this week on 100 Films

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


21 Jump Street (2012)

the film’s best material revolves around the changing face of high school. Tatum and Hill’s characters grew up in an era of the traditional mould, where jocks ruled and nerds were bullied. When they return undercover, the tables have turned: getting good grades and caring about the environment is cool.

Read more here.


Hummingbird (2013)

might sound like your standard Statham action-thriller. It really isn’t. Knight’s focus is primarily on the relationship between Joey and Cristina, two people who are both lost, struggling with events from their past, trying to help people, in search of something. It’s a bigger acting challenge than Statham usually has to face. To be honest, he’s probably not wholly up to the task, but he makes a good fist of it.

Read more here.


The Interview (2014)

As with so many comedies, your mileage will vary on whether what follows is indeed hilarity or merely inanity. For me, it contained a weight of obvious ‘gags’ and crass ‘humour’, but also enough genuinely amusing bits to keep it ticking over.

Read more here.


The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Katharine Hepburn is the high society heiress getting re-married to someone dull from daddy’s company. Cary Grant is the husband from her tempestuous first marriage. When he turns up uninvited, screwball hijinks ensue.

Read more here.


Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

The debut feature from the director of all-conquering box office behemoth Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed is a small-scale indie comedy that may or may not have a sci-fi twist. Inspired by a real newspaper ad (actually written by a bored editor), this fictional version sees three journalists from a Seattle magazine tracking down the guy who placed the ad in order to find out the true story behind it.

Read more here.


Plus nine archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

The storyline, which follows Nicolas Cage's paramedic across three nights in New York, is a mixture of short episodic medical incidents with longer threads that continue throughout. These connect and fall apart, feeling as episodic as the rest, and most of them don't really lead anywhere.

Read more here.


Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone. (2007/2009)

The pace is surprisingly good throughout, a well-considered balance between action, character and mysteries. Anno and co have retained some of the original’s light and shade — this isn’t just a plot recap, but includes some of the humour and character-based subplots.

Read more here.


Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. (2009/2010)

This is very clearly a second part. It hits the ground running, with no thought for those not up to speed on the characters and events so far. Indeed, there’s perhaps little regard for those who may be familiar with it anyway: certain significant events rattle past, the storyline spewing mysteries via dialogue we barely understand, so dense is it with references and allusions.

Read more here.


Garden State (2004)

Zach Braff of Scrubs fame writes, directs and stars in this coming-of-age-style comedy-drama, his first feature as writer and director.

Read more here.


Gigi (1958)

a film about largely horrid people doing morally dubious things. But of course it’s a musical from the ’50s, so it all has a veneer of loveliness and respectability.

Read more here.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997)

There are answers, revelations, some great sequences, and a great cliffhanger! Unfortunately this is also the start of the next film, which ultimately renders this as just one thing: a fan-only curio.

Read more here.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)

don't even attempt this if you haven't seen all of the (excellent) TV series -- it won't even vaguelly make sense. Sadly, if you have seen the series, it's a disappointing climax. Promising a clearer ending than the original arty philosophical one, it winds up delivering something that's almost as bad.

Read more here.


On the Town (1949)

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra lead the cast in this musical comedy about three sailors who have 24 hours of shore leave in New York. The plot is sometimes predictable, but at least it's not as standardised as many. Equally, none of the songs are truly memorable but most are fun while they last.

Read more here.


Play Time (1967)

I know some people love the work of Tati, just like there’s always someone who loves everything; personally, I find his films largely dull. His character, Monsieur Hulot, is like Mr Bean but less funny

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x19 Sabotage

Person of Interest
3x12 Aletheia
[Watch it on Demand 5 from 9th July.]

Films

John Wick (2014)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,777 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 567 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,403 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,916 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Raging Bull (1980)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #4

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x06 (19/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Guest (2014)
[#87 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Before Dawn (2012)
[#86 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Episodes
4x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
49x08 (5/6/2015 edition; extended repeat) [season finale]
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Person of Interest
3x11 Lethe
[Watch it on Demand 5 from 2nd July.]

Films

Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983/2011)
[goodness-knows-what-th watch]

Concluding my Star Wars HD re-watch with the movie that I last watched as #82b in 100 Films 2007. The Machete Order seems to work pretty well, particularly with regards to the Dark Side: the otherwise out-of-the-blue awesomeness of the Emperor and redemption of Vader now have some context.

this week on 100 Films

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


Blitz (2011)

the cast is filled out with some really good (and/or recognisable) actors slumming it: David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen, Luke Evans, Mark Rylance. Yes, Mark Rylance. Mark “Wolf Hall” Rylance. Mark “greatest theatre actor of his generation” Rylance. Mark bleeding Rylance! Why, Mark? Why?!

Read more here.


Forty Guns (1957)

Western with Barbara Stanwyck as a powerful landowner, and commander of the titular posse, whose bullying brother, Brockie, is consequently allowed to run riot over the town. Enter lawman Griff (Barry Sullivan) and his two brothers, whose moves to bring Brockie in line kickstart a chain of ruinous events.

Read more here.


Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Action comedy starring John Cusack as a hitman who has to face the life he left behind when he’s assigned a job in his hometown on the same weekend as his high school reunion.

Read more here.


Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (2005)

in many respects, an old-fashioned epic. It’s a long film not because the director is prone to excess, but because it has a lengthy and complicated story to tell. It isn’t adapted from a novel, but the structure feels that way, spending a lot of time on characters... it’s a long while before the movie reaches Jerusalem, ostensibly the film’s focus, and it completes the arcs of several major characters along the way.

Read more here.


Man of Tai Chi (2013)

should probably feel derivative and lightweight. Instead, it feels fun, exciting, stylish, and, if not deep, then at least more complex than you might have expected.

Read more here.


Monsters University (2013)

Pixar’s fourth sequel is more Cars 2 than Toy Story 3.

Read more here.


Pursuit to Algiers (1945)

In his production notes on the Optimum DVD release, Sherlockian Richard Valley describes the 12th film in the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes series as “the runt of the litter” — which it is — though he also declares that it “has its own peculiar charm… If it’s not in the same league as Adventures of Sherlock Holmes or The Scarlet Claw, neither is it a waste of time.” Of that I am less convinced.

Read more here.


Plus six archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


After the Sunset (2004)

Each of these plots seem to have originated in different films — some serious, some light, some thoroughly comedic. When stuck together they make for a constantly varying tone, and it’s difficult to work out which was the intended one. By the end there’s so much going on (though, barely) that the ending goes on forever

Read more here.


Beyond the Pole (2009)

In case it wasn’t clear, this is a comedy. Unfortunately it’s only mildly amusing rather than laugh-out-loud hilarious. Worse still, it’s occasionally a bit thumb-twiddly as the inevitable plot points inevitably happen.

Read more here.


Clue (1985)

it's the kind of film that's unremittingly daft, but it knows it is, and if one gets on board with that then it's a very enjoyable experience... Eventually there's a murder, and then a few more, all of which is conveyed in a mix of hilarious farce and fast-paced screwball comedy. It's Agatha Christie meets Fawlty Towers.

Read more here.


The Damned (1963)

an interesting film, certainly, but one that is perhaps somewhat undercut by its age; a kind of ’60s SF that would probably require a distinctly different approach if you were to attempt to make it today... starting out as a kind of small town British gang B-movie, with some eccentric and apparently irrelevant characters turning up in asides, before segueing into a nuclear-age SF parable.

Read more here.


This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Comedy up to 11.

Read more here.


The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

A confused first act (which jumps about in chronology for no discernible reason) gives way to a more linear second two that, while more pleasing, seem to do away with major characters for no reason other than the plot ran out of things for them to do.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Elementary
3x24 A Controlled Descent [season finale]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x03 (6/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vicious
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Whiplash (2014)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,774 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 566 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,397 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,913 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

I said there'd be inevitably be something, didn't I.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Have I Got News For You
49x08 (29/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rush (2013)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
[2nd watch]

Films

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[2nd or so watch]

TV

Game of Thrones
5x10 Mother's Mercy [season finale]
I watched this in the early hours, right after it was on in the US, rather than wait 24 hours as I normally do (for various reasons). I'm glad I did — so much that would almost inevitably have been spoiled in those intervening hours! Great episode, though.

TV

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

Films

Dogma (1999)
[2nd watch]


Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005/2011)
[3rd watch]

After a three-week interruption (for various reasons), the Star Wars re-watch resumes. Sith isn't as bad as the other two prequels, but it's not really as good as the original trilogy, is it? As for the Machete Order, exactly how well it works hinges on how Jedi plays next week...

this week on 100 Films

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


Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)

Some claim the film hinges on in-jokes and references to the numerous Partridge series, but that’s poppycock: as someone who’s never watched one, I didn’t even sense I was missing something. Indeed, even as someone who’s never seen the character’s appeal, I thought the film was hilarious.

Read more here.


The Expendables 3 (Extended Version) (2014)

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sylvester Stallone continues his examination of masculinity and machismo amongst older men in this trilogy-forming instalment of his Expendables franchise. You think I’m joking… because I am. But there is actually an element of that in this latest action-fest, as the leader of the titular band of mercenaries chooses to retire his team of ageing soldiers and replace them with younger models.

Read more here.


The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The film has the feel of an artisan confection: candy-coloured, precisely designed and constructed, sweetly enjoyable, but with a hidden bite. Something like that, anyway.

Read more here.


Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Despite being a moderately-starry big-budget Hollywood effort, Jack the Giant Slayer feels cheap as chips across the board. For starters there’s the woeful screenplay, with its first-draft-level dialogue and poor construction. [Then,] if you told me any of the CG-driven sequences were from a Syfy miniseries, I’d probably believe you.

Read more here.


Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Part of the setup is “My Fair Lady with gentlemen spies”, as chavvy Eggsy is reshaped to be an old-fashioned besuited gent, inspired by the story of how Dr. No director Terence Young took a rough young Scottish chap called Sean Connery under his wing and taught him how to dress and behave as a gentlemen in preparation for his star-making role as the original superspy. It’s one of those ideas that you wonder why no one thought of developing into a fiction sooner.

Read more here.


Plus seven archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Anne Frank Remembered (1995)

In this Oscar-winning documentary, Jon Blair exposes the ‘untold story’ of Anne Frank. He adds to her words with the perspective of her friends, other people who knew her, and relatives of her companions in the annex... The film also reflects on Anne herself, and what it uncovers is not always positive. Such an honest approach could be contentious, but its attempt to uncover the truth — rather than paint a false saintly picture — is admirable.

Read more here.


Cruise of the Gods (2002)

Though the film pokes fun (fairly good-naturedly) at sci-fi obsessives, the underlying story here is about a man overshadowed by his past. In this Rob Brydon gives a strong performance, and he’s ably supported by James Corden in particular

Read more here.


Dark Floors (2008)

You may remember Lordi, the surprise winners of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. If that doesn’t help, they were the Finnish rockers all dressed up in monster suits. Here in the UK we gave them our highest number of points. You’d be easily forgiven if you had forgotten them, but clearly someone hasn’t as they not only made this film, someone thought they were big enough to use in its promotion — it’s subtitled “The Lordi Movie” on posters, DVD covers and what have you. Maybe they’re still well-known in Europe. Or Finland.

Read more here.


Hamlet (1996)

It’s the first ever full-text screen adaptation, which means it clocks in just shy of four hours; he unusually shot it on 70mm film, which means it looks gorgeous; and, while he grabbed the title role himself, he assembled around him a ludicrously star-packed cast from both sides of the pond... Even Ken Dodd’s in there!

Read more here.


Hamlet (2009)

[A] notable facet of David Tennant’s interpretation of the character is humour. Hamlet’s madness here is almost unrelentingly funny — even in deadly serious situations, like capture following a murder, Tennant’s Hamlet can’t resist taunting the other characters, keeping the viewer onside by keeping his apparent insanity entertaining rather than scary or darkly intense.

Read more here.


Ministry of Fear (1944)

To say too much about what Ministry of Fear is actually about would ruin it, which I don’t want to do because in fact it’s a great twisty little thriller, a rather Hitchcockian ‘wrong man’ tale with a baked MacGuffin

Read more here.


Mrs Brown (1997)

Period drama focusing on the friendship between Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown, alongside political threats faced by the British monarchy in the 1860s.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x02 (30/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

After last week's busy ol' update, nothing to report (except one small correction). My prediction that it will remain that way for a further five weeks still stands, too. For now.

Anyway, it's not all boring this week: there's a running time update! (Thought: if there genuinely remains nothing to add for the next five weeks, the next running time update will show no change -- I think that'd be a first. I imagine I'll cave to some impulse purchase in that time, though.)

As I was saying: anyway...

Number of titles in collection: 1,772 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 564 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,395 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,911 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

And that running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
317 days, 9 hours, and 51 minutes.
(Up 11 hours and 52 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x05 (5/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Elementary
3x23 Absconded

Person of Interest
3x10 The Devil's Share
Well that must be HR done now, then (hurrah!)

Vicious
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

The Interview (2014)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Episodes
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x23 Fast Enough [season finale]

Game of Thrones
5x09 The Dance of Dragons

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x01 Eurovision Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Forever
1x22 The Last Death of Henry Morgan [series finale]
Cancelled before its time, perhaps, but at least it wrapped up most of the mysteries.

Have I Got News For You
49x07 (22/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Now You See Me (2013)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Vicious
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Ladyhawke (1985)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

A new month began during this week on 100 Films in a Year, so we begin with a look back at... wait a minute! I forgot to post the look-back at April! Right then:



And now, May too:




After all that, six brand-new reviews were published this week...


The Black Cauldron (1985)

an intriguing footnote in the history of Disney animation. Their 25th ‘official’ film, it was the first with no songs, the first to earn a PG, and flopped so badly they disowned it for over a decade. Fully-animated sequences were cut after disastrous test screenings for parents, and famed exec Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly ordered 12 minutes cut, muddling the film’s story.

Read more here.


Hancock (Extended Version) (2008)

If you’ve only seen the humour-focused trailers, seeing Hancock described as a comedy-drama might come as a surprise. There’s a whole behind-the-scenes story here, it would seem... [they] thought they were making a character drama superhero movie, while studio executives were more interested in it being a superhero action-comedy... While the marketing went all-out on the comedy angle, the film itself is torn between these two pillars, leaving viewers with mismanaged expectations

Read more here.


Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

The first of Summer 2013’s “Die Hard in the White House” movies... The remarkable thing, watching both movies, is just how many plot beats are so similar. Even when they’re not exactly the same, they’re functionally identical. For example, a plane shoots up Washington merely as a distraction to get the President sent to the White House’s bunker; in White House Down, an explosion at the Capitol is staged merely as a distraction to get the President sent to the White House’s bunker.

Read more here.


Room 237 (2012)

Possibly-crazy people offer definitely-crazy theories on the subtextual meaning of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in this controversial film analysis documentary.

Read more here.


Violet & Daisy (2011)

plays like Tarantino with a metric tonne of Quirk slathered over it. On the bright side, it’s sort of entertaining, albeit fundamentally derivative with a sheen of left-field try-hard wacky-uniqueness.

Read more here.


White House Down (2013)

where your opinion is likely to land is most succinctly summed up in Film4’s review by Rebecca Davis: “Whether or not you enjoy this film depends entirely on whether you judge it to be po-faced or parody. If you believe it’s the former, you’ll probably hate it. If you believe it’s the latter, you’ll have an absolute blast.” I definitely judge it to be a parody... not an out-and-out Airplane-style parody, but very much a self-aware retro-styled tongue-in-cheek Action Movie.

Read more here.


Finally, there were six archive reviews republished too...


Capote (2005)

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning lead performance dominates this movie... in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote’s work process, it’s the character of the man, and how it’s affected, that is really revealed to the viewer

Read more here.


Catfish (2010)

a documentary (probably -- we'll come to that) in which 20-something Nev falls in love with a girl somewhere else in America over the internet. He and his friends become suspicious that she's not who she claims and set off to find out The Truth. ...reflects our current relationship with social networking technology... how these tools are and can be used, and what effects this can have on human relations.

Read more here.


The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Wordy political intrigue tries to coexist with broad comedy which is squashed against swashbuckling adventure. The latter two could co-exist, but the film feels like it wants to be the former and so suffers for it. The comedy jars too much to be effective... It should at least be able to swash buckles effectively, but entirely fails to achieve this until the climax.

Read more here.


The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

If some later Disney ventures have lost sight of the correct spirit for Pooh’s adventures, at least this original is a great adaptation. Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, and, above all, fun fun fun fun fun.

Read more here.


The Naked City (1948)

Police procedural film noir, shot entirely on location in New York... The story is quite straightforward -- girl is murdered, police investigate -- but it exists mainly as a structure on which to hang perspectives of the city, its criminals and its law enforcement

Read more here.


New York Stories (1989)

Anthology of three shorts, connected only by the New York setting, directed by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Elementary
3x22 The Best Way Out is Always Through

Pointless Celebrities
7x05 British Film
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Expendables 3 (Extended Version) (2014)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

A nice big five additions this week. (Current prediction for the next six weeks: 0. Well, we'll see...)

Number of titles in collection: 1,772 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 564 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,394 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,911 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x04 (29/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Car Share
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Ending with one of the funniest episodes -- brilliant! Really hope they make more. The ratings were strong, so I guess it's just down to Peter Kay and co. And to think I wasn't going to even bother with it...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Game of Thrones
5x08 Hardhome

Films

Changing Lanes (2002)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

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


Bullet to the Head (2012)

At times, you get the impression that director Walter Hill wants this to be a noir tale: there’s a hardboiled voiceover, a story mired in corrupt officials, twists about who to trust, and so on. But these elements are only fleeting, never building a consistency where you could plausibly claim it as any kind of neo-noir. Instead, it’s more of a buddy movie in the ’80s mould.

Read more here.


Feast (2014)

This year’s Best Animated Short Oscar winner is a charming little tale of a dog and his owner. I absolutely adored it

Read more here.


Seven Psychopaths (2012)

The writer-director and star of In Bruges re-team for the former’s sophomore feature; and if that doesn’t sound oddball enough for you, the lead cast is rounded out by Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. Zaniness is sure to ensue.

Read more here.


Shutter Island (2010)

One of the things Lehane set out to do in his novel was write “a gothic”, and Scorsese and co have taken that ball and run with it. It’s overflowing with a fantastic atmosphere: unsettling, creepy, chilling, horror-movie scary when needed (some sequences are properly hair-raising); truly gothic-feeling.

Read more here.


Plus eight archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Almost Famous (2000)

Crowe’s autobiographical screenplay is a good one, with plenty of amusing and dramatic moments to keep it ticking over — the most memorable, on a crashing plane, manages both with aplomb. Likewise, his direction is rarely flashy but always works. The music, costumes, design and cinematography evoke the period well

Read more here.


Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

John Cusack spends the entire film doing a blatant and middling impression of writer/director Woody Allen. But he nonetheless does OK, and the rest of the cast are note-perfect, the script pacy and funny, the photography gorgeous, and the long takes never more appropriate

Read more here.


Goodfellas (1990)

In the lead role, Ray Liotta seems to have been underrated, lost behind the top billing of De Niro and the award-winning craziness of Joe Pesci. He carries the film, with a performance that isn't showy but is perfectly pitched.

Read more here.


A Good Woman (2004)

reviewers like to pounce on the US cast members. Scarlett Johansson is neither here nor there, as per usual, but I thought Helen Hunt was quite good. It's undoubtable that they're overshadowed by British thesps like Tom Wilkinson and Stephen Campbell Moore however, but that's just par for the course.

Read more here.


Road to Singapore (1940)

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby star as a pair of young(ish) playboy sailors who run away from responsibility and family expectations in this comedy that launched the perennially popular Road to… series, which would spawn six sequels over the next 22 years.

Read more here.


Road to Morocco (1942)

Gentle, silly humour abound in this comedy, the third in the Road to… series. If you remember those plays that Morecambe & Wise used to do you’ll have a fair idea what this feels like

Read more here.


Road to Rio (1947)

If you’ve seen one Road to film then you’ve a fair idea what to expect from any other: lots of comedy, a few songs, a bit of romance, as well as some general hijinks. The differences, in all of these aspects, lie in the specifics: which songs, which gags, and so on... One might say it’s a variety show with a framing device, though there is a little more to the narrative than that.

Read more here.


Some Like It Hot (1959)

enjoying it again, didn’t want to skip the chance of handing it five stars in this pathetically brief review... it’s a very funny film even 50 years on. It rattles from situation to situation at an occasionally surprising pace, literally without a dull moment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume Two

The second (or third) and final season of the 2D-animated Star Wars spin-off, presented on DVD as a one-hour movie.

This season was designed specifically to tie in with the then-imminent third/sixth live-action Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith (which I'll be watching this weekend as part of my Star Wars re-view) -- the last episode takes place just minutes before the opening scene of Episode III, and the rest of the season details (in part) adventures alluded to in the movie.

There are pros and cons, compared to Volume One. The episodes here were three or four times as long, meaning they didn't have to focus quite so heavily on action and could dwell on character a bit more. At times that works; at others they seem to have forgotten the episodes were longer, so only afforded them the same amount of plot -- the individual action scenes just go on longer.

The Battle of Coruscant (which we see the end of in Episode III) is good, but because Anakin and Obi-Wan aren't allowed to turn up until the end, they have a subplot where they're off on some Outer Rim world saving a Native American-esque people (who also kinda look like Avatar's Na'vi) from nasty mutation. It's a bit "so what?" given everything else going on, but at least there's Mace Windu, Yoda, and some minor Jedi kicking ass on Coruscant to keep the mood up.

As with the first volume, a surprisingly-thorough episode-by-episode guide (though, when the episodes are 12-15 minutes long, it seems a bit less ridiculous) can be found on Wookieepedia

Posters for each season, which reflect Anakin's shift to the dark side.
(Wish I had them bigger/higher quality...)

Collection Count

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

A new release and a DVD-to-BD upgrade this week, which may explain some of the funny (non-)changes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,768 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 559 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,907 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Shutter Island (2010)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume One

Not to be confused with Star Wars: The Clone Wars (either the film or the TV series), this is the 2D-animated series that originally bridged the gap between Episodes II and III.

Originally released as 20 three-minute shorts across two seasons (though it's clearly one work -- presumably there was a gap halfway for production reasons), on DVD it's edited together into an hour-long movie. Its origins show through in just how action-packed and fast-moving it is, though that's no bad thing. The story is relatively slight, but it's beautifully animated, put together with a great amount of skill and creativity.

For the really interested, there's a ludicrously thorough episode guide (as in, each of the three-minute segments has its own entire page) available on Wookieepedia -- here's season one (chapters 1-10), and season two (chapters 11-20). All things considered, there's a surprising amount of detail there.

TV

Game of Thrones
5x07 The Gift

Films

Seven Psychopaths (2012)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Building Empire (2006)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Fan documentary on the making of Empire Strikes Back (see also: Star Wars Begins). You can watch it on Vimeo.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x03 (22/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Alois Nebel (2011)

A Czech noir animation, set around Christmas 1989 to the backdrop of the country’s Velvet Revolution. Eponymous character Alois Nebel is a train station guard whose flashbacks to an event at the end of World War 2 see him sectioned... [There's] the mystery of what happened in World War 2… sort of. I mean, there is a mystery, but what that mystery is isn’t fully elucidated, it goes AWOL during the middle segment of the film, and it remains pretty easy to guess the outcome.

Read more here.


Empire of the Sun (1987)

At two-and-a-half hours and with a plot that spans a good chunk of the war, Spielberg crafted a certifiable epic here — not his first, and most certainly not his last. Even then, swathes of material reportedly ended up on the cutting room floor, with top-billed cast members like Miranda Richardson reduced to extended cameos.

Read more here.


Robot & Frank (2012)

Ostensibly a science-fiction movie, complete with futuristic-looking cars, a casual robotic presence, and glass-like tablets and smartphones, Robot & Frank is really a drama about, amongst other things, old age. The SF elements provide an interesting angle, of course, but the film's joys and illuminations lie outside the sci-fi elements.

Read more here.


Plus four archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


The Cat's Meow (2001)

Possibly-true ‘murder mystery’ set in 1920s Hollywood. As with the similar Gosford Park, the point lies less in plot and more in characterisation — there are some good performances, especially from Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley and Edward Herrmann

Read more here.


Culloden (1964)

the story of the 1746 battle — famously, the last fought on British soil — and the events that followed it, as if it were covered by a modern TV news report (albeit a feature-length one). This adopted style — a first — makes for an effective presentation

Read more here.


Ocean's Eleven (1960)

“Remakes are not as good as the original” is one of the rules of filmmaking... Steven Soderbergh’s star-studded 2001 remake of Vegas-set Rat Pack vehicle Ocean’s Eleven is widely seen as a rarity in bucking this trend. And that opinion is right.

Read more here.


Southland Tales (2006)

i thought, with respect to the film’s crazy half-constructed mess of half-ideas, i’d copy&paste my notes rather than a normal review. so at least that’s one answer at the end for you.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

There was quite a bit to cover last week. This week: just one. (Soon: some more.)

Number of titles in collection: 1,767 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 557 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,906 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015

I was away for last year's Eurovision, so downloaded it from iPlayer, but never got round to watching it. It's a bit odd if you don't watch on the night. (Though apparently I caught the voting live. Completely forgot that.) I've still got it, though it'd be even odder to watch over a year later...

Anyway, this year's was good, if not because of the songs (which were largely OK but nothing to write home about) the because of the uncommonly-tight voting. Hurrah for some actual drama during that part of the show.

[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bullet to the Head (2012)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002/2011)
[3rd or so watch]

You were expecting the Jedi to return? Well, fairly last minute, we decided to follow the so-called "Machete Order". We'll see how well it works when we get to the end, but so far it's OK. Apart from the film itself being pretty poor, that is.

TV

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

Forever
1x21 The Night in Question

Have I Got News For You
49x06 (15/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #3

I've been pretty lax with WDYMYHS this year (I should be on #5 by now), so hopefully this is the start of getting it back on track.

TV

Episodes
4x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x22 Rogue Air

Person of Interest
3x09 The Crossing
Channel 5 have decided to take a mid-season break after the last episode, showing how much they hate their viewers -- there's unresolved stuff at the end of this one, but it feels like the big end to a two-parter, whereas the last was just halfway through. Anyway, they do this every season at some point, so, as per usual, I have found other ways to continue.

Films

Behind the Candelabra (2013)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

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

Critical
1x13 Episode 13 [season finale]
This has massively grown on me over the course of the season. Hopefully it'll get recommissioned.

Elementary
3x21 Under My Skin

Films

Hummingbird (2013)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Forever
1x20 Best Foot Forward

Game of Thrones
5x06 Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

Outnumbered
5x01 Rites of Passage [2nd watch]

Films

Robot & Frank (2012)
[#66 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x02 (15/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

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

Mad Men
7x14 Person to Person [series finale]
Well.

Person of Interest
3x08 Endgame
Maybe HR will finally be done with in the next episode! (I live in eternal hope.)
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Mad Men
7x13 The Milk and Honey Route
The last ever episode is on in the US tonight and the UK on Thursday. I imagine I shall watch it somewhere between those two times. What will happen? Nobody knows!

Pointless Celebrities
7x04 Game Shows
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)
[#65 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980/2011)
[goodness-knows-what-th watch]

Continuing my Star Wars HD re-watch with the movie that was previously #82a in 100 Films 2007.

this week on 100 Films

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


Mad Max 2 (1981)

The most memorable part, however, is the climax... An almighty action sequence, a speeding battle through the outback. It feels wrong to just call it “an action sequence”, like that’s selling it short. You get the sense that this is why the movie exists; that co-writer/director George Miller’s goal with the entire rest of the film has been to get us to this point. It’s not just “the climax”, it’s “the third act”, and it’s stunning

Read more here.


Tarzan (1999)

Disney's '80s/'90s renaissance more-or-less came to an end with this adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's jungle hero... The animated medium is put to excellent use in thrillingly fluid jungle-swinging action scenes (normally the purview of CGI, but here peerless in 2D)

Read more here.


Time Lapse (2014)

Shallow Grave meets Primer in this indie thriller that sees three housemates discover a camera that takes photos 24 hours into the future. They initially use it to their financial advantage, but soon Things Go Wrong™... a sci-fi setup, but it’s a film driven by its characters rather than its high concept.

Read more here.


Tropic Thunder: Director's Cut (2008)

A bunch of obstreperous actors are too much to handle for the director of a Vietnam war movie, so he dumps them in the jungle to shoot it with hidden cameras. Things go awry; hilarity ensues.

Read more here.


Plus nine archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Brigadoon (1954)

“Oh dear,” is surely the initial reaction to Brigadoon. The Scottish accents are appalling, the costumes and setting gratingly twee, the Highlands recreated entirely on a soundstage... But, importantly — and thankfully — it does grow on you as it goes on. The ill-conceived cast, costumes and studio-bound setting begin to pale under the charm of Gene Kelly and the machinations of the plot.

Read more here.


The Day of the Locust (1975)

a slightly scrappy film about the seedy underside of Hollywood’s golden age. The plot is neither here nor there in many respects — the film is about the grotesques who are attracted to Hollywood, and that being exactly what it feeds on. The bizarre, surreal ending definitely makes more sense if you’re already thinking about the film in this way.

Read more here.


Death Wish (1974)

Paul’s encounters aren’t all easily won; he gets injured; his crimes create a media storm, on which public opinion is divided... There are still unrealistic bits, certainly, but by employing enough believability and leaving aside certain rules of the revenge thriller — for one thing, he never actually gets revenge — Death Wish manages to rise a little above the “heroic vigilante” sub-genre.

Read more here.


The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Disney's 40th (canonical) animated film had a very troubled production, which, from what I can tell, turned it from a derivative riff on The Prince and the Pauper into this load of tosh.

Read more here.


Juno (2007)

The most discussed aspect is Diablo Cody’s screenplay, with its idiosyncratic slang-laden dialogue and accusations that every character speaks the same. The first is true, the latter is rubbish, and one has to wonder if whoever thinks it watched beyond the first ten minutes. Most of the film’s teenage characters speak similarly… in that they use the same bits of slang, have similar speech patterns, employ a similar sense of humour — you know, like groups of teenagers tend to.

Read more here.


Manhatta (1921)

Another ’20s city film, showing off (as you might guess from the title) parts of New York. The focus appears to be industrial — skyscrapers under construction, finished architecture, tug boats, trains near the docks; the people of the city only crop up at the start and close, and then only in faceless crowds.

Read more here.


À propos de Nice (1930)

Short film about the French city of Nice, mixing documentary-style footage of people with shots of the architecture, as well as clearly staged scenes (a man getting sunburnt, for example).

Read more here.


Skyscraper Symphony (1929)

It’s probably hard to ‘appreciate’ this without getting a little pretentious; certainly, it’s much more aimed at creating the feeling of a city, or a visual representation of it, or something like that, than it is with, say, showing pretty views of New York’s buildings.

Read more here.


Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

our bed-ridden heroine overhears a threat on someone’s life and begins to wonder if it’s actually about her... Barbara Stanwyck portrays a not-very-sympathetic lead character, which makes the viewer question how we feel about her possibly being murdered. We should be against it, but she’s not nice, but she is ill…

Read more here.


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: 1,766 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 556 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,388 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,905 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [up 26]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

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

Total running time of collection (approx.):
316 days, 21 hours, and 59 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 2 hours, and 32 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
3x23 My Name is Oliver Queen [season finale]

Car Share
1x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Critical
1x12 Episode 12

Films

Red Sonja (1985)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x18 Captain Peralta
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Have I Got News For You
49x05 (8/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
aka Have I Got Election News For You, allegedly.
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
7x13 White Orchids [series finale]
Cheerio, The Mentalist! It may be past its best, but I'll still miss it.
[Watch episodes 12 and 13 (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Star Wars Begins (2011)
[#63 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Watch it on Vimeo.

TV

Episodes
4x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x21 Grodd Lives
Rather overstretched their CGI capabilities with the giant gorilla, there.

Mad Men
7x12 Lost Horizon

Films

21 Jump Street (2012)
[#62 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Arrow
3x22 This is Your Sword
He's good! He's bad! He's winning! He's losing! He is! He isn't! Deja vu!

Car Share
1x01 Episode 1 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
7x12 Brown Shag Carpet
[Watch episodes 12 and 13 (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Forty Guns (1957)
[#61 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Elementary
3x20 A Stitch in Time

The Flash
1x20 The Trap

Game of Thrones
5x05 Kill the Boy

This is the 6,000th post on here. Crikey.