TV

Have I Got News for You
64x00 Have I Got News for Boris: A Special Tribute
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

House of the Dragon
1x02 The Rogue Prince

Mystery Science Theater 3000
13x07 Gamera vs Jiger
They’ve mentioned repeatedly on the post-episode-premiere Q&As how hard the writers found this one, due to having to riff an entire movie with no leeway to cut for time or repetition (which they do on all the other films they cover), and I feel like that comes across in the final episode. There are some great riffs (the songs; the running gag about the little girl’s bloodthirstiness), but also longer-than-usual periods of silence and some stuff that was a bit too esoteric. By no means a disaster, but not among the best the season has had to offer.

Films

He Walked by Night (1948)
[#57 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

You may have noticed that a new month began halfway through this week, and so there was the usual pair of lookbacks on 100Films.co.uk.

First, at the month as a whole...





Then, at all the films I didn't watch...





No new reviews, though. Hopefully there'll be some more of those next Sunday.

TV

The 1% Club
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Sam Morril: Same Time Tomorrow
Never heard of this guy before I saw a bit from this show retweeted. Immediately watched the whole thing. Laughed a lot. Well done, algorithm.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Persuasion (2022)
[#56 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Collection Count

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

A few new additions this week, all new releases. Nothing really unusual or remarkale to report, to be honest.

Number of titles in collection: 2,910 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,045 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,865 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 198 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 7,223 [up 5]
Number of films: 3,486 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 277 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 9,362 [up 12]
Number of short films: 1,002 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Clerks (1994)
[#55 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Music

Will of the People
by Muse

Fuck me, I loved this. Muse's best album for years, and perhaps their most consistent ever — I can't remember the last time, if ever, I actually really liked every single track on a Muse album. I've already listened to it multiple times, which is more than I can say for some of the middling tracks on their last few albums (remembering that time I realised I'd only listened to The 2nd Law in full once in the six years since its release).

Films

Mirror (1975)
[#54 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
Blindspot 2022 #7

Films

Mona Lisa (1986)
[#53 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2022 #7

TV

House of the Dragon
1x01 The Heirs of the Dragon
Alright, here we go: Game of Thrones 2.0 — heck, it's even got the same theme music! Well, you can't improve on perfection so why even try, I guess.

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x23 Episode 23
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
4x03 In the Line of Fire

Films

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour (1931)
aka The Sleeping Cardinal

TV

How I Met Your Father
1x02 FOMO

Life After Life
Part 4 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x21 Episode 21
4x22 Episode 22
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
4x02 Five Minutes

Films

Carousel (1956)

TV

Life After Life
Part 3 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x19 Episode 19
4x20 Episode 20
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Love & Friendship (2016)
[2nd watch]

Repeat Performance (1947)
[#52 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Collection Count

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

Three new titles this week, including an extensive box set... but two are DVD-to-BD upgrades where the BD closely mirrors the DVD (the aforementioned box set is Masters of Cinema's collection of Buster Keaton shorts, both versions of which contain 32 short films across 4 discs), and the third is a BD-to-4K upgrade, so you won't see much change in the stats below.

Number of titles in collection: 2,907 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,045 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,862 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 198 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 7,218 [up 2]
Number of films: 3,483 [no change]
Number of additional cuts: 275 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,350 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,002 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

How I Met Your Father
1x01 Pilot

Life After Life
Part 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x18 Episode 18
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Winter Guest (1997)

TV

Grantchester
6x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Life After Life
Part 1 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x17 Episode 17
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
4x01 Life and Death

TV

Agatha Raisin
4x04 There Goes the Bride [season finale]

Grantchester
6x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x16 Episode 16
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Jackbox Showdown... Crow vs Servo
13x03 Beyond Atlantis Post-Premiere Q&A

Wasn't sure I was awake enough for a film late last night, but instead wound up watching all two hours of the replay of the Jackbox Showdown livestream special. Oh well. It's quite fun, but would've been more fun to join in live (I wasn't able to when it happened, unfortunately).

And talking of watching replays, this evening I finished off those premiere Q&As... except for the ones on episodes I haven't watched. It's nice there are more to look forward to.

[Watch the Jackbox Showdown event (for free) on the Gizmoplex.]

Collection Count

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

Five new titles this week, including a DVD-to-BD upgrade that barely leaves a mark in the below (just -1 DVD and +1 BD), and what would have been a DVD-to-4K upgrade, but for some reason they couldn't get the rights to a cast & crew commentary, so I'm keeping the DVD with it on (at least for the time being).

Also this week, the number of shorts in my collection passes the 1,000 mark. I dread to think how few of them I've actually watched. The majority are spread around film releases as special features — the odd one or two here or there; early works by the director of the feature title, or archive shorts with a connection to the feature (the BFI are particularly fond of doing that, but there's also a lot on Indicator's noir box sets, plus Warner's releases of classic movies) — which makes it hard for me to ever really dig into them.

Number of titles in collection: 2,907 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,047 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,860 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 197 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 7,216 [up 7]
Number of films: 3,483 [up 4]
Number of additional cuts: 275 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,350 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,002 [up 3]

Also also, it's time for the monthly running time update. The ever-flowing drip-drip-drip of new titles into my collection has this month produced the following increase...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
515 days, 16 hours, and 49 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 4 hours, and 39 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

this week on 100Films.co.uk

5 new reviews were published to 100Films.co.uk this week...


Paris, Texas (1984)

to keep calling it “Lynchian” is to do Wenders’ work a disservice, because it’s not a copy — indeed, in 1984 Lynch was releasing his Dune, and had yet to embark on most of the films that define “Lynchian” for us. An alternate comparison might be the Coen brothers: it’s of a piece with their heightened worlds and semi-outlandish stories. But this was released the same year as their debut, Blood Simple, so, again, it’s not exactly a fair comparison. Or if it is fair, it’s backwards: if anyone influenced anyone, it would be Lynch and the Coens drawing on Wenders.

Read more here.


2022 | Weeks 24–25

Featuring...
- The Ghost Writer (2010)
- Escape in the Fog (1945)
- Pretty in Pink (1986)
- House of Gucci (2021)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Mystery Science Theater 3000
13x06 Demon Squad
13x02 Robot Wars Post-Premiere Q&A

Keeping up my pace of only watching one new MST3K per month, apparently (I thought it had been longer than that and I was even more behind than I am, to be honest. Still need to catch up, though: episode 8 premiered last night). This one seems to have gone down well with fans, although I suspect that has more to do with the return of Joel as host than the episode itself. I didn't think it was bad — a few riffs even had me laughing out loud — but not that inspired overall.

Afterwards, I finally got round to going back to episode 2 and watching the Q&A from its (second) premiere (as I did with episode 1). I quite enjoy these chaotic live Zoom-chat-esque post-shows, so I'll keep watching them — I've got episode 3's to catch up on, plus all the future premieres, of course.

Games

Deponia

Just under another hour's play, bringing me to exactly 7½ hours, and the game's completed. Despite what I was saying yesterday, it did feel like the game was nearing the end, and a look at the table of contents for the walkthrough I’d been using (or “trying not to use”, as much as I could resist) suggested I was right. It doesn't really surprise me — as I said, it felt like the story was nearing the end, and the playtime seems about standard for point-and-click games.

But it means there are a bunch of achievements that I've somehow missed. I thought I’d played the game pretty thoroughly (I’m the kind of person that talks to every character, chooses every dialogue option, looks at everything I can look at, etc), so I’m not sure what I’ve overlooked. Adventure games aren't (usually) the kind of thing you can go back over again and again to score faster times or collect more stars or kill more bad guys or whatever other stuff other types of games have as achievements, so I can't work out what I've missed. I wonder if they're listed online anywhere else...

Anyway, I enjoyed the game overall, even in spite of a few buggy bits and some iffy translations (I think it was made in Germany, and the English dialogue is almost there but has a few bits that suggest it wasn't written (nor polished) by someone whose first language is English). Which is good, because it doesn't really feel like the story is actually over — and there are three more games in the series.

Edit: I found the achievements listed elsewhere. I'd forgotten there are things like minigames that maybe I skipped, but if you don't skip them you get an achievement; and other things you can get an achievement for getting it right first time, whereas I took several goes. And the final achievement involves playing the whole game again but with all dialogue replaced with the word "droggeljug". Yeah, I'm not doing that.

Games

Deponia

An hour and 25 minutes today, slightly contradicting what I said yesterday. Well, part of that was me trying desperately not to use the walkthrough when I got stuck... but I eventually gave in. Most of the time, when I do, the solution is so obscure that I'm not surprised I didn't work it out, so I don't feel too bad. (And sometimes, I think I should've tried harder first.)

Also, I now have 58% of achievements. If they're evenly spaced (which they might not be) then I've still got quite a bit of the game to go. That said, these can't all be linear achievements, because these most recent ones are "uncommon", with only 14–17% of players achieving them; but there are some I haven't got with commonness ratings up to 34%. They're all 'secret' so I have no idea what they entail, but presumably it's not just reaching unmissable points in the game (which, in a narrative point-and-click game like Deponia, I assumed they would be). Hmm...

Games

Deponia
Another hour-and-a-quarter played. Seems to be fairly consistent that around that time is how long I like to play these things for...

Games

Deponia
Another 1 hour 11 minutes played. (1:11? That wasn't deliberate.)

Games

Deponia

With TV I list episodes; with books I list chapters; films I watch the whole sitting in one go, so that's fine... but what about games? I know I've just been posting the title up til now, but I'm not playing the whole thing in one go (at least, not so far), so I feel like I need more demarkation. That's partly why I started keeping track of my playtime in the earlier Monkey Islands. And, actually, playing these newer games through GOG, it keeps track of my playtime automatically (I believe Steam does the same thing), so maybe I should start listing that?

Well, I'm up to 2 hours 43 minutes so far. No idea how far through that gets me, other than that I've got 21% of the game's achievements — if that's an indicator of progress, the rest should take a little over 10 hours. We'll see... As for the game itself, I admit that today I finally resorted to a walkthrough for a couple of puzzles. Life's too short to spend ages wandering around the same locations with the same items in my inventory waiting for a brainwave (that's what we used to do Back In The Day, of course, but nowadays... nah. Especially when I've got dozens of other games lined up waiting for me to get to them).

Games

Deponia

Collection Count

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

My total titles crosses the 2,900 mark this week — will I get to 3,000 by the end of the year? Well, last year I added 240 titles to my tally, which is an average of 20 per month, and there are 4½ months of the year left, which works out at 90 titles. Ooh, so close! Of course, I'm sure the increase wasn't neatly spread throughout the year — maybe the end is normally even busier? I could work it out at such a granular level, but that might ruin the surprise. I know that I've had multiple very large weeks this year already, but whether that means I'll slow down towards the end or surge forth to even higher heights, only time will tell...

Number of titles in collection: 2,903 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,048 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,855 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 196 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 7,209 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,479 [up 9]
Number of additional cuts: 274 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,350 [up 14]
Number of short films: 999 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Taskmaster
3x05 The F.I.P. [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Films

Batman: Dead End (2003)
[2nd watch]
[#51 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
This "Batman vs Predator" fan film was ever so popular Back In The Day, and for some reason came up on Twitter this afternoon, so I watched it — I wasn't sure I'd actually ever seen it, but once it got going it all came back. Mad that it's nearly 20 years old. It holds up really well too, which you might not expect — it's not just "good for an amateur production in the early '00s", it's genuinely well made. No wonder it caused such a stir all those years ago.

Games

Deponia
Decided to go for something a bit more modern for my next point-and-click adventure (it's ten years old, but that's "modern" by my standards). Also, there are three sequels to this, so if I enjoy it my list of games to play will get even longer (next time they're on sale, anyway). Only played for about half-an-hour, but it's off to a decent start — the cartoon visuals are pleasant, and the puzzles are logical without being ludicrously easy. Nothing too taxing yet, but then I have only just started.

Films

Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (1972)
[#50 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Normally for foreign language films I use the title as seen on the copy I watched, but my DVD copy of this has for some reason chosen to call it Tintin and the Mystery of Shark Lake, whereas the title above — a more accurate translation of the original, Tintin et le lac aux requins — is much more commonly used online.

Games

Flight of the Amazon Queen
Finished, in just over 6 hours. Bit of a lacklustre ending — in a movie it would be a Big Action Climax, but that doesn't really translate to point-and-click adventure games, so it's just a couple of simple puzzles to end on. Hey-ho. It was fun overall, but not truly a classic; more a likeable imitation of better things.

Now... what next?

Podcasts

Doctor Who: Pieces of Eighth
1x05 The Eighth Doctor Action Figures

I became aware of this podcast — dedicated to media about the 8th Doctor — a while ago and have been meaning to catch up on it, but (as is typical of me and podcasts) I keep not getting round to it. But with today's announcement of a new 8th Doctor action figure set, someone on Twitter pointed towards this edition, which covers the genesis and history of the 8th Doctor in action figures (at least until mid-2021) via an interview with Alasdair Dewar of Character Options, the company who make Doctor Who toys.

[Listen to it (again) on Anchor, or wherever you get your podcasts.]

YouTube

Georgia & David Tennant's Doctor Who Quiz
Somehow stumbled across this quiz (from back in December 2020!), which was done in aid of Marie Curie, and I ended up getting sucked in to it. Well, if you've got David & Georgia Tennant, plus guest stars, testing my Doctor Who knowledge (and I do love a quiz), how could I resist? (Apparently I resisted back in December 2020. But I don't recall knowing it was happening, so...)
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

We may now be a whole week into August, but the month did only start at the beginning of this week, and that means this 100Films.co.uk update begins with my review of last month...





Plus, the summary of films I failed to watch in July...





Additionally, there was 1 new review published this week...


Prey (2022)

Plot-wise, Prey is pretty straightforward. And therein lies a big part of its success, because what more do we want from a Predator movie than “a hero has to fight a technologically-superior Predator”? If you do want more than that, I think you’ve come to the wrong franchise. Of course, simply rehashing what’s gone before is just another path to failure, and so what Prey does is take those basic bones and dress them up with fresh settings, ideas, and perspectives.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

DVD

Big Finish Talks Back: Paul McGann
[2nd watch]

Not quite sure what to file this as — it's not a movie; it's not TV; it's not an extra, because it's a release unto itself... It's a feature-length interview, anyway. It came out in 2002 and I guess I bought it and watched it around then — 20 years ago! — because I know I've seen it but I don't remember it. It was a nice thing to revisit, though.

Plus, a bonus short interview that adds in McGann's first Doctor Who audio companion, India Fisher, after they'd recorded their second series. A nice little time capsule.

Theatre

The Lion King
UK & Ireland Tour at Wales Millennium Centre
Finally seen this super-acclaimed and -popular show. I thought the songs added beyond the film were mostly a bit lacklustre, but the costumes and puppetry were incredible. I can see why it's a stage spectacle that's been enduringly popular for decades now.

Collection Count

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

Five new additons this week — a quiet one, by current standards. Three new releases, too. Only one 4K, but both the older titles are 3D (one an upgrade to the 2D copy I already had).

Number of titles in collection: 2,899 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,048 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,851 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 194 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 7,198 [up 9]
Number of films: 3,469 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 273 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,336 [no change]
Number of short films: 999 [up 3]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Prey (2022)
[#49 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Games

Flight of the Amazon Queen
I've not said much (or anything) when I've logged this, but I'm making steady progress. It's not a bad game, but it's no LucasArts classic. It's clearly inspired by Indiana Jones, but executed with some of the self-aware humour of Monkey Island, but it doesn't hit the mark as precisely as either. I guess that's what happens when you're taking off things that are already fundamentally perfect! But the most annoying thing is the voice acting — everyone speaks so slowly, probably in some effort to beat the compression of the day (the game is from the early '90s, after all), and half the lines are delivered with the emphasis in the wrong place. But I'm nitpicking, really, because overall it's a likeable dose of retro adventuring. I'm five-and-a-half hour of playtime through, so if typical playtimes are anything to go by, I've only got a couple of hours left to go.

Games

Flight of the Amazon Queen

Games

Flight of the Amazon Queen

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x13 Episode 13
4x14 Episode 14
4x15 Episode 15
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Calamity Jane (1953)
[2nd watch]
[#48 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

TV

Agatha Raisin
4x03 A Spoonful of Poison

Cracker
1x03 To Say I Love You Part 1 [2nd watch]
1x04 To Say I Love You Part 2 [2nd watch]
1x05 To Say I Love You Part 3 [2nd watch]
Belatedly continuing the Cracker (re)watch I started in January. Then I noted that the DVDs present each multi-episode story as a single movie, without obvious episode breaks. Perhaps that was just the first story, because there were clear fade-to-blacks for the end of each part this time. Still watched it one sitting, though. Formal considerations aside, it's a really good show, donchaknow.

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x11 Episode 11
4x12 Episode 12
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Oh, this week was so nearly a small quiet one... and then a big package of Blu-rays from the US turned up. Can't pretend I'm not excited about that! Combined with a couple of other purchases, that made for a total of 14 new titles — not a record-breaker, but at the upper end of single week increases. Some were upgrades, mind (one DVD to BD, one BD to 4K, and one DVD to 4K!), so the net total is... well, below...

Number of titles in collection: 2,895 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,048 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,847 [up 12]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 193 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 7,189 [up 17]
Number of films: 3,463 [up 15]
Number of additional cuts: 273 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,336 [no change]
Number of short films: 996 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Grantchester
6x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Neighbours
1x8903 The Finale [series finale]
I haven't watched Neighbours in over 20 years, but I was a regular viewer back in the day — it's part of my childhood — so I had to tune in for this final goodbye! Obviously I had no idea who most of the characters were (of course I didn't know the young people; the oldies was a constant game of "do I recognise them or not?") and I had to infer most of the storylines, but hey-ho, that is what it is. Overall, quite a sweet goodbye.
[Watch it (again) on the My5.]

Neighbours Made Me a Star
I hadn't intended to watch this — I assumed it was going to be an empty clip show of Neighbours actors in other productions — but the title actually belied that this was a kind of history of the soap through the lens of the people it made famous, so it was a fitting part of the finale evening. Glad I stuck around for it.
[Watch it (again) on the My5.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x10 Episode 10
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Grantchester
6x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x09 Episode 9
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Ten Percent
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
Overall, this series wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it's not bad. I feel like if they'd tightened each episode up to 30 minutes (instead of the c.48 they do run) it would've been better. Still, if they bother to make a second series, I'll watch it.

TV

Agatha Raisin
4x02 Love, Lies and Liquor

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x06 Episode 6
4x07 Episode 7
4x08 Episode 8
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Leverage
4x17 The Radio Job
4x18 The Last Dam Job [season finale]

Richard Osman's House of Games
3x78 Episode 78
3x79 Episode 79
3x80 Episode 80
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Ten Percent
1x07 Episode 7

Films

The Bucket List (2007)

TV

Leverage
4x16 The Gold Job

Richard Osman's House of Games
3x76 Episode 76
3x77 Episode 77
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
1x06 Follies [season finale]
Enjoyed that. Looking forward to more.

Ten Percent
1x06 Episode 6

Collection Count

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

A solid but not huge update this week, with four new additions (one a BD-to-4K upgrade). But this post is a couple of days late because it was also time for the monthly running time update, including all the busy last few weeks, and I needed a bit of time to add all that up. Results below...

Number of titles in collection: 2,885 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,050 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,835 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 188 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 7,172 [up 6]
Number of films: 3,448 [up 2]
Number of additional cuts: 273 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,336 [up 13]
Number of short films: 994 [up 1]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
513 days, 12 hours, and 10 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 15 hours, and 17 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Leverage
4x15 The Lonely Hearts Job

Richard Osman's House of Games
2x09 Episode 9
2x10 Episode 10
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
1x05 Fiasco

Films

45 Years (2015)

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
2x08 Episode 8
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Theatre

Les Misérables
UK & Ireland Tour at Bristol Hippodrome
I've seen Les Mis on stage before — before this blog began, in 2006 (if I remember rightly). This was a 'new' staging ('new' in 2009), which was pretty impressive. The film is good 'n' all, but I think the show plays best on stage.

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
2x06 Episode 6
2x07 Episode 7
Digging into my archive of unwatched episodes now (i.e. these aren't available on iPlayer).
[Watch various (other) episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
1x04 Visiting Hours

Ten Percent
1x05 Episode 5

TV

Leverage
4x14 The Boys' Night Out Job

Not Going Out
12x06 Tent [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x70 Episode 70
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
1x03 Bad Tradecraft

Games

The Room Two
Popped back onto this for the first time in a while. Accidentally finished it. The narrative's not up to much, but the puzzles are quite fun. I expect I'll get the next one, too.

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x69 Episode 69
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
1x02 Work Drinks

TV

Leverage
4x13 The Girls' Night Out Job

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x68 Episode 68
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
1x01 Failure's Contagious
We're already guaranteed at least four seasons of this spy thriller on Apple TV+, so it's a good thing it's off to a strong start. With its grounded, washed-up spooks, it's a bit like a more dryly humourous version of Le Carré. Let's hope it's got the same smarts to pull that off all the way to the finish.

Ten Percent
1x04 Episode 4

TV

Leverage
4x12 The Office Job

Not Going Out
12x05 Jury
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x67 Episode 67
If you were wondering why I'm watching such a random week of House of Games (no one was, but still), it's because it's the only week still available on iPlayer that I've never seen. But once it's done, I do have a load of older ones downloaded.
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
4x66 Episode 66
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Games

Flight of the Amazon Queen

TV

Taskmaster
3x04 A Very Nuanced Character
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Comics

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #47 by CRC Payne & StarBite
Someone posted a gag from this on Twitter, which led me to the full thing (which I'd never heard of before), and... well, the gag they shared was the primary punchline to the whole comic, so there wasn't much point reading it. But it's a decent gag.
[Read it (again) on Webtoon.]

Games

Flight of the Amazon Queen
Having enjoyed my replay of the Monkey Island games, I've been looking for more point-and-click-style adventure games to play — and, thanks to sales and whatnot, I've ended up with quite a few to choose from. So, this is where I've decided to start. Why? Not sure, really. It was originally released in 1995, and I vaguelly remember being aware of it back in the day and wanting to play it (because it's Indiana Jones-inspired and I've always loved Indiana Jones), but I never did. So now I finally am. Hurrah!

Collection Count

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

When this week began, it was possible it was going to be a completely dead one. Well, that's... not how things turned out. Between preorders turning up early and some quick-shipping sale buys, there's a grand total of 12 new acquisitions this week. Four of them are upgrades to previous editions, including the second Dalek movie in 4K meaning, my old double-film BD set is removed from the stats (as mentioned when I got the first film in 4K).

Number of titles in collection: 2,882 [up 8]
Of which DVDs: 1,050 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,832 [up 9]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 186 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 7,166 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,446 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 273 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 9,323 [no change]
Number of short films: 993 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part VI (of 6)
As I mentioned at the start, throughout the series I've been posting some thoughts to Letterboxd, if you're interested.

TV

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part V (of 6)

TV

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part IV (of 6)

Films

The Lost Daughter (2021)

TV

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part III (of 6)

TV

Taskmaster
3x03 Little Polythene Grief Cave
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Films

Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015)
[#47 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

TV

Wimbledon 2022
Men's Final
I've watched bits of Wimbledon on and off this year, but not enough to feel it merited logging. I only half-watched this too, but I did have the full thing on, and it was worth it for the touching tribute to Sue Barker after the match. Even though I don't watch a huge amount of Wimbledon (I haven't bothered to log it since 2014!), I'm always aware of it, and she's been presenting it for as long as I can remember. Definitely an emotional farewell.
[You can watch all of the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon on iPlayer.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

7 new reviews were published to 100Films.co.uk this week...


Bank Holiday (1938)

To call this a “forgotten classic” or similar would be to overstate the point somewhat, but it does seem to be a largely forgotten film that merits being better known.

Read more here.


Lupin the Third: Is Lupin Still Burning? (2018)

Appropriately for a 50th anniversary special, Is Lupin Still Burning is loaded with references (both major and minor) for diehard fans to enjoy. As someone who has enjoyed a couple of Lupin’s adventures but is a long way from being well-versed in his world, I could tell a load of stuff was flying over my head — almost everything, in fact — which was unfortunate, but understandable. This is clearly a celebration that’s primarily aimed at dyed-in-the-wool fans rather than pleasing or initiating newcomers.

Read more here.


2022 | Week 22

Featuring...
- This Means War (2012)
- To Be or Not to Be (1942)
- An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1982)
- The Pajama Game (1957)
- The Contender (2000)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Taskmaster
3x02 The Dong and the Gong
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Films

A Better Tomorrow (1986)
[#46 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2022 #6

Collection Count

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

Just a couple of new additions this week, although one of them is a 5-disc set devoted to a single film...

Number of titles in collection: 2,874 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,051 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,823 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 183 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 7,155 [up 7]
Number of films: 3,438 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 269 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,323 [no change]
Number of short films: 993 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part II (of 6)

Films

Johnny Gunman (1957)
[#45 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Articles

The outlandish Doctor Who movie that never was
by Matthew Sweet (from MSN)

I heard about the screenplay for "the third Dalek film" (which actually has nothing to do with the Daleks) after the screening the other week at which its existence was revealed, but I think this is the first deep-dive into what that screenplay is actually about. Very interesting.

(This article was originally published by the Telegraph, but that's behind a paywall, so here's the full thing for free courtesy of MSN.)

TV

Mystery Science Theater 3000
13x05 Doctor Mordrid
Nearly a month since I last watched MST3K; although, at their current release schedule, that means I'm only two behind, and still have almost three weeks until the next premiere (which I won't be free to watch live, again). Talking of premieres, they're continuing to leave them available (for those of us with suitable Gizmoplex passes), so I'm still watching new eps that way. It takes longer (there are *gasp* adverts!) but has its benefits (post-show Q&As).

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part I (of 6)
Finally starting this. Thoughts on Letterboxd.

this week on 100Films.co.uk

No new reviews on 100Films.co.uk this week, but it was the start of a new month, and that means a monthly review...





Plus, a summary of some of the films I failed to watch last month...





Back to the reviews next Sunday.

Films

Ambulance (2022)
[#44 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Easy A (2010)

Games

Tales of Monkey Island
Chapter 5 Rise of the Pirate God

Another hour played, and that's that — I'm all caught up on Monkey Island!

I enjoyed Tales overall, even if it had some bits that could stand improvement (an over-reliance on cut scenes at times; some puzzles that were made tedious by having to trek back and forth). It's a shame Telltale didn't make a second season; in fact, I'm not sure why they didn't: Tales was a critical and commercial hit (it's said to have been their biggest financial success until Back to the Future); and, while they eventually went bankrupt, that was nine years later. Mysterious.

Anyway, at least now we have Return to look forward to. Can't wait!

Collection Count

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

I ended last week's count by noting that there was nothing on the schedule for this week. Unsurprisingly, that changed. Four titles may not look like much compared to some recent weeks, but, if you think about it, it's more than enough for a single week!

Unusually, they're all 4K titles — I don't think that's happened before. And they include what I believe is the first anime TV series to be released in 4K, Hayao Miyazaki's directorial debut, Future Boy Conan. So that's exciting then.

Number of titles in collection: 2,871 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,051 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,820 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 182 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 7,148 [up 10]
Number of films: 3,435 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 268 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,323 [up 13]
Number of short films: 993 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Taskmaster
3x01 A Pea in a Haystack
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Games

Tales of Monkey Island
Chapter 5 Rise of the Pirate God
Another hour played... though quite a tedious one, to be honest, involving a lot of old-fashioned back-and-forthing to achieve anything. Shame, because it makes this episode feel a little anti-climactic. Still, I've got the final stretch to go yet, so maybe that will pick up.

TV

Doctor Who
3x33 The Final Test [2nd watch]
aka The Celestial Toymaker Part 4. Thank goodness this was only a four-parter — it feels drawn-out as it is.

Well, apparently the scripts for this serial were compromised by being in production at a time of changeover in the team running the show, which perhaps explains why there are nice ideas here that unfortunately don’t land very well. Parts of the episode feel like they were written on the spot, going round over the same points to little end. Shame.

Equally, it’s no wonder several writers have tried to have a second crack at the Toymaker down the years — there’s unexplored potential there, even if it were to just involve rehashing this storyline but executing it better.

Films

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
[#43 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
Plus the video extras on Arrow's Blu-ray, which include the original theatrical trailer and a 22-minute critical analysis.

Films

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
[#42 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]