TV

The Missing
1x08 Till Death [season finale]
Fantastic. One of the best British series for years, I'd go so far as to say. Hopefully the just-announced second run can be just as good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
2x08 Murder at Christmas [season finale; 2nd watch]

Films

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
[#127 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

The Flash
1x07 Power Outage

The Missing
Part 7 Return to Eden
That ending has given me A Theory. I shall find out tomorrow...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Sin City: Recut & Extended (2005)
[#126 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

I last saw Sin City when it was in cinemas nine years ago, so this is a "2nd watch" really... but the slightly-extended and massively-reordered DVD/BD version mucks around with it so much that I felt it deserved a new number.

TV

Have I Got News For You
48x09 (5/12/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
3x00 The Robbers [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
Seems I've not watched this since it first aired five years ago! Good stuff, though. Ought to re-watch the whole thing sometime...

The Thick of It
2x02 Episode 5
2x03 Episode 6 [season finale]

TV

Castle
4x01 Rise
Channel 5 have not only bumped Castle to 5USA, they also started showing it a couple of months ago without any fanfare (none that I saw, anyway). So I've had to resort to... alternative methods... to catch up. But catch up I will, oh yes.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x10 Episode 10
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
7x08 Plane
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

The 2014 Advent Calendar continues this week on 100 Films in a Year, meaning there were another seven new reviews...


Dead Poets Society (1989)

Here’s a film all children should see, to understand the value of free thought and rejecting the system. Cynics probably find its purity of message, coupled with a tragic ending, to be over-sentimental and twee, but this earnestness is what makes it work.

Read more here.


Edge of Tomorrow, aka Live. Die. Repeat. (2014)

It’s Groundhog Day with shoot-the-aliens bits. It’s easy to be cynical about Edge of Tomorrow — it’s a mega-budgeted Tom Cruise actioner that sounds like a semi-rip-off of several other movies and was perceived as a flop (it wasn’t, at all) that no one knew how to sell. In fact, it’s a very entertaining movie — suitably exciting, surprisingly funny, and actually quite clever.

Read more here.


Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Inspired by the true story of a US Army DJ in Vietnam during the war, the resulting film is a showcase for star Robin Williams — reportedly, his antics aren’t even close to what really happened. Doesn’t matter though, does it, because this is Williams at his best.

Read more here.


Good Will Hunting (1997)

Damon and Williams have numerous incredible scenes together; encounters that feel like genuine slowly-evolving therapy, rather than the simplistic and implausible series of repeated revelations and breakthroughs that such treatment is often reduced to on screen. They run the emotional gamut, too, [including] intense humour — that’s what you get when you have Robin Williams at your disposal, of course. His Oscar is well earnt.

Read more here.


Pacific Rim (2013)

This is a film about giant monsters invading Earth, and we fight back with giant robots. It has the logic of the Japanese movies, anime and art that inspired it rather than any basis in the real world. Which is fine — del Toro has said it was aimed at 11-year-old boys (hence the “for over 13s” rating, of course), and it slots pretty neatly into that world.

Read more here.


Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

There’s fun to be had seeing the creation of a classic movie — I’m sure it’s not 100% the honest truth of how it went, but it is based on the tapes Travers insisted were made of the meetings, so it would seem the spirit is faithful. This isn’t a dry “making of” narrative, however, but a lively romp, as the two sides clash over jaunty tunes, characterisation, casting, and made-up words.

Read more here.


The Searchers (1956)

Westerns don’t come more renowned than this Ford-Wayne collaboration about the years-long hunt for a girl kidnapped by Native Americans. Alongside the usual Western thrills, peerlessly executed, it touches on themes of obsession and racism

Read more here.


Also this week, one archive review was re-posted...


Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)

Judi Dench is clearly having a whale of a time in this 1930s-set comedy about a 70-year-old widow who starts up a nude revue.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gotham
1x09 Harvey Dent
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x28 Number 1s
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

This week, the subtraction of that duplicate I mentioned last time, plus four new acquisitions, gives us the following:

Number of titles in collection: 1,713 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,205 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 508 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,278 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,848 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,317 [down 5]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Not Going Out
7x07 Surprise

The Thick of It
2x01 Episode 4

TV

Forever
1x10 The Man in the Killer Suit

The Newsroom
3x03 Main Justice

TV

Arrow
3x06 Guilty

Pointless Celebrities
6x27 Writers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Good Will Hunting (1997)
[#125 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Elementary
3x04 Bella

The Missing
Part 6 Concrete
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Thick of It
1x02 Episode 2
1x03 Episode 3 [season finale]

TV

The Flash
1x06 The Flash is Born

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Atlantis
2x03 Telemon
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gotham
1x08 The Mask
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Thick of It
1x01 Episode 1
Picked up the complete collection of this in a Black Friday deal -- now I hope it lives up to its reputation. On the evidence of this first episode, the potential is there, though I confess I laughed more heartily at the episode's deleted scenes.
Incidentally, The Observer described the series as a "cross between Yes Minister and The Office", which couldn't be more true if it was a joint spin-off of the two.

Films

After the Thin Man (1936)
[#124 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

It's been a busy old week at 100 Films in a Year. Firstly, it's December (did you notice?) which meant it was time to look back at November's viewing:




Then, the 3rd annual 100 Films Advent Calendar kicked off -- 25 days of shiny new reviews, people!




And, of course, that means a whole week of reviews -- seven brand-new ones, to be precise. They were...


The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Fortunately for us, ASM2 has some new twists on the old formulas. Harry’s transformation may be inevitable, but it’s played with different emphasis and motivations. Plus Dane DeHaan is a much more unusual and engaging actor than James Franco, his version of Harry notably different from the previous “pretty young rich kid”.

Read more here.


Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Cue two hours in which cars drive fast, people punch each other, and things blow up. Furious 6 (as it’s called on screen, to forcefully indicate a barely-existent “Part Two”-ness with the previous film) doesn’t ask much of you as a viewer, and doesn’t give you much back either — which is fair enough, in its own way. In other ways, it’s a disappointment.

Read more here.


In Your Eyes (2014)

Anyone expecting a heavy fantasy flick from the creator of Buffy and the director of The Avengers will be sorely disappointed by what they find here. Rather than being the film’s subject, the fantasy element is an unusual way in to a relationship... I don’t believe the phenomenon that connects the two leads is ever explained, or even investigated. The focus instead lies on the effects it has on the characters.

Read more here.


The Kings of Summer (2013)

I wasn’t sure I’d like this — it looked Quirky and Indie and Hipster-y — but I wound up rather loving it. It mashes zany ‘comedy’-comedy with indie drama — the kind of tonal disjunct some despise, because they like their films neatly Funny or Serious, but which I always have an affinity towards.

Read more here.


The Night of the Hunter (1955)

I guess this is one of the reasons why groups including the BFI recommend it as a must-see for kids. Although it’s dark and grim, it rarely wavers from the John’s point of view — it’s an induction into the harshness of the adult world for the two young siblings; a harshness the sweet, innocent community they come from does nothing to prepare them for.

Read more here.


No (2012)

Most strikingly, the whole thing is shot on genuine ’80s videocameras, complete with poor resolution, colour bleeding, and all that jazz. Sounds like a pretentious gimmick, doesn’t it? It actually works rather well: it quickly evokes the era, it allows genuine news footage from the period to blend seamlessly with freshly-shot material (and it really does), and you quickly stop noticing.

Read more here.


We're the Millers (2013)

It’s not, generally speaking, “my kind of film” [but] I thought I’d give this a go. I’m glad I did, because while it’s not particularly remarkable, nor likely to redeem the entire [modern mainstream American comedy] genre for me, it is a suitably amusing and entertaining comedy.

Read more here.


Phew!

The fun continues with even more next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,710 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,205 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 505 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,277 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,845 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,322 [up 24]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

One of these actually replaces an existing DVD set, but I haven't had time to factor that in. Next week, then... provided I don't forget.

See you then, faithful reader.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x19 Teach Me Tonight [2nd watch]

Have I Got News For You
48x08 (28/11/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Oldboy (2003)
[#123 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #11

TV

Arrow
3x05 The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak

Forever
1x09 6 A.M.

Miranda
3x01 It Was Panning [2nd watch]
Thought they were starting a repeat run of this before the new episodes at Christmas, but it appears to be airing as a one-off. Oh well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x18 Back in the Saddle Again [2nd watch]

Live at the Apollo
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Newsroom
3x02 Run

Films

Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
[#122 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

The Flash
1x05 Plastique

The Missing
Part 5 Molly
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Gotham
1x07 Penguin's Umbrella
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
7x06 Alcohol
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
[#121 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Secret of Kells (2009)

Based on the true story of the creation of the Book of Kells, albeit with a fantastical spin involving forest spirits, the film’s most striking element is its animation style: clean and modern, but inspired by the famed illustrations in the original illuminated manuscript. The result is endlessly beautiful.

Read more here.


Union Station (1950)

this isn’t some noir-era single-location-thriller, but a kidnap procedural with a significant role for trains and their locales. The best sequence isn’t even in the station: cops tail a suspect, get noticed, and the ensuing chase reaches a memorably grisly end.

Read more here.


Plus three were new to the new blog...


Diner (1982)

There are no big turning points or revelations or developments for any of these characters. One is in trouble thanks to deep gambling debts, but there’s the equivalent of a magic wand that wipes them all out; another is permanently drunk with serious family issues, but neither of those go anywhere

Read more here.


The Star Wars Series

Featuring reviews of all six episodes so far: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.

Read more here.


White Christmas (1954)

surprisingly un-Christmassy. Yes, it’s set at the right time of year, and the plot concerns itself with do-gooding and charity and other such vaguely seasonal themes; but, crucially, there’s a distinct absence of snow (until the very end) and little else actually inspires much Christmas feeling.

Read more here.


Starting tomorrow, it's the annual 100 Films Advent Calendar -- hooray! So, all being well, there should be a tonne of reviews to report on next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
48x07 (21/11/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x26 Dance
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Said there'd be something this week. It's also the monthly running time update, which is always fun.

Number of titles in collection: 1,708 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,204 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 504 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,268 [up 17]
Number of films in collection: 1,844 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,298 [up 44]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

Plus...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
307 days, 9 hours, and 47 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Forever
1x08 The Ecstasy of Agony

Films

Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary (2010)
Not strictly a film, but as a filmed concert on DVD, where else does it belong?

The Thin Man (1934)
[#120 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Elementary
3x03 Just a Regular Irregular

Tomorrow's Worlds: The Unearthly History of Science Fiction
Part 1 Space
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
3x04 The Magician
Not sure "actor you won't recognise in non-iconic costume" counts as a big reveal. The character's a big deal, but as the aforementioned reveal is not of who he is (even if you know, as many/most/all will, no one even says his name or something when he turns round), the fact he's a big deal doesn't count toward it being a big reveal.
Rest of it was alright, at least.

Miranda
1x04 Holiday [4th watch]
Classic.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Puppy Love
1x02 Episode 2
Giving up on this. The characters are all unlikeable (all of them), most of them are incredibly irritating, and it's just not funny enough. There are cute dogs, but that's not enough to save it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rear Window (1954)
[#119 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #10

TV

The Missing
Part 4 Gone Fishing
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
13x12 (21/11/14 edition)
The regular highlights-and-outtakes episode, for some reason divorced from the rest of the series and broadcast on a random November night.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
[#118 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

The Newsroom
3x01 Boston

Pointless Celebrities
6x25 (22/11/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Elementary
3x02 The Five Orange Pipz

The Flash
1x04 Going Rogue
Still often cheesy and daft, but easily the best episode yet -- but then, that's what Felicity Smoak does for you.

Live at the Apollo
10x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Star Trek: The Next Generation
3x17 Sins of the Father
5x25 The Inner Light
Anyone with a bizarrely exceptional memory may recall that, back in February, I made a start on the TNG sampler Blu-ray. Well, these are the other two episodes from that disc. Both are regarded as amongst the very best TNG (indeed, the entirety of Trek) ever produced, and rightly so -- they're magnificent. In fact, the second is so good you feel someone should have bought the rights and re-made it as a non-Trek film. More fool the guy who took that idea to the TNG production office rather than just getting it made as a movie...

this week on 100 Films

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


Flirting with Disaster (1996)

adoptee Ben Stiller goes on a kerazee road trip to find his birth parents, accompanied by dissatisfied wife Patricia Arquette and kooky adoption agency psychologist Téa Leoni... Cue an almost-PG-13 sex comedy told among sketch-like encounters with quirky people who turn out to not be Stiller’s folks.

Read more here.


The Green Hornet (2011)

it’s pretty comical, sometimes in that man-child frat-boy way, sometimes with a leftfield quirkiness. The combination makes it unique in the world of superhero movies, but hasn’t gone down well with critics or many viewers. Well, screw them — The Green Hornet is brilliant.

Read more here.


The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

as Katniss finally rises into the arena, the aspect ratio subtly shifts from filmic 2.40:1 to IMAX-derived 1.78:1. It’s remarkable how much impact this has even on a TV screen; nothing like what it must have in a proper IMAX theatre, but striking nonetheless — it really feels like things have just gotten bigger

Read more here.


Local Hero (1983)

Gentle comedy in which Peter Riegert’s middle-management American oil exec has to persuade the residents of a Scottish village to sell up, unaware that they’re only too keen — for the right price. One of Quentin Tarantino’s Coolest Movies of All Time (seriously).

Read more here.


Mad City (1997)

a surprisingly nuanced performance from Travolta. Sam's the manHe plays against type as Sam, the nervous, naïve, childlike, and easily-manipulated hostage taker. It’s Travolta’s performance that makes Sam someone you care about, even if you don’t exactly root for him, so that the outcome is something you’re fully invested in.

Read more here.


Plus six were new to the new blog...


The Cable Guy (1996)

It's a comedy, though at times it seems to wish you’d forget that so it could be a psychological stalker thriller. Perhaps that’s what it had wanted to be... until someone realised the idea was too silly to be taken completely seriously.

Read more here.


Daylight (1996)

a fireball rips through the tunnel. It seems to destroy most cars and kill most people, except for about a dozen survivors. How are they not killed by the fireball? Well, it seems to be by the good fortune of Because We Need Some Characters. Should you ever get stuck in an exploding tunnel, pray you find yourself in a disaster movie and had been doing something mundane yet passably interesting earlier on

Read more here.


Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

the whole film rests on Al Pacino's shoulders, and he’s more than capable of bearing the weight. Some roles allow an actor to subtly be good throughout the film; others allow a few grandstanding set-pieces where they can Act; but Dog Day Afternoon gives Pacino both.

Read more here.


Hidden (Caché) (2005)

Empire’s 15th best film of 2006 is very European. “How so”, you may ask? Well, firstly, it is French; but it certainly feels it: it takes a very good concept/plot for a thriller and then stretches it out a little thin, with a notably slow pace, and a concentration on the dramatic impact on characters rather than plot movements.

Read more here.


Jonah Hex (2010)

Jonah Hex is not a good film. Let's just establish that, before I start being nice about it.

Read more here.


Lumet: Film Maker (1975)

This ten-minute documentary short is made up of behind-the-scenes footage of some of the filming of Dog Day Afternoon, with the occasional on-set interview with some (to be honest, minor) crew members, snippets of audio interview with Lumet himself, and a voiceover narration.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
2x01 A New Dawn Part One
2x02 A New Dawn Part Two
As the new season begins, Jason and friends seem to have been transformed from a gaggle of peasants who sometimes get into scrapes into a kind of Atlantean special-ops unit. The rest of this opener is all very epic and season-finale-y, which was Merlin's MO by the end too so I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Wonder where it's going from there over the next 11 weeks, though.
[Watch A New Dawn Parts One & Two (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python: The Meaning of Live
Feature-length documentary about the creation of Monty Python's farewell live shows, as well as the history of their live performances.

Collection Count

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

This week, absolutely no changes! Next week: some changes, guaranteed.

Number of titles in collection: 1,705 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 502 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,251 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,842 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,254 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gotham
1x06 Spirit of the Goat
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Not Going Out
7x05 Pointless
In which Lee and Daisy appear on Pointless. Brilliant.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Green Hornet (2011)
[#117 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Forever
1x07 New York Kids

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x11 Episode 11 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Arrow
3x03 Corto Maltese

TV

The Flash
1x03 Things You Can't Outrun

Gilmore Girls
2x17 Dead Uncles and Vegetables [2nd watch]

The Missing
Part 3 The Meeting
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Elementary
3x01 Enough Nemesis to Go Around

Have I Got News For You
48x06 (7/11/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
9x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
New run starts soon, figured I ought to finish this one.

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

TV

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

Films

The Running Man (1987)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

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


Backfire (1950)

doesn’t seem to be very well regarded on the whole... This may be because at times it feels more like an Agatha Christie mystery than a film noir: a pair of clean-cut amateur sleuths bumble their way through a string of clues, learning more and more about the plot thanks to other characters’ flashbacks. I like a good Christie mystery though, so the pairing of styles isn’t a problem for me.

Read more here.


La Belle et la Bête (1946)

I imagine you know the story — it’s a tale as old as time, after all — but let’s recap anyway: in lieu of her father, Belle (Josette Day) goes to be the ‘guest’ of the animal-like Beast (Jean Marais) in his castle. Initially repulsed by him, Belle comes to realise there’s something there that wasn’t there before as she grows attracted to her captor. Meanwhile, Belle’s would-be suitor (Marais again) resolves to kill the Beast…

Read more here.


Chronicle (Extended Edition) (2012)

The obvious route for a found-footage superhero movie is surely in the Kick-Ass/Super mould: a wannabe dressing up in a funny costume and setting out to fight crime, in the real world. [Director Josh] Trank and screenwriter Max Landis have grander ambitions, however, setting their sights on characters who develop Superman-esque powers.

Read more here.


Plus four were new to the new blog...


Beauty and the Beast (Special Edition) (1991/2002)

Do you need me to tell you how great Beauty and the Beast is? I imagine not. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know. If you haven’t, you really should, and then you’ll know.

Read more here.


Hairspray (2007)

while the key to Hairspray’s success may be its positive attitude and memorable songs, perhaps the key to its quality -- and the eventual score of this review -- are the issues it tackles around those.

Read more here.


The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

It manages to avoid the sugary sentimentality that you might expect and in the process makes for a fair tale of the underdog succeeding.

Read more here.


Total Recall (1990)

For me, the joy of Total Recall is in discovering another ’80s blockbuster (ignore the fact it was released in 1990), the kind of thing I grew up watching on rented videos and BBC One Bank Holiday schedules... whose practical effects and general style and tone vividly recall that era for me

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who Extra
1x12 Death in Heaven [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x24 (15/11/14 edition)
[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: 1,705 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 502 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,251 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,842 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,254 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Children in Need 2014
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Chronicle (Extended Edition) (2012)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
6x18 The Invasion Episode Eight
Hm. Not sure I liked this as much as the consensus would have it. The Cybermen are barely used, there's some weird writing/editing (it just skips over stuff), some terrible music (a jaunty tune that's both irritating and bizarrely played during exciting/tense moments)... There were good bits, including the unintentionally slightly-camp pair of human villains, but still, it's no Tomb.

Gotham
1x05 Viper
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x10 Episode 10
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Machete (2010)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
6x17 The Invasion Episode Seven

Gareth Malone's All Star Choir
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
7x04 Anna
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Only Connect
Children in Need: Noggins v Curiosities
Last time I watched Only Connect, I also watched the animated X-Men's version of Days of Future Past, and today... well. That's one freaky coincidence.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Arrow
3x02 Sara

Doctor Who
6x16 The Invasion Episode Six

Forever
1x06 The Frustrating Thing About Psychopaths

TV

Doctor Who
6x15 The Invasion Episode Five

The Missing
Part 2 Pray for Me
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pioneers of Television
3x04 Miniseries

TV

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

this week on 100 Films

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


The 10th Kingdom (2000)

Said story takes place in both present-day (well, turn-of-the-millennium) New York and the fantasy world of the Nine Kingdoms... the place all our fairytales come from — the part of the narrative set there takes places “almost 200 years” after the “Golden Age”, when the events we know from stories actually happened.

Read more here.


John Dies at the End (2012)

Based on the cult novel by Cracked.com editor David Wong, John Dies at the End is a bizarre horror-fantasy that defies easy explanation or summary.

Read more here.


A Late Quartet (2012)

Set in the rarefied world of classical music performance, A Late Quartet charts the fallout among the members of a highly-acclaimed New York string quartet when their leader (Christopher Walken) announces his impending retirement.

Read more here.


Space Battleship Yamato (2010)

A live-action adaptation of the popular, influential and long-lasting anime franchise... Set in a future where Earth has been ravaged by alien assault, a nearly-defeated humanity... set off on a last-ditch mission to save mankind.

Read more here.


Plus three were new to the new blog...


Inception (2010)

about people who can get into dreams and steal ideas. Now they’re employed to get into a dream and plant an idea. This is either impossible or extremely hard, depending on which character you listen to. And that’s the setup — it’s really not as complicated as some would have you imagine.

Read more here.


The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

At times it feels like a collection of subplots linked only by the monthly book group meetings, with whichever plot thread is the focus of a scene becoming the de facto main story… until the next scene begins, of course. A working knowledge of Austen’s novels is helpful too.

Read more here.


March of the Penguins (2005)

I think March of the Penguins gained such popularity in America because they don’t have the rich history of wildlife documentaries that the BBC has bestowed upon us Brits. This is a solid documentary, but it has a narrow focus and isn’t a patch on something narrated by David Attenborough.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Detectorists
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Lovely. More please.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
34x12 Death in Heaven [season finale]
Hm. Kind of mixed, hard to know quite what to make of it. Some properly great stuff, some very weak bits, some that might be one or might be the other. Odd indeed. Loved the ending and the mid-credits tease, though.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)
Episode 5 (of 5)

Pointless Celebrities
6x23 Writers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

As is the way of the world, the two titles that didn't arrive last week turned up on Monday. Add a Monday new-release that arrived on Tuesday, and we have...

Number of titles in collection: 1,704 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 501 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,250 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 1,841 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,254 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Detectorists
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Extra
1x11 Dark Water
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
48x05 (31/10/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)
Episode 2 (of 5)
Episode 3 (of 5)
Episode 4 (of 5)

TV

Doctor Who
6x14 The Invasion Episode Four
And the Cybermen finally turn up just in time for a cliffhanger-until-next-week. Which is kind of appropriate, really.

The Flash
1x02 Fastest Man Alive
This has some particularly brilliant examples of "we better recap episode one seamlessly in dialogue" dialogue. And by "brilliant" I mean "hilarious", and by "seamless" I mean "glaringly obvious".

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

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

Doctor Who
6x13 The Invasion Episode Three

Gareth Malone's All Star Choir
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)
Episode 1 (of 5)

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

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

Doctor Who
6x12 The Invasion Episode Two

Gotham
1x04 Arkham
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Flirting with Disaster (1996)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
6x11 The Invasion Episode One
This is possibly the most blatant connection to Saturday's episode that I've done in this run of tie-in viewings, so if you don't know I'll leave you to look it up.
Also of note is that this is the first animated reconstruction of a missing episode that the DVD range ever did. I bought it on release back in 2006, to help support the notion of animating missing episodes, but this is the first time I've got round to watching it. Typical me. The animation is a little Flash-y, true, but a heckuva lot better than the mess that was The Reign of Terror.


Gilmore Girls
2x16 There's the Rub [2nd watch]


The Missing
Part 1 Eden
This was excellent. British drama often focuses on character at the expense of plot, so I was kind of expecting an hour of people moping around being miserable, but instead there was a good chunk of story, and plenty of mysteries set in motion -- which is good, because it's got to fuel another seven hours yet. If it can keep it up, it could be a future TV classic.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Woman in Green (1945)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Arrow
3x01 The Calm

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

Films

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Show Boat (1951)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

First up this week on 100 Films in a Year, it's a new month, meaning it's time to summarise the old one.

October's update (linked below) includes not only a list of what I watched last month, but also sections on reaching #100, reaching 900 reviews, a ponder on the best fairytale-inspired films, and more!




Before that, five brand-new reviews were published this week:


Inseparable (2011)

I’m a great advocate of tonally-mismatched films. When others are moaning that there’s too much darkness mixed in with their light fluffy film, I’m the one saying, “um, guys, have you ever lived in, y’know, real life?” Which probably explains why most of the internet reacts with anything between ambivalence and hatred towards Inseparable, whereas I really enjoyed it.

Read more here.


Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)

Set sometime after the end of Iron Man 3, we catch up with ‘villain’ Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) to see how his prison life is going. As you might imagine from the chosen lead character, it’s primarily a comedy.

Read more here.


Spanking the Monkey (1994)

Spottily entertaining, history has rendered Spanking the Monkey merely an early curio from a now-famous director.

Read more here.


The Sweeney (2012)

Despite a mediocre pedigree and TV-scale budget, this re-imagining of the iconic ’70s cop show is a solid thriller.

Read more here.


Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)

Riffing on the “evil hillbillies” horror sub-genre, a pair of simple country folk on a fishin’ holiday encounter a gang of college kids who, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, mistake them for murderous psychos — and decide to fight back.

Read more here.


Finally, six reviews were new to the new blog...


Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

You can’t help but wonder if there’s a more faithful remake to be done, but how would that sit with those who idolise Hepburn’s take on Holly Golightly? Not well, I suspect. But faithfulness aside, in the hands of director Blake Edwards any grittiness disappears in a wave of pastel-coloured humour and frivolity.

Read more here.


Brief Encounter (1945)

a very British affair — all awkwardly repressed emotions, discussion of the weather, fear of society’s opinions, stolen passionate kisses, guilt, indecision, true love and endless cups of tea.

Read more here.


Grindhouse (2007)

a double-bill of exploitation movies, more-or-less with a horror bent, with grainy, dirty, decrepit prints that are missing shots, scenes, and even whole reels, and complete with trailers for similar films and ads for local restaurants.

Read more here.


Piglet's Big Movie (2003)

Mildly amusing at times and with a positive (if predictable) message about friendship and self-worth, this would undoubtedly entertain young children — which, to be fair, is its intended audience.

Read more here.


Traffic in Souls (1913)

Silent movie about white slavery in America. You don’t expect that from a 1913 film, eh? Of course, the issue is handled in a suitable way for the period: why the women are kidnapped is never alluded to (in reality it was for prostitution) and all the Bad Men are brought to justice.

Read more here.


Witchfinder General (1968)

what’s truly horrific is how real it is. I have no idea if the torture and execution methods are historically accurate, but the opening hanging is nasty due to the woman’s distress, the later burning tortuous because we know that, at some point in history, for whatever reason, this kind of death penalty was dolled out… If it’s horrific or scary it’s down to the threat of violence, or the cynical sadism with which people are tortured, rather than gory special effects

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
34x11 Dark Water
I thought that was excellent, and I always love seeing the Cybermen. If it has somewhere interesting to go in Part 2, could be a really great story all round. We'll see. I imagine some hated it though, especially the big reveal, so any shot at "all-time classic" is probably blown from the get-go... barring later reassessment by those less crazed than some of Who's current 'fans'.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
7x03 Donor
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x22 Mixed Bag 2
There's an episode title that deserves to be used!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Last Action Hero (1993)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

I was expecting four titles this week; two have arrived. Could be worse -- makes a change from none. Should be three more next week now, then.

Number of titles in collection: 1,701 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 498 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,238 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,834 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,254 [up 12]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

Also, running time update:

Total running time of collection (approx.):
305 days, 7 hours, and 25 minutes.
(Up 14 hours and 22 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who Extra
1x10 In the Forest of the Night
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Forever
1x05 The Pugilist Break

Gotham
1x03 The Balloonman
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Whose Line is it Anyway?
2x08 (5/1/90 edition) [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Doctor Who
14x16 The Face of Evil Part Four
I've greatly enjoyed this serial. It's not the best regarded (a lowly 130th on DWM's latest poll), but I'm not sure why.

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Scott & Bailey
4x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Doctor Who
14x15 The Face of Evil Part Three

The Flash
1x01 City of Heroes
A bit cheesy and predictable in places, but then Arrow took time to bed in too. Has enough promise to stick with it.

Have I Got News For You
48x04 (24/10/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Furious 6 (2013)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

aka Fast & Furious 6