Comics

Detective Comics #1 by Tony S. Daniel
The first-ever relaunch for one of DC's two flagship titles (the other, Action Comics, also became one of The New 52 this month).
It was released almost two weeks ago, but for once this isn't my tardiness: it's taken this long for my mail-ordered copy to arrive. And now I await delivery of my comics from earlier this week -- I sense a pattern emerging...

Articles

Weekend Report: Lion King Reclaims Box Office Crown by Ray Subers
(from Box Office Mojo)

All three genuinely new releases combined to make less than the 3D re-release of The Lion King this weekend, reaffirming the Disney animated classic's continued popularity a whole 17 years after its initial run...

The first re-release to debut on top of the charts since Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi back in March 1997, The Lion King earned an estimated $29.3 million from 2,330 locations, which is the fifth-highest September opening ever.

Bad weekend for new releases, but it shows how phenomenally popular The Lion King is. And rightly so.

this week on 100 Films

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

A Bunch of Amateurs (2008)

It’s thoroughly predictable — most viewers could probably map out the plot before the film even begins, so it’s certainly easy to guess what’s coming next as it trots along — but there’s also something reassuring about that predictability — it’s exactly the sort of Quaint British Movie you expect it to be. Some will find that insufferable; I’m sure there are some who find it absolutely lovely and it’s the only kind of film they ever want to watch.

The Day of the Locust (1975)

The magnificent riot at the end is a tour de force of cinema that single-handedly almost justifies that whole theme — it’s what happens when their frustrations at dreams not being realised overflows. It could be argued it makes an easy juxtaposition — of fans baying for stars at a premiere with a revenge-fuelled mob baying for blood — but it’s still a just one. It’s capped off by the way one turns into the other, and how that turns into a kind of apocalypse.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
32x11 The God Complex
I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the Moffat era seems to be marked by a lot more experimental episodes. It's not Invasion Of The Week or other familiar formats every episode; there's a lot more Different kind of stories. And that's a good thing, for a show with a format that famously can do anything. As for this particular one, I loved it. Well done on them keeping the ending a secret too.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x11 Heartbreak Hotel
Much, much better than the last episode. A good Doctor Who week all round then!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x02 Pilot
American sitcom-y shows often like to have witty formula episode titles -- see Scrubs, No Ordinary Family, etc. I don't know if we have Friends' The One With… to blame for that, or if it pre-dates even that. Anyway, Perfect Couples is no exception: they're all Perfect something. Sadly, it seems no one had the wit or forethought to call this a Perfect Pilot. Or maybe they just didn't want to seem cocky, I dunno.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Is 3D dead? This chart may hold the answer
(from Live for Films)
Clearly it's not dead yet -- the industry has too much invested into it in too long term a way to let it die off almost immediately -- but those numbers aren't looking healthy. If they don't start revising their strategies, and fast, it's going to become an irrelevant niche at best.

TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x02 (10/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

QI
9x01 I-Spy (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part Six Smiley Sets a Trap
Part Seven Flushing Out the Mole [final episode]
I won't spoil the ending for anyone who's still not seen it or is waiting for the film (out today), but I guessed the mole correctly. Go me. Also, interesting -- and very like this intelligent, slow-paced series -- that the mole was revealed near the start of the final episode, with the rest dealing with the aftermath. Most series, both lesser and equal, would have pushed the Big Twist Revelation to the end and rushed through any after effects, but that's not in Tinker Tailor's style. Brilliant.

Articles

Columbia showcases impressive extended teaser for David Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Chris Eggertsen
(from HitFix)
As the tweet I saw promoting the article put it, "Extended Girl with the Dragon Tattoo teaser wows reporters, audiences". And it sounds brilliant too.

TV

Pointless
5x10 (9/9/11 edition)
A round on Star Wars, just before the Blu-rays came out! Coincidencetastic.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part Four How It All Fits Together
Part Five Tinker Tailor
When I first started watching this, I commented (to myself, at least) that they don't make them like this any more. And while that's true to an extent, I think some dramas have actually become more like this. Not mainstream shows, which are of course more flash-bang than ever, but a good portion of American cable dramas and even some British shows. They might not feel so slow-paced, but the way they gradually meter out information and extend the arc plot over multiple episodes (often 12 or 13, not the mere 7 of Tinker Tailor) is closer to this feel. And, in much the same way, Tinker Tailor can be more satisfying viewed in several-episode chunks. It's very good, you know.

Articles

Doctor Who and the Shada Man by J.R. Southall
(from Starburst Magazine)
Lenthy, a bit rambling, and with sometimes terrible punctuation (especially considering this is meant to be a professional publication), but nonetheless interesting look at the newly-completed Shada that we still might never get to see.

In the Shadow of Saturn
(from Astronomy Picture of the Day)
This is a photograph of Saturn. A photograph! Incredible.

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 2 EFG (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mock the Week
10x07 (8/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x08 (7/9/11 edition)
5x09 (8/9/11 edition)
[Watch the 7/9/11 and 8/9/11 editions (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Pointless
5x07 (6/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part Three Smiley Tracks the Mole

Films

Bringing Up Baby (1938)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Pointless
5x06 (5/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part One Return to the Circus [2nd watch]
Part Two Tarr Tells His Story [2nd watch]
I was feeling a bit dozy when I watched this the first time, so as it's so complex a second go seemed appropriate. It's really very good y'know.

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) (2011)

I have no idea if this was a 3D post-conversion or shot for real, but it doesn’t matter — it’s dull. Either things are too dark to matter, or it just doesn’t pop in the way you’d like. A couple of sweeping scenery shots aside, it offers no benefit. 3D is a gimmick and all about spectacle, but it’s a gimmick On Stranger Tides doesn’t engage with, in the process showing it lacks spectacle.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
32x10 The Girl Who Waited
An excellent episode, I thought. Technically this season's Doctor Lite one, and presumably quite low-budget too, but it never really showed in either case. Surprisingly good performance from Miss Gillen as older Amy, though for my money Arthur Darvill is still the absolute star of current Who.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x10 What Dreams May Come
Confidential is beginning to get a bit samey now, I think. Every episode is on set/location, covering more or less the same stuff. Yes, a behind the scenes series will always have that problem, but there's an awful lot of stuff they don't cover that they could. What about pre-production? More on the writing process, the design process, etc. Or post-production? There must be a tonne of interesting working in CGI, sound design, editing, etc. Of course the series has covered most or all of these things in the past, but it's also covered what it's like on set in the past -- every episode, in fact. Variety would be welcome.
And proper making-of variety, not the silly asides where we get to see one cast member learn to drive and another swim with sharks. What a waste of time.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Proms 2011
Prom 59 Hooray for Hollywood
Left this too late to point you in the direction of it on iPlayer, I'm afraid, but the programme can still be read here.

Articles

New 52 Pickup | Week 2 by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
The first full week of The New 52 sees 13 titles released, and here's reviews of every last one. Not necessarily definitive (I've seen Batwing and Detective Comics highly praised elsewhere), but still an interesting project.

TV

Dragons' Den
9x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x01 (3/9/11 edition)
Some have apparently criticised this for being the same as his previous series. Really? What did you expect? I'm glad not too much has changed, as I'm sure are the rest of his numerous fans. Feels like it needs to bed in a little on ITV, but then maybe that was just the quality of the guests.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Outnumbered
4x02 Episode 2
Karen vs. a chugger? Brilliant.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x01 Perfect Tens
New sitcom from the US... or, at least, new to E4 -- considering how late they began How I Met Your Mother this could be years old for all I know. Decent first episode (very oddly, the pilot airs as episode two), looks promising... though I see it's been cancelled already. Ah well.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Doctor Who – Shada Completed by J.R. Southall
(from Starburst Magazine)
Ian Levine may be a controversial figure in Who fandom, but this is potentially great news. If only 2|entertain see sense and buy it for the inevitable DVD release.

Is it time for George Lucas to find a new force? by Alistair Harkness
(from living.scotsman.com)
On how Lucas' constant tinkering means fans have become the 'caretakers' of the original Star Wars trilogy, and other things like that.

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 Kung Fu Panda, which I managed to pick up for under £5, if you're curious). Always feels like a measly change not worth mentioning... but hey-ho, here it is anyway.

Number of titles in collection: 1,376 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,135 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 241 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,406 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,453 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,112 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x09 The Gathering
A little increase in quality this week, I thought. Which is good, because next it's The End. Be nice if it somehow included some revenge on that ratty little government man too. Though, as this A.V. Club review reminds us, it's still not all that good.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]