TV

Death in Paradise
3x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Audio Drama

Doctor Who [Big Finish]
18x03 The Stones of Venice Part Three

TV

Friends
8x08 The One with the Stripper [5th or so watch]
Which one with the stripper, you may ask? Well, it's the one with the stripper who isn't a stripper. Also, the one where Rachel tells her dad.

Suspects
1x02 Episode 2
I was giving this a second chance, but it's often laughably bad -- literally: some of it was very (unintentionally) amusing. Whether it's funny enough to keep me watching, I've yet to decide.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Audio Drama

Doctor Who [Big Finish]
18x01 The Stones of Venice Part One [2nd listen]
18x02 The Stones of Venice Part Two

I'm getting stuck in to the massive pile of Big Finish dramas I own by listening to them on dog walks. Well, that's the plan -- it worked for this first day, so, y'know, we'll see.

Before Big Finish 'officially' started doing seasons with the BBC7-initiated New Eighth Doctor Adventures, the 8th Doctor's adventures in their main range nonetheless appeared in season-esque clumps. A nice idea: he was still the incumbent Doctor when they started, with an unfilled gap between his sole TV appearance and his regeneration (which, of course, we finally got to see last year), so why not treat him to TV-style on-going adventures rather than occasional one-offs?

Still, they weren't officially demarcated as seasons, so as I listen I won't be number them in season terms, as some fans do (that would just become confusing when they eventually abandoned the idea). But I will try to make note of where the stories come, and this is the third story in his first 'season' of adventures. The most striking thing now is how "classic Who" it feels. Makes sense -- it was released a good four years before the series returned to TV -- but with the 8th Doctor leading Big Finish's way in becoming more new series-like, it's striking now. An intriguing tale nonetheless, once it settles in, with a nice quirky edge.

Finally for now, it's funny to look back and see that the 8th Doctor's initial stories spanned releases 16 to 19 (his first two, Storm Warning and Sword of Orion, I listened to many years ago. I might return to them, but as I've already tried that a couple of times down the years I wanted to forge on into new stuff). When Big Finish began the 8th Doctor was conspicuous by his absence, and it felt like an age before they finally got McGann on board. As they're in sight of story #200 (out June 2015), with dozens (hundreds?) of other Who productions along the way, #16 seems hardly into the range at all.

TV

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
1x03 Episode 3

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x08 (22/2/14 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
2x10 Shadow Box
Gave up on waiting for Channel 5 to re-start this and just got on with it by... my own means.

Films

The House of Fear (1945)
[#11 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The 10th movie starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

TV

Arrow
2x10 Blast Radius

Elementary
2x15 Corpse de Ballet

Outnumbered
5x04 The Gap Year
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Room 101
14x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Volume I: Mr Norrell, Chapters 15-19

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x06 Halloween
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

How I Met Your Mother
9x03 Last Time in New York
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Stella
3x02 Episode 2

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
5x05 (21/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friends
8x07 The One with the Stain [5th or so watch]

Top Gear
21x02 (9/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
3x07 The Blind Auditions 7
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Ghosting
by Andrew O'Hagan (from London Review of Books)

A fascinating account of what it was like to ghostwrite Julian Assange's book, by the man who did just that.

(Worth noting that this article is over 26,000 words long -- i.e. long enough to firmly count as a novella (based on the selection criteria of awards that offer a prize for such things), so don't expect to just rattle through it in a spare five minutes.)

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week. Except last week, when I was away, making posting trickier, and there was nothing to report anyway.

This week makes up for it, though: there's a couple of new additions, plus it's time for every month's highlight, the running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 1,656 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,198 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 458 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,142 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,781 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,118 [up 16]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

And finally...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
296 days, 22 hours, and 27 minutes.
(Up 14 hours and 29 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Last Leg
4x03 (14/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x07 (15/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
3x06 The Blind Auditions 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x05 The Vulture
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
1x02 Episode 2

Room 101
14x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Death in Paradise
3x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
9x02 Coming Back
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Suspects
1x01 Episode 1
Channel 5 chose not to renew their rights to CSI or NCIS or something and instead invest the money in this original homemade improvised police procedural drama. It's... well, it's a nice idea -- but I don't believe the police procedure in it can be anything close to reality (maybe the actors needed more training), and improvisation doesn't make for great dialogue. Maybe in a character drama it does, but not in situations like this. Undecided on if I'll give it a second chance.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

The British Academy Film Awards 2014
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

See also: Bafta: Unseen, a 45-minute online-only programme that presumably contains all the awards they didn't fancy showing on TV.

this week on 100 Films

No brand-new reviews on 100 Films in a Year this week, but Masters of Cinema re-issued their Lubitsch in Berlin box set, so I re-posted all my reviews from 2010...

(Spot the also-posted incongruity.)


Anna Boleyn (1920)

In an age where Henry VIII is young, slim and sometimes irritatingly called “Henry 8”, not to mention more interested in shagging every young girl he can find than in, well, anything else, it’s somewhat refreshing to return to a time when he was always older, fatter and more interested in polishing off a huge slab of meat than seeing his wife. OK, so they call him “Heinrich VIII”, but at least that’s because this production team spoke a different language.

Read more here.


Die Austernprinzessin (1919)

Lubitsch stages numerous epic set pieces on gigantic sets: Ossi’s bath, where a stream of maids carry her to and fro, wash and dry her; a huge cast of choreographed waiters, kitchen staff and guests at the wedding dinner; a mad foxtrot sequence that follows it; or the ladies’ boxing match, where for the third time in as many films Lubitsch shows a gaggle of women fighting over a man.

Read more here.


Die Bergkatze (1921)

Location filming in snow-covered Alps adds a scale and breadth to the film's imagined-kingdom setting that would be inimitable in a studio. Perhaps art director Ernst Stern was right that the realism of using genuine locations doesn't quite sit with the highly stylised fort; on the other hand, a studio set simply wouldn't have the same effect

Read more here.


Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood (2006)

Part biography, part making-of, part analytical retrospective, Robert Fischer’s documentary does what it says on the tin: tells the story of the life and work of actor/director Ernst Lubitsch from his formative years, living on Schönhauser Allee in Berlin, to when he made the move to America in the early 1920s.

Read more here.


Ich möchte kein Mann sein (1918)

the kind of silent film that might surprise some among a wider film-viewing audience, both in terms of the attitudes prevalent in what is occasionally assumed to be a highly prim era, and, even accepting that it really wasn’t, the things people were prepared to put on film then

Read more here.


Die Puppe (1919)

[A] constant expression of humour, working at every level from intellectual wit down to slapstick tomfoolery, means that even if one element has been done to death in the past near-century, there’ll be several other moments or scenes to compensate.

Read more here.


Rambo III (1988)

he goes off to Afghanistan to defeat half the Russian army single-handed. He does all this showcasing the body of a plastic action figure coated in a year’s supply of Johnson’s Baby Oil, using weapons like explosive-tipped arrows, good for tasks like taking out helicopters. Or obliterating individual soldiers.

Read more here.


Sumurun (1920)

this is primarily an Arabian Nights-style drama… but, while on the surface this looks entirely at odds with Lubitsch’s previous comedy work, it actually concerns itself with the same topic: romance, and the various entanglements and complications that lead to it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Death in Paradise
3x05 Episode 5 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Outnumbered
5x02 The Swimming Competition [2nd watch]
5x03 The Goddaughter
[Watch The Swimming Competition and The Goddaughter (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Last Leg
4x02 (7/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x06 (8/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Room 101
14x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Death in Paradise
3x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
1x01 Episode 1

Films

The Next Three Days (2010)
[#9 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The remaining 80-or-so minutes.

DVD Extras

Special Features on The Next Three Days

Including a pretty standard and brief Making of The Next Three Days, which mainly emphasised the choice of setting and filming in Pittsburgh; an equally speedy overview of The Men of The Next Three Days; a potentially interesting featurette called True Escapes for Love, marred by being just like one of those cut-price US TV documentaries where someone moderately famous reads an obvious script at camera intercut with old news footage and the like, though fortunately only for seven minutes here; and a smattering of the deleted & extended scenes, until I got bored with them.

Comics

Wolverine #12-13 by Paul Cornell & Alan Davis

I caught up!

...except then the next issue (the aforementioned new #1) dropped through my letterbox, so I'm instantly behind again. Hey-ho.

Killable was good though, I thought. All the S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff seemed like a bit of an aside from the enjoyably low-key Wolverine goings-on, but it tied back in nicely at the end. That said, being an issue shorter probably wouldn't have hurt it -- condensing all the stuff at the mall down to two issues instead of three, essentially.

TV

Elementary
2x14 Dead Clade Walking

Friends
8x06 The One with the Halloween Party [5th or so watch]
aka The One with Spudnik!

Comics

Wolverine #10-11 by Paul Cornell & Alan Davis

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x05 (1/2/14 edition)

Star Trek: The Next Generation
1x01 Encounter at Farpoint
This isn't me making a start on TNG -- this is me making a start on the sampler Blu-ray released a couple of years ago.

Veronica Mars
3x20 The Bitch is Back [series finale]
Veronica Mars: The Movie is released March 14th. I'll see it as soon as the distribution of Kickstarter rewards allows.

Yonderland
1x07 The Heart of the Sun

Comics

Wolverine #8-9 by Paul Cornell & Alan Davis

Being the first third of Killable. Great stuff so far. Adams' art is excellent, too, leaving me a little baffled about why it wasn't to my taste in the first few issues. The inker and colourist haven't changed either, so goodness knows what was going on.

TV

Archer
4x12 Sea Tunt Part 1
4x13 Sea Tunt Part 2 [season finale]
Finally got round to these via other means after Channel 5 titted around with them at the end of last year. I might just download the next season at some point, rather than wait for C5 to mess it up again.

Friends
8x04 The One with the Videotape [5th or so watch]
8x05 The One with Rachel's Date [5th or so watch]

Veronica Mars
3x19 Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down

Films

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
[#10 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Comics

Wolverine #5-7 by Paul Cornell & Mirco Pierfederici

When I said I didn't like Alan Davis' art, I meant it just wasn't to my taste, not bad per se. Pierfederici's is poor, though, with all kinds of messed-up faces, perspectives, and a sudden loss of detail in the middle of his third issue.

Next up is The Big Arc Everyone Talked About, which I suspect these first seven issues were all about facilitating: Killable. And Davis is back for it, which I now welcome.

this week on 100 Films

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


The Big Lebowski (1998)

it does meander a bit, and has a certain relaxed manner that isn’t going to be for everyone, I think that’s a valid stylistic choice rather than a filmmaking error. It’s perhaps a film to relax with, to laze even, rather than one to expect to grip you and hold your attention tight for two hours.

Read more here.


Oblivion (2013)

You could probably have generated a whole film about this world as it appears to Cruise and Riseborough, but it’s obvious from the very start that there’s something more going on. The guessing game is part of the fun, and as with almost any film with twists some viewers will get them bang-on and feel it’s all blatant, and some will be genuinely surprised.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...


Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

it’s easy to see why this was accused of being an American revenge fantasy. It’s not only got a bunch of Vietnamese soldiers being slaughtered (this time America wins!), but they’ve teamed up with the Ruskies (we’re still in the Cold War here, remember), so Rambo gets to blow a load of them away too. How satisfying for a certain facet of America

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x04 M.E. Time
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

How I Met Your Mother
9x01 The Locket
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Outnumbered
5x02 The Swimming Competition
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
3x05 The Blind Auditions 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Next Three Days (2010)
[#9 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The first 50 minutes thereof, anyway -- then the disc went screwy (again). I await a replacement for the remaining 80-or-so minutes.

Comics

Wolverine #2-4 by Paul Cornell & Alan Davis

Both the story and art grew on me over the remaining issues of the storyline. Though, in typical modern comics style, even though the story's over, it's not over. Tsk.

Collection Count

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

Just one again this week. May be the same next week too, though there should be a little bit of a rush towards the end of the month.

Number of titles in collection: 1,654 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,197 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 457 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,135 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,781 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,102 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Death in Paradise
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
8x03 The One Where Rachel Tells Ross [5th or so watch]
"THAT IS BRAND NEW INFORMATION!"

The Last Leg
4x01 (31/1/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Room 101
14x02 Episode 2

Suits
3x02 I Want You to Want Me
Dave advertise this so much, I decided to (semi-accidentally) give it a go. I quite liked it at first, but by the end it degenerated a bit into, "let me tell you what happened earlier and exactly how I feel about that so the audience are clear on it". Shame.
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Comics

Wolverine #1 by Paul Cornell & Alan Davis

Not the issue that was out on Wednesday, but the last "Wolverine #1"... which was out less than a year ago, in March 2013. Marvel have really gotten ridiculous with their re-numberings recently (they also managed to get this up to 13 issues in just 10 months, which is another typical Marvel move), although Wolverine is an almost-historic case-in-point: this was (by my reckoning) the fifth Marvel comic to be dubbed Wolverine #1, making the new one the sixth!

Anyway, I didn't really like the art and I'm not sure about the story yet. Hopefully things pick up because I've got all 13 issues of this particular iteration (which flows on into the 'new' #1, cementing that it's just a marketing ploy).

TV

Friends
8x02 The One with the Red Sweater [5th or so watch]
Pretty sure I'm grossly underestimating how often I've seen some of these episodes now. Hey-ho.

Films

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
[#8 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Articles

AMC officially developing Preacher as a TV series with Seth Rogen
by Sean O'Neal (from A.V. Club)

After all the other times Preacher was "officially" coming to the screen, I'll believe this one when I see it.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x04 (25/1/14 edition)

Veronica Mars
3x18 I Know What You'll Do Next Summer

TV

Friends
8x01 The One After "I Do" [4th or so watch]

Top Gear
21x01 (2/2/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
3x17 Debasement Tapes

Fiction

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Volume I: Mr Norrell, Chapter 14

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x03 The Slump
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Elementary
2x13 All in the Family
So they sent Bell off to a new department, that it looked like Sherlock and Joan were going to get involved with... only to bring him straight back. Why?

Friends
7x23 The One with Chandler and Monica's Wedding Part 1 [4th or so watch]
7x24 The One with Chandler and Monica's Wedding Part 2 [season finale; 4th or so watch]

Veronica Mars
3x16 Un-American Graffiti
This is where VM ditches the over-arching murder/crime plots in an attempt at greater casual viewer friendliness... but, of course, on-going romantic/personal plots stay. Funny how audiences are accepting of one but find the other a problem... or is it just that network execs think they are?

Fiction

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Volume I: Mr Norrell, Chapters 12-13

When I pause reading a book it usually means I've accidentally quit it, but this one I hadn't forgotten -- even if it'd been three weeks.

TV

Friends
7x22 The One with Chandler's Dad [4th or so watch]

Stella
3x01 Episode 1
Hmm. Feels like it wants to be a reboot but can't let go of previous stories either, and like it was trying a bit too hard to be kooky now.

this week on 100 Films

It's now February, which means it's time to look back on what January 2014 brought for 100 Films in a Year. My monthly summary is here, which this time includes a look at the sci-fi & fantasy films of Tom Cruise.


On regular duties, just one new review was published this week...


Premium Rush (2012)

The emphasis is firmly on “action” during the film’s brisk hour-and-a-half running time, the plot primarily an excuse for bike-related chases and stunts. You don’t need to be a cycling nut to enjoy what’s on display here... There aren’t many (or any?) action flicks based around pushbikes, so the whole thing comes across as pretty original.

Read more here.


But there were two new to the new blog...


Blood Diamond (2006)

Its most impressive achievement is mixing important real-life information with a compelling narrative in a way that does not feel preachy. It also doesn’t compromise on its moral messages for the sake of a twist, and has some great action sequences to boot.

Read more here.


First Blood (1982)

“Rambo” has become a byword for violent excess. But, as many film fans know, the first film has marginally nobler aims: here, the not-yet-titular hero is a Vietnam vet dealing with a mixture of PTSD, unresolved service issues, and poor treatment from the ‘folks back home’. Taken in by an unreasonable police department, he finally snaps…

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Outnumbered
5x01 The Hamster
The final series begins! Considering the kids are all now Old (it's almost two-and-a-half years since the last series, so no wonder they all seem massively older), that's probably for the best.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
3x04 The Blind Auditions 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Oblivion (2013)
[#7 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

I watched this late last night, so it does count as the final film of January. FYI.

Collection Count

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

Just one addition this week. The prediction for next week is "none", so...

Number of titles in collection: 1,653 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,197 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 456 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,133 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,780 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,102 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friends
7x21 The One with the Vows [5th or so watch]
aka The One with All the Clips About Monica and Chandler's Relationship.

Room 101
14x01 Episode 1

Veronica Mars
3x14 Mars, Bars
3x15 Papa's Cabin

TV

Friends
7x20 The One with Rachel's Big Kiss [5th or so watch]

Veronica Mars
3x13 Postgame Mortem

Fiction

William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher
Acts IV-V
Afterword
Sonnet 1138 [the end]

See yesterday.

There let our heroes rest free from attack,
Till darkness rise and Empire striketh back.

TV

Death in Paradise
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
7x19 The One with Ross and Monica's Cousin [4th or so watch]
aka The One Where Joey Has to Make a Foreskin (Not That Anyone Uses That Word).

Yonderland
1x06 The Idiot King

Fiction

William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher
Acts I-III

aka William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope

I've had this for a while, and with two sequels on the way felt it was really time I got round to reading it.

It's not laugh-out-loud hilarious, which you might believe from some reviews, but it is all good fun -- and surprisingly poetic and deep in places, too. It's clearly been crafted with a love and understanding of both the Bard and the Beard, making it suitable for fans of either.

Plus, R2-D2 -- who speaks in beeps and whistles to the characters, but shares intelligent asides with the audience -- is magnificent.

TV

Friends
7x18 The One with Joey's Award [4th or so watch]

Veronica Mars
3x12 There's Got to Be a Morning After Pill

Comics

Coffin Hill #1-3 by Caitlin Kittredge & Inaki Miranda

The latest in my array of comics to read, assess, and make a decision about continuing. (You may think there are a lot. You're right. Nearly done, though.)

This one is a genuinely creepy (to me, anyway) witchcraft/horror book. I'd say it falls somewhere between the stools of the others I've been assessing: it's not a definite must-read like Red Sonja or Pretty Deadly, but nor do I feel close to giving up on it like Satellite Sam or Velvet. However, I may just stick out the first arc (which runs to #6) -- that'll be time for another decision on its future.

(Side note: Sonja, Deadly and Coffin are by female writers (and one a female artist too). Sam and Velvet are all male. Dunno if that says anything; might just be coincidence; but there we go.)

Articles

Deconstructing Doctor Who: a fashion expert analyses Peter Capaldi's new skinhead style
by Anna Fielding (from Radio Times)

You probably heard about the BBC releasing a picture of the new Doctor's costume. And you probably think a fashion expert analysing it sounds like an awful idea. But actually, this article was quite interesting. (And better than Digital Spy's version, where someone from a fashion mag said, "we like it!", and not much else.)

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
5x04 (24/1/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Elementary
2x12 The Diabolical Kind

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x03 (18/1/14 edition)

Comics

Pretty Deadly #1-2 by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Emma Rios

I kinda wasn't expecting to like this -- I almost didn't buy it, even -- but something, I forget what, convinced me to go ahead and get it... and I'm glad I did, because I really enjoyed it. It's a five-part arc, but these first two feel like a two-part opener -- as noted on Red Sonja, I like it when longer story lines still work in smaller chunks, considering that's how they're put out (you wanna tell a story that needs all six parts at once, release a bloody book).

I've already got the next issue, but I think I'll hold off on it a little. It's already managed what Satellite Sam and Velvet look not to've, and I don't want to rush through it.

TV

Friends
7x17 The One with the Cheap Wedding Dress [4th or so watch]

Films

Tower Block (2012)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Second half, via... alternate means.

Comics

Velvet #1-2 by Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting

A Cold War-set espionage action-thriller with a kick-ass female hero? Thought this looked right up my street. Unfortunately, after two issues I'm not wholly sold. It's by no means bad, I'm just not quite on board with the characters or where the story's going; and there's always that query from mainstream comics: is there actually enough going on each issue to justify the $3 price tag?

Plus, it's an ongoing -- great for developing and paying off things long-term, but who knows how long you'll have to wait for those answers? A wait can be fine, but more of an issue is: I'm looking to cut my pull list, not keep expanding it -- something's gotta give. Question is, do I give it one more issue to sway me, or just ditch it now?

With such thoughts, this (along with practically-gone-already Satellite Sam) is on shaky ground.

this week on 100 Films

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


Tom Conway as the Falcon, Part II
A summary, linking to the following reviews:


The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943)

The twisty plot is engrossing and the humour entertaining, though I felt more could have been made of the potentially atmospheric remote cliff-top setting. It’s the kind of film where I began imagining how it might be remade to even greater effect.

Read more here.


The Falcon Out West (1944)

provides all the Western action it can muster: runaway coaches, shootin’, horseback riding, gentle racism about Native Americans… This is the West of the 1940s, theoretically 50 years or whatever on from The Wild West, but conceptually almost unchanged.

Read more here.


The Falcon in Mexico (1944)

“In our peaceful country, life is very seldom in danger,” states one character halfway through, just one of many instances that might make you think the film was co-funded by the Mexican tourist board. Oh sure, there’s the usual array of thefts and murders that you’d expect from a Falcon adventure, but they’re mostly committed by Americans.

Read more here.


The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)

By this point you should know what you’re in for with a Falcon film: a solid murder mystery plot with some light fun and mischief on the way to its solution. In this one, the plot is actually quite simple to follow for quite a while, making a change from recent Falcons. It’s still an engrossing enough mystery, but clearly told.

Read more here.


Also this week...


Macbeth (1948)

a compromised but interesting adaptation. Welles has chopped and changed the play, cutting scenes, transposing others, assigning speeches to different characters, even creating new ones. This array of modifications scandalised critics at the time, though nowadays it’s much more common, usually to make the works a manageable length. Macbeth is one of the more sensibly-sized plays, however, though I suppose this is the legacy of Welles’ short 23-day schedule.

Read more here.


Plus, new to the new blog...


Air Force One (1997)

Harrison Ford stars as President Indiana Jones — sorry, Jack Ryan — no, James Marshall (that’s it) in this action-thriller from the Die Hard school of moviemaking. Yep, this is “Die Hard on a plane” — except it’s not any old plane, it’s Air Force frickin’ One; and the Bruce Willis character isn’t any old washed-up cop, it’s the frickin’ President of the U.S. frickin’ A. Hells yeah!

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Friends
7x16 The One with the Truth About London ['Super-Sized' version; 5th or so watch]

The Voice UK
3x03 The Blind Auditions 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Tower Block (2012)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

First half, before my rental disc went screwy.

Collection Count

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

Anyone familiar with how these numbers work might think the changes below indicate a DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade, and normally they'd be right, but not so this week: it's one new Blu-ray, and a Zatoichi DVD I forgot to remove when I got the 25-film box set for Christmas. Oops!

Also this week, it's the running time update. I love that part.

Number of titles in collection: 1,652 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,197 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 455 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,131 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,779 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,102 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

And the monthly running time update tells us...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
296 days, 7 hours, and 58 minutes.
(Up 13 hours and 8 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x02 The Tagger
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friends
7x15 The One with Joey's New Brain ['Super-Sized' version; 5th or so watch]

The Voice UK
3x02 The Blind Auditions 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

Red Sonja #4-6 by Gail Simone & Walter Geovani

Great stuff; this one's definitely staying on my pull list. With A Voice in the Dark also earning its place, my uncertainty about Satellite Sam makes it look more shaky.

TV

Death in Paradise
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
2x04 Episode 4 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Fiction

The Tale of Zatoichi by Kan Shimozawa

The short story that was adapted into The Tale of Zatoichi, translated here by Juliet Winters Carpenter for the Criterion box set of the film series. It's clear where bits of it became the film, but there's also significant differences.

TV

Friends
7x13 The One Where Rosita Dies ['Super-Sized' version; 5th or so watch]
7x14 The One Where They All Turn Thirty ['Super-Sized' version; 4th or so watch]

When Friends finally came to DVD in the US, somewhere between "most" and "all" of its episodes were extended; controversially, the Blu-ray release only includes the shorter original TV versions... with the exception of four episodes from the middle of season seven. They're still the shorter versions when watched in HD, but the extended versions (in SD) can be found among the special features.

Have to say, nothing jumped out at me as new here, which led me to wonder if these were included on the UK DVDs too... but then goodness knows how long it's been since I last watched them, so it'd be no surprise if I just didn't notice.


The Illusionists
Although The Magicians barely limped to two series, and Penn & Teller: Fool Us only managed one, the main channels still boldly attempt to get magic on TV: BBC One have recently started airing Dynamo's Watch series, and around Christmas ITV had this one-off special. Very good it was, too. Shame this stuff doesn't seem to connect with a wider audience.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Comics

Red Sonja #2-3 by Gail Simone & Walter Geovani

Simone knows how to write a story that works as self-contained issues but also form part of a larger narrative -- I like this. Too many comics are just a graphic novel serialised, and with too little story for the price per issue, so it's nice to read something that gives you a satisfying chunk.


Satellite Sam #1-5 by Matt Fraction & Howard Chaykin

Another one I'm reading to decide whether to continue with or not (and it won't be the last of those).

I was going to do a simple "X meets Y" thing here, but it's a tad more complicated than that. It has the era and 'world' of The Hour, with the complex business speak of Mad Men at its densest, but the speed of Studio 60, mingled with the dark, seedy crime of L.A. Confidential... It's a heady brew, relayed in almost-sketchy black-and-white art.

Not so sure about this one, even after the entire first arc. Well, that's the first arc technically speaking -- although they've called it that, and collected these five issues as the first paperback, and it does come to a fairly big conclusion/twist at the end of #5, it's certainly not a finite story. What kind of long haul is it settling in for?

Articles

Lupin III: The Story So Far
by Andrew Osmond (from Manga)

An interesting potted history of the star of The Castle of Cagliostro, which has the side effect of creating a 'wish list' of things I want to see...

TV

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
2x03 Episode 3 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
3x11 Poughkeepsie, Tramps & Thieves

Films

Premium Rush (2012)
[#5 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Comics

Red Sonja #1 by Gail Simone & Walter Geovani

The start of Batgirl writer Simone's acclaimed run on the swords-and-sorcery series, which recently completed its first arc. I enjoyed it, which is good because I've already got the next five issues.


A Voice in the Dark #1-2 by Larime Taylor

A 2-part opening story to this ongoing from new creator Larime Taylor, who writes, draws, colours -- indeed, everythings -- every issue by mouth. It's not just Worthy to support a disabled creator, though -- this is an interesting and, for comics, unusual book: almost every character is female, and they look like real women rather than the usual teenage boy's moronic fantasy that the medium usually offers in both art and characterisation. On top of that, it's the tale of a girl coping with thoughts of murder alongside the always-life-changing situation of moving away to university -- sorry, it's American: college.

Anyway, good stuff so far -- I'm looking to cut down the number of comics I buy (as you may have noticed, I've been doing an awful job at actually reading them), but this one I'll keep.

TV

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
2x02 Episode 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Friends
7x12 The One Where They're Up All Night [4th or so watch]
To get lucky...?

Timeshift
13x07 How to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective
A really good overview of the many actors who've played Holmes down the years. Not exhaustive -- there's not time in an hour -- but a good analysis of the major ones. If you missed it, it's on iPlayer until Wednesday night; there are also four web-exclusive extended interview clips, totalling 8½ minutes, on the episode's Programmes page.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Man of Steel (2013)

Produced by Christopher Nolan and other creatives behind the uber-successful Batman reboot The Dark Knight Trilogy, this is intended to do a similar thing for Superman: a present-day, real-world relaunch. Which begins with a huge sequence on a crazy alien world. Well done, chaps. And that’s before we get into the merits of grounding clean-cut Boy’s Own all-American hero Superman in our ideologically complex modern world. Is that what Superman is?

Read more here.


Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009)

"From 1984 to 1994, a perfect storm of people and circumstances changed the face of animation forever."

So declares the title card at the start of this documentary, which covers how in just a few years Disney went from nearly shutting down its animation division to a period of immense critical acclaim and box office success

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
5x03 (17/1/14 edition)

Hostages
1x01 Pilot
Channel 4's latest answer to Homeland, apparently, although I began to wonder if it was meant to be a spoof it made me laugh so much. But no, I think it was just daft. And yet you know me, I'm bound to keep watching it -- I mean, it took me almost 30 episodes to ditch Once Upon a Time, and this is only 15.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
7x02 (11/1/14 edition)

Collection Count

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

This week's acquisitions include two titles that aren't out yet (Doctor Who: The Moonbase, out Monday; and Wings, out on the 27th), two recent-archive bargains (a big fancy US edition of Casablanca from a couple of years ago, replacing my old DVD; and Danny Boyle's Trance), and a missed Christmas present (The World's End). Shiny.

Number of titles in collection: 1,652 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,198 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 454 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,131 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,779 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,102 [up 4]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x01 Pilot
E4's latest US acquisition... which is also showing on Channel 4, albeit in a somewhat later slot the next day. Showing it on Channel 4 at all = confidence. Showing it on Channel 4 second and almost buried = wary. Well, I thought it was good -- and it just picked up two Golden Globes earlier this week, so I'm not alone.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Death in Paradise
3x01 Episode 1
Hm. Kris Marshall's character works, but it was a bit of an unceremonious dispatching of Ben Miller. Surely a couple of minutes with him and the gang before we went off to the fateful reunion would've been nice, at the very least?
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
2x01 Episode 1 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Big Lebowski (1998)
[#4 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #1!

TV

Friends
7x11 The One with All the Cheesecakes [4th or so watch]

Veronica Mars
3x10 Show Me the Monkey

Films

Fast Five (2011)
[#3 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

aka Fast & Furious 5

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2013-14 Episode 9 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Elementary
2x11 Internal Audit

Friends
7x10 The One with the Holiday Armadillo [5th or so watch]

Veronica Mars
3x09 Spit & Eggs

Fiction

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Volume I: Mr Norrell, Chapters 6-11

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2013-14 Episode 10 (of 10)
Accidentally skipped episode 9. Oops. But then, according to the BBC Programmes page, this isn't on until Friday, whereas it was available on Virgin Media's iPlayer. Perhaps it wasn't my fault, then.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friends
7x08 The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs [5th or so watch]
7x09 The One with All the Candy [5th or so watch]
aka The One with the 50 States Game and The One Where Rachel Writes a Silly Version of Tag's Personnel Assessment That He Nonetheless Sends to Human Resources.

Veronica Mars
3x08 Lord of the π's

Films

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
[#2 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

DVD Extras

No Time to Lose: The Making of Pelham 123

In several regards more interesting than the film itself, this half-hour making-of shows the extraordinary amount of research, planning, and complex filming that went into the production of what is, ultimately, quite a straightforward thriller. Waste of good effort? Maybe...

Fiction

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Volume I: Mr Norrell, Chapter 5

Articles

The Magnificent Forty-Seven
by Stephen Turnbull (from Manga)

A professor of Japanese Studies (and the film's historical advisor) on why 47 Ronin has been unfairly maligned by reviewers. "It must be a hard life being a film critic when you can’t just have fun!"

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
5x02 (10/1/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Sherlock
3x03 His Last Vow [season finale]
Well well well, that was neat: "ah, there's the cliffhanger... oh no, there's the cliffhanger... no, THERE'S the cliffhanger!"
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
3x07 Of Vice and Men

Fiction

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Volume I: Mr Norrell, Chapters 1-4

Been meaning to read this for years (I have a nice box set of the novel in its three volumes as individual paperbacks (apparently 'worth' over £450!) which is from 2005, so about 9 years to be precise), and the TV version that's on the way has inspired me to get started.

I'm only 61 pages into its 1,004-page length, but it's great so far -- enticing, intriguing, and surprisingly funny and witty, in a very dry way. The adaptation has a lot to live up to already, but if it can it will be very exciting.