TV

Doctor Who
2x04 World's End
2x05 The Daleks
2x06 Day of Reckoning

What's this, #bbbDW50 returning to the First Doctor? No, don't be daft — that'd be silly! This is extracurricular viewing, designed to facilitate a companion piece to my Dr Who and the Daleks retrospective/comparison on 100 Films later this month.

That's because, for those who don't know, these are parts one to three of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which was the basis for the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie. I've never seen the TV version before, but it's a mightily impressive production — some grand sets, and the stuff filmed in a deserted London is astounding. Though, weirdly, the famous shot of the Daleks crossing the bridge isn't here; instead, we just see their tops drifting past from below — I guess while some photographer was grabbing a more iconic image!


Friends
4x11 The One with Phoebe's Uterus [4th or so watch]


The Mentalist
6x01 The Desert Rose
As if Arrow, Castle, Elementary and Person of Interest weren't enough... and I'm still going on The Newsroom... and I've not even started Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or Ripper Street series 2, or the already-finished Peaky Blinders... and I have loads of other complete series recorded/downloaded from earlier in the year that I've not got to... and I'm years behind on Misfits, which just restarted also... Why is there so much TV right now?!
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]


The Wrong Mans
1x06 Running Mans [season finale]
Sounds likely there'll be another series of this -- very much yay.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 23

TV

Archer
4x11 The Papal Chase
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]


Doctor Who
The TV Movie [1st third; 5th watch]

Choices are limited when it comes to representing the Eighth Doctor as part of #bbbDW50 -- it's either this again, or a half-arsed 'animation' of Shada (that they didn't include properly on the DVD anyway, so I don't know how we'd have gone about watching it).

So it's back to the TV movie, for something like the fifth time for me and second for my viewing companion. That's not so bad: I do like it, and the last time was five years ago now. Just to mix things up, we're going to watch it as a three parter, stripped across the week as per usual. It's not the easiest thing to divide into traditionally-sized 25 minute chunks -- it might seem roughly the right length, but it depends how well-balanced you want your episodes. See, there's actually great cliffhanger points (and DVD chapter stops!) at exactly 25 and 50 minutes... but that leaves a "Part 3" that's 35 minutes long. Alternatively, using the chapter points, you can get a "1st third" that's 30 minutes (ch.1-8), with a second of 27 minutes (ch.9-14) and third of 29 minutes (ch.15-24) -- pretty equal.

(Splitting it neatly in half for two new-series-length episodes, however, is next to impossible -- there's a huge sequence right in the middle that leaves you with clearly lopsided 'halves', whether you're using chapter points or not. And that's one of the reasons we're watching it in three, not two.)

Anyway, I went for 25/25/35 -- that's the more entertaining way to split it, because it means 'Part 1' ends with the Doctor's whole "Who. Am. Iiiiaiaiaaargh?!" bit, which is quite a natural end-point, rather than a semi-decent one at the next chapter break. The TVM's biggest sin is being too old-fan friendly: if it began in San Francisco, 1999, with all the gang shootings, and a box appearing out of thin air, and a mysterious man, and a surgeon... that could all work. Instead, it begins on Skaro with a huge exposition dump, which is fine if you're a fan -- plenty of nods -- but must've been awful for total newcomers.

That aside, there's a nice vein of sly humour that would sit well in the revived series, and incredibly classy direction from Geoffrey Sax (apparently they've tried to get him on the new series several times, but he's always been in another job). With the (very good) regeneration out of the way, so a new Doctor and Master in place, the best bits are yet to come.


Friends
4x10 The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie [4th or so watch]

DVD Extras

The Doctor's Strange love, Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the TV Movie

Featurette on the Doctor Who TV Movie Special Edition DVD, in which Who author Simon Guerrier, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures writer Joseph Lidster, and comedian Josie Long discuss why the TV Movie is actually pretty good.

Perhaps most surprising is how many similarities they draw up with the new series. This was filmed while David Tennant was still the Doctor, and I think those things are, if anything, even more pertinent after Matt Smith's incarnation.

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 22

TV

Doctor Who
33x06b The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later
This prequel-esque mini-scene was first released yonks ago, but I've finally bothered to watch it thanks to the Series 7 box set. It has more point and amusement than your average DW prequel/short/thing, at least.

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x05 The Fifth Doctor

Friends
4x09 The One Where They're Going to Party! [4th or so watch]

this week on 100 Films

Lots to report this week -- it's been a very busy one on 100 Films in a Year.

Firstly, it's now November, so here's the monthly update for October. It's mainly filled with my next topic...

In honour of Halloween last Thursday, the past seven days have been the Week of the Living Dead for 100 Films. All six reviews are summarised in chronological order at that link.

...but even then that wasn't all this week, oh no. In total there were seven brand-new reviews published in the past seven days. In alphabetical order, they were:


Dawn of the Dead (1978)

The film is rich with analogy and symbolism for them that wants it; what’s kind of depressing is that so many viewers today don’t. I’m a fan of a well-constructed largely-mindless action movie as much as the next Bloke, on the right occasion, but that’s now what Romero was purporting to construct. It’s not “pretentious” to see these themes, because that’s why he made the film.

Read more here.


Day of the Dead (1985)

the darkest and most nihilistic of all Romero’s films, lacking the humour that played such a significant role in Dawn. It’s not as if Night was rolling in laughs, but... there are no villains — characters conflict, but their motives are all understandable. Day has a clear-cut villain: the base’s new commander, Captain Rhodes, a power-mad borderline-caricature of small man syndrome. This is where that B-movie thing comes in: he’s eminently quotable, but he’s also thoroughly unlikeable.

Read more here.


Diary of the Dead (2007)

a greater focus on action and gore than ever before. The first three films limit the majority of their violence to a final-act brawl... but here we’re given a smattering throughout, with no all-or-nothing finale. That’s not a bad thing, but it makes it feel more pervasive — even more so than Land, which was an action-adventure movie through and through.

Read more here.


Land of the Dead (2005)

clearly bursting with Romero’s usual socio-political analogies and commentary. There’s the rich/poor divide and the abundance of entertainment; there’s certainly some post-9/11 thoughts, and perhaps post-Katrina too; perhaps the zombies represent foreign nationals, either breaking in or kicking off a revolution; and there are freedom fighters within too, who are incarcerated and apparently tortured without trial...

Read more here.


Night of the Living Dead (1968)

The Walking Dead, Warm Bodies, World War Z… zombies seem to be everywhere at the minute (generally in things beginning with ‘W’, for some reason), and generating big business. But this particular subgenre began 45 years ago, in a simple black & white independent movie, made for less than 1% of Brad Pitt’s salary for World War Z.

Read more here.


Survival of the Dead (2009)

There are, unquestionably, better zombie movies written and directed by George A. Romero, but I think here he’s produced one of his most watchable; one that can be as entertaining as the others, is still at times as innovative, and does even support a deeper reading, if you’re prepared to look for it. The film not only shows us that the dead can survive, but that so should Romero’s reputation.

Read more here.


Toy Story of Terror! (2013)

a mash-up of horror-trope-spoofery and usual kids’ tale Toy Story antics, pretty much divided half-and-half around the midpoint. Which is no bad thing when it’s all so much fun. The horror movie stuff early on is a suitable tribute to the genre, packed with atmosphere. Of course it’s kid-friendly and so not really scary, but there are plenty of nice references and a solid mystery

Read more here.


And on top of all that, one review was new to the new blog...


2012 (2009)

The end of the world occurs courtesy of messy CGI. I’ve seen better graphics in current-generation computer games than some of the sequences here. And there’s too much of it. Letting Emmerich’s imagination — and budget — run rampant means there’s an assault of imagery that’s just too much for one film.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x06 The Song of the Sirens
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
4x08 The One with Chandler in a Box [4th or so watch]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,630 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,194 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 436 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,050 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,736 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,022 [up 15]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [no change]

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

Total running time of collection (approx.):
291 days, 8 hours, and 11 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 10 hours, and 5 minutes from last month.)

That jump is made up from 17 films, 55 episodes of TV, and 13 shorts.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Castle
3x05 Anatomy of a Murder
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Doctor Who
25x07 The Happiness Patrol Part Three [2nd watch]
The end of #bbbDW50's time in the classic era proper (the TV Movie gets counted as "classic Who", because obviously it's not part of modern BBC Wales-made nuWho, but it's not really classic Who, is it? It's in-between-y. But anyway.) It's a great one to end on, in my opinion, undervalued by fans thanks to some of the admittedly-somewhat-silly bits. Yet even for that, I kinda like the Kandy Man too.

Friends
4x07 The One Where Chandler Crosses the Line [4th or so watch]

The Graham Norton Show
14x03 (25/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Was It Something I Said
1x03 Episode 3 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]

Films

Survival of the Dead (2009)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Week of the Living Dead #6 -- the final film. Hurrah, I did it!

Now I just have to get a review up in time...

Articles

Spooks movie The Greater Good to shoot in 2014, plot details revealed
by Simon Reynolds (from Digital Spy)

Intriguing. It'd be nice if they brought back more of the series' cast beyond Harry, but then I imagine they probably want it to be standalone rather than a great big reunion just for fans.

TV

Arrow
2x02 Identity

Friends
4x06 The One with the Dirty Girl [4th or so watch]
Episodes of Friends often have three plots, to cover all of the characters. Usually you can rank them, as I expect they did in writing, in order of importance -- probably called the A plot, B plot, and C plot. And this episode is, weirdly, but most definitely, named after the C plot.

Films

Diary of the Dead (2007)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Week of the Living Dead #5.

TV

Doctor Who
25x06 The Happiness Patrol Part Two [2nd watch]
The one with the bit where the Doctor talks some men out of shooting him, amongst other fun and frolics. I like The Happiness Patrol.

Friends
4x05 The One with Joey's New Girlfriend [4th or so watch]

Person of Interest
2x01 The Contingency
While the US are enjoying season three, Channel 5 have finally started on season two. Ah, it's like the good bad ol' days...
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Wrong Mans
1x05 Wanted Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Land of the Dead: Director's Cut (2005)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Week of the Living Dead #4.

TV

Elementary
2x01 Step Nine
Sherlock Holmes in London? What an original idea! Good plot, though.

Friends
4x04 The One with the Ballroom Dancing [4th or so watch]

The Great British Bake Off
4x11 The Final
Despite it getting higher viewing figures than The X Factor, I've managed to go a whole week without having the Bake Off final spoiled. (It would've been simpler to watch it sooner, of course... but then, I didn't take any special measures (I just kind of forgot about it), and it still wasn't ruined, so...)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Suburgatory
2x13 Blowtox and Burlap
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Day of the Dead (1985)
[#95 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Week of the Living Dead #3.

DVD Extras

For Every Dawn There is a Day Or Why George Romero Would Never Direct a Rambo Movie
by Calum Waddell

Booklet included with the UK Day of the Dead Blu-ray, which again is one long essay by Waddell. Although he valiantly defends the film, and again expands upon what it Means, there were a lot of little niggles (in his conclusion he uses the word "anecdote" instead of "antidote"!) that make it feel kind of amateurish -- or, worse, fannish.

Comics

Day of the Dead: Desertion by Stefan Hutchinson, Barry Keating & Jeff Zornow

A full-length (well, one-shot length) comic included with Arrow Video's Blu-ray of Day of the Dead. Unfortunately, it's pretty terrible. There are some neat ideas in there, which someone of Romero's ability could have explored, but here it's just rendered with ultra-violence and extreme language purely for shock factor. Plus, dialogue that no one in the world would ever actually say -- it's over-written to the point of absurdity.

TV

Arrow
2x01 City of Heroes
Ah Arrow -- it can be ever so cheesy and silly, but occasionally it's really good, and overall it's fun. Unlike the godawful Once Upon a Time, which I've finally decided to just give up on.


Doctor Who
25x05 The Happiness Patrol Part One [2nd watch]

With less than a month to go 'til the 50th anniversary special, #bbbDW50 reaches the end of the classic era proper with this Seventh Doctor story.

It's the one that exploded across the news a few years ago for being a satire on Margaret Thatcher, which was a bit baffling for Doctor Who fans: we'd always known that; why was it news? (Indeed, the autobiography which was the source for the news story had been out for a few years itself.) It's a controversial story all round, in fact: this is also the one with the Kandy Man, who is both divisive (you just know there are some fans who are going to give themselves an aneurism over a villain made from sweets) and possibly copyright-infringing (the Bertie Bassett people complained and the BBC had to promise never to bring him back).

Then there's all the stuff with indoor sets that are meant to be be outdoor streets, and the garish costumes, and painting the TARDIS pink... In DWM's Mighty 200 it came a lowly 170th, putting it in the bottom half of Sylvester McCoy stories (albeit at the top of said half).

Personally, I've always liked it. It's got a barminess undercut with a serious side that works. The guest star is Sheila Hancock, who is always magnificent. And there's that bit where the Doctor talks his way out of getting shot which is simply marvellous.

Some people dismiss the McCoy years out of hand, without even considering they might have some merit. Yes, the show had been getting steadily worse for years (while '60s and '70s stories can hold up well today, several '80s ones really, really do not), but it picked back up again towards the end. It's a shame that by then so few people cared; and even those who were watching assumed it was still all bad, and can't get over that to this day.


Friends
4x03 The One with the 'Cuffs [4th or so watch]


Have I Got News For You
46x03 (18/10/2013 edition; extended repeat)

Films

Dawn of the Dead (1978)
[#94 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Week of the Living Dead #2.

DVD Extras

For Every Night There is a Dawn (Or how George Romero never recovered from the Vietnam War)
by Calum Waddell

Booklet included with the UK Dawn of the Dead Blu-ray, which is one long, interesting essay by Waddell.

TV

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x04 The Fourth Doctor

Friends
4x02 The One with the Cat [4th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Toy Story of Terror! (2013)
[#93a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Pixar's latest Toy Story short is this made-for-TV Halloween special, shown in the US a couple of weeks ago and now available through Sky Movies in the UK. It's good fun, so a shame Sky got their grubby little mitts on it.

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 21

this week on 100 Films

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


The Italian Job (2003)

I’ve never seen the original, but from what I gather the only similarity is they both feature Minis in their climactic sequence — and even then, the original used ‘real’ Minis while this uses those daft big-as-a-regular-car new ones. In that respect it’s one of those remakes/reboots that is just using the name for brand recognition, and they normally turn out to be awful. But maybe The Italian Job is the exception...

Read more here.


Man on a Ledge (2012)

A man books into a swish hotel, has a nice meal, then climbs out the window. Onlookers and police gather. Will he jump? Or is he just a distraction? What follows is pretty generic ‘single location thriller’ material, with a thoroughly daft ending… but when the whole film strains plausibility, do we buy it?

Read more here.


My Week with Marilyn (2011)

The supporting cast is a veritable who’s who of recognisable British faces, stars of screens both big and small. Barely a speaking part goes by without an actor you’re certain to recognise. I’d list them but, honestly, there are far, far too many. [But,] of course Dominic Cooper’s in it — is it even legal to make a mid-budget British movie without him now?

Read more here.


On Dangerous Ground (1952)

I also didn’t ‘feel’ the juxtaposition of shadowy city in the film’s early sections with bright snowy country later on. Nonetheless, there is a clear contrast on screen, particularly as the city is all shot at night and is very black, while most of the country scenes occur in daylight, emphasising the near-ceaseless white of the snow.

Read more here.


Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2012)

The master of miniatures back when special effects were truly special, rather than copious CGI ladled all over a couple of thousand shots throughout a blockbuster, the effect of Harryhausen’s work in (primarily) the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s is to thank for much of the best creativity in sci-fi/fantasy filmmaking of the last 20 to 30 years.

Read more here.


And there were four reviews new to the new blog, too...


Die Hard 2 (1990)

Arguably the other main reason Die Hard worked so well — the confined office block setting — is also discarded, giving McClane a whole airport to run around. We have to be grateful that this isn’t just a straight forward rehash of the first film... but it doesn’t have the same brilliant simplicity.

Read more here.


An Education (2009)

Jenny’s induction into her new friends’ higher-class world isn’t marred by the usual abundance of “embarrassing faux pas” humour that such tales normally fall back on. I’ve never understood where the entertainment value is supposed to lie in seeing the character we’re asked to like being put through the kind of social embarrassment that happens all too often in real life and that we’d really rather like to forget.

Read more here.


Is Anybody There? (2008)

Perhaps if you’ve ever been that child who wondered and worried about what comes after death, or struggled to find your place in the world, or become stuck in a situation where you feel you may as just give up, or known people who’ve been abandoned as they grew old, or who have suffered that horrible, sometimes slow, sometimes all too fast, loss of their mental faculties, then this film will engage you too.

Read more here.


X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

it may lack the depth of X-Men or X2, both of which played with subtexts of social exclusion and derision... but, taken as a straightforward action-adventure movie about people with extraordinary abilities fighting each other, it more than satisfies.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x05 White Lies
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
4x01 The One with the Jellyfish [4th or so watch]

The Sarah Millican Slightly Longer Television Programme
3x04 Episode 4

Films

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

It's almost Halloween (had you noticed?), and this year I'm finally going to execute my long-held plan to watch all of George A. Romero's "Dead" films in a week. Starting today, with the first (obv.) The plan is to also run reviews daily on 100 Films, starting from Monday.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,628 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,193 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 435 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,046 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,735 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,007 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Archer
4x10 Un Chien Tangerine
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]


Doctor Who
22x09 The Two Doctors Part Three [2nd watch]

It seems even the great, legendary Robert Holmes can't muster a good Sixth Doctor story.

Here, we get an underused Patrick Troughton (though, even then, he can't help but be brilliant); Sontarans who may as well not be in it (they could be any generic heavies); and we're treated to some of the era's trademark violence, as the Doctor murders a villain with cyanide gas, a Sontaran's dismembered leg is gleefully waved about, and a supporting character is bloodily stabbed in the chest; the last leads to a death scene that I think is supposed to be poignant but is just comic, and is overshadowed by a final shot where the camera adjusts to highlight a different character's chest.

It's not all bad. There's the highly comical sight of the cast traipsing around Seville in daft sci-fi costumes; there's a surprisingly impressive explosion, which must have been practical; and, among the cast, there's Troughton, and Frazer Hines, plus Nicola Bryant bringing her ample charms.

Unless memory cheats, this is the end of the Bad Part of #bbbDW50 -- though some may disagree, as the next couple of stories (at least) are under-rated personal favourites.


Friends
3x25 The One at the Beach [season finale; 4th or so watch]


The Graham Norton Show
14x02 (18/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


Was It Something I Said
1x02 Episode 2 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 16
Interlude
Chapters 17-20

TV

Archer
4x07 Live and Let Dine
4x09 The Honeymooners
C5 have deigned to show more episodes, meaning I get more Archer for the first time in a month. And there was another one on in the middle of the night, too. Hurrah, and/or about bloody time!
[Watch Live and Let Dine & The Honeymooners (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
3x23 The One with Ross's Thing [4th or so watch]
3x24 The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion [4th or so watch]

Man Down
1x01 Episode 1
Don't think I'll be bothering with any more of this.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Newsroom
2x06 One Step Too Many

TV

Castle
3x04 Punked
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Doctor Who
22x08 The Two Doctors Part Two [2nd watch]

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x03 The Third Doctor

Friends
3x22 The One with the Screamer [4th or so watch]

Films

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

aka Zatôichi monogatari, the first of 26 movies starring Shintarô Katsu as the titular blind swordsman.

Criterion are releasing a lavish (almost-)complete Blu-ray set of the series later in the year, which is massively tempting (it looks gorgeous), but as I've had the first few films knocking about on DVD for a few years I thought I should check one or two of them out before committing to Criterion's set.

One thing's for certain: the picture quality in the new set will be more pleasant. Not just because it's in HD, but because the 2006 US DVD I watched this on presented the film in its correct ultra-wide aspect ratio... but stuck within a 4:3 frame, with the subtitles under the film image -- i.e. a nightmare to watch nicely on a widescreen TV. I'll be happy to take it in again when I get that BD set.

TV

Friends
3x21 The One with a Chick and a Duck [4th or so watch]

The Great British Bake Off
4x09 French Week
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Wrong Mans
1x04 Inside Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapters 13-15

TV

Doctor Who
22x07 The Two Doctors Part One [2nd watch]

Instead of moving on, #bbbDW50 this week welcomes back the Second Doctor, guest starring in this Sixth Doctor adventure. It's an odd one: it begins with him and Jamie, spends a whole 10 minutes of the episode with them, and only then introduces the incumbent TARDIS team... who we spend the rest of the episode with, only fleetingly seeing the other Doctor and his companion in one other scene. They haven't even teamed up by episode's end.

It also feels like conclusive proof the 45-minute episode length was a bad fit for Who at the time. It feels slow and unfocussed, like someone's taken a 25-minute episode and stretched it rather than sticking two back to back. I know old drama moves at a slower pace and I'm fine with that, obviously, but this... just doesn't seem to work.

Or it could just be yet another weak Sixth Doctor story, of course.

Also, it's clearly evident that this was a relatively early entry in the DVD range. The restoration, while not bad, is nothing like as slick as on more recent titles. For one thing, this is before the Restoration Team's standard-for-years practice of replacing the opening & closing credits with a new, cleaner version, and as such they look pretty shoddy. Probably not a title that merits the full revisited treatment, though I'm sure it could be improved on now.


Have I Got News For You
46x02 (11/10/2013 edition; extended repeat)


Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Night of the Hunter (1955)
[#91 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x02 The Second Doctor

Friends
3x20 The One with the Dollhouse [4th or so watch]

Suburgatory
2x12 Body Talk
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Was It Something I Said
1x01 Episode 1 (extended repeat)
[Watch the shorter version (again) on 4oD.]
(or be like me and Torrent the longer one...)

Films

Shanghai Knights (2003)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

this week on 100 Films

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

First up, a film that has its UK free-TV premiere on Channel 5 at 4:20pm this afternoon...


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Cloudy subverts first impressions by actually being really good. And I mean that as in “good for adults”, not just “good for kids”... The main selling point is that it’s very funny. Of course there’s the slapstick cartoon humour, which is well done, but there’s also a lot of great one-liners, random asides, and the like.

Read more here.


The Extraordinary Voyage (2011)

Documentary about the life and work of Georges Méliès, with particular attention to A Trip to the Moon, which then moves on to discuss how the hand-coloured print was rediscovered and the various attempts at restoring it.

Read more here.


The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)

If you’ve seen a Zucker-Abrams-Zucker film you’ll know what you’re in for (and if you haven’t, is a sequel really the best place to start?), but the pleasing aspect is that this is as good as any. Well, not as good as any, but it’s a fine example of their style.

Read more here.


A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Of all the defining images of cinema — certainly of the silent era — the face on the Moon with a rocket in its eye must be one of the most recognised, though you have to wonder how many have actually seen Méliès’ full vision.

Read more here.


Just one review new to the new blog this week, though...


The House on 92nd Street (1945)

Here’s an unusual one from the pantheon of film noir. These days we’d probably call it a docu-drama, though thankfully there are no talking heads, but there is a factual voiceover narration. The story, we’re told, comes from the FBI’s files and is based on a real case — the original title was Now It Can Be Told and it’s “loosely based on the case of Duquesne Spy Ring headed by Frederick Joubert Duquesne and the work of real life double agent William G. Sebold.”

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x04 Twist of Fate
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
3x18 The One with the Hypnosis Tape [4th or so watch]
3x19 The One with the Tiny T-Shirt [4th or so watch]

Films

Shanghai Noon (2000)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Collection Count

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

This week, the number of TV episodes in my collection shoots past 6,000. Oh dear Lordy. I wonder how many of those I've actually watched?

That same release is responsible for the short film, while the 'Final Cut' of The Wicker Man is responsible for a DVD-to-BD upgrade -- meaning changes across the board this week.

Number of titles in collection: 1,626 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,192 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 434 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,042 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,727 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,007 [up 13]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
21x24 The Twin Dilemma Part Four [season finale]

Well that's that over! The important thing here is, now I can say I've seen it.

Starting next Monday, #bbbDW50 moves on to... more Sixth Doctor. I bet you can guess which by now. It's also the phase of the project that's all neat: every story/era lasts a week. Until the modern one, which doesn't quite split as a week for RTD and a week for Moffat. But it almost does. Almost.


Friends
3x17 The One Without the Ski Trip [4th or so watch]


The Graham Norton Show
14x01 (11/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


The Sarah Millican Slightly Longer Television Programme
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book One, Chapters 11-12

That's the end of Book One -- from here on, it's all the new material.

Glad I re-read, though: it was both interesting all over again, and surely a good primer for the conversations, topics, dare I say "storylines" that will continue into the second half.

TV

Friends
3x14 The One with Phoebe's Ex-Partner [4th or so watch]
3x15 The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break [4th or so watch]
3x16 The One with the Morning After [4th or so watch]

Mock the Week
12x12 Highlights Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Lady of Deceit (1947)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

More commonly known as Born to Kill, but this is the UK title and what it was called on BBC Two, so I go with that. It's also a better title, if you ask me -- Born to Kill is thoroughly generic noir, while Lady of Deceit better suggests the film's themes.

It's based on a novel called Deadlier Than the Male, which is also what it was known as in Australia. Why they didn't just stick with that everywhere, goodness only knows.

TV

Doctor Who
21x23 The Twin Dilemma Part Three
It finally feels like the story is getting underway... with just one part left. Hey-ho.

Friends
3x12 The One with All the Jealousy [4th or so watch]
3x13 The One Where Monica and Richard Are Just Friends [4th or so watch]

The Two Ronnies Spectacle
1x03 Songs & Serials [final episode]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book One, Chapters 5-10

This is bloody addictive once you get going -- I was reading on-and-off for close to four hours to get through all that (some 160 pages), but the time just evaporated. And I still had to stop myself from just plunging on.

The one bit that grates, though, is the absence of script pages. There were tonnes and tonnes -- whole drafts of whole episodes, in fact -- included in the original hardback version. Here, Davies and Cook discuss them, but (for space reasons) we're no longer privy to reading the actual scripts. And because they're mentioning the existence of the pages ("Here are some more I've written", etc) and their content ("Oh my, that turns up", etc) it really draws attention to their absence. Shame.

TV

Friends
3x11 The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister [4th or so watch]

Suburgatory
2x11 Yakult Leader
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Wrong Mans
1x03 Dead Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
[#87 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book One, Chapters 3-4

TV

Castle
3x03 Under the Gun
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Cowboy Bebop
1x07 Heavy Metal Queen
1x08 Waltz for Venus
And to think, I was once worried I would finish the first half of the series long before the second box set was out -- and that was before the release date was put back to today. Still, good a time as any to resume.

Doctor Who
21x22 The Twin Dilemma Part Two
The accepted wisdom that it was a mistake to make the Doctor so unlikeable in his first outing remains true, but, nonetheless, Colin Baker's performance is the best thing here by a mile.

Friends
3x10 The One Where Rachel Quits [4th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x01 The First Doctor
BBC America's 11-part Doctor Who retrospective, which has been running all year over there at a rate of one a month, finally makes it to the UK courtesy of Watch, who are airing the whole thing across six weekends. It's a bit of a beginner's guide, but that also means it serves as a pleasant-enough overview for those of us more familiar with the show's history. Plus you get to hear the thoughts of insiders like David Tennant and Steven Moffat.

Downton Abbey
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Friends
3x09 The One with the Football [4th or so watch]

DVD Extras

Doctor Who: The Golden Age

Short featurette on the Tenth Planet DVD (officially out tomorrow) that sets out to expose the fallacy that there was once a "golden age" of the programme. And it's quite right too. Of course different people have different favourite eras, for whatever reason, but you can't really single out a point when it was unquestionably better than at any other point.

this week on 100 Films

Firstly, allow me to point you towards the 100 Films in a Year summary of what's on TV today. They all happen to be on Channel 5, oddly.


Now then, down to regular business. Three brand-new reviews were published this week, and they were...


The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

“Old fogies go to India” is the setup of this frothy comedy-drama... But when said fogies are played by Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie and Penelope Wilton, it will surprise no one to learn there’s something here for us all.

Read more here.


The Debt (2011)

a team of Mossad agents are hailed as heroes following a high-value mission, only to face serious repercussions decades later. A cast led by Oscar winner Helen Mirren and nominees Jessica Chastain and Tom Wilkinson help affirm this as serious-minded Cold War drama

Read more here.


Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (1961)

the first of two live-action Tintin movies made by the French in the ’60s. It seems quite a low-budget affair, but that might just be applying modern tastes to an era of more simple means. For all the flat direction and pound-store costumes, there’s still a globetrotting plot involving sunken ships, numerous chases, helicopters, and that kind of thing.

Read more here.


And there were loads new to the new blog (four today alone), as follows...


Angels & Demons (2009)

It still concerns itself with Hanks’ Langdon dashing about trying to solve insanely cryptic clues in a limited timeframe, surrounded by irritating policeman, suspicious friendly characters, and a girl who is almost pointless. However, it’s a lot less talky

Read more here.


Angels & Demons: Extended Version (2009)

the extended cut is basically the same as the theatrical version. If you enjoyed that then you might want to seek this out for your next viewing, just because why not? If you weren’t impressed before, however, there’s no special incentive to try again.

Read more here.


Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)

It’s a biography of Cardiff’s work, moving chronologically through his major contributions to cinema. The insights are numerous thanks to the number of films covered and a lot of footage from an interview with Cardiff himself.

Read more here.


Glory (1989)

it would be easy to slide into Issue of the Week melodrama in handling such a tale, but Zwick manages it without undue sentiment — there’s an appropriate realisation of the importance of events, perhaps even occasional reverence, but time is taken to show doubts and prejudices.

Read more here.


Hercules (1997)

the tale is told with surprising faithfulness. There’s still a healthy dose of anachronistic content to liven up the humour though. In fact, the sequences with Hercules’ adoring fans and merchandising empire ring even more true in this Twilight-obsessed world than they did 13 years ago.

Read more here.


Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

The first half hour is great fun, but then it gets weird, adds in hefty doses of over-complex plotting, and drags along fairly slowly until it finds an exciting climax a little late on.

Read more here.


Vantage Point (2008)

I don’t imagine you’ve missed the endless comparisons [to Rashomon] But, in fact, it’s nothing like it... There are no lies and no real misdirection; none of the characters interpret what they see, we’re just shown it from where they were standing.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x03 A Boy of No Consequence
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
3x07 The One with the Race Car Bed [4th or so watch]
3x08 The One with the Giant Poking Device [4th or so watch]

Films

Fast & Furious (2009)
[#86 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Comics

Dredd Underbelly: Part Two by Arthur Wyatt & Henry Flint
(from Judge Dredd Megazine #341)

In which things suddenly, almost inexplicably, leap forward from last time. It feels like some of the story has been skipped, even. Ho hum.

Collection Count

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

A big pile of Doctor Who DVDs this week (six, to be precise) sees my DVD collection of the classic series become almost complete... just as they find some more stories. But I have those on pre-order now, so yay. And aside from such as-yet-unreleased titles (which, obviously, I couldn't own) and a few Special Editions (which are all still a bit pricey), there's only one story I don't have! So if anyone sees The Ambassadors of Death for about a fiver, do let me know...

Number of titles in collection: 1,623 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,193 [up 7]
Of which Blu-rays: 430 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,033 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,719 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,994 [up 27]
Number of short films in collection: 404 [up 12]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
21x21 The Twin Dilemma Part One

While everyone else (not literally, but you know what I mean -- that's how it feels) is busy watching The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear off iTunes, I'm waiting for the DVDs (November and February respectively) -- and, instead, watching a story I've never seen.

Last night, while waiting for the official confirmation of which missing episodes had been found, I worked out that there are around 310 previously-existing episodes of Who that I've never watched. So while this new find is exciting on many levels, and is all kinds of improbable and wonderful, for me it's not a "must see now!" moment -- it just increases the number of episodes I've never seen (and decreases the number of missing episodes I've not listened to, haha!) That's why I'm in no rush... which is great, because each story is something like £10 on iTunes, and then £13 again for each on DVD in only a few months, so I'm saving £20.

Anyway: #bbbDW50 (note the new link). It's time for the Sixth Doctor, and (as I mentioned before) after jumping 8½ years to get from the Fourth to Fifth Doctors, the time skipped to reach this is just one week.

There are several reasons for that choice, but one is the marvellous symmetry of it: Androzani is The Greatest Doctor Who Story Ever Made™, and it is immediately -- immediately -- followed by The Worst Doctor Who Story Ever Made™. Plus it's one of only two Sixth Doctor tales I've never seen (the other is Timelash, the second-worst story ever), which is a bonus.

And it really is dreadful. The writing, the acting, the costumes, the sets, the monsters, the music... everything is awful. It's slow, it's dull, it's unlikeable, it's irritating. It's not even so-bad-it's-funny. And ever so slow -- the Doctor and Peri spend the entire episode in the TARDIS! Dear God!

I imagine it doesn't improve from here.


The Great British Bake Off
4x08 Quarter Final
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


Have I Got News For You
46x01 (4/10/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book One, Chapter 2

TV

Friends
3x06 The One with the Flashback [4th or so watch]
Oh, if only they'd known how many more flashbacks they'd do...

Mock the Week
12x11 (3/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
21x20 The Caves of Androzani Part Four [2nd watch]

And so The Greatest Doctor Who Story Ever Made™ comes to a close. It really is a corker, I think. OK, the monster is crap (and also needless), and there's a couple of bits of duff dialogue here and there -- but in the same way that no Who story is completely without merit, no great one is completely without some drawback. Everything else about Androzani is so exceptional -- particularly in this final part, where it all comes together magnificently -- that the minor sticking points can be largely overlooked.

Next time: after jumping 8½ years to get from the Fourth to Fifth Doctors, the time skipped to reach the Sixth is... one week. If you don't know what that means... well, you'll see...


Friends
3x04 The One with the Metaphorical Tunnel [4th or so watch]
3x05 The One with Frank Jr. [4th or so watch]


The Two Ronnies Spectacle
1x02 The Sketches

Films

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Foreword by Philip Pullman
Introduction by Russell T Davies
Introduction by Benjamin Cook
Book One, Chapter 1

In 2008, then-showrunner Russell T Davies and DWM journalist Benjamin Cook co-wrote a book about Davies' experiences writing & running Who. I devoured it in 10 days back in January 2009, because it was fascinatingly insightful, brilliantly written, and gorgeously designed to boot.

Come the time for a paperback version in 2010, and Davies had finished his time on the show -- the original book covered Davies' final full series, after which they (of course) produced a run of specials. So the paperback is updated to include those episodes... but what's extraordinary and special and wonderful is that this update isn't just a chapter or two stuck on the end, oh no. Of the paperback's 693 pages, fully 353 of them are part of the updated section. Or, to put it another way: over half. It's another whole book again! Wonderful if you didn't buy the original Writer's Tale (essentially you're getting a whole extra book free); and even if you did, it makes the paperback a worthwhile proposition (if they'd just published the new stuff it would surely command the same price).

I've had this second edition/sequel/whatever it is for years now (I got it for Christmas the year it came out, if I remember rightly; though as it's a 5th printing, maybe it was for a later birthday/etc); but, even though I loved the first volume, it somehow wound up being put unread on my shelf. Well, with the 50th anniversary fast approaching, what better time to dig it out and dig in? The only question: do I re-read all of what I read before (it is nearly 5 years ago now -- more than enough time has passed to need a recap/appreciate a re-experiencing), or just go straight to the new stuff? It's a bloody long thing to re-read, after all; but if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

Something I notice before I begin: the original had 15 chapters (and an epilogue-bit), while this version of the first book has just 12. I don't imagine they've omitted three chapters' worth of stuff, so I guess it got restructured. They did remove the four early-draft scripts that were in the hardback, so perhaps that necessitated some combining of chapters. Anyway...

TV

Friends
3x03 The One with the Jam [4th or so watch]

The Sarah Millican Slightly Longer Television Programme
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Wrong Mans
1x02 Bad Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
21x19 The Caves of Androzani Part Three [2nd watch]
Aside from the poorly-realised Magma Creature, Androzani really is brilliant. The direction is first-rate, the performances are top-notch, the story is second-to-none... even the lighting, notoriously dreadful throughout the Davison era, has been nailed. And that cliffhanger...!

Friends
3x02 The One Where No One's Ready [5th or so watch]
We once studied this at university as a perfect example of economical but hilarious screenwriting. And it really is.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Newsroom
2x05 News Night with Will McAvoy

Fiction

Solo by William Boyd
Part Four, Chapters 6-12
Part Five, Chapters 1-2 [the end]

Well, I thought that was really good. A cracking spy story, a well-observed recreation of Bond and Fleming (without slipping in to parody), all-round a good read. It does have a bit of an open-ended conclusion, though, so (when combined with the fact it was so good) I dearly hope IFP can persuade Boyd back for another go.