I actually got a pre-order before release day).

Number of titles in collection: 1,568 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,164 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 404 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,912 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,771 [up 6]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x09 (31/5/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x19 The Fortress
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Fiction

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Chapters 1-6

Here's a funny one. The film is so modern, even though it's now 11 years old, but this original is from 1980 -- it feels more like reading a classic James Bond novel than watching the tech-age thriller they made the film into. It kind of takes some getting used to. Plus, it's over 550 pages long, so even at this early point, with the story barely under way, it already has wild divergences from the big screen adaptation.

TV

The Hoff's Best Film ...Ever!
1x01 The Hoff's Best Action Film ...Ever!
Cool clips and talking heads -- nice easy viewing... even if some of the talking heads are intensely irritating 'comedians' (no one famous, so I've no names to regurgitate).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Once Upon a Time
2x04 The Crocodile
I love it when Once Upon a Time decides to do an origin episode. It's always glaringly obvious who the unfamiliar new character will turn out to be, but it still takes 45 minutes and a final scene of comically on-the-nose dialogue to reveal that, yes indeed, the pirate captain who called Rumplestiltskin a crocodile before his hand was cut off is Captain Hook.

Pointless
9x26a 500th Show
A special episode to mark the 500th edition of the popular quiz show, featuring the best-scoring teams who didn't win the jackpot. The questions seemed harder than normal too, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Case Histories
2x02 Nobody's Darling
The first episode not based on one of the original novels. Personally, I preferred it to the first one.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Job Lot
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Watson and Oliver
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Mad Men
6x09 The Better Half

Up the Women
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vicious
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Bourne Legacy (2012)
[#55 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

I'll write a full review of this on 100 Films in due course (hopefully by the end of the week, as it's on Sky Movies Premiere from Friday and I do like to tie in to things); but for now I'll say that it's massively disappointing. It puts all my criticism of Ultimatum yesterday in the shade, because (as I said) that's only a smidgen off the other Bourne films, while this is leagues apart. For much of the running time it's not even good as a generic action-thriller, because it's quite spectacularly dull.

Ironically, this is the first Bourne film that leaves the storyline truly open-ended. The other sequels found threads to pick up on, true, but if the series had stopped after either Identity or Supremacy, you had a complete tale (and Ultimatum too, of course). This closes on basically a cliffhanger. And I say that's ironic because it's also the first time that I have no desire to see a follow-up.

I believe they could have continued this series without the character of Jason Bourne -- there's potential in some of the ideas here. But this version just doesn't work, as a compelling film or worthy successor.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
8x18 Weekend at Barney's
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Ripper Street
1x03 The King Came Calling

Films

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
[2nd watch]

Here we go, then: the most uber-praised of all the Bourne movies, which I haven't seen since it reached DVD in late 2007.

And I still think it's overrated.

Really, I'm talking relative to the other two films. In and of itself, it's a great action-thriller, rattling along with both story and action, pushing boundaries in entertaining fashion. But it feels like the series is retreading old ground -- oh look, another shady CIA conspiracy, even higher up than the last two! And oh look, a twist where an agent who seemed newly assigned actually had an ulterior motive to be after Bourne all along! And so on.

And then there's the final act, which feels like too pat a conclusion. Bourne finds out everything (including stuff I'm sure we'd well guessed); all sorts of stuff gets publicly exposed and people are brought to justice; etc etc.

There are some great sequences along the way -- the Waterloo bit is amongst the series' very finest, the New York car chase rivals Supremacy's (though I still think Identity's Mini tops both), and the Tangier sequence, while being thoroughly silly (how the hell can all these people chase each other across all those rooftops and tiny side streets?), is still pretty great.

But overall, I find it slightly less enjoyable than the previous two... though if Identity is 5/5, perhaps Supremacy is 4.9/5 and Ultimatum is 4.8/5. Something like that.

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Book Two, Chapters 6-8
Book Three, Chapters 1-5
Envoi [the end]

Well, that was rather good. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi with a comical, satirical edge. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as something like Hitchhiker's, but it has a point (or points) to make, and a set of organisations and world views to criticise, and it tackles both entertainingly.

For a lot more about the novel -- including an interview with Harrison, details on the BBC radio and comic book adaptations, and the numerous sequels -- have a look here.

TV

The Voice UK
2x11 The Knockouts 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
[3rd watch]

The second Bourne film attracted much controversy and debate when it was first released, mainly to do with director Paul Greengrass' style of up-close, fast-cut, handheld photography. Watched nine years on, it doesn't look anything like as radical -- this style has become fairly standard. It's one I think works better on a small screen than in the cinema, I think. A wall-sized picture moving around at such a dizzying rate can be confusing and troublesome, but a smaller TV context makes it more followable.

As for the film itself, it's a worthy sequel. On IMDb the first one has the user voters' edge by something like 0.3 out of 10, and I'm inclined to agree -- they've both great (I'd rate both several higher than the IMDb averages, incidentally), and both have a lot to offer in slightly different ways, but overall the first one edges it.

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Chapters 6-8
Book Two, Chapters 1-5

Just to clarify, there is no "Book One" -- it's chapters 1 to 8, then Book Two (and, later, Book Three).

this week on 100 Films

You may have noticed that it's now June, so we begin this week's update by looking back at May. It's a bumper post this month, including some results from my Harry Potter poll and a top five of movie car chases, as well as the usual list and analysis of what I've been watching.

Alongside that, two brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Designed to launch Monty Python to a US audience who wouldn’t have seen the TV series, And Now For contains around 40 sketches [from the TV series]...

Ironically, US reviews were mixed and the film did little business at the box office, while in the UK it was popular enough to turn a profit, despite the fact it contained nothing new for British fans — “indeed many were disappointed that the film seemed to belie its title.”

Read more here.


The Lost Weekend (1945)

Directed by the inestimable Billy Wilder, winner of the Grand Prix at the first Cannes, winner of the Best Picture Oscar, and also Best Actor, Director, and Screenplay, it's a wonder that The Lost Weekend isn't better known...

Read more here.


And finally, new to the new blog...


Million Dollar Baby (2004)

it’s an incredibly anti-boxing movie. No good character’s life isn’t in some way ruined by the ‘sport’: Meg is paralysed and ultimately loses her life, not to mention realising how awful her family are; Morgan Freeman’s lost the sight in one eye and is reduced to cleaning up a run-down gym; ‘Danger’ gets beat-up; and Frankie’s lost his daughter, gets screwed over by his protégé, and ultimately loses Meg too. In no way is this a cheery depiction of boxing.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
45x08 (24/5/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
6x08 Boat [season finale]
In every interview, Lee Mack seemed to build up the will-they-won't-they angle, and then in the last episode... barely a mention. Hey-ho.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
2x10 The Knockouts 1
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bourne Identity (2002)
[4th watch]

The last time I watched a Bourne film was when I saw The Bourne Ultimatum for the first and (to date) last time way back in December 2007, which means it's somewhere in the region of six or seven years since I last saw this. And it's 11 years old now! Crikey! Still feels quite fresh though, and I think its influence is still apparent on cinema -- just look at Euro-thrillers like the year-before-last's Unknown, for example.

The latest Bourne film, Legacy, is on Sky Movies Premiere from next Friday. I've had it on Blu-ray for a while now, intending to do a full series re-watch in the lead up to it (what with it being so long since I last saw any of them), so now's finally the time. If all goes to plan, expect to see Supremacy here tomorrow, Ultimatum on Monday, and Legacy on Tuesday, with a 100 Films review to follow before it's on TV (hopefully!)

Articles

Matt Smith to leave after Christmas Special
by Chuck Foster (from Doctor Who News)

Well, there you go. I do like Smith, but I can't help but feel this is one in the eye for all those smug whatnots who misread his comments months ago and assumed he'd already confirmed he was in series 8.

Collection Count

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

This week, I got the two '60s Dalek movies on Blu-ray, replacing my old DVD. Aside from a calculation error on the number of films, that's it.

Number of titles in collection: 1,565 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,162 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 403 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,908 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,678 [down 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,765 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x08 (24/5/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
6x07 Magic
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x50 (22/5/12 edition)

TV

The Good Life
4x02 The Green Door

Veronica Mars
1x21 A Trip to the Dentist
1x22 Leave It to Beaver [season finale]
Ah-ha, the mystery is solved! But ooh, a cliffhanger too...

Films

The Seventh Seal (1957)
[#54 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Articles

Doctor Who: 11 thoughts on Series 7
by Rob Smedley (from Cult Box)

Some pretty fair points about "maybe the most divisive run yet since the show’s 2005 revival".

TV

Mad Men
6x08 The Crash

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Watson and Oliver
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Once Upon a Time
2x03 The Lady of the Lake
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Veronica Mars
1x20 M.A.D.

Would I Lie To You?
7x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2012)
[#53 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Chapters 4-5

TV

Mad Men
6x07 Man with a Plan

Miranda
1x02 Teacher [2nd watch]
Somewhat unbelievably, I haven't actually watched this since it first aired 3½ years ago. Ought to take the time to do a full re-watch.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

DVD Extras

A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe

The creator/author and star of the Harry Potter series have a chat with each other for an hour. That's it. Some people are never going to find that appealing, of course, but for the interested it's fascinating. And even at an entire hour, one wishes there was more time -- so many interesting topics go accidentally unexplored, and you just feel that there's so much more left both could say about... everything, really.

(This was originally included on the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Blu-ray, but the version I watched is a 15-minutes-longer cut included in the Wizard's Collection.)

Fiction

Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
Chapters 1-3

The first Proper Book I'm reading on my Kindle, after buying it half by accident. It's the novel on which Alex Cox's Kickstarter (which I backed) is based, so it seemed a bright idea to read it. And it's good.

It's part of Gollancz's SF Gateway series, which, as they describe in the introduction, are ebooks of titles that might not see print in traditional circumstances, allowing readers access to things they might otherwise have to root around in endless second-hand shops in a vain hope of finding, if they even heard about them in the first place. Or, to put it another way, the kind of thing that makes the current explosion in ereaders and digital books actually worthwhile.

TV

Have I Got News For You
45x07 (17/5/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
3x07 (8/12/12 edition)

Films

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
[#52a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[2nd watch]

This was #2 in 100 Films 2012, and now it completes my Harry Potter re-watch, which has neatly filled all the Sundays in April and May. And it's flown by, too!


Shane (1953)
[#52 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

this week on 100 Films

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


Django Unchained (2012)

I’m going to offer pretty unrelenting praise for Django Unchained, but it’s hard to know where to begin. With the cinematography and its extraordinary range? Or how about those action sequences? Or there’s always QT’s renowned music choices? Or the performances?

Read more here.


The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

The third film in the series ditches a number for a subtitle; ditches the US settings for Japan; and ditches every character from the earlier films in favour of a fresh start. What remains is the tone and the content. The plot is the usual mix of street racing and gangster posturing, though at least the “woohoo hot chicks!” and rap culture business has been toned down from last time.

Read more here.


The Last Boy Scout (1991)

a wonderful noir feel permeates through much of the film. This is thanks in part to cinematographer Ward Russell. Technically this is neo-noir, but it makes you want to call it “neon-noir” — pitch black frames punctuated by glowing coloured lights.

Read more here.


Additionally, new to the new blog were...


Final Destination (2000)

The most important part, all things considered, are the ways Death settles the score. No mysterious “natural causes” demises here — it's all about inventive executions. Even after a decade, in which some of the Great Big Shocks have been revealed in various Top 10s and “OMG do you remember the bit where…” conversations, some bits remain impressive and/or amusing.

Read more here.


Final Destination 2 (2003)

To say any more about the deaths would be to ruin the film. Trust that they are suitable inventive, occasionally surprising — there’s a neat twist in who the first handful of victims are — and the build up to each littered with red herrings and misdirections.

Read more here.


Final Destination 3 (2006)

the deaths? Some are moderately inventive, and one or two even provoked a crumb of the intended amusement, but somehow it didn’t click as it was clearly intended to (i.e. more with the humour of the second than the fear of the first).

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Job Lot
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

The Voice UK
2x09 Super Battle Saturday
Someone clearly decided two solid hours on Saturday night would be a better idea than taking up time on both Saturday and Sunday. I'm undecided if they were right.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
[#51 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Articles

How Shakespeare Saved Avengers
by David Itzkoff (from the New York Times)

A brief but interesting piece on Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, featuring interviews with Mr Whedon and his wife (and producer) Kai Cole.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,565 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 402 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,908 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,765 [up 4]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x07 (17/5/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x17 The Ashtray
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Playhouse Presents
2x02 Snodgrass
Definitely among the better ones. Maybe series two will be an improvement...

Scott & Bailey
3x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
A suitably epic/dramatic finale, but as plausible as ever. I presume this has remained as popular as ever and this won't be the last we see of them...
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Not Going Out
6x06 Play
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Playhouse Presents
1x09 The Man
That was definitely among the better ones. But then, quality writer, quality cast, what do you expect?
Also, that concludes my experiences with series one of Playhouse. It was a mixed bag, which I suppose you should expect from an anthology series, though on the whole it felt like it erred towards the less-good. I've still got most of series two so far recorded, though.

Ripper Street
1x02 In My Protection
Blimey, was this really on in January?! I knew I'd left it a while, but didn't think it was that long.

Scott & Bailey
3x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Watson and Oliver
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Mad Men
6x06 For Immediate Release
Ooh, intriguing developments! I have a feeling it's going to go very badly in the long (or possibly short) run, though...

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Playhouse Presents
1x07 The Snipist
Taking half-an-hour to tell a story that wouldn't adequately fill a four-page Future Shock? Ugh. And I was quite looking forward to this one too.

Veronica Mars
1x19 Hot Dogs

Comics

Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges
Judge Death by John Wagner & Brian Bolland

I just got a hand-me-down Kindle, one of the black and white ones, but recent enough to read comics. So colour ones look daft, but black and white ones look rather nifty. So I got this book, cheap-like. This story -- the first ever to feature one of Dredd's most memorable nemeses -- first appeared in 2000 AD Progs 149-151 back in 1980.

TV

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

Films

Les Misérables (2012)
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

On Dangerous Ground (1952)
[#49 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Case Histories
2x01 Started Early, Took My Dog
Considering the first series was on in 2011, I assumed they weren't bothering with more. But no, here it is! And despite now being in single 90-minute episodes instead of 120-minute two-parters, it somehow feels slow. But quite good. Though why can't someone turn the lights on for some/any/all of the interior scenes?
Though, aww, look at the cute doggie!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
5x22 Red John's Rules [season finale]
So that's Arrow, Elementary and The Mentalist all down for the summer. Maybe it's time to resume Dexter...
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Collection Count

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

This one's late for the same reasons as yesterday's 100 Films update. Not too many things to add, but a few -- and a running time update to calculate too. But first, the regular stats:

Number of titles in collection: 1,564 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,162 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 402 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,907 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,761 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

And the new running time is...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
281 days, 12 hours, and 7 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 10 hours, and 33 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Elementary
1x23 The Woman
1x24 Heroine [season finale]
A two-part finale, shown as a single long episode in the US but being split up over here (I think the first half is on this Tuesday). It was a little slow in places, but some fine twists that I wasn't expecting.

The Good Life
4x01 Away From It All

Have I Got News For You
45x06 (10/5/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
[#48a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[3rd watch]

This was previously #70 in 100 Films 2011.

And now, it's almost the end of my Harry Potter re-watch! All being well, this time next week it'll be the grand finale. It's flown by.

this week on 100 Films

A busy week has delayed my regular weekend round-ups, but here's one now...

So, just one new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I have much more I could have said about The Dark Knight Rises, but damn I’m fed up with still having films from 2012 on my to-do list! A fuller piece may well accompany a re-watch in the future.

Read more here.


But there were quite a few new to the new blog...


The Damned United (2009)

I have no idea if Sheen’s Clough is anything like the real man — though, based on form, I imagine he’s spot on — but it’s an outstanding performance regardless. Effortlessly charming on first encounter, [but] the cocksure and awkward-to-work-with man beneath the charismatic veneer is gradually revealed.

Read more here.


Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

a different kind of war film. While it seems to have been promoted as the story of the battle for Iwo Jima, it’s more about the experience of three men, both on the island and upon their return to America

Read more here.


Funny Face (1957)

Funny Face has Audrey Hepburn falling in love with someone old enough to be her dad. Fortunately, there’s enough other entertaining stuff going on to keep us distracted from that fact.

Read more here.


Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Companion to Flags of Our Fathers, and widely considered the better of the two, showing the same battle from the Japanese perspective.

Read more here.


Righteous Kill (2008)

It’s dull. Properly dull — not slow, not measured, not leisurely — just dull. Director Jon Avnet tries to spice things up occasionally with some swishy camerawork or editing [but] it doesn’t work; if anything, it makes it worse.

Read more here.


The Social Network (2010)

The Social Network sounds like it should be awful — Facebook: The Movie? What?! — but it’s actually brilliant.

Read more here.


Thumbsucker (2005)

It's so good that all I can remember about it is that I've seen it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x14 The Name of the Doctor [season finale]

Well, that was a nice 45-minute teaser for the anniversary special!

In all seriousness though, there were some neat things in this episode, including bits that finally made it feel like part of the celebratory 50th anniversary year; but as a satisfying self-contained episode in its own right, no -- it was too embedded in resolving hanging issues from the past (not all of them that interesting; or, alternatively, not that interestingly resolved) and setting up where the series is going next.

Shame, actually, because there was room (and need?) for a calmer, more reflective, and ending-y finale, rather than another cliffhanger.

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



Eurovision Song Contest: Malmö 2013
[Watch it (again) soon on iPlayer.]

Articles

Why do Doctor Who fans hate Doctor Who?
by Penelope Irving (from The Black Hole Blog at Spaceforce)

I think it’s a product of the show’s longevity, its uniquely remoldable format and its status as a cultural icon. Other fandoms have deep divisions, but they are usually over specific issues. I’m not sure the phenomenon of fans who are active and committed, and who also seem to loathe the current show, exists in other fandoms.

TV

Arrow
1x23 Sacrifice [season finale]
Crikey, that was certainly Big! And it's nice to once again have a series that gets on with its stories, rather than making everything multi-year mystery that never seems to end. Some proper twists and surprises too.
(For UK-pace viewers, this is on Sky1 on Monday.)

The Graham Norton Show
13x06 (10/5/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x16 Bad Crazy
Aww, what a lovely cameo by convicted rapist and ear-biter Mike Tyson.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Django Unchained (2012)
[#48 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Ben Earl: Trick Artist
1x03 Science
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
The Murder in Angel Lane
ITV's 2011 adaptation of the titular true-crime "non-fiction novel" went down so well that they commissioned this completely fiction follow-up, clearly designed to launch a series. It's quite good, but at the end strayed too far from real-life plausibility into pure Detective Drama territory. And it feels a bit weird to take a real person, tell a very true story about them, and then begin making stuff up under the same title.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Arrow
1x22 Darkness on the Edge of Town

The Job Lot
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
6x08 (11/5/13 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
1x18 Weapons of Class Destruction

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

Music

Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

It feels like this has been trending on Twitter for ages (I think it's just "all week" -- but still, that's a long time in Twitter terms), I guess because it's streaming for free and, for some reason, out of the blue, everyone loves Daft Punk these days. The actual tweets suggested quite a mixed reception, so I caved and listened to it too, and I quite liked it.

Personal favourite track is #5, Instant Crush (starts at 22:49 on the stream), and I like the Apollo 17 quote on Contact. Plus Get Lucky really does get in your head, doesn't it.

TV

Elementary
1x22 Risk Management
That would've been a much bigger surprise if they hadn't announced the casting...

Plebs
1x05 Bananae
1x06 Saturnalia [season finale]
[Watch Bananae and Saturnalia (again) on ITV Player.]

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

Would I Lie To You?
7x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Mad Men
6x05 The Flood

The Mentalist
5x21 Red and Itchy
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Not Going Out
6x05 Rachel
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

DVD Extras

Creating the World of Harry Potter
Part 7 Story

An eight-part documentary series found on the Harry Potter Ultimate Editions and in the Wizard's Collection, covering the entire making of the series in themed parts. Whereas most 'episodes' are made up of old & new interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and the like, this is just a 45-minute conversation between author J.K. Rowling and the screenwriter of 7 of the 8 movies, Steve Kloves. Very informative and enlightening it is too.

TV

The British Academy Television Awards 2013
Last year I described the awards as "rather uncomfortable". This year, I thought it was mostly good fun, with some very worthy and entertaining winners. So that's all good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
33x13a She Said, He Said: A Prequel
The prequel to the season finale. It was promoted as one of the longest they've ever done, which is a technicality because it's all of 3½ minutes. But it's an odd one -- normally these are pointless bonus scenes set just before the episode takes place, perhaps teasing one element of it... but this feels more like a specially-shot trailer, recapping the mysteries of the season and ending with a tease for the episode. Weird.
[Watch it (again) on the official Doctor Who site.]

The Voice UK
2x08 The Battle Rounds 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
[#47a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[2nd watch]

This was #84 in 100 Films 2009. I remembered it as being little more than 2½ hours of setup for Deathly Hallows, but it's actually much better than that.


The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
[#47 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]