Fiction

The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher
Book 8 1-15

The section with the gays in the ‘80s do go on a bit. You get the feeling Hensher was rather enjoying writing about a world he was in, possibly a world he was nostalgic for, even with its flaws, and so he got carried away. It’s not even unlikeable, it’s just that much of it seems like a humongous aside.

Fiction

The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher
Book 6
Book 7

Fiction

The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher
Book 4 6-13
Book 5

Fiction

The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher
Book 2 5-11
Book 3
Book 4 1-5

Fiction

The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher
Book 1
Book 2 1-4

this week on 100 Films

It was nearly a whole week ago now, I know, but a new month did begin this week, and so 100 Films in a Year looked back at the last one — lightweight though it was...





And 5 new reviews were published this past week, too...


The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)

Where the first three Dragon Tattoo stories were all fundamentally crime thrillers, this opens up the storytelling world into much more fanciful realms. It’s a bit like they’ve tried to make Lisbeth Salander a kind of freelance female James Bond, using her l33t h4x0r skillz to stop evil cyber-terrorists. It also helps that she’s pretty handy on a motorbike and with a gun. How? Just because. Unfortunately, an element of ‘just because’ powers too much of the film, with fundamental flaws in even its basic setup

Read more here.


The Karate Kid (2010)

From reading other viewer reviews, I get the impression a lot of people dislike it just because they’re nostalgic for the original or because they’re annoyed by Jaden Smith’s parents trying to make him a movie star. But if you remove those external contexts, the film offers a decent storyline and some strong performances — it’s Jackie Chan, c’mon!

Read more here.


Shaft (2019)

Where Jackson’s Shaft was once a cool dude kicking ass and taking names (or whatever it is cool dude PIs did in the early ’00s), here they’ve turned him into a bit of a throwback dinosaur, spouting politically incorrect opinions with every other line of dialogue... At times it’s like someone adapted one of those facile “millennials are to blame for everything” articles into a movie; or at least copy-pasted it into Shaft Sr’s dialogue.

Read more here.


Witness (1985)

the film could descend into a culture-clash comedy — the big city cop chafing against historical rural life — but, while that clash is certainly in play, it’s not milked for laughs. Rather, the film is about Book experiencing a way of life so different to his own, and it changing his perspective on the world. Indeed, with the focus it gives to Amish ways, the film almost seems like it wanted to be a documentary about that community as much as a story.

Read more here.


Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970)

Sex has been a factor of Zatoichi films before, but I’m not sure any other is as consumed by it as this one. It starts with a mistress auction and teases of nudity; the mystery ronin’s quest is to kill everyone who slept with his wife, which he thinks includes Ichi; the major set-piece is a fight in a bathhouse between Ichi and an army of assassins, all of whom are stark naked; Ichi spends an evening with five prostitutes; the villains decide the best way to kill our hero is with a honey trap (who winds up genuinely falling for Ichi, of course); there’s the roadhouse owners we randomly come across, who are casually perverse… and that’s all before the one-hour mark. Though if you’re expecting to see flashes of flesh, the nude scenes feature almost Austin Powers-level endeavours to make sure nothing explicit is shown.

Read more here.


More next Sunday, perhaps, depending on my holiday.

Holiday

As you read this, I am leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again... except I do know: it's Saturday 20th.

Until then, updates may be sporadic and/or delayed, if there's even anything to write about.

TV

Beecham House
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

The Killer (1989)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
Blindspot 2019 #6. Later than expected for both #100 and Blindspot #6, but here we are!

TV

Summer of Rockets
Part 6 (of 6)
[Watch the entire series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Glastonbury 2019
Kylie Minogue
Well, the Sunday afternoon BBC One show was billed as Kyle, but it began with Jeff Goldblum and ended with a fair old chunk of Miley Cyrus, so them too.
[Watch these sets, and many more (again), on iPlayer.]

Films

Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Glastonbury 2019
Sigrid
The Cure
Plus bits & bobs of all sorts of other stuff, mainly based on what the Beeb decided to pad their main-channel shows with, but I did dip into Kylie’s set a few times.
[Watch these sets, and many more (again), on iPlayer.]

Films

Shaft (2019)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

Time for a TV review this week at 100 Films in a Year...





Plus, 3 new films reviews...


Shaft (2000)

This is almost 20 years old now (obviously), and yet all the white privilege bullshit that drives its story makes it feel like it could’ve been made yesterday. (Why are you so enable to evolve societally, America?) Other than that apparently-eternal timeliness, it’s a pretty standard kinda thriller, with most of its charm coming via an array of likeable performances.

Read more here.


Stalker (1979)

Described by the blurb on its Criterion Collection Blu-ray release as “a metaphysical journey through an enigmatic post-apocalyptic landscape”, Stalker is… probably that… I guess…?

Read more here.


True Romance (1993)

Directed by Tony Scott from Quentin Tarantino’s first screenplay, this is pretty much everything you’d expect from an early Quentin Tarantino screenplay directed by Tony Scott... I’m a fan of both men’s work, so of course it was up my alley. I don’t think it’s the best from either of them, but mixing together the distinct styles of two such trend-setting iconoclasts does produce a unique blend.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Glastonbury 2019
The Killers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

As mentioned last week, there are a few more additions this week (3 releases with 9 feature films across 12 discs, plus 1 BD-to-UHD upgrade that added 1 disc), just in time for the monthly running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 2,238 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,132 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,106 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 30 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,814 [up 13]
Number of films: 2,569 [up 9]
Number of TV episodes: 8,609 [no change]
Number of short films: 671 [up 2]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
426 days, 7 hours, and 59 minutes.
(Up 4 days, 17 hours, and 7 minutes from last month.)

That's my biggest monthly increase this year by far... although there were a couple even bigger in 2018, never mind in previous years, so it's not one for the all-time record books.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Glastonbury 2019
Stormzy
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Summer of Rockets
Part 5 (of 6)
[Watch the entire series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Summer of Rockets
Part 3 (of 6)
Part 4 (of 6)
[Watch the entire series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Summer of Rockets
Part 1 (of 6)
Part 2 (of 6)
[Watch the entire series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Beecham House
1x01 Episode 1
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch episodes one and two (again) on the ITV Hub.]

TV

The Truth About...
Getting Fit
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Happytime Murders (2018)

there are some legitimately funny bits along the way, often found among the riffs on the puppet thing (for example: one of the victims is drowned, and before bagging the body they ring him out). Unfortunately it isn’t funny as often as it should be, too often relying on worn or lacklustre humour. I mean, it tries to run with the old playground favourite “idiots say what?” as a running gag. It also leans on puppets being lewd and crude as the extent of the gag, which simply isn’t that funny in itself, partly because it isn’t as original as the film seems to think it is.

Read more here.


Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

Before Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle there was Zathura, which is sort of a sequel to Jumanji… but more of a spin-off, I guess… well, really it’s a completely unrelated movie with the exact same plot... But this game is about space, so it’s completely different, obviously... I did enjoy it — in some respects, more than I enjoyed Jumanji when I rewatched that recently — but it also doesn’t feel as polished and complete as its predecessor

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Opera

La damnation de Faust
at Glyndebourne

Collection Count

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

Only one new addition this week, but there are already several box sets in the post and more releases due to dispatch imminently, so there should be a bump next week just in time for the monthly running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 2,235 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,132 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,103 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 29 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,801 [up 1]
Number of films: 2,560 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,609 [no change]
Number of short films: 669 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
25x12 (21/6/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

CGI art with a heart: How Toy Story started a revolution in cinema
by Robbie Collin (from the Telegraph)

A good reminder of the impact and importance of the original Toy Story.

TV

Have I Got News For You
57x09 (31/5/2019 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Killing Eve
2x06 I Hope You Like Missionary!
2x07 Wide Awake
2x08 You're Mine [season finale]
[Watch every episode (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Eve
2x04 Desperate Times
2x05 Smell Ya Later
[Watch every episode (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Eve
2x02 Nice and Neat
2x03 The Hungry Caterpillar
[Watch every episode (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Historical Roasts
1x02 Freddie Mercury
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Untouchable (2011)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
aka Intouchables, aka The Intouchables
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2019 #6

this week on 100 Films

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


Murder Mystery (2019)

The actual mystery plot is no great shakes — there are two glaring clues early on that give most of the game away, especially if you’re well-versed in watching murder mysteries and spotting such hints. That’s somewhat beside the point, though, because there’s enough fun to be had along the way to make up for it, and there are still some reasonable red herrings.

Read more here.


Finding Dory (2016)

Nemo didn't desperately need a sequel, so I was worried this would seem like little more than an excuse to return to these characters. In fact, the plot actually works very well. Far from being a desperate stretch, it actually feels like a worthwhile development and follow-up from the first movie. Alongside the worth of the narrative, it's also just a lot of fun to watch

Read more here.


Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)

as the title indicates, the main guest star for this film is the lead character from Akira Kurosawa’s films Yojimbo and Sanjuro, played by the great Toshiro Mifune. I don’t know if that was a deliberate move to mark the series’ 20th movie or if they weren’t even conscious of the milestone, but it certainly feels like it was meant to be a special occasion. “Meant to be” being the operative part of that sentence, because the result is sadly one of the least enjoyable entries in the series so far.

Read more here.


Review Roundup

Featuring:
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Allied (2016)
American Made (2017)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Historical Roasts
1x01 Abraham Lincoln
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Collection Count

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

This week's big addition is a complete series box set of The Twilight Zone, in this beautiful (overpriced, but beautiful) 60th Anniversary Limited Edition. That'll make a hefty contribution to the next running time update (which is a couple of weeks away).

I also acquired another TV series set this week, so the total number of episodes in my collection has risen considerably (though still by less than 2.2% overall!)

Number of titles in collection: 2,234 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,132 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,102 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 29 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,800 [up 30]
Number of films: 2,558 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,609 [up 182]
Number of short films: 669 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Murder Mystery (2019)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Deadwood (2019)
[#95 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Have I Got News For You
57x06 (9/6/2019 edition)
Well, I say "9/6 edition" -- this is the delayed broadcast of the edition they dropped due to the European elections.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Eve
2x01 Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

A bunch of new acquisitions this week, between sales and new releases.

Number of titles in collection: 2,231 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,132 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,099 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 28 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,770 [up 10]
Number of films: 2,557 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 8,427 [no change]
Number of short films: 669 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
25x10 (7/6/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Killing Eve
1x05 I Have a Thing About Bathrooms
1x06 Take Me to the Hole!
1x07 I Don't Want to Be Free
1x08 God, I'm Tired [season finale]
[Watch all episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Eve
1x02 I'll Deal with Him Later
1x03 Don't I Know You?
1x04 Sorry Baby
[Watch all episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Eve
1x01 Nice Face
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

I'm currently in the middle of moving house, which is why there have been fewer than usual updates here, and it's the same over at 100 Films in a Year. The only thing this week was my monthly look-back at May, which doesn't even have a proper header image yet...


The Surprisingly Thorough Considering How Quickly I Dashed It Off Monthly Review of May 2019

I’m going to have to make this quick, because I’m actually right in the middle of a house move. The palaver around that has led to regular tail-offs in posting over the past few months, and during May in particular, though it hasn’t had too much affect on my actual viewing, as you’ll soon see (June may be another story, but that’s next month’s discussion). That’s also why there isn’t my usual header image for this post — they take a disproportionality long time to put together (whereas the post itself is still fairly lengthy because, as the famous adage alludes, it’s easier to write something long than something short).

Read more here.


More next Sunday (hopefully).

Collection Count

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

This week, it's the running time update. This should've been published last week, but I was away from home without the info with me; and there were no new additions last week, so there was nothing else to report anyway.

Number of titles in collection: 2,227 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,132 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,095 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 26 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,759 [up 1]
Number of films: 2,551 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,427 [no change]
Number of short films: 667 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
421 days, 14 hours, and 52 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 3 hours, and 54 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Grantchester
4x04 Episode 4

Films

Devil's Cargo (1948)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Hairspray (1988)
[#94 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Hairspray (2007)
[4th watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #20

TV

Grantchester
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Who Dares Wins
11x08 (30/6/18 edition)

Films

The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
[#91 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

The Saint (2017)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Line of Duty
5x05 Episode 5
5x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch both episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Music

Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra: Live at the Royal Albert Hall
I've owned this on Blu-ray since 2011, unwatched... and finally watched it on Amazon Prime, because that's what I had accessible at the time. Big eyeroll at myself. Anyway, it was fantastic, so I'll watch it again on Blu-ray someday.

this week on 100 Films

Just one new post this week at 100 Films in a Year, and it wasn't even about films. It's another premature TV review, primarily to cover the series finale of Game of Thrones, but with a few other things too...





More next Sunday.

TV

Grantchester
4x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Line of Duty
5x03 Episode 3
5x04 Episode 4
[Watch both episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Who Dares Wins
11x07 (26/5/18 edition)

TV

Line of Duty
5x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Who Dares Wins
12x01 (4/5/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Line of Duty
5x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Thronecast
8x06 The End is Coming
8x07 The Iron Throne [series finale]

The Twilight Zone
1x30 A Stop at Willoughby
3x26 Little Girl Lost

Articles

Bullock’s Last Stand: Timothy Olyphant on Deadwood: The Movie and David Milch
by Alan Sepinwall (from Rolling Stone)
If you're a fan of Deadwood, this is a must-read. Candid, honest, insightful, affectionate.

TV

The Twilight Zone
3x03 The Shelter

Films

The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Game of Thrones
8x06 The Iron Throne [series finale]

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Tel Aviv 2019
Watched this 24 hours late, because I forgot to set it to record and iPlayer wasn't letting me "watch from start". Didn't think it was a great year, sadly -- the song quality wasn't as good as normal (yeah, I know, it's Eurovision, but even still). Some of the interval stuff was good, at least.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Cosmopolis (2012)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

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


BlacKkKlansman (2018)

“A black man infiltrates the KKK.” Sounds like the setup for a joke, doesn’t it? Or possibly some outrageous blaxploitation movie. But it’s something that actually happened... Although the premise sounds comical, the fact it’s a true story concerning an organisation as inhumane and pernicious as the KKK made me worried the film would be serious, grim, and heavy-going. In actuality, it’s lively, funny, and fast-paced.

Read more here.


Bumblebee (2018)

The “a girl and her robot” angle is what the film was sold on, combined with the ’80s setting to suggest a throwback to movies of that era. I quite like it as a concept — it’s certainly a change of pace from the increasingly overblown city-destroying world-saving antics of the earlier films — but it’s the execution that disappointed me. It takes too long to get it up and running, spinning its wheels on Charlie getting Bumblebee started, on comedic interludes with her family, on establishing a wannabe-love-interest... There’s altogether too much time spent on the military and Decepticons hunting ‘Bee, too, especially considering it amounts to little that’s meaningful.

Read more here.


The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

perhaps making the plot 50% a straightforward quest-against-time narrative and 50% impenetrable philosophy lectures wasn’t the best idea, but the action sequences are still absolutely stunning. And, actually, if you bother to engage with the film on its own level, there’s some interesting stuff here.

Read more here.


The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

I used to think Revolutions was better than Reloaded, mainly because at least it brought everything to an end and didn’t have that confusing stuff with the Architect. But reflecting on the sequels now, I have to agree with the consensus that this isn’t as good — there’s nothing that matches the highway sequence for entertainment value, and, actually, the lack of overt philosophising is almost to its detriment.

Read more here.


Upgrade (2018)

On one level, it's a straightforward sci-fi action-thriller, following the hero's investigation as it leads him to some shady figures who have near-future tech of their own, and then they fight. While that may seem simplistic, it’s full of neat little touches, particular in the action’s choreography — it almost begs a rewatch just to see everything that’s going on in the frantic fight scenes.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Ghosts
1x04 Free Pass
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Just one new addition this week. It's looking like it'll be a quiet couple of weeks ahead, too... but then you never know when some sale or bargain might catch my eye...

Number of titles in collection: 2,226 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,095 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 26 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,758 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,550 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,427 [no change]
Number of short films: 667 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #19

Widows (2018)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Articles

I don't often share articles anymore, but today I happened to read 3 particularly good ones, all tied to Game of Thrones and its fans...

The anger of Game of Thrones fans is part of the game
by Mary McNamara (from the Los Angeles Times)
One of the best pieces I've seen defending the series' recent episodes.

'Fan' Is Becoming A Four-Letter Word
by Matt Singer (from Screen Crush)
On how the notion of being a fan of something has changed in recent times -- it used to mean you like something, now it almost means you hate it.

And finally, a bit of humour...

Game Of Thrones Showrunners Disappointed With How Quality Of Fans Has Dropped Off Over Past Couple Seasons
(from the Onion)

Films

Dracula (1931)
[#87 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
Blindspot 2019 #5

TV

Thronecast
8x05 The Bells

The Twilight Zone
4x16 On Thursday We Leave For Home

Films

BlacKkKlansman (2018)
[#86 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Films

Cleopatra (1970)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Game of Thrones
8x05 The Bells

Films

Ghostbusters II (1989)
[3rd or so watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #18, after rewatching the first one in January. One of my earliest memories is watching this on a rented VHS when I must've been 4 or 5 years old, and being scared shitless by the painting that comes to life. I thought this might be the first time I've watched it since then, but I did remember tonnes of it, so either I'm wrong (probably) or it had a big impact on tiny little me (well, clearly it did at least a bit!) Anyway, it's not a patch on the classic first one, but it has its moments and is mostly good fun.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Films

Bumblebee (2018)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

I turned my monthly TV review into a fortnightly one on 100 Films in a Year this week, to cover the latest episodes of Game of Thrones (and a few other things)...





There were 5 new film reviews, too...


Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)

Making a sequel to what’s regarded as one of, if not the, greatest action (and Christmas) movies of all time is basically a hiding to nothing — however good your work, if it’s not a stone-cold classic too then it’s a relative failure. Nonetheless, there are those who’d argue this second sequel to Die Hard is practically as good as the first one, and they’d practically be right.

Read more here.


The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

With a daft-ish title and promotional campaign that definitely amped up the comedy, you might be surprised to learn that this started life as a drama. Yep, apparently so. Then, a few weeks prior to filming, the script underwent a “frantic” two-week rewrite to be remixed into a comedy. The end result is kind of a mixed bag, which, all things considered, makes sense.

Read more here.


Holmes & Watson (2018)

It’s hard to believe this was a professionally-produced, studio-released movie given the lack of technical skills on display, including atrocious dubbing, sloppy editing, and even shots that are out of focus. It’s so poor that Netflix, who seem to purchase any scraps the major studios decide to throw their way, turned down the chance to buy it (so they do have some standards!)

Read more here.


Knocked Up (2007)

being too long was the film's biggest problem, in my opinion — chop out 20, even 30 minutes (heck, do it properly and get rid of more, even) and I reckon it’d be better. It’s also a bit needlessly crude, I guess, but I’ve seen far worse and less funny examples of that. It makes up for it by how well-handled the more dramatic parts are. Overall, I liked it a lot more than I expected I would.

Read more here.


The Meg 3D (2018)

it’s a movie about a giant prehistoric shark being unleashed and attacking humans, and Jason Statham has to fight it. That’s all. It delivered on that in spades for me and I had a great time with it. And I guess tied to that pulpiness, if you have the option and enjoy the effect, I thought it looked fantastic in 3D.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
American re-edit of the original Godzilla (see 2019 #71). Plus the audio commentary on Criterion's Blu-ray release.

Collection Count

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

After a flurry of UHD additions in February and a gradual increase in March, it's been all quiet on that front throughout April. Now, here are two more: a new release (Bumblebee, out Monday) and a bargain (the X-Men trilogy, which I picked up for just £15!)

Number of titles in collection: 2,225 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,094 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 26 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,756 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,549 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 8,427 [no change]
Number of short films: 667 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Zombieland (2009)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

The Twilight Zone
1x16 The Hitch-Hiker
2x29 The Obsolete Man [season finale]

Films

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Ghosts
1x03 Happy Death Day
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Thronecast
8x04 The Last of the Starks

The Twilight Zone
5x06 Living Doll

Films

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

The Twilight Zone
2x06 Eye of the Beholder
2x07 Nick of Time

Films

Jaws 2 (1978)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

The Meg 3D (2018)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Game of Thrones
8x04 The Last of the Starks

Films

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #17. It wasn't deliberate, but it is quite neat that I've had another month-long pause between these.

this week on 100 Films

A new month began this week, so it was time to look back on the previous one at 100 Films in a Year...





Also this week, there were 2 new reviews...


Ice Age (2002)

I first and last saw it sometime shortly after its original release, but all I could remember was enjoying it well enough. Well, all that is probably because it’s not as good as the best of Pixar or DreamWorks. It’s amenable enough, but it lacks the sharpness of concept, dialogue, character, and story that makes those movies truly memorable. I can see why I remember liking it but couldn’t recall much else.

Read more here.


Snowpiercer (2013)

it’s a pretty out-there, not-at-all-plausible premise, but just go with it and the film has rewards aplenty. If you want to get intellectual, the train’s societal structure and how it’s maintained offers an allegorical commentary about class divides and the interdependence of the oppressed and the oppressors. But if that sounds a bit heavy, the film wraps it up in a pulse-pounding action thriller, dressed up further with mysterious backstories ripe for exposing and an array of memorable performances

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Collection Count

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

As mentioned last week, a big pile of new additions here: 10 titles in total, with one being a 2D-to-3D upgrade. Across them there are 15 news discs and 10 new films. Also 10 shorts, landing that total on 667 -- ironically, it was a horror movie that tipped it over from 666.

Number of titles in collection: 2,223 [up 9]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,092 [up 9]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 24 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,747 [up 15]
Number of films: 2,545 [up 10]
Number of TV episodes: 8,427 [no change]
Number of short films: 667 [up 10]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Thronecast
8x03 The Long Night

Films

The Secret Life of Pets 3D (2016)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Films

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2019 #5

Godzilla (1954)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Columbo
1x01 Murder by the Book
No, not a new series I'm embarking on watching -- it just so happens this 'first' episode (it's actually the second or third, depending how you look at it) was an early work by a young director called Steven Spielberg.

TV

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x08 Disaster Movies [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Help (2011)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Game of Thrones
8x03 The Long Night
+ all the making-of videos on HBO's website, in particular the 40-minute The Game Revealed featurette which covers the whole episode.

Articles

Arya’s big moment sets up the Game of Thrones ending we deserve
by Dan Selcke (from Winter is Coming)

There's been a looooot of commentary about this week's Game of Thrones (there always is, of course, but this was a particularly big one), and some of the more ridiculous points are refuted in this article, which I more or less agree with entirely.

Films

Mortal Engines 3D (2018)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

Time for another TV roundup this week on 100 Films in a Year...





Plus 2 new film reviews were published, including a particularly big one...


Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Within its three hours and one minute running time, Endgame encompasses and represents almost all of the tendencies of other MCU movies — for both good and ill. This is not a perfect movie, and this will not be a 5-star review, which I’m saying upfront because massive spoilers may follow. There’s not much to discuss about the film if we limit ourselves to what’s been revealed in trailers and promos, because they’ve purposely kept almost the entire movie a secret, so I’m just going to talk freely.

Read more here.


Baywatch: Extended Cut (2017)

I actually thought it was fun. Big, dumb, daft fun. And that’s what I think it’s meant to be, so, really, what’s the problem? It’s not clever and it’s not subtle, but why would you expect it to be? Okay, fair enough: maybe you flat-out don’t enjoy this kind of movie. That’s fine. But for anyone who chooses to watch it with realistic expectations about the kind of film it will be, it delivers what you’d expect in reasonably good fashion.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

A couple of new additions this week. I was expecting it to be a load, but one large package didn't turn up in time, so next week's will be pretty humungous instead.

Number of titles in collection: 2,214 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,083 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 24 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,732 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,535 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,427 [no change]
Number of short films: 657 [up 1]

It's also time for the monthly running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
420 days, 10 hours, and 58 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 6 hours, and 35 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.