Films

Sicario (2015)
[#126 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Nowt this week! Plenty of stuff on the way though, so exciting weeks to come.

Number of titles in collection: 1,871 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 669 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,811 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 2,060 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,306 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
4x05 Clark's Place

Miranda
1x02 Teacher [3rd watch]
For some reason the first series has different episode titles on the DVD. The first episode's changed from Date to It's a Date, while this one's become In the Mood.

Person of Interest
5x12 .exe

Films

The Imitation Game (2014)
[#125 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x08 Murderous Marriage [season finale]
This series was good fun, on the whole. Hope they do more.

The Americans
4x04 Chloramphenicol

Miranda
1x01 Date [3rd watch]
Beginning a full re-watch. Have to say, I thought I'd seen this episode more. Maybe I forgot to log it.

Person of Interest
5x11 Synecdoche

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x07 Witch of Wyckhadden

The Americans
4x03 Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow

Person of Interest
5x10 The Day the World Went Away

Films

The Visit (2015)
[#124 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x06 The Day the Floods Came

The Americans
4x02 Pastor Tim

Friday Night Dinner
4x01 The Two Tonys
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Person of Interest
5x09 Sotto Voce

Films

High-Rise (2015)
[#123 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x05 Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

The Americans
4x01 Glanders

Person of Interest
5x08 Reassortment

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x22 Bon Voyage [series finale]
Series finale, season finale; potayto, potahto...

Person of Interest
5x07 QSO

Films

Pride and Prejudice (1940)
[#122 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Zoolander (2001)
[#121 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

It may seem a while ago now, but the stunning final two episodes of Game of Thrones aired within the past month -- which makes them the centrepiece of 100 Films in a Year's TV review this month:




Elsewhere, 2 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Just Friends (2005)

Just Friends spends a long time feeling like a morally bankrupt movie. It’s unclear if it’s praising or condemning Chris’ frivolous lifestyle, if he needs saving by coming home, or if he deserves revenge on the people who mistreated him. We know what the standard Hollywood perspective on these things is, so kudos to some degree for dodging it, but it doesn’t commit to the other direction either.

Read more here.


White God (2014)

The film’s third act can pithily be described as Rise of the Planet of the Dogs: having seen the abuses of humans, an impounded Hagen leads a canine uprising that seeks to… well, they don’t speak (they’re dogs, remember, and this isn’t Disney), so who knows what their precise aims are? “Revenge” would be too cruel, but they definitely seeking some retribution.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 3 more posts...


The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

in the same way J.R.R. Tolkien considered it one long novel that had to be split up for the sake of publication, so too the movies work well — best, one could even argue — as a single 11½-hour experience. Having inducted the trilogy’s individual instalments into my 100 Favourites series [last week], I’ve covered most aspects of this epic moviemaking endeavour pretty thoroughly already, so here are links to each of my previous entries

Read more here.


Lost in Translation (2003)

the quality of the BAFTA-winning performances of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson [create] a cross-generational pairing of two lost souls that feels real and touching, rather than tipping into some creepy love affair thing. Nonetheless, through to its ending the film plays with variations on melancholy — a difficult feeling to evoke in movies, in my opinion, but a level writer-director Sofia Coppola here hits with impressive consistency.

Read more here.


Man on Fire (2004)

Memorable Quote #1: “Creasy’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.” — Rayburn
Memorable Quote #2: “Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting.” — Creasy

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Ten Little Indians (1974)
[#120 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
aka And Then There Were None

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,871 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 669 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,811 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,060 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,306 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x04 Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

Person of Interest
5x06 A More Perfect Union

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x03 Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

Gilmore Girls
7x21 Unto the Breach

Person of Interest
5x05 ShotSeeker

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x20 Lorelai? Lorelai?

Person of Interest
5x04 6,741

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x02 Hell's Bells

Films

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[2nd watch]
This was #92 in 100 Films 2008.

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x01 Walkers of Dembley
Following on from the one-off they did a couple of years ago, Sky have produced a full series of these light and fluffy murder mysteries. It seems each episode adapts a whole novel in 45 minutes, which means either they must've cut a lot or those novels are really slight...

Gilmore Girls
7x19 It's Just Like Riding a Bike

Opera

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
at Glyndebourne

this week on 100 Films

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


Cinderella (2015)

Disney’s animated classic is re-imagined in live-action, losing the songs but expanding the story. The latter serves to find a little more realism in the setup (how Cinders became a servant to her stepmother, etc), as well as in the characters’ motivations and actions.

Read more here.


Crimson Peak (2015)

If you’ve not at least heard of The Castle of Otranto then there’s a chance your expectations of Crimson Peak may be misaligned. Which is not to say you won’t like it, especially if you’re of an open-minded disposition, but if having heard it’s “Gothic” and a “horror movie” has conjured up something Hammer-esque in your mind, then you are indeed off base. [It's] a Gothic Romance, which is as distinct from “horror” as it is from “romance”.

Read more here.


Spy (Extended Cut) (2015)

Apparently [writer-director Paul] Feig is a fan of James Bond and developed, wrote, produced, and directed Spy because he knew no one would ever let him do a real Bond movie. I guess that explains why some of it does work passably well as a genuine action/thriller.

Read more here.


Superman Returns (2006)

Sitting down to Superman Returns cold, it feels like you’re watching a sequel — and in many respects, that’s what it is. Singer loves the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, quite rightly, and when offered the chance to make a new movie with the character essentially set out to make Superman III... What was daft was making a sequel to a 26-year-old movie and assuming that the audience would be instantly familiar with the whole setup.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Although he’s covered by CGI in the final film, it’s Andy Serkis that really brings Gollum — and his alter ego, Sméagol — to life. It may have led to Serkis becoming the go-to expert in performance capture, but it’s also a great acting performance, full of light and shade, and creating sympathy for an ultimately villainous character.

Read more here.


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

made infinitely better by its extended cut, which does clock in at a whopping four and a half hours. It’s a wonderful end to one of the most epic tales in all of fiction (and if I hear anything about the “five million endings” I’ll reach through your screen and slap you unless you can tell me how you would have ended an 11 hour film better).

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: 1,870 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 668 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,810 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,059 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,306 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x18 Hay Bale Maze

Person of Interest
5x03 Truth Be Told

Poldark
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]

Films

American Ultra (2015)
[#119 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Cowboy Bebop
1x17 Mushroom Samba
1x18 Speak Like a Child
Right, let's try this again (again).

Gilmore Girls
7x17 Gilmore Girls Only

Person of Interest
5x02 Snafu

Poldark
1x07 Episode 7

Preacher
1x05 South Will Rise Again
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x16 Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore?
One of the few genuinely good episodes in the otherwise fairly dismal seventh season.

Person of Interest
5x01 B.S.O.D.
I think this final season has already ended in the US. Goodness knows when Channel 5 will show it here, so we're just getting on with it by... other means.

Poldark
1x06 Episode 6

Films

Cold in July (2014)
[#118 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x15 I'm a Kayak, Hear Me Roar

Poldark
1x05 Episode 5
The new series seems to be imminent, so finally getting on with finishing the first (only 1¼ years since I left off!)

Films

Superman Returns (2006)
[#117 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

The South Bank Show [Sky Arts]
5x03 Russell T Davies

this week on 100 Films

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


Ghosts of Mars (2001)

There are a good number of well-regarded John Carpenter films I’ve not seen that I could spend my time on, but I chose to expend it on this critically-mauled sci-fi-horror-Western from the first year of the current millennium. But sometimes watching poorly-regarded films pays off, because while Ghosts of Mars is no classic, it is actually pretty entertaining.

Read more here.


Grand Piano (2013)

Running under 80 minutes before the credits roll, Grand Piano is a brisk thriller that barely has time to be anything less than engrossing. It relies on keeping you entertained with its series of quick reveals, twists, and sequences of tension

Read more here.


Pillow Talk (1959)

The “they hate each other, will they get together?” storyline is, of course, obvious, but that’s beside the point. The leads spark off each other wonderfully, director Michael Gordon finds enjoyably inventive uses for split-screen and voiceover, and the Eastmancolor cinematography looks gorgeous in HD.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


The Lion King (1994)

Big romantic number Can You Feel the Love Tonight won the Oscar, and there were nominations for epic opener Circle of Life and quotable comedy hit Hakuna Matata, and you shouldn’t overlook the fun and impressive choreography of I Just Can’t Wait to Be King, but for me the best number is Scar’s Be Prepared. I do love a good villain’s song.

Read more here.


The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Now that it’s fêted as one of the greatest film trilogies ever made, it’s easy to forget what a gamble a three-film, $300 million adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfilmable novel seemed back when production started in the late ’90s; especially as it was to be made by a director whose track record was low-budget horror films, with a cast mostly without star names, filmed on the other side of the planet, where little news leaked out to the wider world, and with all three films shot at once... [But] the quality of the work is unquestionable: this is exciting, funny, emotional, transportive, epic filmmaking of the highest order.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Zootropolis (2016)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

aka Zootopia

Collection Count

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

Just one addition this week... but it's a 23-disc, 92-episode TV box set. Big boosts for those updates, then -- and it comes just in time for the monthly running time update, too.

Number of titles in collection: 1,869 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 667 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,809 [up 23]
Number of films in collection: 2,058 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,306 [up 92]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
353 days and 37 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 6 hours, and 12 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Preacher
1x04 Monster Swamp
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Articles

Warcraft Wasn't Made For You: Alienated Viewers and Disengaged Critics
by Richard Newby (from Audiences Everywhere)

Great piece on the abundance of poorly-reviewed films this year being more to do with bad criticism than bad movies.

this week on 100 Films

It's a new month, which means this update begins with a look back at June on 100 Films in a Year...




Also this week, my 100 Favourites project passed the halfway mark. Here's a post marking that occasion:




With those goings on, just 1 brand-new review was published this week...


Adam (2009)

Star Hugh Dancy worked with with writer-director Max Mayer for a month before filming began to develop the character, and spoke with individuals affected by Aspergers to learn about their feelings, sensory issues, and interests. It clearly paid off: I imagine it must be tricky to pull off a character like that without taking it too far, but Dancy is great in the role.

Read more here.


Finally, there were 2 new regular 100 Favourites posts...


Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

it’s a clever, witty, gothic adventure… for kids! Jim Carrey is on fine form as the evil Count Olaf, there’s quality support from some recognisable thesps in guest-star-level roles, the kids are a likeable bunch, and baby Sunny’s subtitled observations are frequently the highlight. Some reviews describe it as “superficial” or a “pantomime”, but even if it is, it’s devilishly entertaining.

Read more here.


Léon (1994)

Besson brews the grittily realistic with something far more fantastical to create a film that is, perhaps, a little too unique for some to get a handle on... For the majority, however, Léon is a gripping, characterful, rewatchable masterpiece.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This week, I picked up the Tarantino XX Blu-ray box set in a sale. It replaces 6 DVDs and 1 Blu-ray (and there's one other film in the set which I'm keeping my individual copy of, just for the packaging). So, that's how I've gone down 6 titles but only down 1 disc and yet somehow up 1 film.

Number of titles in collection: 1,868 [down 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [down 6]
Of which Blu-rays: 666 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,786 [down 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,058 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Pan (2015)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x10 The Winds of Winter [season finale]

Films

The Lobster (2015)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x15 Destiny
1x16 Legendary [season finale]

Films

The Present (2014)
[#113a in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
Magnificent animated short. Watch it online here.

this week on 100 Films

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


The Boxer from Shantung (1972)

displays a greater focus on plot and character than is perhaps typical for a Shaw Bros movie, but doesn’t exactly stint on action either — the sequences are a little more spread out than usual, and it results in a just-over-two-hours runtime that isn’t typical for these films. Fortunately, it’s an engrossing enough story that this isn’t a problem, even if the narrative has a rise-and-fall kind of shape that is fairly familiar in the gangster genre.

Read more here.


The Descendants (2011)

Though marred by heavy-handed voice-over exposition (it baffles me that it won a Best Screenplay Oscar), it’s lifted by strong performances from the daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) and Clooney, inverting his usual confident demeanour.

Read more here.


Independence Day (Special Edition) (1996/1998)

This was the first time I’d watched Independence Day's extended Special Edition cut, and I’d advise not bothering. It adds around 8½ minutes of new material, but the scenes don’t add all that much, and some of them are so awkwardly rammed in that it’s almost irritating

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Our Hero: The Bride, aka Black Mamba, aka [bleep], is a deadly assassin out for revenge against the gang of former associates who tried to murder her, in particular their leader, Dave. No, wait, that’s not right. What was his name? Anyway…

Read more here.


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

The film's best quality is probably its humorous dialogue... Downey Jr is hilarious, of course, but even he's outmatched by Val Kilmer as sarky investigator Gay Perry. Even more impressively, love interest Michelle Monaghan holds her own against them both. The plot may be so confusing it's easily forgotten, but the whodunnit reveal is beside the point when the journey there is so entertaining.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Nowt to report this week. More next week? Probably not... but you never know.

Number of titles in collection: 1,874 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 666 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,787 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 2,057 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

The Bank Job (2008)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Films

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

aka Иван Васильевич меняет профессию
aka Ivan Vasilyevich menyayet professiyu
aka Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession

TV

Game of Thrones
6x09 Battle of the Bastards
Wow.

TV

Upstart Crow
1x06 The Quality of Mercy [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Barry Lyndon (1975)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #6

this week on 100 Films

It's that time of the month at 100 Films in a Year: the TV review! Spoiler-free coverage of Game of Thrones, Preacher, and more...




As well as that, the blog's raison d'être continued with 4 brand-new reviews...


Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

Why is this film notable? In fact, is it notable? Well, it was voted in to The 50 Greatest Cartoons by some of 1,000 animation professionals, so there’s clearly something there... Maybe it’s the subversiveness that makes it significant? It comes from an era when that must have been a factor, surely — there’s a certain Monty Python-ness to it, and it was made the same year Flying Circus first aired.

Read more here.


Deadpool (2016)

it’s a pretty standard superhero origin plot. But the devil is in the details, and it’s how Deadpool tells its story that matters — the narrative is just a framework on which to hang the gags. The immediate point of comparison on a superhero comedy is surely Kick-Ass, and it doesn’t take deep analysis to see that Deadpool isn’t as subversive as that movie. Where Kick-Ass comments on, at times even deconstructs, the superhero genre, Deadpool takes its rules as a given and throws a shedload of humour on top of it. Is that a problem? It depends what you’re looking for.

Read more here.


Hercules (Extended Cut) (2014)

The answer to the question, “Hey, remember Brett Ratner? Whatever happened to him?”, Hercules stars Dwayne Johnson in full The Rock mode as the eponymous demigod. In this comic book adaptation, we’re introduced to Hercules at a point in his life after the famous labours but before he’d passed into legend, when he’s just a mercenary… or maybe he’s always just been a mercenary, and the legends are a tall tale to help him and his band of warriors sell their wares.

Read more here.


Ip Man 3 (2015)

Early bouts are not bad, though surprisingly underwhelming, but things really pick up later on. An elevator fight between Ip and a Thai boxer is the absolute high point, an incredible close-quarters action scene that spills out into a stairwell, but Donnie Yen vs Mike Tyson is a very good sequence also, and the climax ain’t half bad.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

‘Product placement’ is when companies pay for their products to be featured in a film. I’m clarifying this because it’s important to know that Josie spoofs (rather than features) product placement relentlessly... The great irony of the film’s critical reception is that this spoofing of product placement is kinda on-the-nose, and yet swathes of oh-so-clever critics completely missed that. Rotten Tomatoes even use half of their Critical Consensus summary to say that “the constant appearance of product placement seems rather hypocritical.” Point, missed.

Read more here.


Jurassic Park (1993)

For a certain generation, Star Wars is undeniably the defining cinematic experience. For a more recent one, I guess it’s Harry Potter or something. In between, you have my lot — and as became quite clear with the unexpectedly phenomenal response to Jurassic World this time last year, we have Jurassic Park. It was the first film I ever saw at the cinema, and much of it has been lodged in my memory every since. That it’s beloved shouldn’t be such a surprise, really: it was huge back in 1993, and is one of only ten films that can lay claim to ever having been The Highest Grossing Movie Of All Time.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
51x08 (27/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Fantastic Four (2015)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

After a busy few weeks, just one newbie this time.

Number of titles in collection: 1,874 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 666 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,787 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 2,057 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Steve Jobs (2015)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Films

Ip Man 3 (2015)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Preacher
1x03 The Possibilities
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Films

Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)
[#107a in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x08 No One

TV

Arrow
4x23 Schism [season finale]

Upstart Crow
1x05 What Bloody Man is That?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Deadpool (2016)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

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


Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)

Top villain Jürgen Prochnow is so underused one wonders why he’s even in the film — Brigitte Nielsen’s more striking henchwoman could’ve been brains as well as brawn. Either way, they’re the character equivalent of a MacGuffin: this is all about Murphy

Read more here.


Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)

according to director John Landis, [Eddie Murphy] envious of the careers of Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes, who were starring in straight action movies. Consequently, Murphy was keen to downplay the film’s comedy — much to its detriment, of course, as it’s Murphy’s comedy that makes this series work.

Read more here.


A Boy and His Dog (1975)

It’s a film fuelled by weirdness, left-field ideas, and a controversial tragicomic ending. It’s a “not for everyone” kind of film that, I must confess, I found hard to properly engage with

Read more here.


The Revenant (2015)

it’s like an old-fashioned blockbuster — the kind of thing you’d’ve seen in the 1950s (epic revenge Western) or 1970s (bleak revenge Western) as among the year’s biggest movies — crossed with a slow-paced, scenery-loving, meditative arthouse piece. If it’s about anything (beyond, y’know, the plot), it’s surely about nature — both the amazing vastness of natural spaces, but also the brutality of survival.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


The Incredibles (2004)

Even before the present glut of big-screen super-heroics, Pixar were in on the game with this affectionate genre entry. Writer-director Brad Bird mixes together classical superhero antics with elements of 1960s spy-fi to create a retro world of optimistic heroics and larger-than-life villainy — at odds with the dark-and-serious tone of so many superhero movies of the past 17+ years, but all the more memorable for it.

Read more here.


Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

I know we’re all supposed to love Raiders most, but I think Last Crusade is actually my favourite Indy movie. [It has] plenty of the requisite derring-do, an almost Bondian globetrotting storyline, and a high-stakes climax, complete with gruesome death for the villain. Spielberg once said it was his favourite Indy movie too, so I’m in good company.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Spy (Extended Cut) (2015)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

One new addition this week, which is actually a new release out on Monday (yay HMV!) It is time for the running time update, though, so there's exciting then.

Number of titles in collection: 1,873 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 665 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,785 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,056 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

And that running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
349 days, 18 hours, and 25 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 10 hours, and 11 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x14 River of Time

Gilmore Girls
7x14 Farewell, My Pet

Preacher
1x02 See
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Talking Preacher
1x01 Talking Preacher on Pilot
Spin-off talk show. Rather than going weekly, as some of AMC's other such programmes do, the next episode will be after the finale. Shame.
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

The Flash
2x23 The Race of His Life [season finale]

Gilmore Girls
7x13 I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia

Films

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Arrow
4x22 Lost in the Flood

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x13 Leviathan

The Flash
2x22 Invincible

Game of Thrones
6x07 The Broken Man

Gilmore Girls
7x12 To Whom It May Concern

Films

Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
[3rd watch]

TV

Arrow
4x21 Monument Point

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x12 Last Refuge

Upstart Crow
1x04 Love is Not Love
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Revenant (2015)
[#103 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

It was a new month at 100 Films in a Year this week (as well as everywhere else, obviously), meaning it was time to look back at the last one:




Other than that, 3 brand-new reviews were published...


The Assassin (2015)

far from your typical martial arts film, and so will appeal to a different kind of viewer. Hou has said it’s more about the spirit and deeper meanings of martial arts than it is the physical combat, and I can only presume that’s true. Besides looking very pretty, and presenting a (barely explained) adjustment in the mentality of one character, it’s difficult to know what to take away from it.

Read more here.


Quigley Down Under (1990)

Tom Selleck is Quigley, who has the ability to shoot things at implausibly long distances, and whose hair has the ability to stay implausibly coiffed even after days abandoned in the outback. He’s been employed by Alan Rickman, who we know is the villain because this was released in 1990.

Read more here.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

The Turtles’ personalities are pretty one-note, but not unfaithful to the original — the franchise started life as a spoof of things like Daredevil, after all, not a realistic character drama. That said, turning Mike into basically a turtle version of Michael Bay — i.e. he’s focused on lusting after Megan Fox and occasionally causing explosions — is a little cringe-y.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Groundhog Day (1993)

Best Supporting Character: Now, don’t you tell me you don’t remember Ned because he’d sure as heckfire remember you. Ned Ryerson. Needlenose Ned. Ned the Head. From Case Western High. Ned Ryerson, did the whistling belly-button trick at the high school talent show? Bing! Ned Ryerson, got the shingles real bad senior year, almost didn’t graduate? Bing, again. Ned Ryerson, dated Phil’s sister Mary Pat a couple times until Phil told him not to anymore? Ned Ryerson? Bing!

Read more here.


Highlander (1986)

Connor MacLeod is an immortal, a race of men living in secret among the rest of us, who must one day come together for the Gathering, after which there can be only one immortal left standing. That time comes in New York, 1985, as hulking savage the Kurgan hunts down the remaining immortals so that he can be the only one, and use the power that imbues to dominate the world. MacLeod is the only man in his way. Who will win? After all, there can be only— yeah, okay, you get it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x11 Santa's Secret Stuff

Films

Independence Day (Special Edition) (1996/1998)
[#102a in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

This is about the third time I've seen Independence Day, but the first I've seen the extended Special Edition version.

Collection Count

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

It was going to be just two additions this week, but a bunch of stuff turned up this morning. Four brand-new titles, one like-for-like DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade, but one title alone accounts for over half the discs and almost half the films.

Number of titles in collection: 1,872 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 664 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,784 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 2,055 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Cop Car (2015)
[#102 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Articles

I don't do an Articles posts for months (years?), then two interesting ones come along at once...


From Must-See TV To Peak TV: 20 Years Of Covering Television
by Alan Sepinwall (from HitFix)

US TV critic Alan Sepinwall has now been reviewing television for 20 years (how did you guess?), so took that as an opportunity to reflect on how much has changed in the medium since 1996. Short answer: a helluva lot. Long answer: read the article, it's good.


What A Co-Director Does On A Pixar Movie? Finding Dory Director Andrew Stanton Explains
by Peter Sciretta (from /Film)

It's a credit you can always seen on Pixar films, but, as they're one of the few places you do see it, it's not widely known what it actually means. Well, here's an explanation, from the horse's mouth.

Films

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)
[#101 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x06 Blood of My Blood

Have I Got News For You
51x07 (20/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Upstart Crow
1x03 The Apparel Proclaims the Man
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
4x20 Genesis

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x11 The Magnificent Eight

Elementary
4x24 A Difference in Kind [season finale]

The Flash
2x21 The Runaway Dinosaur

Gilmore Girls
7x10 Merry Fisticuffs

Films

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #5

Comics

Boys' Night by Max Landis & AP Quach

This comic -- about a middle-aged Mickey Mouse & friends hanging out, getting drunk, like real middle-aged guys -- was recommended somewhere a couple of days ago as an example of why Max Landis is worthwhile, and... well, it's fine... but I don't get what's so great about it. Hey ho.

this week on 100 Films

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


Hamlet (1964)

A black-and-white, two-and-a-half hour Shakespeare adaptation in subtitled Russian? No, wait, come back! Actually, don’t bother, because if you’re turned off by any or all of that description then, yeah, this isn’t for you. If you don’t object, however, then you’ll find a film that the likes of Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, and Sir Kenneth Branagh have hailed as the greatest film adaptation of arguably the Bard’s most revered play.

Read more here.


SuperBob (2015)

begins as a faux-documentary; a film being made about Bob and his life, which makes sense because who wouldn’t be interested in a documentary on the world’s only superhero? For us real-life viewers, though, it’s a form that feels a little tired at this point — I involuntarily groaned out loud when I realised that’s where it was going. Stick with it, though, because the conceit is all but dropped fairly early on, and the film begins to develop in nice directions.

Read more here.


X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

With so many characters to deal with, the film becomes a little overburdened with subplots. It’s trying to be a trilogy-former for the remnants of the First Class cast... but it’s also trying to introduce the new-old gang of X-Men, and establish their characters to head-up future movies; and it also has to deal with establishing its villain and his plans. It’s a big ask, and while director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg do manage to keep all the plates spinning and achieve something with most of them... some plot threads do feel perfunctory

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


GoldenEye (1995)

Pierce Brosnan is Bond, James Bond, for the first time. After the almost-franchise-killing seriousness of Timothy Dalton, Brosnan nails Bond for the nostalgic ’90s: a dash of Sean Connery’s grit, a dash of Roger Moore’s raised-eyebrow humour, a whole lot of suaveness. For a while, the old “Connery or Moore?” question became “Connery, Moore or Brosnan?”

Read more here.


Gone with the Wind (1939)

It’s an epic in the truest sense of the word, with a story spanning many years and many miles, passing by historical events in the process. However, at it’s core it’s the story of a tumultuous romance between two people, who may love each other or may hate each other, but who, with their unique, selfish, manipulative perspectives, are surely perfect for each other.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Assassin (2015)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

There's a tasty pile of new additions this week...

Number of titles in collection: 1,868 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 659 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 4,777 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 2,050 [up 14]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine #500

Awesome double-magazine 500th issue, including a very candid interview with Steven Moffat, with snippets like this.

Films

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Preacher
1x01 Pilot
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x05 The Door
Hodor.

TV

The Flash
2x20 Rupture

Gilmore Girls
7x09 Knit, People, Knit!

Films

Just Friends (2005)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

First up on 100 Films in a Year this week, it's the monthly TV review -- including coverage of David Tennant's Big Finish Doctor Whos...




Back to films: 3 reviews were published this week...


300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

In every respect — from the clunky structure, to the leaden dialogue, to the poor performances, to the cheap visuals, to the fake CGI — this doesn’t feel like the $110 million blockbuster it is, but like a direct-to-Syfy TV movie.

Read more here.


The Fighter (2010)

I don’t normally care for boxing movies (I even gave the sainted Raging Bull just 3 stars), but I rather enjoyed this. Perhaps that’s because it’s about the familial drama as much as it is pugilism, but then the same could be said of Bull, so who knows — maybe I’m just becoming inured to the sport. Heck, I even found myself invested in the outcome during the climactic bout.

Read more here.


Warrior (2011)

It’s a constant surprise to me that Warrior is on the IMDb Top 250 — and in a very secure 146th place, too — for two reasons: firstly because I’m not sure I’d ever heard anyone actually talk about it, except in passing as part of “the rise of Tom Hardy”-type passages; and secondly because, from the outside, it doesn’t look like a very Top 250-y kind of film... Having chosen to watch it in part to assuage that confusion, I still find its placement just as baffling.

Read more here.


And finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Gladiator (2000)

Memorable Quote: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” — Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius; father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.

Read more here.


The Godfather (1972)

Has it really been almost eight years since the IMDb Top 250’s unshakeable #1 was usurped? The Godfather sat pretty at the top of that user-voted ranking for the best part of nine years, its balance between critically-acclaimed filmmaking finesse and quotable gangster machinations almost perfectly calibrated for that website’s prevailing demographic. (It’s since settled at #2, hardly a failure.)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x10 Progeny

Elementary
4x23 The Invisible Hand

Films

Hamlet (1964)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
aka Gamlet, or Гамлет
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Nothing to report this week, but next should see at least four additions.

Number of titles in collection: 1,862 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 653 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,765 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 2,036 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 472 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
4x19 Canary Cry

Gilmore Girls
7x08 Introducing Lorelai Planetarium

Have I Got News For You
51x06 (13/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x03 Death and the Queen [season finale]
Read my opinion on all three Big Finish 10th Doctor adventures in the 100 Films monthly TV round-up, here.

Audio Drama

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures
1x02 Time Reaver
Less good than the first story, but a decent adventure nonetheless.