TV

Castle
6x08 A Murder is Forever

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
5x03 Episode 3

this week on 100 Films

It's the time of the month for 100 Films in a Year to look back at recent TV...




Also this week, I published 4 brand-new reviews...


American Ultra (2015)

Max Landis’ wish-fulfilment screenplay (by which I mean Max Landis’ screenplay is about fulfilling Max Landis’ wishes) sees Jesse Eisenberg as a laggard stoner who turns out to be a CIA sleeper agent with Bourne-esque abilities, which are revealed when the director of a rival CIA programme (Topher Grace) sets out to kill him and anyone who stands in their way, including girlfriend Kristen Stewart.

Read more here.


Fast & Furious 7 (2015)

the action is ridiculous and implausible. Even the stuff that doesn’t seem physically impossible is overblown. But it’s so ludicrous that the film can’t possibly be trying to claim it’s real anymore, and therefore it kind of works — they’ve committed to it. Though anyone who started out enjoying this series for its broadly-realistic car-racing thrills must be pretty disappointed in it by this point.

Read more here.


Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)

It’s an action-fantasy movie… starring owls. It’s animated, but in a dark, realistic way (think Rango with less cartoonishness and less light). It’s based on a kids’ book series… but directed by Zack Snyder, clearly reining in his R-rated impulses (violence occurs just off screen, leading to “did that happen?” confusion)

Read more here.


Pride and Prejudice (1940)

The first adaptation of Jane Austen’s ever-popular novel, MGM’s film is a compromised endeavour: by executives softening dialogue and rewriting characters; by changing its setting to permit grander costumes; by Gone with the Wind using all the Technicolor stock, forcing the lavish production to shoot in black-and-white.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 huge '80s blockbuster classics...


Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

It’s pretty much a perfect adventure movie: relentlessly paced, packed with action, lightened with humour, full of likeable heroes, who are brave and competent but also a little bit flawed, and hissable villains, with scene after scene of imaginative situations and fabulously staged derring-do.

Read more here.


Return of the Jedi (1983)

These days, the answer to the question “how did they do that?” is “CGI”. Back in the ’80s, however, they had to be a bit more creative... For example, the shot where the Imperial fleet spring their trap on the Rebels was the most complex matte shot ever attempted, with dozens of separate model elements having to be printed in.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
[#151 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

The Survivalist (2015)
[#150 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,886 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 685 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,864 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,079 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,421 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

We Love Sitcom
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Tokyo Tribe (2014)
[#149 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

One of Us
Part 4 Adam and Grace [finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
6x07 Like Father, Like Daughter

The Great British Bake Off
7x04 Batter Week
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
6x06 Get a Clue

The Musketeers
2x05 The Return

Films

Tale of Tales (2015)
[#148 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

One of Us
Part 3 Glenarvon Loch
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
[#147 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

One of Us
Part 2 Beneath the Surface
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
10x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Barely Lethal (2015)

if its establishing concept sounds like something you might enjoy, and you go in with suitably lowered expectations, then I think there’s a fair chance you’d find it to be a frequently amusing, occasionally very funny, and sometimes quite sweet high school comedy — with added doses of action comedy for good measure.

Read more here.


Ben-Hur (1959)

the other subtext I alluded to earlier: the possibility that Judah and Messala were once lovers. The claim originates with screenwriter Gore Vidal, who may or may not have written some or all of the screenplay that was used for shooting. According to Vidal, he and Stephen Boyd discussed the idea before shooting began, and then Boyd played the scenes with it in mind. [...] the content of the film makes it easy to believe — the scenes between Messala and Judah, especially when they’re first reunited, absolutely play like there’s a romantic history between them.

Read more here.


Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)

With ten varied adversaries to defeat, Return puts greater emphasis on the action than did its more dramatic forebear. The fighting is solid, with the enemies’ different skills adding some occasional freshness, but the plot underneath is thin.

Read more here.


Steve Jobs (2015)

Sorkin’s writing is awe-inducing, especially to anyone who’s ever dabbled in or dreamed of being a writer. The construction of it all, at every level — from line to line, from scene to scene, from act to act, across the whole piece… And this is a particularly magnificent construction, so precisely structured, rife with mirroring and repetition, and yet done so well that it doesn’t feel locked in to or constrained by an unwavering structure.

Read more here.


Ten Little Indians (1974)

The third English-language screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famed mystery, one of the best-selling novels of all time, relocates the action to the middle of a desert but is otherwise a word-for-word remake of the 1965 version [...] It’s interesting, therefore, that this lacks the atmosphere or tension of that version.

Read more here.


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


Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

an exciting, humorous, creepy, fun movie. That the sequels haven’t lived up to it is disappointing, but the first still stands as a near-perfect example of big-budget swashbuckling entertainment — it’s basically the dictionary definition of a summer blockbuster.

Read more here.


Pulp Fiction (1994)

Most films can be divvied up into heroes and villains one way or another — I’ve certainly managed it for the previous 70 films in this list. Pulp Fiction muddies its waters considerably, with criminals for heroes at the best of times, and the “short story collection” style meaning there’s an abundance of characters anyway, some of whom arguably change sides from one tale to the next. Nonetheless, you’d have to point to hitmen Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, and their ever-so-Tarantino rambling conversations about nothing and everything, as the film’s primary duo.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
5x02 Episode 2

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
5x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Rushmore (1998)
[#146 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,885 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 683 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,863 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,076 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,421 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Are You Being Served?
You Can't Teach a New Dog Old Tricks [2016 special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Castle
6x05 Time Will Tell

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

One of Us
Part 1 The Storm
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
6x04 Number One Fan

The Great British Bake Off
7x03 Bread Week
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Midnight Special (2016)
[#145 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
5x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[2nd watch]

This was #18 in 100 Films 2010.

TV

Doctor Foster
1x05 Episode 5 [season finale]

John Bishop: In Conversation With...
1x01 James Corden

Films

Spotlight (2015)
[#144 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

2016 entered yet another new month this past week, meaning it was time to look back at August on 100 Films in a Year...




As well as that, only 2 brand-new reviews were published this week... but one of them was an epic...


The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)

100 Films in a Year #1000 — Written, directed, and narrated by film journalist/historian/fan Mark Cousins, The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an epic 15-hour account of innovation throughout the history of moviemaking, which began its premiere broadcast five years ago today. It’s an acclaimed work, to be sure, but one that also attracts its fair share of controversy — about films and filmmakers that Cousins chose to leave out, in some cases about those he chose to include, and about how the documentary itself was made: the oddly framed interviews, the artistic shots of baubles, Cousins’ accent and vocal inflections.

Read more here.


Zoolander (2001)

The story of an almost-past-it model who’s brainwashed into being an assassin, it’s essentially a one joke film (“aren’t models dumb?”), but gets surprisingly good mileage out of that. Not relentlessly amusing, nor the best thing on anyone’s CV, but some bits are very funny.

Read more here.


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


One Hour Photo (2002)

“Family photos depict smiling faces… births, weddings, holidays, children’s birthday parties. People take pictures of the happy moments in their lives. Someone looking through our photo album would conclude that we had led a joyous, leisurely existence free of tragedy. No one ever takes a photograph of something they want to forget.”

Read more here.


Phone Booth (2002)

Regular readers will know of my fondness for the single-location thriller, and this is one of the films that helped define that love. And events occur in real-time, which is just a bonus. Colin Farrell and Kiefer Sutherland are both on excellent form as the hostage who maybe has it coming and the hostage taker who maybe has a point.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Castle
6x03 Need to Know

Doctor Foster
1x04 Episode 4

Collection Count

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

One new title this week, and a couple of tweaks on numbers that I must've got wrong somewhere. Hey-ho.

On the bright side: running time update! Yay!

Number of titles in collection: 1,884 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 682 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,862 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,075 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,421 [down 1]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
357 days, 19 hours, and 22 minutes.
(Up 4 days, 4 hours, and 53 minutes from last month.)

That's the biggest running time increase in six months, which was also caused by adding a complete TV series -- a slightly longer once, hence being slightly bigger!

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Ben-Hur (1959)
[#143 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #9

TV

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
5x01 Episode 1
Seems I accidentally missed a whole series of this back in April & May. Hey-ho.

The Great British Bake Off
7x02 Biscuit Week
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Foster
1x03 Episode 3

Films

The Maltese Falcon (1941)
[#142 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #8

TV

Castle
6x02 Dreamworld

Doctor Foster
1x02 Episode 2

TV

Castle
6x01 Valkyrie
Got fed up of waiting for this to appear on whichever-Channel-5-channel-it's-on-these-days.

Friday Night Dinner
4x06 For Sale [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Salvation (2014)
[#141 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...


Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Leto and Garner’s characters are fictional. So, some would argue, is Ron Woodroof — this version, anyway. For one thing, reportedly the real Woodroof was widely believed to be bisexual by people who knew him, so depicting him as a raging homophobe (who contracted HIV from a druggie prostitute) is completely inaccurate. I suppose that just calls into question how far one can go when adapting reality into fiction while still claiming it’s a true story, because in some respects it’s more interesting to follow the film’s version of Ron, who has to come to terms with a whole new world.

Read more here.


Duel (1971)

Although Duel has been analysed as a horror movie, or a Western, or a commentary on class war in America, Spielberg didn’t see it that way, regarding it as a pure Hitchcockian suspense thriller. He’s bang on the money. It’s not scary in the way a horror movie would be, and I think calling it a Western is a bit of a reach, though I can kind of see where the class war thing is coming from; but you can absolutely see the ingredients for a Hitchcock movie here.

Read more here.


Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD (2014)

Talking heads documentary about the galaxy’s greatest comic, [it] tells of the project’s birth, then the years when the US industry used the comic to scout talent, cherrypicking all its best creators. Today, it’s an influential institution that punches above its weight.

Read more here.


Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

It’s kind of hard to avoid the praise Grave of the Fireflies has attracted... It’s the third highest-rated animation on IMDb, which also places it in the top 25% of the Top 250, not to mention various other “best animated” and “great movie” lists. I mention all this because I fear the weight of expectation somewhat hampered the film for me. It’s by no means a bad film, but, despite the subject matter, it didn’t touch me to the same degree as, say, My Neighbour Totoro

Read more here.


A Royal Night Out (2015)

Gently amusing and relatively briskly paced, A Royal Night Out is lightweight and unchallenging, the definition of Heritage-ish lazy Sunday afternoon viewing. That means it will rub some viewers up the wrong way, but others will love its simple, old fashioned charms.

Read more here.


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


On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

a shadowy man drives an Aston Martin accompanied by the Bond theme. (As in we hear it — he’s not got it on the stereo.) To his surprise, he’s overtaken by a woman. A few miles down the road, he sees her car stopped by the beach, and she’s walking out to sea. He runs after her, scoops her up and carries her back to the shore. As she wakes up, we see his face for the first time — and it’s not Sean Connery! But he does say, “My name’s Bond. James Bond.” Then he has a punch-up.

Read more here.


Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

In one of the most iconic opening sequences in cinema history, three gunmen arrive at a train station and… wait for a train. For ten minutes. Ten real-time minutes, accompanied only by sounds like a squeaky windmill, a dripping water tower, and distant bird cries. Then the train arrives… and then the train leaves… and then a harmonica plays. And the action… threatens to start. Ah, Leone

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Foster
1x01 Episode 1
Finally catching up on this popular drama from last year (almost a whole year ago, in fact!) It's an interesting start, particularly to see how there's four more episodes in it.

The Great British Bake Off
7x01 Cake Week
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

This week was going to be completely devoid of new additions... until a huge sale-acquired title turned up this morning, and the following happened...

Number of titles in collection: 1,883 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 681 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,861 [up 24]
Number of films in collection: 2,075 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,422 [up 98]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x12 10:00PM - 11:00AM [series finale]

Films

Duel (1971)
[#140 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x10 8:00PM - 9:00PM
9x11 9:00PM - 10:00PM

Miranda
4x02 The Final Curtain [series finale; 2nd watch]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x09 7:00PM - 8:00PM

Miranda
4x01 I Do, But to Who? [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
2x04 Emilie

The Tick
Pilot
Was underwhelmed by this, unfortunately. Will write more in the next 100 Films TV round-up.
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Britain’s Favourite Dogs

Films

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
[#139 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x07 5:00PM - 6:00PM
9x08 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Miranda
3x06 A Brief Encounter [season finale; 2nd watch]
You know, I think Miranda is a good demonstration of why so many British sitcoms tap out after two series. That's not to say the third is bad -- there are some great bits, even whole episodes -- but at times it leans too heavily on the catchphrases, or just runs round in circles (this episode is particularly guilty of that).

Films

Deep Blue Sea (1999)
[#138 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x06 4:00PM - 5:00PM

Friday Night Dinner
4x05 The Funeral
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
3x05 Three Little Words [2nd watch]

this week on 100 Films

Lots of exciting TV covered in 100 Films in a Year's monthly round-up...




3 brand-new reviews were also published this week...


The Bank Job (2008)

Inspired by a real 1971 robbery, plus a host of other issues that were in the news around that time, The Bank Job is a rich stew of fact, supposition, and wild imagination. Apparently the filmmakers claimed it was very much based on a true story, including new information from an inside source, though eventually admitted some of it (including a major character) was wholly fiction.

Read more here.


Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

it’s visually sumptuous and impressively mounted, with well-imagined semi-plausible versions of the tale’s fantastical elements. However, despite the epic length (and four screenwriters), it never gets inside characters’ heads — they’re just going through motions dictated centuries ago.

Read more here.


Scotland, Pa. (2001)

Shakespeare gets transposed to 1970s Pennsylvania in this blackly comedic reimagining of Macbeth, which converts the Thane of Glamis into a diner chef and the Scottish throne into ownership of a new concept: drive-thru.

Read more here.


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


Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

The plot hinges on the romance of Claudio and Hero, and the machinations of Don John to disrupt it, but the central characters are Beatrice and Benedick and the witty verbal sparring that characterises their love-hate relationship [which] at its best, plays like a period screwball comedy.

Read more here.


Mystery Men (1999)

it’s an undervalued comedy. The ensemble cast are all perfect... the material they have to deliver is both witty and suitably silly, and it incorporates superhero tropes and references without relying on them. In the sub-subgenre of superhero comedies, all others are number two, or lower.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x05 3:00PM - 4:00PM

Miranda
3x04 Je Regret Nothing [2nd watch]

Films

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
[#137 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Thanks to sales and offers from the past few weeks all turning up at once, there are six new additions this week (one of them an upgrade from a previous Blu-ray), featuring a mass of films and TV episodes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,882 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 680 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,837 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 2,075 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,324 [up 16]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x04 2:00PM - 3:00PM

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x03 1:00PM - 2:00PM

Friday Night Dinner
4x04 The Pyjamas
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
3x03 The Dinner Party [3rd watch]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x01 11:00AM - 12:00PM
9x02 12:00PM - 1:00PM
With the new spin-off on the horizon, finally getting round to the last go-round of the original-flavour series: this "event series" (rather than a full season 9, at least officially) from 2014 (which is when I finally got round to watching season 8!) Despite the supposed distance, it's very much the same 24 it was towards the end of its regular run.

Miranda
3x02 What a Surprise [2nd watch]

Films

Enemy (2013)
[#136 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Friday Night Dinner
4x03 Congratulations
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
3x01 It Was Panning [3rd watch]

Films

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
[#135 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Cowboy Bebop
1x19 Wild Horses
1x20 Pierrot Le Fou

Miranda
2x06 The Perfect Christmas [season finale; 3rd watch]

this week on 100 Films

A whopping 7 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week! They were...


Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

it’s dark, and to do it justice the makers needed to make it R-rated [and] they’ve done just that. So here we have a very faithful adaptation of the graphic novel… but it’s a bit short, so there’s a 28-minute prologue stuck on the front. Designed to ameliorate some of the issues people have with the original book, it’s actually only made things worse, containing brand-new controversial elements all of its own. Oh dear.

Read more here.


Blackhat (2015)

The great Michael Mann, who once helmed genre-defining crime movies with expertly-directed sequences, here delivers a movie that looks like an amateur cheapie by a film student who’s watched too many Paul Greengrass movies without learning anything meaningful from them.

Read more here.


Brooklyn (2015)

Guiding us through this, the film’s heart in every respect, is Saoirse Ronan’s leading performance. I will watch Ronan in essentially anything at this point, both because she seems to choose good material and because, even when she doesn’t, she’s great in it. This is probably her first really mature performance, convincing as a somewhat shy young woman who makes her way out into the world, in the process realising all the confidence she should have in herself.

Read more here.


Chappie (2015)

Neill Blomkamp seems to be on M. Night Shyamalan’s career path: a massively-praised Oscar-nominated breakthrough genre movie, followed by a series of increasingly maligned follow-ups.

Read more here.


Lucy (2014)

After years producing movies in the Taken stable, Luc Besson directs one himself. Unfortunately it’s a poor effort — not a bad movie, exactly, but a deeply silly one.

Read more here.


Pan (2015)

this is an exciting and enjoyable fantasy adventure, best commended for its inventive, well-realised visuals and colourful design, which when it really clicks can be quite incredible. I suppose that might not be enough to overcome a familiar plot for some viewers, but it eases the way in this particular example.

Read more here.


The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

It’s easy to dismiss films like this as twee vehicles chasing the so-called ‘grey pound’, but, in this instance at least, that would do it a disservice. When a film is as amusing and emotional as this one, while also exploring an increasingly relevant aspect of life... then its audience should reach far wider than the age bracket of its principal characters.

Read more here.


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


Mission: Impossible II (2000)

M:i-2, as we used to call it, is pretty much everyone’s least-favourite Mission movie, a place only cemented by the two excellent instalments that have been released during this blog’s lifetime. To be honest, I’ve never really been sure why. It’s very much a John Woo movie, all overblown action and melodramatic stakes, and I’d be tempted to say that turns people off were it not for the love Face/Off receives. Personally I like his style

Read more here.


Moulin Rouge! (2001)

These days there are plenty of musicals appearing on the big screen, and they’re often contending for the top gongs come awards season. This wasn’t the case back in 2001 — Moulin Rouge, divisive as it is, changed all that. Baz Luhrmann’s injection of modern MTV style gave the genre a kick up the arse, which isn’t necessarily to the taste of classic musical fans but certainly brought the genre renewed mainstream attention.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
[#134 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,877 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 675 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,825 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 2,070 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,308 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Armageddon (1998)
[#133 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Preacher
1x09 Finish the Song
1x10 Call and Response [season finale]
[Watch Finish the Song and Call and Response (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Talking Preacher
1x02 Talking Preacher on Call and Response [season finale]
Considering how much there could be to say about adapting Preacher for TV (why they made all the changes they made, the thought processes involved in making those decisions, etc), this is incredibly lightweight. I mean, I guess it's kind of designed to be, but a proper in-depth discussion would be great. Maybe there'll be something on the Blu-ray...
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Films

Road Games (1981)
[#132 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Preacher
1x07 He Gone
1x08 El Valero
[Watch He Gone and El Valero (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Miranda
2x05 Just Act Normal [3rd watch]

Films

The Good Dinosaur (2015)
[#130 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Pride (2014)
[#131 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

It's been August for exactly a week today, which means my look back at July on 100 Films in a Year may seem old news but... well, maybe it is, but it's still time to post it here:




In other news, 4 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition (2016)

As someone who genuinely enjoyed Batman v Superman’s theatrical cut, it’s hard to say how much better the Ultimate Edition is for viewers who were less convinced. However, I do think it’s a question of “how much better” rather than “is it better”, because this is certainly a superior version of the film — the fact it’s now over three hours long notwithstanding. The new cut won’t ‘fix’ the movie for viewers who object to the inherent tone and style of the piece, but if you’re open to that, this cut does improves the storytelling and character arcs for a smoother experience overall.

Read more here.


Big Eyes (2014)

It’s certainly a bizarre tale, and given even more of an otherworldly edge in Burton’s hands. He’s reined in here compared to his more fantastical leaps, but even when he does the real world it’s not quite our world (see also: Ed Wood). Nonetheless, it makes what could have been a slight tale more interesting than it would’ve been as a straight-up clean-cut biopic

Read more here.


The Lobster (2015)

the kind of odd movie that critics adore (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and then, I always feel, spend some of their time looking down their noses at regular folk who don’t get it. In my experience, you have a 50/50 chance of such movies actually being any good. For me, The Lobster straddles that divide.

Read more here.


Sicario (2015)

Any viewers seeking simple action thrills will not be satisfied with the sequences offered here, but the way the scenes rely on suspense rather than bullet choreography makes for a supremely tense movie; one that can grip you like a vice and only occasionally let up, letting you catch your breath before it doubles down.

Read more here.


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


The Matrix (1999)

There are some movies where their significance almost outstrips the ability to judge them independently — Citizen Kane, for the most obvious example. I don’t know if The Matrix now appears that way to newcomers, but it could, because it’s hard to understate the impact it had on action/sci-fi movies (and other media) for the next decade or more.

Read more here.


Minority Report (2002)

it mixes exciting, propulsive plot and action sequences with thematic concerns that use science-fiction ideas to explore real-world issues, both tangible (the prevalence of state control and policing) and metaphysical (free will vs determinism). It makes for a rounded, thrilling movie.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Miranda
2x04 A New Low [2nd watch]

Films

Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
[#129 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Three additions this week more than double the number of new titles since the last running time update -- yep, it's that time of the month again.

Number of titles in collection: 1,874 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 672 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,822 [up 11]
Number of films in collection: 2,067 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,308 [up 2]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
353 days, 14 hours, and 29 minutes.
(Up 13 hours and 52 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Americans
4x12 A Roy Rogers in Franconia
4x13 Persona Non Grata [season finale]

Miranda
2x03 Let's Do It [2nd watch]

TV

The Americans
4x11 Dinner for Seven

Miranda
2x02 Before I Die [2nd watch]

TV

The Americans
4x10 Munchkins

Miranda
2x01 The New Me [2nd watch]

The Musketeers
2x03 The Good Traitor

TV

The Americans
4x09 The Day After

Miranda
1x06 Dog [season finale; 3rd watch]
DVD title: What a Dog.

The Musketeers
2x02 An Ordinary Man

Films

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition (2016)
[#128 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

I watched the theatrical version when it came out, of course, but this merits a new number because it's a whole 20% longer and the storytelling is much smoother.

TV

The Americans
4x08 The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears

Friday Night Dinner
4x02 The Carpet Cleaner
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
1x05 Excuse [4th watch]
DVD title: Let It Out.

Preacher
1x06 Sundowner
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

The Americans
4x07 Travel Agents

Miranda
1x04 Holiday [5th watch]
Remarkable difference in number of views compared to the last one, eh. On the DVD this is called Mum's the Word, which is probably the worst change of the lot.

The Musketeers
2x01 Keep Your Friends Close
Thought it was about time we got on with this (it's only been two years since we last watched it, after all). I'd forgotten how catchy the title music was.

Films

The Sting (1973)
[#127 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #7

this week on 100 Films

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


Barry Lyndon (1975)

This is not a simple, narrow-focused, cause-and-effect kind of story, but a fictional biopic, that ranges across Europe and across time to… what effect? It’s a Kubrick film, so the ultimate goal of the tale, the message(s) it may be trying to impart, are debatable. You could see a story of the pitfalls of hubris. You could see an exploration of how a certain class lived in this time period. You could just see a man who led an adventurous life.

Read more here.


The Imitation Game (2014)

This Turing is surely somewhere on the autistic spectrum, which at best has speculative historical basis, but Cumberbatch embodies well that social awkwardness with hidden inner genius. It would've been easy for him to slip into familiar traits from that other antisocial clever-clogs he plays, Sherlock Holmes, but at worst there are only vague and infrequent nudges to our memory of that performance. Rather, I'd argue he fully subsumes himself into this role.

Read more here.


Noah (2014)

The director of The Fountain tackles the Biblical tale of the flood as if it were also a science-fiction/fantasy adventure — familiarity with the story leads us to assume it’s set in the past, but watch without baggage and the setting looks like a post-apocalyptic future.

Read more here.


Zootropolis (2016), aka Zootopia

There’s a quote on the cover of Zootropolis’ US Blu-ray that calls it the best Disney movie in 20 years. As much as I liked Bolt and Tangled, and Mulan and The Princess and the Frog, and, yes, even Frozen, I think Zootropolis is at the very least a contender for that crown.

Read more here.


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


Mary Poppins (1964)

When I was little, the whole part of the film around the bank, Feed the Birds, etc, was The Boring Bit between the fun and the return of the fun. Now, I still think most of Feed the Birds is a little insipid, but the instrumental reprise as Mr Banks walks slowly back to the bank, his world and everything he knows torn asunder, his humiliation imminent… It’s heartbreaking, and the music is most of the reason why.

Read more here.


The Mask of Zorro (1998)

The key to most good swashbucklers is the sword-fighting, and The Mask of Zorro is up to scratch. Banderas was trained by Bob Anderson, a legendary sword master — he also worked on Highlander, The Princess Bride, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and many more. Not least, he coached Errol Flynn of all people — and Anderson reckoned Antonio Banderas was the best swordsman he’d worked with since Flynn.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Americans
4x06 The Rat
If I didn't know better, I'd swear The Americans was heading towards its final ending this season. Thank goodness it isn't, because it's awesome.

Miranda
1x03 Job [2nd watch]
I'm certain this can't be just the second time I've seen this episode, but that's what this blog's records tell me. Maybe I stumbled across it halfway through one time and so didn't note it... Its DVD title is Just the Job, by-the-by.

Person of Interest
5x13 return 0 [series finale]
So, that's that. I guess they really didn't think they were coming back... although it was still open to the possibility. Anyway, not a bad ending, all things considered.

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