TV

Castle
2x15 Suicide Squeeze
Apparently Channel 5 are stopping Castle now for, of all things, Big Brother... and until next year too. That's at least 7 months' pause, mid-season. What the hell?! I may switch to downloads.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Mad Men
5x10 Christmas Waltz
Last week Dark Shadows, this week Star Trek; they're bidding for the Jaguar account; the season began with a real-life event... Mad Men seems to be getting itself stuck into Real Things much more than it has before. I wonder if there's a reason?
And it's ever so weird watching Christmassy episodes as we head into summer.

Comics: Night of the Owls

Night of the Owls concludes!

I've so far given over two posts to my thoughts on last month's Batman event: for the first half, see Sunday, and for the next few see yesterday.

And so to the final few issues...


Batman: The Dark Knight #9 by Judd Winick & David Finch

Well, that was an odd one. A Talon's perspective on the night, showing some of his earlier life and then his rebirth for this particular night -- a neat idea, and one with some good moments. The Talon in question is the one who killed Lincoln March in Batman #9, so we also get a new perspective on that issue's final pages followed by a What Happened Next.

But... Red Robin is featured prominently on the cover, but turns up for just one panel, in which nothing like the cover event occurs. What was he doing during the Night? I don't think it's covered anywhere. Incredibly odd choice for a cover image, anyway. Then the issue ends with this particular Talon slinking off into the sewers, still alive. Will he be revisited later? I doubt it -- The Dark Knight is moving on; this event hasn't even been referred to in Batman so it'd be weird to bring it up later.


Batman Annual #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Jason Fabok

Here's one that's included in the event almost by default. It's really a Mr Freeze story, re-telling his origin with a new New 52 twist, but it takes place on the Night of the Owls (after it, really) and refers to Freeze's involvement in passing. If one were to look back over the event as part of the ongoing Court of Owls story, however, this segment should probably be left out.

As a story in its own right, then, it's incredibly decompressed. Though nearly double the length of a regular issue, I think it could easily be condensed to normal size without too much effort. It's a shame Snyder and Tynion can't put all those extra pages to good use, rather than just use them to tell a short story in more expanded form. So many panels which are so thoroughly pointless... Oh, modern comics.

The main talking point is the new twist at the end. Some people will surely be up in arms about it; personally, I think it's a neat new twist. It changes things in an interesting way, but it's hardly a history-betraying re-write.


Catwoman #9 by Judd Winick & Guillem March

Winick pens his third issue for the Night of the Owls, making him as prolific as event mastermind Scott Snyder. (More so, you could argue, as Snyder only co-wrote Batman Annual and only has two more because the previous month's issue of Batman is also included. But anyway.)

So here we have the last issue of the Night itself (there's still All Star Western, as you can see below, but more on that in a moment). It's the early hours of the morning and Catwoman (and some sidekick she currently has) accidentally runs into a Talon trying to kill the Penguin. She doesn't know about the whole shebang, but fights and defeats him anyway.

And yet, for all that unconnectedness, this is one of the better-characterised Talons of the whole event. Many other issues have tried to make them more than masked assassins, but I think this is the most successful -- even including the issue that was entirely from a Talon's perspective! Seems even with a new writer The Dark Knight can't really succeed... even if that writer also wrote this one. Funny how these things work out.

Oh, and this one is rated T+, presumably because there's a nude male bottom and characters say things like "crap", "hell" and "Godalmighty". Though based on the content/rating dynamic of other books, I imagine the rating came before the content.


All Star Western #9 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat

Difficult to place in a reading list, this: it takes place over a hundred years before the Night itself, but does feature a Talon and is branded as a tie-in. But really, it's shoehorned into the thing, even less significant to the Court of Owls story than some of the standalone ancillary tales from other Bat-books this month (at least those take place on the right night!) Instead, forcing a Talon into the ongoing Hex story means the promising August 7 storyline is cut short -- all wrapped up in just six pages. I worried about that happening when I read the last issue and this one realises my concerns. They seemed to have a lot of potential, so this is real a shame.

Then the Owl thing finishes off the longer plot in another seven pages (was it really so many?!), and a new story begins in the final seven. It would seem efficient were it not for very little happening in each of these long chunks. When All Star is good it's great, but it seems to struggle to transition from one story to the next. You don't need a handover instalment (which they seem to keep doing), just devote a whole issue to a climax and start afresh the month after. As it is, all the endings feel rushed with a tacked-on new beginning. Shame.

Also this issue, the concluding part of Patrick Scherberger-pencilled backup strip Nighthawk and Cinnamon, which has no relation to the Owls whatsoever. It's a decent story, nicely drawn, but there's just so much needless dialogue. It has a kind of B-movie cheesiness which is sort of nice, but even allowing for that being deliberate there's just so much. A little pruning, please.


And that's that! Bit of a downbeat conclusion to the event, with no issue here that really has a significant bearing on the storyline. Indeed, two of them are barely connected at all. Oh well.

Overall, it's been pretty fun. The winner for me is the two-part Nightwing tale, though Red Hood and the Outlaws was surprisingly good too. The main story, taking place in two issues of Batman, felt underwhelming, with a lack of scope considering the Gotham-wide nature of the event -- indeed, such a sense was conveyed better in Batgirl, of all things! Actually, that was one of the event's better issues too.

I imagine the Batman pieces actually fare better when taken as two instalments near the climax of the eleven-issue Court of Owls saga, rather than as the linchpin of the Night of the Owls. That's been a great story and I can't wait to see how it ends.

Articles

Christopher Nolan Won’t Make a Howard Hughes Film, But He Still Wants To Direct a Bond Movie
by Russ Fischer (from /Film)

The headline pretty much covers it, except for this tidbit:

Nolan does tell Empire that he met with producers about Bond, but that any film with his name on it “would have to be the right situation and the right time in their cycle of things.” Precisely what “the right situation” is can be open to question, but since part of Nolan’s working method is exerting total control, he might want to cast his own Bond. Given how much effort EON puts into choosing and marketing their Bond, that could be the one and only stumbling block that matters.

Really need to get round to reading that Empire -- it has a huge feature (really, a set of features) on The Dark Knight Rises.


Forecast: Online Demand For Movies, TV Shows Will Top DVD Sales This Year
by Daniel Frankel (from paidContent)

It's a bleak and depressing headline, sure -- online streamed or downloaded video content mostly doesn't have the quality of DVD, and stuff that claims to be HD is nowhere near as good as Blu-ray. Sure, it's fine for the latest trashy blockbuster, even more so for the average viewer; but for those who care about quality and a film-like experience, it's rubbish.

But the news in the article itself is much more heartening:

IHS predicts digital transactions will only yield around $1.7 billion in 2012, compared to $11.1 billion for physical formats. Even by 2016, the research firm projects that digital viewing will only account for 17% of home entertainment revenue...

“We are looking at the beginning of the end of the age of movies on physical media like DVD and Blu-ray. But the transition is likely to take time: almost nine years after the launch of the iTunes Store, CDs are still a vital part of the music business.”

Sounds like we should be getting discs for years -- perhaps decades -- more yet. Hopefully at least time enough for technology to make that streaming/downloaded content achieve the same visual/audio quality as Blu-ray, if not exceed it. Hurrah!

TV

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

MythBusters
9x13 Bikes & Bazookas
9x17 Flying Guillotine
9x16 Duct Tape Plane
In the first of these, they spend half an episode seeing if something from the film RED is plausible. I could've told them that in half a second. Still, it meant stuff blowing up, and that's always cool. The second episode, meanwhile, showed that C4 (as in the explosive) is pretty amazing stuff. (Though how Discovery UK decide the broadcast order of these episodes is beyond me.)

Comics: Night of the Owls

Night of the Owls continues!

For my thoughts on the first half, see yesterday's post. The next batch (according to this reading order) begins with...


Birds of Prey #9 by Duane Swierczynski & Travel Foreman

Not the strongest issue to get back into things with, as the ragtag group of minor characters that are the Birds of Prey battle another generic Talon.

There are some good touches -- the Talons-eye-view panels that re-imagine what he's seeing as being from the 1800s are neat, and Foreman (formerly of Animal Man) delivers good imagery all round -- but Swierczynski's dialogue feels awfully clunky, shoehorning in references to on-going plot threads for no good reason... other than perhaps as some kind of attempt to get the casual Night of the Owls reader to start buying BoP regularly. Well, not close to working on me.

Fine, but (along with Batwing) the least-essential tie-in yet.

Oh, and no beheadings, but a gory double-page spread at the start including slit throats and spilled intestines. Still rated T.


Nightwing #9 by Kyle Higgins, Eddy Barrows & Andres Guinaldo

Picking up where the previous issue left off, this finishes the flashback story of the first Talon Batman encountered, who is also (spoilers!) Nightwing's great-grandfather, while in the present day the relatives go head-to-head.

It's one of the best issues of the whole event, in my opinion. While Batman may be aiming for an epic main battle against the Court of Owls, Nightwing conveys the personal, emotional impact of events on such a key member of the Bat-family. It makes this storyline much more of a heavy-hitter, and proves that Nightwing is as essential to the storyline as the main title.


Detective Comics #9 by Tony S. Daniel

Batman turns up at Arkham Asylum, presumably at some point in the couple-of-hours gap between two panels near the end of Batman #9. There's also a brief reference to the end of Nightwing #9, and the implication Batman's off to find the Birds of Prey in their #9... which is interesting, because he doesn't turn up in that issue!

Anyway, despite the presence of Batman himself this is pretty much a standalone fight. Though he leaves with Dr Arkham at the end for no particular reason, unless that thread's going to crop up again in one of the few remaining issues. Considering he decides to drop him with Nightwing, I can't imagine which.

The Two-Face backup strip continues, nothing to do with the event. Szymon Kudranski's art is impenetrably dark and shadow-driven, making an already lacklustre story even harder to follow. Meh.


More tomorrow.

TV

Archer
3x13 Space Race Part 2 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Have I Got News For You
43x07 (25/5/12 edition; extended repeat)
aka The William Shatner One. Absolutely brilliant.

Comics: Night of the Owls

Night of the Owls begins!

And with the publication last Wednesday of Batman Annual #1, the event is now over... but I've saved up the whole thing to read in one go. Well, I say one go -- it's fourteen issues, so it'll probably be two or three goes. And the other advantage to waiting is I can read it in reading order rather than publication order... though as they're mostly standalone stories, and some issues take place across multiple other ones anyway, I doubt it really matters.

So, in reading order...


Batman #8 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, James Tynion IV & Rafael Albuquerque

Here the night begins with a whole team of Talons attacking Wayne Manor, forcing Bruce and Alfred to retreat into the Batcave where they realise the full extent of the Court's plan. It's primarily an action issue, with some good fights, but it also sets up where the whole event is going.

This is also the first issue of Batman to have a backup strip (co-written by Snyder & Tynion and drawn by Albuquerque) and, unusually, it continues the story immediately where the main one leaves off, plus leads directly into the wider Bat-family's involvement in the event. I hope there's no one who just ignores those extra bits...


Nightwing #8 by Kyle Higgins & Eddy Barrows

They've labelled this a "prelude" to the main event, just because it fell outside the main month when everything as tying in, which is stupid really: Alfred's call from the Batman backup comes very early in the issue (complete with a Night of the Owls timestap), before Nightwing ends up battling a Talon and it all ends on a "to be continued" cliffhanger. I imagine if one only read Nightwing #9 as part of the event, it would feel a tad confusing -- this is as much a part of it as anything else.

And once again, I swear no one actually reads these comics before they put an age rating on them. Despite featuring a graphic beheading (amongst sundry other violence), this retains the series' regular T rating. Perhaps it's a moot point -- comics mostly sell to grown men who should know better these days -- but still, if you're going to bother, do it right.


Batgirl #9 by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf

I'm behind on Batgirl -- last one I read was #6, so I'm skipping two issues here -- but it's Night of the Owls! And it's a standalone issue as part of that, so it's OK.

The way they pitched Night of the Owls, I was expecting the main story to be contained to Batman (and maybe Nightwing) with all the other titles telling smaller one-on-one stories about Bat-family members which are connected to the main story but not essential. Based on this one issue, that's not entirely the case: not only does this reference several other issues (plenty of footnotes telling you where to go for the full story), but it's based around a pretty significant incident (I imagine -- we'll see), involving not only Batgirl but also Commissioner Gordon, and a turning-point victory for the Court.

While it would be good for comics crossovers generally if not every involved issue was essential to understanding what the hell's going on, I'm glad that not all the books in Night of the Owls will be providing ancillary stories that don't really matter.

Oh, and Batgirl fights a female Talon -- I hope they don't have all the female heroes fighting female Talons, because that's just too coincidental.


Batman and Robin #9 by Peter J. Tomasi, Lee Garbett & Andy Clarke

Or Robin, this issue, as Batman is pretty busy elsewhere (considering he's the sole starring character in three other titles; though I think Batman: The Dark Knight subs in Red Robin this month (which is funny, really, because as the only one without Batman in the actual title, you'd think Detective Comics would be the natural home for a non-Batman story. But hey-ho, that's comics for you.)).

Unlike Batgirl, this is a standalone ancillary tale, but a pretty good one. Another bloody beheading though -- in fact, there's four. Four. And Americans count this as Teen. God.


Batwing #9 by Judd Winick & Marcus To

So we reach the first title in the Night of the Owls that I've never read before (there'll be several more of these before we're done). It's another standalone tale in which 'African Batman' Batwing defends Batman, Inc.'s Lucius Fox from a Talon attack. It also builds on some elements from Batwing's regular run, I think, but in no way that locks out people like me who'll only pick up this issue. It's fine enough as a bit of a scrap, but it's not going to convince me to start buying the book regularly.

It's also nice that in several books characters who would know note how much the Talon moves like Nightwing -- in Batgirl, here, and later in Red Hood.... Neat. As for other recurring themes, there's no beheadings this time (only a threatened one), but yet another repetition of Alfred's call from the end of Batman #8. I suppose I don't blame them, it's a good way of quickly kicking off the plot, but I'll know it by heart at this rate. At least Red Hood and the Outlaws put it at the end of their preceding issue.

And Batwing doesn't fight a black Talon, so that's good (see comment on Batgirl above for why I note this).


Batman #9 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo

Back to the main title next for the primary issue of the whole event -- it's even titled Night of the Owls, just to make sure you know. This one covers a fair chunk of the evening, passing around and over the events of several books that will follow (and some that have gone before) -- there's a glaring space left for the events of Detective Comics #9, for instance. (For some reason the reading list puts that four issues away yet, but I'd consider putting it next. Maybe there's a reason I'll discover when I get to it.)

As a whole, the issue by itself doesn't quite have the grandiosity that an event of this scale promises. It's a fight -- a tough one, admittedly, but still just a fight -- followed by a quick trip in the Batmobile to the next plot token. I suppose that's kind of the problem with the Night of the Owls: by making it a Big Event they've made it seem like the climax to the story, but actually that's a couple of issues away yet. Not bad, just not quite the event linchpin one feels it should have been.

The backup strip (again co-written by Snyder & James Tynion IV with art from Rafael Albuquerque) is titled The Fall of the House of Wayne, Part 1 of 3, and tells the story of another Talon attack, this one in the past, on Alfred's father and former servant to the Waynes, Jarvis Pennyworth. It promises some secret to the history of the Wayne family, which some have speculated will be a re-writing of Batman's origin story. We'll see.


Red Hood and the Outlaws #9 by Scott Lobdell & Kenneth Rocafort

Another one I've never read before. More successful than Batwing this issue, in my opinion, though obviously you can't use these to judge the whole series. Some of the cast's banter is more forced than funny, and Rocafort's unusual layouts are a mixed blessing (that they're strange is nice; that this sometimes results in very small panels is more debatable), but it tells a whole story that doesn't feel woefully short, with some major character beats (that Red Hood has previously been resurrected a la the Talons is neatly used).

It also ties in nicely to the rest of the event: there's Mr Freeze, who'll crop up majorly in Batman Annual #1 (which is placed later on the reading list, though there's no clues left here to where it should sit), and the last couple of pages wrap up the story from Batgirl, as well as pointing the way to Birds of Prey (which is next on the reading list). All good stuff. Despite early reservations, this is perhaps my favourite single issue of the event so far.


And that's the halfway point! More tomorrow.

this week on 100 Films

Just one new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week...

Priest (2011)

It tries to generate character and tension, but hasn’t spent enough time building them to earn it. There’s lots of awful dialogue, flooded with clichés… as is a lot of the plot, and the stock dystopian future setting, and the overuse of slow-mo. There’s some ideas with promise, but they’re largely shunted aside in favour of something from The Big Book of Standard Character Arcs.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

...but you may also have noticed that it's now June, so here's the May update too.

More next Sunday.

TV

The Voice UK
1x17 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Box Office Milestone: The Avengers Becomes No. 3 Pic of All Time With $1.331 Billion
by Pamela McClintock (from The Hollywood Reporter)

On Friday, the Disney and Marvel Studios' tentpole surpassed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 to become the third-biggest tile of all time at the worldwide box office...

[It] also shattered another record domestically on Friday, surpassing The Dark Knight to become the third top grossing film of all time [in America] with a cume of $538.1 million...

Internationally. Avengers [is] the fifth-best showing of all time.

TV

Castle
2x14 The Third Man
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Articles

Avengers ten-disc Blu-ray collection surfaces
by Mark Langshaw (from Digital Spy)
Oo-ooh! Need to sell my Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America BDs now...

Primeval series five to air on ITV1 a year after Watch broadcast
by Morgan Jeffery (from Digital Spy)
Well I never. It's nearly 18 months since they aired season four, a year since season five premiered on Watch, and it's been out on DVD & Blu-ray for about that long too, so I didn't think ITV were going to bother -- it can't be a huge ratings draw at this point, especially considering it wasn't that big before. Perhaps that's why they're dumping it in the summer. But I don't mind -- despite it's low quality, last series ended on cliffhangers and I want to know what happened without having to pay for the thing.

Collection Count

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

A few sale acquisitions this week -- including The Exorcist on Blu-ray, a film I've been meaning to buy (and see, of course) for God knows how many years -- give a bit of a boost.

The Artist was also out this week. That's on order. I waited until it was out to use a 10% voucher I had (not useable on pre-orders), then the next day found it cheaper still somewhere else. I was able to move the order, but wasted the voucher and needn't have waited. There's a moral in there somewhere.

Number of titles in collection: 1,486 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,154 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 332 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 3,689 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,574 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,489 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Episodes
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Mad Men
5x09 Dark Shadows
There seem to be an awful lot of dream/fantasy sequences this season. It must mean something.

Pointless
4x26 (11/7/11 edition) [2nd watch]
And this is where I came in. Back to new episodes next, then.

Films

The Scarlet Claw (1944)
[#46 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Being the eighth film to star Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. It's also, quite coincidentally, five months to the day since I watched the last. I'll try not to leave it so long 'til the next one, but then I've been intending that for years.

TV

Grandma's House
2x06 The day Simon and his family opened the door to acceptance [season finale]
Suitably downbeat ending. I hope there's going to be more, but this year's ratings have been lower than the first and apparently Amstell doesn't want to do another series anyway.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Making of the Ring
3 Siegfried (of 4)
Third of four half-hours looking behind the scenes of La Fura dels Baus' production of Wagner's Ring Cycle. And just the making of this time, because I didn't have time for a full opera (Siegfried is a good 4½-5 hours) but really do need to clear some space on my V+ box. (Exciting, I know.)

Articles

If Paul Chambers’s conviction is allowed to stand, what should we not do in future?
by Schroedinger99 (from Bad Reason)

"the judges can't agree on a verdict. The two High-Court Judges concerned have been thinking about the question I examine in this post for three and a half months and they can't even decide what the law is. This begs the question even more strongly than I beg it in the post below: How on earth are mere mortals, with no legal training, supposed to know how to obey the law on tweeting when it comes to the 2003 Communications Act?"

TV

How I Met Your Mother
7x14 46 Minutes
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Voice UK
1x16 The Semi-Final Results
Well well well, who saw that coming? Apart from anyone who read online speculation, of course, where those two upsets were quite clearly signposted. But hey, it keeps it interesting.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Dirk Gently axed by BBC Four, confirms star Stephen Mangan by Morgan Jeffery (from Digital Spy)
and
Scott & Bailey recommissioned, says star Suranne Jones by David Brown (from Radio Times)
Bad and good news on the TV recommissioning front, here.

The High Court is unable to agree on Twitter Joke Trial appeal
by David Allen Green (from New Statesman)
The quest for common sense goes on. Two judges heard the last case and delivered a split verdict, presumably because one saw sense and the other is an idiot. Next time it'll be three, so fingers crossed enough of them are of the (apparently rare among the judiciary) intelligent variety.
There's also a more personal comment from Green (who is Paul Chambers' solicitor) here.

The Voice creator John de Mol: we need to make the live shows "more exciting"
by Jack Seale (from Radio Times)
Well, it's good they realise it, and they have some definite, sensible ideas for going forward.