Films

Pixels (2010)
[#40a in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
A great, fun short. Watch it in full (don't worry, legally) here.

Articles

DVD Producer Michael Pellerin on the Blu-ray Release of... The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy by Bill Hunt & Michael Pellerin
(from The Digital Bits)
The title does a pretty nifty job of summing up what's in this piece... other than clarifying who Pellerin is and why what he has to say about the LotR Blu-rays matters, of course. In short: he produced the original DVDs and consulted on the new BDs. Here he explains some of what went into the new HD transfers and suggests what may be to come on future Extended Edition re-releases -- a lot more stuff that's been in the works for almost a decade, basically.

Stars attack tories over BBC plans
(from Google news U.K.)
I'm not saying vote Labour (at all), but this does need bearing in mind.

Doctor Who: The Time of Angels

Just some quick thoughts, too long for the usual TV post...

Blinkin' excellent episode, a first part that promises we may be getting a truly classic story -- much like Moffat's The Empty Child did back in 2005, in fact. So much of it was worthy of comment, but two things in particular:

One, Moffat was spot-on when he said this was like Aliens to Blink's Alien; a superb analogy.

Two, the cliffhanger... that wasn't really a cliffhanger... New Who has become almost known for having two-parters where each half is almost a distinct episode -- they very much build to that cliffhanger, then almost start again in the second half. But this was nothing of the sort -- it feels like Moffat's penned a 90-minute story and then split it in half at roughly the right moment. Which I quite like, actually.

One of the reasons it works is the whole story's structure (at least so far): it's very like a film, building in peaks of action and calmer lulls of dialogue and plot development. Any of the big action sequences -- the opening, Amy with the TV-Angel, the chase through the Maze -- contained appropriate cliffhanger moments... but those didn't fall at the story's halfway mark. Maybe this isn't how Moffat crafted the story at all -- maybe it is two entirely distinct parts and this was always meant to be a cliffhanger -- but with the way we know the Doctor's just done Something Clever to escape (we even see it starting before it cuts to the titles), it feels like an appropriate-enough halfway break in a longer tale rather than a bespoke cliffhanger. And, as I say, I quite like that.

Finally, something people have been moaning about: the sound mix, specifically the music being too loud. Watching on BBC HD, which broadcasts Who in true 5.1, proved something I suspected for a while: the audio has clearly been mixed for 5.1, because it sounds absolutely spot-on in this format (the music may even be too quiet), so I presume that someone, somewhere, must be mucking up the down-mix to Stereo for normal transmission.

Also, no Graham Norton invading half the screen on BBC HD.

P.S. Sacred Bob? Angel Bob? Clearly Moffat must be a fan of me -- link.

Collection Count

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

This is the biggest update since mid-February, thanks in part to a round of bargains (Sherlock Hound, 3:10 to Yuma, Zombieland), anticipated new releases (The Box, Evangelion 1.11), and bargainous near-new releases (Glorious 39). With a third of these being anime titles, including one I've been waiting years for, this week's statistic has taken a slight dash of inspiration from them...

Number of titles in collection: 1,170 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,091 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 79 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 2,838 [up 11]
Number of films in collection: 1,227 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,916 [up 26]

Statistic of the week:

Total number of anime titles:
47
(4% of the total)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Archer
1x10 Dial M for Mother [season finale]
And that's that for the first season of Archer. It's great fun so I'll miss it considerably. Luckily, a longer second season is already in the works.
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
18x12 (16/4/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

You Have Been Watching
2x02 (22/4/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Doctor Who: The return of the Weeping Angels by Steven Moffat
(from BBC tv blog)
Who's head honcho on how one of the series' scariest villains are back... but different.

Election debate TV ratings: 4.1m watch leaders' tussle by Jason Deans
(from guardian.co.uk)
Under half the number who watched the first debate last week. Have people lost interest already? Or was it because it was buried on digital channels? I suspect the latter, but only time -- i.e. next week's debate on BBC One -- will tell.
Also of interest: despite ostensibly being 'The Sky News Debate', it was simulcast on six digital TV channels, repeated later on BBC Two, broadcast on Radio 4, and available from a variety of online sources. The number of people who actually watched it on Sky News was just 2.1 million, which is almost certainly under half the people watching (that 4.1 million leaves out three TV channels, online sources, and Radio 4).

First 3D TV goes on sale in the UK by Andrew Laughlin
(from Digital Spy)

Matt Rajah, who has more money than sense, was first in the queue

(I may have rewritten that slightly...)

TV

Ashes to Ashes
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
2x09 A Price Above Rubies
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Articles

First Doctor Who game episode revealed by Matthew Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
City of the Daleks -- nice title. Also, double meaning (based on the plot). Clever.

(While I'm at it, I'd also like to express my gratitude that the BBC are bothering to release this for both PC and Mac at the same time. With the gradually increasing proliferation of Mac users, one would think is only sensible for all games producers, but particularly from a public institution like the BBC.)

True story

Found on Criggo.

TV

House
6x17 Lockdown
Directed by Hugh Laurie! And the latest in what's becoming a recurring trend for breaking-the-format episodes of House in the wake of episodes focussed on Wilson (the imaginatively-titled Wilson) and Cuddy (the genuinely imaginatively-titled 5 to 9). This sees the regulars all split up and Learning Something About Each Other... and yet, it felt oddly slight.

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
3x06 (17/4/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

15 Movie Posters Re-Imagined With the Stars Originally Cast by Kevin Polowy
(from Moviefone)
It's well done 'n' all but, for some reason, not as funny or interesting as it ought to be.

Hitler rants about the Hitler Parodies

Not heard about the Hitler parodies? Me either til now. So have a look here.

TV

Happy Finish
Pilot
Quite funny.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

iCandy
Pilot
Rubbish.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Mad Men
3x13 Shut the Door, Have a Seat [season finale]
Another excellent closing episode from Mad Men, replete with moments to contest Don's declaration about having no contract (my favourite was Joan's return). It's also a tantalising 'cliffhanger', and with the new season set to begin Stateside in around three months I'm not sure I can handle the long slow wait 'til BBC Four/HD bother to pick it up.
[Watch it again in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

50 Movie Titles That Got Lost In Translation by Simon Brew
(from Den of Geek)
I appreciate this was posted A Very Long Time Ago and it's on an awful website, but someone happened to mention it on twitter today. It's an expectedly daft but still rather amusing diversion, I thought. Look out in particular for China's version of Boogie Nights and France's (alleged) new title for The Matrix. Do feel free to share any other favourites in the comments.

Damages not expected to return by Mike Moody
and
Damages creator wants new season by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)
The first season of Damages was utterly brilliant, flawless TV. The second was a bit of a muddle. The third... could still go either way (it's just finished in the US, halfway through on BBC One, and I'm only on episode three still) All of which leaves me rather uncertain about whether a fourth run is a good idea: if it has and can hit the heights of its first season, more is definitely desired; but it's just maintained the second year's degeneration, then no thanks, put it out of our misery.

Sutherland says 24 movie script is ready by Mike Moody
(from Digital Spy)

Sutherland also hinted that the plot could possibly mirror the show's first season, giving Jack Bauer a personal crisis to deal with. "It doesn't have to be a bomb," he said. "It can be something personal that people understand."

Sounds like good news... but then they've said something similar before every season of the TV show for the last few years, so I'll believe it when we see it.

TV

A Comedy Roast
1x03 Chris Tarrant [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Graham Norton Show
7x01 (12/4/10 edition)

Over the Rainbow
Show 5: Results
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

This is What a Tweet Looks Like by Sarah Perez
(from ReadWriteWeb)
"Yes yes, a message only 140 characters long, I know." But oh no no, dear reader, no no -- there's a lot more to a tweet than you might think. And this explains it. Moderately interesting, I thought.

TV

Have I Got News For You
39x03 (15/4/10 edition; extended repeat)
I had a specific comment to make about this episode, but it's completely gone now. Just watch it, laugh lots, and I'm sure you'll've seen whatever it was I had to say.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Russell Howard's Good News
2x04 (15/4/10 edition)
Despite setting a recording for the extended repeat, it seems BBC Three did Something Funny and I wound up with the last 20 minutes of Herbie-whatever-with-Lindsay-Lohan and a half-an-hour-early edition of Family Guy. There's no explanation for this that I can find.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wallander [Swedish]
2x01 Hämnden (aka The Revenge)
The Swedish Wallander series returns for its second and reportedly final series. This episode was originally released in cinemas, so counts as #40 on 100 Films in a Year 2010. Click here to read my review.

You Have Been Watching
2x01 (15/4/10 edition)
Hurrah for another excellent programme returning.
This edition featured clips from Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a series I'd been a little looking forward to because it looked like it might be Rome Mark 2. Sadly, this appears to not be the case. Where Rome was high-budget and underpinned its sex and violence with an awful lot of character and intelligence, Spartacus: BS (the most apt title abbreviation) has CGI in every scene that's so bad it makes everything look like a 15-year-old computer game. The quality of the script and acting suggest they've been dragged from the same.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

By Zeus! The version of Clash of the Titans you didn't see by Devin Faraci
(from CHUD.com)
Whether you've seen the new Clash of the Titans or not (I haven't), this makes for an interesting read -- basically, how they took something half-decent and completely buggered about with it to make the film as released.

Cook-book misprint costs Australian publishers dear
(from BBC News)

An Australian publisher has had to pulp and reprint a cook-book after one recipe listed "salt and freshly ground black people" instead of black pepper.

Marvellous!
Over here, this would no doubt lead to all kinds of outrage and demands for refunds and apologies and probably the closure of the company or at least resignation of all involved in the book's creation. In Australia, however...

"why anyone would be offended, we don't know," head of publishing Bob Sessions is quoted as saying... "proofreading a cook-book is an extremely difficult task. I find that quite forgivable," Mr Sessions said. If anyone complains about the "silly mistake", they will be given the new version

Argh! Common sense! Run away!

How did you find Victory of the Daleks? by Neil Wilkes
(from Digital Spy)
I turned on BBC HD at the scheduled time and there it was!
Ho ho ho. But you can read some bafflingly sarcasm-free idiotic comments here.

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review again this week at 100 Films in a Year. I really ought to post more...

Elektra (2005)

The plot starts out as sub-Leon assassin nonsense, before turning into sub-X-Men superhero nonsense. The connection to Daredevil is actually minimal... she reverts to a bright red get-up that’s slightly more reminiscent of the comics. “It builds the legend,” she semi-explains. How can a legend be built if everyone who sees her in it is promptly killed?

More next Sunday. Hopefully.

stupid Digital Spy readers on Doctor Who episode 3

These are hilarious. Honestly, the amount of stupidity on display is... well, it's a little troubling, actually; but it does make for funny reading.

I'm not trying to say Victory of the Daleks was a great episode or anything (though I did think parts of it were fun and others conveyed good ideas), and I'm not adverse to a difference of opinion... but there's a big difference between conflicting opinions and pure idiocy, which many of these comments display.

Here's a selection:

Dalek plot always seems to be the same

Yes, in every new-series episode so far they've pretended to be good guys.
Except they haven't. Not once.

Steven Moffat wrote such amazing episodes... he seems to have forgotten how to write/direct over the last year.

Two things: Moffat didn't write this episode, and he's never directed an episode. One might argue this is a little geeky, requiring behind-the-scenes knowledge -- but if you're going to criticise someone's work, at least attribute it to the right person. You may as well say Twilight isn't as good as Great Expectations because, well, they're both by authors writing in English.

I found that the new doctor... didn't interact with the audience properly.

It's not theatre, love. What do you want him to do, turn to camera and invite us to share the jokes? Or suggest we should be scared? Maybe ask if we'd like a cup of tea too?

The storyline was well thats just it, it was a bit far fetched

So, you're watching a series in which a two-hearted alien travels through time and space in a little blue box that is infinitely bigger on the inside fighting all kinds of aliens and monsters... and you think an episode set in our own history is "a bit far fetched"?

But this takes the prize for the very best -- or, rather, very worst...

doctor who, season 1, episode 9/10. the doctor visits WW2 and encounters gas mask children. doctor who, season 5, episode 3. the doctor visits WW2 and encounters daleks. how does he not meet himself? ... very, very, VERY, silly.

That's right, readers: the Doctor visiting a 6-year-long continent-spanning war twice and not meeting himself is "very, very, VERY, silly."

If you can stand the pain, the whole darn lot can be read here.