Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,438 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 290 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 3,579 [up 10]
Number of films in collection: 1,531 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,409 [up 21]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
Episode 3 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x44 (13/1/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rush Hour 3 (2007)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

TV

Eternal Law
1x02 Episode 2
That was a little better than the first one. Maybe. Maybe I've just got (massively) lowered expectations.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
Episode 3 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The One...
1x02 Jasper Carrott
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Magdalen Oxford gets rejection letter from student
(from BBC News)

A student has sent a rejection letter to the University of Oxford following her interview for a place there. Elly Nowell parodied the institution's own rejection letters, stating Magdalen College "did not quite meet the standard" of other universities.

Hehe.

US broadcaster CBS orders Sherlock Holmes TV pilot
by Tom Cole (from Radio Times)

the pilot will see Holmes living in contemporary New York and, like the BBC’s Sherlock, will adapt Conan Doyle’s plotlines to fit the modern world.

"That British show Sherlock seems to have gone down well, shall we try to arrange a remake?" "The characters are out of copyright -- let's do a rip off!" "RIP OFF!"

TV

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
Episode 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Onion News Network
1x06 Cyber Attack

Films

Tombstone (1993)
[#5 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock boosts Conan Doyle book sales
by Paul Jones (from Radio Times)

sales of Sherlock Holmes books increased by 53 per cent [from 2009 to 2010]...

Weekly sales of Sherlock Holmes books took “a significant jump” when the series began, according to David Walter of Neilsen BookScan, which provided the figures... “If you compare sales for the first week of 2012 to an average week from 2011 (sales somewhere under 2,000 copies a week) the sales are nearly double,” said Walter.

Channel 4 announces More4 rebrand
by Tom Cole (from Radio Times)

certain documentary strands, current affairs and arts programmes will no longer play on More4... programming covering subjects including homes, property, food, health and fashion will form the bulk of the revamped channel’s output.

So, put succinctly, they're going downmarket.

Fern Britton: 'Doctor Who is the most dreary thing'
by Catriona Wightman (from Digital Spy)
I know some fans can't face any criticism, but while I disagree I can see where people are coming from sometimes when they criticise Doctor Who, say for being too silly, or daft, or funny, or not-real, or too complicated, or many other things that get trotted out. But "dreary"? Dreary? Dictionary definition: "dull, bleak, and lifeless; depressing". Doctor Who is many things, but those are four it most certainly is not.

The Royal Bodyguard fails to defend its viewing figures
by Tim Glanfield (from Radio Times)

Just 2.61 million viewers (a 10 per cent audience share) tuned in to watch the David Jason vehicle between 9pm and 9:30pm on BBC1. The figures represent a consistent downward curve for the programme's ratings, which started at the dizzy heights of 7.1 million on Boxing Day before falling to 4.5 million viewers a week later and just 2.9 million viewers for its third episode last week.

I've not watched it, but it did look dreadful, something these figures really bear out.

TV

Pointless
5x43 (12/1/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tim Minchin: Ready for This?
Mr Minchin live, as shown on TV, and so probably shorter than the version you can get on DVD & Blu-ray. Still brilliant though.

Films

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
[#4 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Having wrapped up the bulk of Underworld's dangling plot threads in the sequel, here the filmmakers desperately extend the franchise by going back in time the best part of a millennium to tell a story we've already mostly seen in flashbacks in the first two films. It's not a bad effort, but knowing everything that happens takes some of the wind out of its sails.

Articles

New image arrives from The Hobbit
by George Wales (from Total Film)
Also, at least as interestingly, some comments from director/co-writer Peter Jackson and co-writer Pippa Boyens.

TV

Perfect Couples
1x13 Perfect Daughter [series finale]
Perfect Couples comes to an end with one of its better episodes. Still not a great series, mind, but it did improve a bit as you got used to it.

Sherlock
2x03 The Reichenbach Fall [season finale]
That was brilliant, though I wish they'd done the reveal at the end -- we knew he was going to die and then not be dead, of course, but how he did it is the real surprise. Of course, that makes for a pretty fine 'cliffhanger'/tease, much clever than if they'd tried to pull off "is he dead?" as one.
Though however much I loved Sherlock, the twist (unveiled on twitter) that a third series was actually commissioned at the same time as a second is better than any they had in the series itself. Keeping that, which is pretty big news (how many series get a two-season pick-up! Not many) completely secret for so long is a very clever piece of work. Neat, very neat.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Underworld: Evolution (2006)
[2nd watch]

Last time I saw this was in cinemas, about six years ago, and I'd forgotten (or never realised) just how different it was to the first film.

Whereas that's very much a modern urban-fantasy -- all blue-grey perma-night constant-rain Gothic cityscape with cars and leather coats and dripping sewers and guns and more guns -- here we're back in the traditional vampire/werewolf realms of Eastern European forests (albeit filmed in Canada, apparently) with decrepit castles and ancient myths and all that kind of thing. Sure there's still high technology and guns, and characters new and old digging around in the ashes of the first film (an 800-year-ago prologue aside, this one picks up where that left off), but the general tone is different. And I don't like it as much.

There are plus points though. It wraps up all of the first film's hanging threads -- whereas that was ultimately inconclusive, here the mythology is completed (quite what's left for the prequel I'm not sure; more detail on events we already know the end result of I suppose). Indeed, Underworld: Part 2 would've been as apt a title, so closely is it linked to the first film. The acting's better too. I wouldn't necessarily say the script is, but with Shane Brolly dispatched early on and Sir Derek Jacobi added to the cast, the average performance quality is significantly raised.

It's also much more violent -- the first's a 15, this is an 18, and it's earned, though it didn't strike me as much as it did in the cinema (more desensitised I guess).

So, in conclusion, shame they couldn't have stuck to the first film's urban settings -- it was what made the franchise feel a bit different and Cool. Tomorrow night, I intend to see what I make of that prequel. Considering it's obvious time setting I'll allow it more of the old-fashioned-ness, but will it actually be any good?

Articles

Universal 100th Anniversary Plans
by Dave Foster (from Home Cinema @ The Digital Fix)

Relevant to DVD and Blu-ray fans are the studio's efforts to restore thirteen films over the course of the centennial year... Universal Home Entertainment will be introducing a limited edition 100th Anniversary Collector’s Series featuring some of the aforementioned film restorations on Blu-ray in collectible, book-style packaging...

In addition, special collections will be released throughout the year culminating in the highly anticipated Blu-ray releases of Universal’s Classic Monster and Alfred Hitchcock series. A selection of movies that have shaped Universal’s legacy will also be released in commemorative packaging, many of them on Blu-ray for the first time ever.

Exciting stuff. More details at the link.

They've also rejigged their logo for the anniversary -- about time, I think, because the old '97 CGI was beginning to get a bit tired. Here's the swish but faithful new look, as unveiled by universal100.tumblr.com.

Click to enlarge.

this week on 100 Films

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

Centurion (2010)

The story moves quickly, keeping the momentum up. Indeed, at times it moves so fast that some characters seem to be given short shrift. There’s a “who will survive?” element to the plot — Marshall’s horror roots showing through, perhaps — but you can largely guess which order they’ll be shuffled off in based on, a) how much screen time the character has, and b) the good old deciding factor of “which actors are most recognisable”.

The Spider Woman (1944)

the story sees Sherlock Holmes fake his own death to help tackle the Irene Adler-esque titular woman, apparently his intellectual match, who’s somehow causing a spree of suicides. Several borrowed elements — the faked death and The Woman — lead to some delicious scenes, such as when an incognito Holmes meets the woman, who is actually aware of his true identity. Gale Sondergaard is so good that they crafted a sequel around her

And in case you missed them last week, a pair of looks back at 2011 -- my watched list & statistics for the past year and my top ten (and bottom five) -- are obviously still available.

More next Sunday.

TV

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
Episode 1 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The House of Rooms
1x01 Episode 1 - Paul
Or Milton Jones's House of Rooms, as the listings would have it. It's a pilot, but they called it Episode 1 on screen -- confidant. It was completely barmy, which you should expect from Jones really, and quite fun because of it. Go on C4, make a series.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Jonathan Ross Show
2x01 (7/1/12 edition)
Still not got round to the Christmas special. Ho hum.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The Magicians
2x01 Episode 1
I can see why they've made it live -- for tricks like the social media one and, even more so, the public vote -- but it did make it feel rather clunky and unpolished at times. Hopefully it was first night nerves and things will firm up as the series goes on, because it's still a fun show.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x42 (11/1/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Underworld: Extended Cut (2003)
[3rd watch]

Technically my second watch, for this version (the first being the theatrical cut, in the cinema right back in '03). Last time was just before the first sequel hit cinemas, so about six years ago.

My opinion on it hasn't changed a great deal in that time, though I may have grown out of it a little more... but then I was always aware the dialogue was frequently clunky, the desaturated look a bit forced, the production design self-consciously Goth-y, and some of the performances dire: on one hand you have the likes of always-excellent Michael Sheen, on another Bill Nighy hamming it up magnificently, and on another the flat-as-a-pancake Shane Brolly, with the rest of the cast hitting various quality levels around them.

But it's good supernatural/action/Goth-geek-cool fun for all that. I imagine it's a helluva lot better than that other populist vampire vs. werewolf love story of recent times.

TV

Black Mirror
1x03 The Entire History of You [season finale]
Another bloody good episode; possibly the best one, in fact. So that's three for three -- impressive stuff. I hope this gets a re-commission, because intelligent TV sci-fi is much needed and always welcome.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Graham Norton Show
10x10 (6/1/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x12 Perfect Pants
The first of two episodes shown only online in the US. They take place before the wedding, so presumably they were ditched from the TV schedule when the show was cancelled in favour of finishing off the story arc.

Pointless
5x41 (10/1/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stella
1x01 Episode 1
New comedy-drama written by and starring Ruth Jones. Very good, I thought. So that's another good original comedy on Sky -- what are they playing at?

Articles

Interview: Daniel Handler
by Tasha Robinson (from A.V. Club)
A rather interesting and lengthy interview with the man behind Lemony Snicket about all kinds of things I found quite interesting. So there.

Collection Count

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

Y'see, this is the problem with January: there's all the stuff you didn't get for Christmas to buy, plus the new releases. Why are there so many new releases in January? I guess it's all the stuff they didn't think would sell in the pre-Christmas rush, saved up for the (alleged) post-Christmas lull. Unfortunately for me (or, rather, for my bank balance), I'm interested in all that stuff too.

Number of titles in collection: 1,433 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,148 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 285 [up 7]

Number of discs in collection: 3,569 [up 21]
Number of films in collection: 1,527 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,388 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.