Collection Count

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

Only one new thing this week, but no more is required: the Skyfall Steelbook. Splendiferous.

And to liven things up nonetheless, there's the running time update. The thrills just keep on coming.

Number of titles in collection: 1,535 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,152 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 383 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,853 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,611 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,722 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 374 [no change]

As promised...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
277 days, 22 hours, and 27 minutes.
(Up 16 hours and 36 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Dexter
6x11 Talk to the Hand
6x12 This is the Way the World Ends [season finale]
Usually Dexter has a calm, reflective ending... but not this season. Wham-bang-huge-cliffhanger it is! Loads of other plot threads left dangling too -- all the signs of a two-year recommission after season five, then.
Season seven starts in the UK this Sunday on FOX (formerly FX), for them that has it, while season eight is coming before too long to the US.

The Graham Norton Show
12x17 (15/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
2x04 (15/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Yes, Prime Minister [2013]
1x06 A Tsar is Born [season finale]
This has been distinctly variable. Some funny moments, but an awful lot of too-big stagey acting and far too many recaps of what's going on. It notes in the end credits that it was adapted from the stage play, so I guess they took the two hours (or whatever) of that and extended it to make six half-hours of TV -- on stage, the "all this in one night" thing would work, but on TV, over six weeks, it felt needless. I can't imagine they'll get to have another go, but if they do, I hope it's in the form of a real series rather than a (somewhat misguided) serial.

Comics

2000 AD #2012

Continuing and concluding the Christmas-before-last bumper Prog, with…

• Aquila Prologue by Gordon Rennie & Leigh Gallagher
• Grey Area Meet & Greet, Part 1 by Dan Abnett & Karl Richardson
• Dandridge A Christmas Ghost Story by Alec Worley & Jon Davis-Hunt
• Sinister Dexter Now & Again by Dan Abnett & Anthony Williams
• Strontium Dog The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha, Chapter Two: The Project, Part One by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra & Hector Ezquerra

Aquila and Grey Area are both effective introductions to brand-new series. The latter may be a bit too exposition-y, but it still holds promise. Dandridge is an effective little ghost story. Sinister Dexter is a double whammy of continuing/concluding plot from the previous Progs, and Christmas-special-ish dimension hopping through all 2000 AD's most beloved franchises. And then Strontium Dog is the second arc of a long story for a very old series, making it absolutely impenetrable to newbies like me. Still, at least everything else was good.

TV

Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe
1x03 (14/2/13 edition)

Dexter
6x10 Ricochet Rabbit

The Good Life
1x02 Say Little Hen...

Articles

Interview with Steven Moffat from Gallifrey One
by Kyle Anderson (from Nerdist)

I say "article" -- it's a video. Normally I object to that (I prefer a transcript), but this is worth watching. It's 13 minutes in which DVD documentary maker Ed Stradling chats to The Moff -- that's quite long for a one-on-one interview really, and it goes in to about as much depth as you might expect regarding plans for Who's 50th anniversary, plus wider-ranging discussion of Moffat's Who views. For those that have been worried, he denies the anniversary special is just one 60-minute episode, and confirms there will be a 2013 Christmas special.


An Oscar Voter's Brutally Honest Ballot
by Anonymous, as told to Scott Feinberg (from The Hollywood Reporter)

One of the 371 members of the Academy’s directors branch recently invited me over to his office to listen in as he openly deliberated about how to fill out his final ballot for the 85th Oscars.

A lot of people in the comments think this guy is a right... something-or-other. He is in places; in others, he's bang on. Either way, it's an interesting insight into how people vote for the Oscars... and why the results end up so daft so often.


Plus, while I'm here...

Benedict Cumberbatch and the cast of Neverwhere - first photo and air date revealed
by Paul Jones (from Radio Times)

Looks exciting. It's on the week of March 16th (all 3½ hours of it).

TV

Death in Paradise
2x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Skyfall (2012)
[2nd watch]

Skyfall was #86 in 100 Films 2012, and I afforded it a spoiler-packed 4,800-word review on Christmas Day. I also wrote a (much shorter) spoiler-free piece right after it came out, for those who haven't seen it yet.

And if you haven't seen it... it's out on DVD and Blu-ray now. Buy it, it's brilliant.

TV

Dexter
6x09 Get Gellar
Now that is a twist! Seriously brilliant, on a changes-everything, completely-out-of-the-blue, but-really-should-have-seen-it-coming level.

The Good Life
1x01 Plough Your Own Furrow

The Sarah Millican Television Programme
2x05 Episode 5

TV

Arrow
1x08 Vendetta

Dexter
6x08 Sin of Omission

Comics

2000 AD #1762-1763

• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: The Assassination List, Parts 4-5 by John Wagner & Leigh Gallagher
• Sinister Dexter Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Parts Two - Three by Dan Abnett & Anthony Williams
• Indigo Prime Anthropocalypse, Parts Seven - Eight by John Smith & Edmund Bagwell
• Angel Zero Parts 12-13 by Kek-W & John Burns

The end-of-2011 issues, meaning Indigo Prime and Angel Zero both wrap up. Can't say I'll miss either, though Indigo Prime will be back. Dredd has a solid cliffhanger, which must have made for an irritating four or five week break at the time. As for me, well, I'll be on to Prog.1764 in no time. But before that...


2000 AD #2012

...the bumper-length Christmas 2011 issue. A mix of standalones and new stories being kicked off. I only made a start on it today, including:

• Judge Dredd Choose Your Own Xmas by Al Ewing & John Higgins
• Absalom Sick Leave by Gordon Rennie & Tiernen Trevallion
• Nikolai Dante The Wedding of Jena Makarov, Part 1 by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser

The Dredd tale is all kinds of excellence, working as both a read-it-through-in-order and jump-to-a-panel choose-your-own-adventure story. Very clever, Mr Ewing, very clever indeed.

As for the others, Nikolai Dante was running (possibly even starting) when I first bought 2000 AD many, many moons ago. I wasn't too fond of it then; here, it seems quite fun... but is starting mid-story, really, so I've barely a clue what's going on. Same can be said for Absalom. I appreciate these things are paying off long-term readers, but you can see how it puts off newcomers. No wonder comics readership is dwindling across the board when they all seek to pay off people who are aware of years/decades of continuity.

TV

Dexter
6x07 Nebraska
I was worried this episode would be a bit of an aside, but I thought it was a particularly good one. Mass opinion (or as mass as TV.com's viewer ratings get, anyway) seems to disagree.

Elementary
1x12 M.
Elementary really seems to have found its feet in recent episodes (that or I've just got used it), and this is definitely the pinnacle of that. Hopefully they'll go the Sherlock route and introduce and deal with Moriarty for too long, rather than the Mentalist route of stringing it out forever. But it's US network TV, so I fear the latter is more likely.

Films

Final Destination 5 (2011)
[#17 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Comics

2000 AD #1758-1761

Featuring, in order of each strip's first appearance here...

• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: Elusive, Part 6 by John Wagner & Henry Flint
• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: The Assassination List, Parts 1-3 by John Wagner & Leigh Gallagher
• Ampney Crucis Investigates... The English Assassin, Parts Nine - Eleven by Ian Edginton & Simon Davis
• Indigo Prime Anthropocalypse, Parts Three - Six by John Smith & Edmund Bagwell
• Angel Zero Parts 8-11 by Kek-W & John Burns
• Low Life The Deal, Parts 9-12 by Rob Williams & D'Israeli
• Sinister Dexter Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Part One by Dan Abnett & Anthony Williams

Keeping this up for two days in a row?! Unheard of!

The consistently excellent Low Life comes to a consistently excellent end. I ought to find out if previous episodes are available in book form, assuming they're just as good. Ampney Crucis ends too, on a cliffhanger that relies on previous knowledge (which I don't have). Indigo Prime continues to show off great art on an impenetrable story, while Angel Zero plods on in predictable fashion.

And Dredd is Dredd. Which is no bad thing.

Back when Prog.1760 was published ECBT 2000AD linked to a most unusual thing: a medical review of the issue! If you're interested, that can be found here.

this week on 100 Films

Four new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Avengers Assemble (2012)

aka The Avengers / Marvel's The Avengers / Marvel Avengers Assemble / Marvel's Avengers Assemble... the film that represented the culmination of Marvel's uber-successful Phase One cinematic experiment: the disappointing Avengers Assemble.

Yeah, I said "disappointing".

Read more here.


Everything or Nothing (2012)

Eschewing intrusive, dogmatic voiceover narration, Riley instead tells the story through interviews (both new talking-head pieces and archive-drawn audio), illustrative clips, behind-the-scenes photos and film snippets, and music. The latter elements are taken almost exclusively from the Bond franchise itself

Read more here.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

The climactic Battle of Hogwarts takes up much of the film. A glut of combat and cameos, most surviving characters return. Many get their moment to shine, with particular gratification from Matthew Lewis’ Neville, Julie Walters’ Mrs Weasley, and Maggie Smith’s Professor McGonagall.

Read more here.


Thor (2011)

Director Kenneth Branagh brings all his Shakespearean know-how to one of the most innately successful of Marvel’s recent superhero movies, spinning a yarn of gods and mortals, humility and responsibility, without stinting on action or humour.

Read more here.



And new to the new blog...


Max Payne: Harder Cut (2008)

The reportedly awful A Good Day to Die Hard is in cinemas now. It’s directed by John Moore, whose last film earnt a rare 1-star review from me…

Read more here.


Night at the Museum (2006)

the easily-impressed will love it, the highly cynical will probably despise it, and the rest of us can sit in the middle, being adequately entertained while the film plays but require nothing else from it ever again.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
8x03 Nannies
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2013
Episode 1 (of 4)
It's the fifth series of this comedy Strictly now -- I don't think they've managed to make one of these celebs-be-silly-for-charity formats last so long before. But hey, it works. I swear the routines are getting longer though... or maybe they just feel it. And who the hell is Olivia Lee?!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
19x03 (10/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1755-1757

Featuring, in order of first appearance...

• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: Elusive, Parts 3-5 by John Wagner & Henry Flint
• Ampney Crucis Investigates... The English Assassin, Parts Six - Eight by Ian Edginton & Simon Davis
• Bob Byrne's Twisted Tales Tale #13 by Bob Byrne
• Angel Zero Parts 5-7 by Kek-W & John Burns
• Low Life The Deal, Parts 6-8 by Rob Williams & D'Israeli
• Indigo Prime Anthropocalypse, Parts One - Two by John Smith & Edmund Bagwell

A few months ago I said I was trying to get back into my 2000 AD reading. That failed to subsequently materialise. So now I'm really, really trying -- picking up where I left off in November 2011. 15 months ago. No wonder I struggled to remember what was going on in a couple of stories. Still, off to a solid start… though the latest Prog (with subscribers now, in shops on Wednesday) is #1820, so…

Anyway, particular highlights here come in Prog.1755, with an awesome cover -- well, a great pun -- and a top Bob Byrne's Twisted Tale inside. 1756 takes the wind out by reintroducing the woeful Indigo Prime, but at least there's Low Life to sustain a suitable level of awesome.

Collection Count

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

This week's sole addition: Witness for the Prosecution, apparently the first time it's been released on DVD in the UK.

Number of titles in collection: 1,534 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,152 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 382 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,851 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,610 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,722 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 374 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Dexter
6x06 Just Let Go
Halfway!

The Graham Norton Show
12x16 (8/2/13 edition)
Mark Wahlberg's behaviour caused quite a stir, and... yeah, it was distinctly odd. People speculated he was drunk -- considering he began the show going on about how bad it was they offered the guests drink, I'd say it's pretty darn certain that was the problem.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
2x03 (8/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
13x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

I Think I Invented Netflix, So Where's My Money?
by Stephen Gallagher (from Hauling Like a Brooligan)

with TV... I believe the pirates have set up a genuine model for the future... Broadcast TV is only good for soaps, news and reality now - background stuff... Drama, being immersive in its nature, struggles to thrive in that environment... no one wants to settle in for that long, or focus that much, at a time that doesn't necessarily suit them. There's always going to be an appetite for TV drama, but people have definitely lost their taste for being scheduled.

I had to really chop up a few paragraphs to get the main point across succinctly. But go read the whole thing, it's full of correctitude.

TV

Dexter
6x05 The Angel of Death

Food and Drink
1x02 Mary Berry - Baking
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Stella
2x05 Episode 5