TV

Crimes of Passion
1x01 Death of a Loved One
BBC Four's latest Scandi crime import, which I'm actually watching when it's on (more or less) rather than just downloading and never quite getting round to. This first episode received a theatrical release in Sweden, making it 100 Films in a Year 2014 #82; I'll have a review up in the morning.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
5x05 (29/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
15x08 The Invisible Enemy Part Four
That was that, then. Not a very well-regarded story (it came 196th in DWM's recent poll) and it doesn't particularly deserve to be either. Some good bits though.

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
2x01 Episode 1

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Doctor Who
15x07 The Invisible Enemy Part Three
Considering this was made in the mid-'70s on a BBC kids' TV budget, I thought the special effects/sets inside the Doctor's brain looked pretty good. The nucleus of the swarm -- aka the giant prawn -- was godawful, though.

The Great British Bake Off
5x05 Pies and Tarts
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tumble
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
15x06 The Invisible Enemy Part Two
There's K9, and the miniaturisation! This isn't a very well-regarded story, and it's not all that, it's true. Has its moments though, most of them courtesy of Leela's humour.

The Musketeers
1x08 The Challenge

Two Tribes
1x11 (1/9/14 edition)
1x12 (2/9/14 edition)
[Watch episodes 11 and 12 (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
15x05 The Invisible Enemy Part One

This week's selection avoids the obvious choice of a Dalek story for something more conceptually linked: this is the story in which the Doctor is shrunk to enter his own body.

So I've read, anyway -- this is one I've not seen before (bonus!), and it doesn't happen in this episode. It's also the first story with K9... who's also not in this episode. Hey-ho.

TV

Two Tribes
1x10 (29/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wallander [Swedish]
3x04 Saknaden (aka The Loss)

Films

The Shining (1980)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #8

this week on 100 Films

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


G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

wants to have its cake and eat it by being both a sequel and a fresh movie for newcomers. Unfortunately it doesn’t work: it feels disjointed from the first film, but there’s too much carried over for it to feel standalone.

Read more here.


Gravity (2013)

This is a survival story, predicated on two things: one, the desperate attempts of our heroine to triumph against increasingly-poor odds; and two, the spectacle of weightlessness and space. Not every movie needs a complex storyline to keep it going; not every film needs to only be about its plot.

Read more here.


Sightseers (2012)

Like The Trip, only with quaint museums instead of restaurants and murder instead of impressions, the third feature from director Ben Wheatley is succinctly described as “a black comedy”.

Read more here.


St. Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009)

Despite an occasionally slicker appearance, including some CGI-aided pirate-y flashbacks, and bigger sequences, like a commando raid on the school or a large flashmob musical number at Liverpool Street station, the whole doesn’t come together quite as well as the first movie. (Plus, the use of the term “flashmob” instantly dates it.)

Read more here.


And seven archive reviews (and one other piece) were new to the new blog...


The Brothers Bloom (2008)

From the director of the acquired taste that was Brick, The Brothers Bloom looks like it might be a little more mainstream: it’s got a lead cast who are all Oscar nominees and it has a con/heist plot — always popular — and a light tone. But while it’s not as specialised as Brick‘s near-impenetrable dialogue and considered (over-considered?) tone, it’s certainly Quirky.

Read more here.


Confetti (2006)

Largely improvised Britcom, shot in a documentary style, about three couples trying to win a most original wedding competition.

Read more here.


For All Mankind (1989)

It’s not a documentary in the sense that most people perceive the form — i.e. a highly realistic presentation of the facts — but instead something a little more interpretive, aiming to recreate the feeling and experience of travelling to the moon, not the hard facts of who went when and how it was done. As such it is both beautiful and artistic, featuring stunning photography that has been sensitively edited and scored.

Read more here.


Indy 4: Initial Thoughts

I'll post a proper review another time, but these are a quick handful of reactions having finished the film less than an hour ago. They are, as the title notes, spoiler-free.

Read more here.


Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Make no mistake, Harrison Ford is still Indiana Jones. The hair may be grey, the face covered in more lines, but the attitude and humour is still there. This is an older Indy, of course... [They] could have used his age as a crutch, leaving him with some comedy running away while the much younger Mutt got stuck in; this isn't the case, and that's great.

Read more here.


In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)

The telling is dominated by the words of the actual astronauts, describing their personal experiences and feelings. Rather than following a mission-by-mission chronology it mixes all their stories together, thereby telling the tale of a journey to the Moon and exploring its surface only once. It’s a neat way of editing it because it avoids repetition while also covering a variety of perspectives.

Read more here.


Paths of Glory (1957)

the film remains bleakly realistic: the depressing Old Boys’ Club-style hierarchy of the military (still all too much in effect, as series like Generation Kill reveal); the unjust unrecorded trial (an excellent courtroom sequence that can stand up to any other); through to the inescapable finale.

Read more here.


Starter for Ten (2006)

You'd assume the plot would focus on the characters' aim to win University Challenge, coupled with a woefully predictable romantic subplot; sadly, it turns out the woefully predictable romance is the main plot and the quiz only turns up now and then to lend some structure.

Read more here.


Tomorrow, it's the monthly update for August. That, and more, next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
34x02 Into the Dalek
Consensus seems to be that this was better than last week. While I didn't dislike last week, I'd agree with that. Not a classic maybe, but a very solid Dalek adventure.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Next week on Doctor Who (in my world), the 4th Doctor is shrunk and goes inside himself to battle The Invisible Enemy...

Doctor Who Extra
1x02 Into the Dalek
This was an improvement, too. More decent episode-focused detail, and the voiceover seemed to have calmed down too -- possibly as a result of all the criticism online? It's just a shame it doesn't have Confidential-style 'witty'/'clever' episode titles. I kinda miss those.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gilmore Girls
2x13 A-Tisket, A-Tasket [2nd watch]

Tumble
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

Last-minute changes abound, as one imported Blu-ray turned up three days later than it should have, and then another turned up three days early!

Number of titles in collection: 1,692 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 489 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,219 [up 14]
Number of films in collection: 1,827 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,214 [up 37]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [up 3]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
5x04 (22/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Two Tribes
1x08 (27/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
12x04 Robot Part Four [2nd watch]
The fact this episode is entirely made up of climax is a reminder of how sometimes (often?) classic Who was constructed as a movie split into parts. As for Robot itself, I think the first half is very good and there are excellent ideas and concepts throughout, but some of the execution (both in the writing and realisation on screen) is a let down in the latter two instalments.

Next time on Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi goes Into the Dalek...

The Musketeers
1x07 A Rebellious Woman

Two Tribes
1x09 (28/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Wrath of the Titans (2012)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
12x03 Robot Part Three [2nd watch]
This isn't the best-regarded of Who stories, but I'd been really liking it... until this episode, when things all got a little silly. UNIT were the most ineffective military ever at stopping the villains escape: "they've gone round the corner into a van! We'll just stand here and shoot at the back of the van!"; "The truck's driving at us! We could shoot the driver, but instead let's just jump out of the way!" Ah well.

The Great British Bake Off
5x04 Desserts
Controversy in the Bake Off tent! A virtual riot on Twitter! Will our little baking show ever be the same again?!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Safe (2012)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
12x02 Robot Part Two [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
1x06 The Exiles

Two Tribes
1x07 (26/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Kings of Summer (2013)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
12x01 Robot Part One [2nd watch]

After the success of our 50th anniversary viewing, it's time for some more tie-in classic Who. This time, it'll be a series of four-parters, watched Monday through Thursday between Capaldi episodes, and the aim is for each to have some connection to the episode just gone by.

In this case, Moffat has referenced the Pertwee/Baker regeneration and the style of the ensuing story as being influences on Deep Breath, so it seemed an apt choice. (Stylistically, Talons of Weng-Chiang would have been closer; but a) that's a six-parter, and b) not all the ties will be so obvious.)


Ripper Street
2x08 Our Betrayal Part Two [season finale]

The would've-been-"series-finale" were it not for Amazon. S'a good show, I look forward to the next run... when it eventually arrives on the BBC. Or earlier, perhaps...


Two Tribes
1x06 (25/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5 The Five Orange Pips

One of Doyle's favourite Holmes adventures, and one of those awarded five stars by The Pocket Essential Sherlock Holmes; also the inspiration (loosely) for The House of Fear, which I was finally writing my review for today, hence reading the story.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x12 Richard in Stars Hollow [2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x07 Our Betrayal Part One

Two Tribes
1x05 (22/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Local Hero (1983)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]
Peter Capaldi again (again)!

St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Lair of the White Worm (1988)

Perhaps it’s “so bad it’s good”, but I’m also not sure of that — I think perhaps director Ken Russell and his ensemble knew they were creating the ludicrous. There’s an indefinable charm that a hundred slicker, objectively more accomplished, films just can’t match.

Read more here.


Thor: The Dark World (2003)

When it works, The Dark World is exciting, inventive, and often genuinely hilarious. Placing most of the movie’s biggest laughs during its climactic battle — which already features a thrilling conceit in and of itself — makes the ending one of the best action sequences in the entire Marvel movie canon.

Read more here.


Tower Block (2012)

Screenwriter James Moran seems to have hit a good idea for a single-location thriller, and there are neat sequences in the mix, but there’s not quite enough juice in the concept or characters to sustain a full 90 minutes.

Read more here.


And six reviews were new to the new blog...


Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003)

Documentary, based on the best-selling acclaimed book by Peter Biskind, about the decade in Hollywood between the death and effective re-birth of the studio system. It’s a broad story, with many threads, which means this film has a tendency to sprawl all over the place as it attempts to take an overview of it in chronological order.

Read more here.


The King and I (1956)

there are some recognisable songs and an Oscar-winning performance from Yul Brynner, as well as truly sumptuous sets and costumes.

Read more here.


The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965)

it does a lot of things for a bit: Carry On-level double entendres, intense thriller-like scenes, slapstick sequences, an occasional New Wave-esque light jazz score… flitting around from one style to another with no immediately obvious rhyme nor reason, except perhaps a desire to try out interesting things and see where they lead.

Read more here.


Monster (2003)

Charlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America’s first female serial killers, in this ‘true crime’ biopic.

Read more here.


Ong-Bak (2003)

This is a tricky film to rate. The plot is pretty inconsequential and drags things out a bit toward the end, but that’s not what you come to a film like Ong-Bak for — it’s here for the action.

Read more here.


Sherlock Holmes (2010)

You wait decades for a new Sherlock Holmes film and then two come along at once. One is the Guy Ritchie-directed Robert Downey Jr-starring genuine blockbuster moneymaker. The other is thankfully not the rumoured Sacha Baron Cohen/Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow/other faintly irritating people comedy vehicle, but instead this direct-to-DVD cash-in from mockbuster kings The Asylum. Yes, I’d rather this version, thanks.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
34x01 Deep Breath
There seems to be a mixed response online... but then there's almost always a mixed response online. I didn't think it was as good as The Eleventh Hour, or even The Christmas Invasion, but on the whole it was a pretty good episode. The best bit, of course, was Capaldi. An excellent performance that shows great promise for the future.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Extra
1x01 Deep Breath
The "new Confidential" is... quite a lot like Confidential, actually. Shame it was so short -- there's a lot to explore in Deep Breath, and with just 11 minutes all they could really say was, "Look! New Doctor!"
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
1x03 (20/8/14 edition)
1x04 (21/8/14 edition)
[Watch episodes three and four (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

American Movie (1999)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,690 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 487 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,205 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,827 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,177 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Last Leg
5x03 (15/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The One Show
21/8/14 edition
Peter Capaldi was on yesterday's show ahead of his Doctor Who debut tomorrow. Coming on the back of a whistlestop seven-city world tour that only ended on Monday, and before a BFI Q&A session on Saturday -- and then also this today -- they've certainly made him pound the promotional trail hard!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tumble
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Blue Peter
The 12th Doctor: A Blue Peter Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
1x01 (18/8/14 edition)
1x02 (19/8/14 edition)
New quiz show fronted by Richard "Pointless" Osman. Pretty good format, very question-packed.
[Watch episodes one and two (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Battle of the Somme (1916)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
5x03 Bread
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ripper Street
2x06 A Stronger Loving World

Films

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)
[#70a in 100 Films in a Year 2014]
Still the most recent Marvel short, as found on the Blu-ray of…

Thor: The Dark World (2013)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Articles

Doctor Who Confidential returns online under new guise
by Alex Fletcher (from Digital Spy)

Doctor Who Confidential's back?!

No, not really. Though the series description -- "the inside take on series 8 from the people who made it... Casual viewers will enjoy the fun, fast pace and lighter side of Doctor Who Extra but there’s plenty for fans, too... reflecting on how Doctor Who’s history is echoed in this current series" -- does sound an awful lot like Confidential's initial setup.

Only 10 minutes an episode, though. Still, better than nothing.

TV

Cuckoo
2x02 Potato Party
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gilmore Girls
2x11 Secrets and Loans [2nd watch]

A Touch of Cloth III
3x02 Too Cloth for Comfort Part Two

TV

Cuckoo
2x01 A New Beginning
Taylor Lautner -- who knew?!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gilmore Girls
2x10 The Bracebridge Dinner [2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x05 Threads of Silk and Gold

A Touch of Cloth III
3x01 Too Cloth for Comfort Part One
You feel like this should have lost its spark by now, but it's as funny as ever.

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x03 The Bringer of Spiders
Because I watched episodes four and five when they first aired, this is the last one for me. I thought it was a particularly good one too... though I might have said that about any episode: somehow, this slightly bizarre format really works.
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Musketeers
1x05 The Homecoming

this week on 100 Films

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


The Expendables 2 (2012)

Whereas the first film was played straight and fairly serious, the sequel has more of the self-awareness that fans expected — and, indeed, wanted — from the franchise: the action sequences are bigger, faster and dafter; the cameos are longer and more knowing.

Read more here.


Despite my commitment to re-posting archive reviews daily, an incredibly busy week means just one archive re-post...


It (1927)

Proof if it were needed that the format of the rom-com has gone largely unchanged for at least 80 years!

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
5x02 Biscuits
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tumble
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,689 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 486 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,204 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,826 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,177 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Last Leg
5x02 (8/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x12 (9/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Simpsons
25x20 Brick Like Me
I haven't watched The Simpsons in a very, very long time (so long it's never been mentioned on this blog aside from the movie, in fact), but the promise of a LEGO-themed episode (i.e. this one) got my attention. It was pretty good, though the fact so many reviewers have described it as "the best of the season" proves the show must be a shadow of it's former self: not bad -- in fact, funny and entertaining on the whole -- but not laugh-out-loud, instantly-memorable, classic TV. Which I suppose would happen to anything after 25 years and 550 episodes.

this week on 100 Films

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


Amélie (2001)

My quirky review of a quirky film about the quirky life of a quirky girl.

Read more here.


Cloudy 2: Extra Toppings (2013)

On Blu-ray, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 comes with a selection of four “mini-movies” — that’s “shorts” to you and me. When the film airs on Sky Movies Premiere, each screening will be preceded by three of these, under the Extra Toppings title.

Read more here.


And seven were new to the new blog...


Fatal Instinct (1993)

It’s a little difficult to understand exactly why it flopped so badly in the US... perhaps its targets were just too broad to attract a mass audience. While it ostensibly tackles then-recent thrillers like Basic Instinct, Cape Fear and Fatal Attraction, it also has a lot of time devoted to the tropes of film noir, in particular Double Indemnity. Relying so heavily on a 50-year-old film isn’t likely to earn you much favour among the masses.

Read more here.


High Anxiety (1977)

Mel Brooks pays comedic tribute to Alfred Hitchcock — in case you can’t tell, the second credit is a prominent dedication — but those unfamiliar with the Master of Suspense’s output need not apply.

Read more here.


Matchstick Men (2003)

Twists are fine. Twists can be great. You can guess a twist is coming and it can still work. A really good twist works even when you know for certain it’s coming; its existence raises what you’ve seen, makes it all work even on repeated viewings when the element of surprise is obviously gone. Matchstick Men doesn’t have that kind of twist. It has the kind of twist that undermines everything you’ve just seen. Not because it’s illogical — it isn’t in the slightest — but because it tramples over the film’s emotional resonance.

Read more here.


Nosferatu (1922)

One of the earliest and most-referenced horror films, and the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (faithfully, albeit unofficially). With such a weight bearing down upon it I found it quite hard to watch it objectively...

Read more here.


Seraphim Falls (2006)

it makes for an unusual story. It’s centred neatly around Neeson chasing Brosnan, but the encounters they have along the way are increasingly bizarre. It’s readily apparent that there’s some Meaning and Subtext here... but I’m not sure if one has to process this to appreciate the film — it’s a still a chase movie

Read more here.


Sunshine (2007)

what some would call "grown-up science fiction", often more concerned with the crew's moral dilemmas than thrilling action set pieces or dazzling CGI. Luckily, though, the former aren't too pretentious and both of the latter are still present.

Read more here.


Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaborate for the sixth time (as the DVD’s blurb is so keen to point out) for a film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical adaptation of the classic tale of the titular barber who slaughters instead of shaves and sells the resultant meat to all of London in the pies of his accomplice, Mrs Lovett.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x09 Run Away, Little Boy [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
1x04 The Good Soldier

Films

After Earth (2013)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

Somehow some of my totals have gone screwy. No idea how that happened, but as best I can tell I've fixed them now -- just in time for a running time update!

Number of titles in collection: 1,688 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 485 [down 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,203 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,825 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,177 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

And that running time update tells us...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
302 days, 7 hours, and 51 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 18 hours, and 35 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ripper Street
2x04 Dynamite and a Woman

TV

The Great British Bake Off
5x01 Cake
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ripper Street
2x03 Become Man

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x08 The Ins and Outs of Inns [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
1x03 Commodities

Films

Inseparable (2011)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Wallander [Swedish]
3x03 Sveket (aka The Betrayal)

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x02 Sex is Fun
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Gilmore Girls
2x07 Like Mother, Like Daughter [2nd watch]
I like it when headmaster Charleston gets a good talking-to. Pompous twonk.

Films

Cloudy 2: Extra Toppings (2013)
[#67a in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Three short films that will air before Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 on Sky Movies. They include Steve's First Bath, Super Manny, and Attack of the 50ft. Gummi Bear!. The Blu-ray includes a fourth short, Earl Scouts, which I also watched.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x06 Presenting Lorelia Gilmore [2nd watch]

The Last Leg
5x01 (1/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Clear and Present Danger (1994)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

A busy week at 100 Films in a Year! Our recap starts with the fact it's now August, meaning it was time for the July update.


Then, two brand-new reviews were published this week...


Blue Velvet (1986)

Before he brought the disquieting underbelly of small-town America to television audiences with Twin Peaks — and revolutionised the medium in the process — auteur David Lynch subjected cinemagoers to its perversions in this 1986 cult masterpiece, the first cohesive expression of concepts, themes and motifs (and cast members) that would inform the rest of his career.

Read more here.


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

it moves at a restless rate of knots, much as the first one did. That’s not something to be sniffed at, as it throws plot and humour at the viewer with wild abandon. Sometimes such a methodology is a recipe for “chuck everything at the screen and see what sticks” — with the latter usually being “not a huge percentage” — but here it creates a pretty fine hit rate.

Read more here.


And finally, seven classic reviews were new to the new blog...


Bhaji on the Beach (1993)

It was no doubt bitingly relevant, showcasing a different set of cultural rules and expectations... viewed today, the film feels less "this is how things are" and more "this is how things were then", emphasised by the ever-so-'90s costumes, cars, locations… It feels as much a period piece as, say, Ashes to Ashes.

Read more here.


Great Expectations (1946)

there’s little to dislike about the adaptation. John Mills is too old to convince as a 20-year-old Pip, but his performance is good and he’s ably supported. However, the main highlights are undoubtedly all in Lean’s brilliant direction.

Read more here.


Guess Who (2005)

The plot isn’t a direct copy of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, preferring to take the gist of the concept and a few of the story beats and surround them with a bunch of Funny Situations. [It] does manage the odd laugh or smile, increasingly so as it goes on (though this may be because I was getting increasingly inebriated).

Read more here.


Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

a white girl falls in love with a black man and brings him home to meet the parents... this is still the era of Martin Luther King Jr. battling for equality and when interracial marriage was still illegal in 14 states. Hollywood may be known for its liberal politics, but it’s not always so, which makes the outcome of the film — will they or won’t they be given permission to marry? — a constant guessing game.

Read more here.


Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (2005)

All comedy is an acquired taste, of course, but what Silverman offers here must take some acquiring. I mostly like what I’ve seen of her work in the past, but the lack of laughs here is enough to put me off bothering with her in future.

Read more here.


Solaris (1972)

one of those films I think we can safely say is Not For Everyone. There’s much to ponder for the so inclined, not least the intriguing ending. I feel certain I, much like the scientists in the film itself, have barely scratched the surface.

Read more here.


Waitress (2007)

looks like another breezy rom-com... a chick flick, or to sound inappropriately less derogatory, “woman’s film”. Waitress is a “woman’s film”, but in a good way: written and directed from a female perspective, with its central roles being female, it doesn’t pander to a perceived female demographic and nor does it bellow “this is what we women think, and it’s so different to you damn men” — it’s more subtle than that.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x05 Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
1x02 Sleight of Hand

Films

The Expendables 2 (2012)
[#66 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

This week's sole addition is a big one: Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery on Blu-ray, the definitive release of the series, featuring every episode, the movie, and a feature-length selection of long-awaited deleted scenes. Magnificent! I already own the series and movie on DVD (season one twice, too), but I'm loathe to sell those old copies just yet because they have extras that have now gone astray. There aren't many though, so the famous Gold Box may one day get sacrificed on the ebay altar.

Number of titles in collection: 1,687 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 486 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,201 [up 10]
Number of films in collection: 1,824 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,177 [up 30]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friday Night Dinner
3x06 The Big Day [season finale]
Martin being a pimp -- comedy gold.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Gilmore Girls
2x04 The Road Trip to Harvard [2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x02 Am I Not Monstrous?
Bit grim. Only half resolved. Ah well.

Films

Amélie (2001)
[#65 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #7

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x03 Red Light on the Wedding Night [2nd watch]

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x02 Hammers and Veils [2nd watch]

Mock the Week
13x06 (17/7/14 edition) [mid-season finale]

Films

Frozen (2013)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x01 Cupped by a Shammy Hand
Repeats shall fulfil my wish!
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Gilmore Girls
2x01 Sadie, Sadie... [2nd watch]
Picking up right where the last season ended (the next morning, it seems like) makes continuing straight on feel less weird than it sometimes does. In fact, this feels positively "just the next episode"-y.

TV

Gilmore Girls
1x21 Love, Daisies and Troubadours [season finale; 2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x01 Pure as the Driven
Ripper Street's first two series aired in the same year for some reason, so we've (semi-deliberately, semi-accidentally) created our own enlarged (over a year!) gap between them. (It's now nine months since this episode aired. I feel suitably tardy.) Plus, I'm also one of the people who signed a petition (or something; I forget) to get the series picked up as an Amazon/BBC co-production for a third season (on the strength of the first alone, obviously), so it's a doubly good idea to actually get the second run seen before that turns up. Anyway, good start. Bit different. Hope the cliffhanger-y ending is resolved next week rather than forcibly dragged out across the whole season.

Films

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
[#63 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
[2nd or so watch]
Said I'd watch it soon!

this week on 100 Films

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


Night of the Big Heat (1967)

Opting for slow-burn tension rather than alien invasion excitement, the film takes rather a while to get to the point, attempting to distract us with a subplot about the sudden appearance of the pub landlord’s former mistress, who gets the already hot-and-bothered islanders hotter and bothereder. On the audio commentary, co-writers Pip and Jane Baker talk about how you had to sneak in and dash through such character/romantic subplots, because the audience wanted to get to the sci-fi stuff — which rather begs the question, why put it in at all?

Read more here.


I missed two days in my "post an archive review every day" mission this week, but that still means five reviews new to the new blog...


Flesh for Frankenstein [3D] (1973)

the European cast are unable to pronounce “laboratory” — every time it’s uttered it comes out as “lavatory”. Childish I know, but it’s one of the film’s few enjoyable moments. “I had to work for two years before I could even stick my nose in the lavatory” is an instantly classic line.

Read more here.


Happy Feet (2006)

There are a couple of enjoyable songs, a few exciting action sequences, and even some bits that actually make you laugh. Couple this with a positive (if improbable) pro-environment message, and an even better anti-religious one that's only half-hidden, and you have an entertaining film

Read more here.


The Last Days of Pompeii (1913)

The fact that it’s an old silent film will be enough to put most people off. Some of those are worth seeking out, of course, but I would hesitate to recommend this one.

Read more here.


The Paleface (1948)

It’s clearly designed as pure entertainment, mixing styles in a way no film would dare attempt today — there’s broad comedy, gunfights, horse chases, and even a song or two!

Read more here.


Russian Ark (2002)

Apparently some sort of artistic documentary on the history of Russia, told via a fantastical time-travelling-ish tour of a Russian museum, Russian Ark is certainly ‘artistic’. Unfortunately, it doesn’t teach you much and is at no point clear about what it’s covering.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
1x20 P.S. I Lo... [2nd watch]

Mark Lawson Talks To
Jo Brand
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Musketeers
1x01 Friends and Enemies
Finally getting round this (hopefully to squeeze it all in before the villain turns up in his new role!) It was good swashbuckling fun. Some of the dialogue felt like it could've done with an edit or polish, and a few of the actors were a little subpar... but then that impression might just be because I've only recently finished such an exceptional, subtle programme as The Americans. For big, bold, swordfight-y entertainment, The Musketeers is first rate.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,686 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 485 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,191 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,823 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
2x13 Echo [season finale]
Mysteries solved! Characters changed! Future plots teased! Can't wait for next season already...

Gilmore Girls
1x19 Emily in Wonderland [2nd watch]

Mock the Week
13x05 (10/7/14 edition)

Monty Python Live (Mostly)
[2nd half]

TV

The Americans
2x12 Operation Chronicle

Gilmore Girls
1x18 The Third Lorelai [2nd watch]

TV

The Americans
2x11 Stealth


Friday Night Dinner
3x05 The Piano
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]


Gilmore Girls
1x17 The Breakup, Part 2 [2nd watch]


Monty Python Live (Mostly)
[1st half]

Monty Python's last ever show, a mix of live stuff and video -- hence "mostly" -- broadcast live on Gold, then recorded by me and watched later, so now not live at all. But anyway. Sadly the pre-watershed original broadcast of this first half meant it was heavily censored, so I'll probably watch all of this again at some point. Nonetheless, it was still good fun, and the second (which I'll get to soon enough) started just after 9pm, so will be entirely uncut.

Plus, to help fill the time, there were some bonus celeb-filled behind-the-scenes bits pre-show and during the interval. I guess some people hate that stuff, and while it is rather chaotic and not exactly illuminating, I do quite like it -- it lets you feel some of the atmosphere there, at any rate.

TV

The Americans
2x10 Yousaf
Ooh, you can feel the climax looming... and yet there's three whole episodes to go!

Gilmore Girls
1x16 Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers [2nd watch]

Mock the Week
13x04 (3/7/14 edition)

TV

The Americans
2x09 Martial Eagle

Family Guy
12x01 Finders Keepers

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
6x07 (18/7/14 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Gilmore Girls
1x15 Christopher Returns [2nd watch]
In Germany, this episode is called Sex mit den Ex. Classy. Spoilery.

Films

Romancing the Stone (1984)
[2nd or so watch]

I remember really liking this when I was much younger, but I haven't seen it for a very very long time. Fortunately, I'm happy to report it was still great fun. (And, by complete chance, I've watched it just before it reaches exactly 30 years old. Anniversarytastic.) Must catch the sequel sometime, too.

this week on 100 Films

One brand-new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...


Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape (2010)

feature-length documentary exploring the ‘video nasty’ scare that gripped early-VHS-era Britain. Starting with a primer on the birth of home video, and what it was like to watch movies in those days (because, ladies and gents, we’ve now reached a point where even fans of that (second-)most adults-only of genres, the gory horror flick, are young enough to not recall a time before DVD), archive news clips and a wide array of new talking head interviews take the story from the UK’s first video recorders in 1978, through a newspaper-led panic, up to the infamous Video Recordings Act of 1984, which irrevocably changed the face of home entertainment releasing in the UK.

Read more here.


Meanwhile, my new goal of re-posting at least one archive review every day continued apace, with the following eight gems...


Alfie (1966)

If you’re only familiar with the Jude Law-starring remake, most of the original might come as a shock to you — whereas the 2004 version was pretty light and amusing, this is actually a more serious affair.

Read more here.


Basil the Great Mouse Detective (1986)

A seriously underrated Disney film... if you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan you should definitely catch it.

Read more here.


The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

There are some good lines, and it’s a Christie so obviously the fundamental story is good, but the direction is flat and lacks suspense, half the cast phone in their performances, and Angela Lansbury, lumbered with a sprained ankle and premature aging, seems to be in a dry run for Murder, She Wrote.

Read more here.


Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002)

Holmes is recast as a kind of Victorian James Bond, both in terms of his character and the plot structure. It begins with the end of the previous mission, before progressing through various familiar beats... Dr Watson is revealed to be “a bit of an inventor” — a Q in the making? Even Holmes himself is not immune: young, dashing, and womanising. Yes, womanising. He even has a threesome, shot and scored like soft porn

Read more here.


Titanic (1997)

it's over-reaching itself size-wise. This is true of both vessel and film, one being too big to dodge an iceberg, the other simply too long. I can't be certain, but it feels like the entire film following the iceberg's arrival is in real-time, which would make the length an excusable narrative trick, were it not for Cameron padding it out with endless contrivances to have Jack and Rose running around the ship.

Read more here.


True Lies (1994)

The comedy is quite broad, but it’s definitely a comedy, as opposed to an action movie that’s aware it’s a bit silly. Situations are pushed to extremes, clichés are played up, things go wrong in a way they’re liable to in real life but rarely do in films, action sequences are played for laughs as well as genuine excitement… The advantage to Cameron is he’s allowed to do some audacious things that might get laughed out in a straight actioner.

Read more here.


Zodiac (2007)

Zodiac is really a film about obsession, and it makes for as engrossing a tale as the case was for those investigating it. In following the story the film chooses to eschew normal structural niceties... it jumps from character to character, and if you step back and analyse it that’s odd, but while watching it doesn’t matter one jot — this is more like real life than some shallow crime thriller dependent on a twist ending.

Read more here.


Zodiac: Director's Cut (2007/2008)

Despite the minimal number of changes, the Director’s Cut of Zodiac is certainly the superior version. Not by a lot, obviously, but if you had to choose between the two, everything else being equal, then it’s the Director’s Cut to go with. And it’s still an exceptional film, one of the very best I’ve seen in this blog’s lifetime.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Americans
2x08 New Car

Gilmore Girls
1x14 That Damn Donna Reed [2nd watch]
Guest starring a younger Superman!

Films

Pacific Rim (2013)
[#62 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,686 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 485 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,191 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,823 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
2x07 ARPANET

Gilmore Girls
1x13 Concert Interruptus [2nd watch]

TV

The Americans
2x06 Behind the Red Door

Friday Night Dinner
3x04 The Anniversary
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Gilmore Girls
1x12 Double Date [2nd watch]