TV

Mad Men
3x05 The Fog
[Watch it again in HD on iPlayer.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
1x05 Why Lizard Always Hides Under Rocks
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Alice in Wonderland will not be shown in Odeon cinemas
(from BBC News)
Hurrah to Odeon for sticking to their guns and standing up to Disney (unlike the other major cinema chains). On the other hand, Disney's attempted new model (which has been in the offing for a while) may indeed be the first steps toward the future of film distribution. With piracy on the increase something clearly has to change, and a shorter cinema-to-home window is one way to do this -- when there's no legal way to see a film (that period when it's not in cinemas and not out on DVD), people still have an excuse for obtaining content illegally. You'll never get rid of people who want something for nothing regardless of whether they should pay, but the music industry has shown that by providing viable ways to access content (in their case, downloads; movies may still want to pay attention to DVD and Blu-ray) you can significantly change the culture of how people acquire their content.

iPhone developers angry as Apple purges adult apps
(from BBC News)
For all their amazing hardware and fully-integrated software, sometimes Apple really suck. It's not so much that they have removed the adult content as the way they've gone about it -- no warnings to companies that rely on the business; excluding some stuff because it's 'well known' (or bribed, perhaps?); and all while they could just implement parental controls, which they surely must have a system for already as they sell explicit-branded music and 12/15/18-rated (or R-, in the US) films?
Poor show, Apple.

Worm Hunter makes shortlist for oddest title award
(from BBC News)

Afterthoughts Of A Worm Hunter and Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich have been shortlisted for this year's oddest book title award.

By its inclusion in the article title, ...Worm Hunter has clearly been deemed the oddest (at least by the press, and by extension their anticipated readers) and so should surely win.
The article also mentions that it "has not sold a single copy in the UK or US" -- bet that changes now!

new reviews at 100 Films

It's been an awfully long time since I last posted a notification of a new review at 100 Films to this blog. Mainly, it's a bit tiring posting a whole update here having done a whole review there, especially as I've been churning them out almost daily for weeks.

From now on, then, every Sunday will see a "this week on 100 Films"-style update. Yes, I know today's Tuesday -- starting next Sunday it'll be weekly, this is just everything since the last review.

So, since Avatar I've posted 24 reviews (24!), and they are...

Air Force One (1997)

An American in Paris (1951)

Anna Boleyn (1920)

Die Austernprinzessin (1919)

Die Bergkatze (1921)

Children of Heaven (1997)

Cinderella (1965)

Copycat (1995)

Culloden (1964)

Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood (2006)

The Gruffalo (2009)

Hamlet (2009)

Hard Candy (2005)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Ich möchte kein Mann sein (1918)

Jumper (2008)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Die Puppe (1919)

Rage (2009)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Sumurun (1920)

Wallander: Mastermind (2005)

Wallander: The Secret (2006)

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

As I said, more on Sunday...

TV

How I Met Your Mother
4x19 Murtaugh
4x20 Mosbius Designs
[Watch it on 4oD from 15th & 22nd April (probably).

QI
7x13 Gothic (extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Survivors [2008]
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Review of Beyond the Rave by Adrian Smith
(from Retro Ramblings)
After decades away, Hammer are back. Well, sort of. Based on this review, no one should be getting too excited... and yet, I feel strangely compelled to get hold of a copy. Doesn't bode well for their forthcoming remake of Let the Right One In though, does it?

TV

The British Academy Film Awards 2010
Most of this year's awards went quite well -- very pleased for The Hurt Locker, Colin Firth, and in particular Carey Mulligan, as well as Avatar being justifiably overlooked. Shame, then, that the audience award became the Internet Fangirl Award For Rising Star. Blood Twilight.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Deja Vu
[#24 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Despite the incessant insistence of my spellchecker, the film's not actually called Déjà Vu. (Except on posters and DVD covers and what have you. Oh, it's swings and roundabouts.)

Doctor Faustus (1967)
[final two-thirds; #23 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Yep, it's taken six weeks to get round to finishing this. (Six weeks?! Christ.) Not my fault, in fact; but still...

TV

Argumental
3x03 (16/2/10 edition)

The Bubble
1x01 (19/2/10 edition)
I had high hopes for this show... luckily, it lived up to them.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Series One/Five/31 Trailer
Looks to me like they got too obsessed with it being 3D in cinemas and forgot to produce something that was exciting in its own right. The clip-filled one from Christmas built anticipation better, if you ask me.
[Watch it (again) on the official site.]

How I Met Your Mother
4x18 Old King Clancy
[Watch it on 4oD from 8th April (probably).]

Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Episode 1 (of 4)
The chances of anyone beating Robert Webb's instant-comedy-classic dance from last year are slim, but... well, you never know...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
2x01 Redemption
It's been a whole six months since The Mentalist was last on British screens, so it's nice to finally have it back. Plus, they've found a way to make the Red John case last a bit longer and be a bit different: give it to another unit who have no interest in Jane. I just hope they don't drag this out too long...
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Films

Frankenstein, aka Dean Koontz's Frankenstein (2004)
[#22 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Speed Racer (2008)
[#21 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Review of American VI: Ain't No Grave by Johnny Cash by Andy Gill
(from The Independent)
Positive review of Johnny Cash's final studio album (that's what they said last time, but it looks like they mean it now), out on Monday. It dropped through my letterbox yesterday but I've not had a chance to listen yet.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
4x17 The Front Porch
[Watch it on 4oD from 1st April (probably).]

DVD Extras

"Bogdanovich, Kaiser, Koerber & Lang" audio commentary on M (aka "Commentary #2")
Second of two audio commentaries on the new Masters of Cinema edition of M, featuring comments from filmmaker/filmfan Peter Bogdanovich, restoration expert (and restorer of M) Martin Koerber, and comments from director Fritz Lang recorded in 1965, all introduced by Torsten Kaiser (who also offers the odd comment of his own). It's an informative listen, with a good mix between Lang's thoughts/memories and Koerber's restoration notes, with a couple of asides from Kaiser and Bogdanovich

Zum Beispiel: Fritz Lang (1968)
[#20a in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Odd little short film/DVD extra that contains an interview (of sorts) with Lang. (Reviewed on 100 Films here.)

Collection Count

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

This week, just one purchase... but the discovery of a DVD I'd sold that was left in the list, plus an error on the number of episodes in one TV box set, and more-or-less everything holds still... or even goes down. Don't expect to see that happen too often in the future.

Number of titles in collection: 1,146 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,076 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 70 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 2,798 [down 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,212 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,874 [down 8]

Statistic of the week:

With my Blu-ray collection hitting a nice round 70 this week (I wonder if it'll make 100 before I've had the thing a year. Probably; maybe I should wonder if it'll make 150?), I thought I'd echo the second half of the above statistics, but about BDs only. So...

Number of Blu-ray titles in collection: 70 (6.1% of the total)
Number of Blu-ray discs in collection: 137 (4.9% of the total)
Number of films on Blu-ray: 81 (6.7% of the total)
Number of TV episodes on Blu-ray: 129 (3.3% of the total)

This also includes a couple of films that are actually in SD, while excluding a couple of alternate versions of movies (such as the export cut of The Big Switch included on Man of Violence, or the British version of M). Nor does it include the odd episode of TV included as an extra (such as Doctor Who Confidential), which is true across the whole collection. And a couple of releases also include a DVD amongst their BDs, so that second number is technically inaccurate. Still, swings and roundabouts...

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
4x16 Sorry, Bro
[Watch it on 4oD from 25th March (probably).]

Non-Fiction / DVD Extras

"M": The Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Series #9 (DVD booklet), edited by Jess Fulton & Andrew Utterson

A typically informative booklet from MoC, accompanying their new release of M on DVD and Blu-ray (out Monday).

Writings include Fritz Lang himself discussing the film, once in 1931 and looking back in an interview from 1963; details on a missing scene from early in the film (the most complete surviving version, restored from numerous prints, is seven minutes short of the original running time); and a discussion of the French and English versions of the film, which as well as dubbing include some re-shot scenes, including Peter Lorre's first performance in English.

I suppose one might argue the booklet's short on analysis, but when the disc includes two full-length audio commentaries that feature two film scholars, a restoration expert, an historian, and filmmaker (and commentator extraordinaire) Peter Bogdanovich -- not to mention excerpts from interviews with Lang -- it's hard to justifiably complain, I think.

Articles

We're Watching: Green Screen Shatter Our TV
(from current)
A showreel for a visual effects company might sound a little dull, but this is pretty impressive. OK, some shots are obviously visual effects, and others obviously have to be, but what they pull off in others is nothing short of incredible. Who'd've thought there was so much fakery just to do city streets, for example, particularly in Ugly Betty -- in particular, the shot that begins 30 seconds in. It might look like nothing, but that's what makes it so impressive when you see the greenscreen replay.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
4x14 The Possimpible
4x15 The Stinsons
[Watch these episodes on 4oD from 11th & 18th March (probably).]

Law & Order: UK
2x06 Honour Bound [season finale]
As with the mid-season finale -- sorry, season one finale -- this goes down the "this time it's personal" route. Better, though, the good guys finally actually win a case! Who'd've thunk it?
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

M (1931)
[#20 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Time for a good laugh at Twilight...

Twilight trio "not close" to Dawn deals by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)

studio Summit Entertainment hasn't secured the trio past a fourth feature and is planning to split the [fourth] book... into two 3D films. Should Breaking Dawn be released in two parts, Summit will have to renegotiate Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner's contracts at considerable cost.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

And so on.

(Incidentally, apologies if anyone wanted those links to go to information on the actual things. And by "apologies" I mean "click on the links, I put some effort into making them mildly amusing".)

TV

24
7x19 2:00AM - 3:00AM

QI
7x12 Gravity (extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Survivors [2008]
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]