Films

Les Misérables (2012)
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

On Dangerous Ground (1952)
[#49 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Case Histories
2x01 Started Early, Took My Dog
Considering the first series was on in 2011, I assumed they weren't bothering with more. But no, here it is! And despite now being in single 90-minute episodes instead of 120-minute two-parters, it somehow feels slow. But quite good. Though why can't someone turn the lights on for some/any/all of the interior scenes?
Though, aww, look at the cute doggie!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
5x22 Red John's Rules [season finale]
So that's Arrow, Elementary and The Mentalist all down for the summer. Maybe it's time to resume Dexter...
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Collection Count

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

This one's late for the same reasons as yesterday's 100 Films update. Not too many things to add, but a few -- and a running time update to calculate too. But first, the regular stats:

Number of titles in collection: 1,564 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,162 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 402 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,907 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,680 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,761 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 380 [no change]

And the new running time is...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
281 days, 12 hours, and 7 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 10 hours, and 33 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Elementary
1x23 The Woman
1x24 Heroine [season finale]
A two-part finale, shown as a single long episode in the US but being split up over here (I think the first half is on this Tuesday). It was a little slow in places, but some fine twists that I wasn't expecting.

The Good Life
4x01 Away From It All

Have I Got News For You
45x06 (10/5/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
[#48a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[3rd watch]

This was previously #70 in 100 Films 2011.

And now, it's almost the end of my Harry Potter re-watch! All being well, this time next week it'll be the grand finale. It's flown by.

this week on 100 Films

A busy week has delayed my regular weekend round-ups, but here's one now...

So, just one new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I have much more I could have said about The Dark Knight Rises, but damn I’m fed up with still having films from 2012 on my to-do list! A fuller piece may well accompany a re-watch in the future.

Read more here.


But there were quite a few new to the new blog...


The Damned United (2009)

I have no idea if Sheen’s Clough is anything like the real man — though, based on form, I imagine he’s spot on — but it’s an outstanding performance regardless. Effortlessly charming on first encounter, [but] the cocksure and awkward-to-work-with man beneath the charismatic veneer is gradually revealed.

Read more here.


Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

a different kind of war film. While it seems to have been promoted as the story of the battle for Iwo Jima, it’s more about the experience of three men, both on the island and upon their return to America

Read more here.


Funny Face (1957)

Funny Face has Audrey Hepburn falling in love with someone old enough to be her dad. Fortunately, there’s enough other entertaining stuff going on to keep us distracted from that fact.

Read more here.


Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Companion to Flags of Our Fathers, and widely considered the better of the two, showing the same battle from the Japanese perspective.

Read more here.


Righteous Kill (2008)

It’s dull. Properly dull — not slow, not measured, not leisurely — just dull. Director Jon Avnet tries to spice things up occasionally with some swishy camerawork or editing [but] it doesn’t work; if anything, it makes it worse.

Read more here.


The Social Network (2010)

The Social Network sounds like it should be awful — Facebook: The Movie? What?! — but it’s actually brilliant.

Read more here.


Thumbsucker (2005)

It's so good that all I can remember about it is that I've seen it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x14 The Name of the Doctor [season finale]

Well, that was a nice 45-minute teaser for the anniversary special!

In all seriousness though, there were some neat things in this episode, including bits that finally made it feel like part of the celebratory 50th anniversary year; but as a satisfying self-contained episode in its own right, no -- it was too embedded in resolving hanging issues from the past (not all of them that interesting; or, alternatively, not that interestingly resolved) and setting up where the series is going next.

Shame, actually, because there was room (and need?) for a calmer, more reflective, and ending-y finale, rather than another cliffhanger.

[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]



Eurovision Song Contest: Malmö 2013
[Watch it (again) soon on iPlayer.]

Articles

Why do Doctor Who fans hate Doctor Who?
by Penelope Irving (from The Black Hole Blog at Spaceforce)

I think it’s a product of the show’s longevity, its uniquely remoldable format and its status as a cultural icon. Other fandoms have deep divisions, but they are usually over specific issues. I’m not sure the phenomenon of fans who are active and committed, and who also seem to loathe the current show, exists in other fandoms.

TV

Arrow
1x23 Sacrifice [season finale]
Crikey, that was certainly Big! And it's nice to once again have a series that gets on with its stories, rather than making everything multi-year mystery that never seems to end. Some proper twists and surprises too.
(For UK-pace viewers, this is on Sky1 on Monday.)

The Graham Norton Show
13x06 (10/5/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x16 Bad Crazy
Aww, what a lovely cameo by convicted rapist and ear-biter Mike Tyson.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Django Unchained (2012)
[#48 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Ben Earl: Trick Artist
1x03 Science
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
The Murder in Angel Lane
ITV's 2011 adaptation of the titular true-crime "non-fiction novel" went down so well that they commissioned this completely fiction follow-up, clearly designed to launch a series. It's quite good, but at the end strayed too far from real-life plausibility into pure Detective Drama territory. And it feels a bit weird to take a real person, tell a very true story about them, and then begin making stuff up under the same title.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Arrow
1x22 Darkness on the Edge of Town

The Job Lot
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
6x08 (11/5/13 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
1x18 Weapons of Class Destruction

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

Music

Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

It feels like this has been trending on Twitter for ages (I think it's just "all week" -- but still, that's a long time in Twitter terms), I guess because it's streaming for free and, for some reason, out of the blue, everyone loves Daft Punk these days. The actual tweets suggested quite a mixed reception, so I caved and listened to it too, and I quite liked it.

Personal favourite track is #5, Instant Crush (starts at 22:49 on the stream), and I like the Apollo 17 quote on Contact. Plus Get Lucky really does get in your head, doesn't it.

TV

Elementary
1x22 Risk Management
That would've been a much bigger surprise if they hadn't announced the casting...

Plebs
1x05 Bananae
1x06 Saturnalia [season finale]
[Watch Bananae and Saturnalia (again) on ITV Player.]

Vicious
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player].

Would I Lie To You?
7x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Mad Men
6x05 The Flood

The Mentalist
5x21 Red and Itchy
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Not Going Out
6x05 Rachel
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

DVD Extras

Creating the World of Harry Potter
Part 7 Story

An eight-part documentary series found on the Harry Potter Ultimate Editions and in the Wizard's Collection, covering the entire making of the series in themed parts. Whereas most 'episodes' are made up of old & new interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and the like, this is just a 45-minute conversation between author J.K. Rowling and the screenwriter of 7 of the 8 movies, Steve Kloves. Very informative and enlightening it is too.

TV

The British Academy Television Awards 2013
Last year I described the awards as "rather uncomfortable". This year, I thought it was mostly good fun, with some very worthy and entertaining winners. So that's all good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
33x13a She Said, He Said: A Prequel
The prequel to the season finale. It was promoted as one of the longest they've ever done, which is a technicality because it's all of 3½ minutes. But it's an odd one -- normally these are pointless bonus scenes set just before the episode takes place, perhaps teasing one element of it... but this feels more like a specially-shot trailer, recapping the mysteries of the season and ending with a tease for the episode. Weird.
[Watch it (again) on the official Doctor Who site.]

The Voice UK
2x08 The Battle Rounds 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
[#47a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[2nd watch]

This was #84 in 100 Films 2009. I remembered it as being little more than 2½ hours of setup for Deathly Hallows, but it's actually much better than that.


The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
[#47 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

this week on 100 Films

The big news this week (because I want you to vote in it) is that I've introduced 100 Films in a Year's first ever poll. As I'm mid-way through a re-watch, I thought it would be appropriate to ask: which is your favourite Harry Potter film? Vote at that link. Please.


As well as that, three brand-new reviews were published this week...


Green Lantern: Extended Cut (2011)

my expectation that the film would be irredeemably awful is at least partly why I found it surprisingly enjoyable... I’m not going to try to argue Green Lantern is a great movie, or even that it doesn’t contain significant flaws, but as a comic book-y two-hour diversion, I found it passably entertaining.

Read more here.


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

My Harry Potter retrospective resumes with a new director bringing a new energy to the franchise.

Read more here.


Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

One of the more overlooked facets of Rowling’s work is her penchant for allegory and gentle satire... Here it’s the press under fire. Rita Skeeter may have a greatly reduced role compared to the novel, but her Quick-Quotes Quill — which, essentially, just makes stuff up — is present and correct.

Read more here.


And also, new to the new blog...


For Your Consideration (2006)

The best bits come in the second half, when the cast and crew of the fictional film-within-a-film hit the campaign trail. The styles of TV shows that various people appear on — the different levels awarded to the leads, other cast members, the writers, and so on — has some decent satire

Read more here.


Once (2006)

a very modern indie musical. And I mean indie as in “indie film”, not “indie music”. Lord save us from a musical of indie music.

Read more here.


Primer (2004)

there’s a great conceit here, with a decent plot built around it; but it drags the idea of treating your audience’s intelligence with respect too far into the realms of Simply Not Explaining Things Properly

Read more here.


Star Trek (2009)

It’s Star Trek, Jim, but not as we know it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x13 Nightmare in Silver

Author Neil Gaiman returns (after the good-but-overrated The Doctor's Wife) for a second pop at Who, this time attempting to increase the scariness of the Cybermen. And I really liked this episode. It's imperfect, a bit rough round the edges, in need of some polishing of both the script and direction... but, overall, likeable.

Reaction online seems more mixed. I saw a lot of positive comments on twitter, but the Radio Times' Who guy hated it. Unduly, I thought, and a lot of the plot holes his article picked up on were either explained in the episode or easily explicable via things that happened in the episode. It's a double shame the extra polishing I mentioned didn't happen, then, because it would've also led to a more positive reception from critics like that.

[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


How I Met Your Mother
8x15 P.S. I Love You
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]


Star Trek: The Next Generation
3x26 The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 [season finale]
4x01 The Best of Both Worlds Part 2

The two-parter from TNG, with that cliffhanger. And it's great! I mean, it's a little dated now (it is 23 years old), but in kind of a nice way -- its pace is brilliant, neither too slow nor as mad-dash-frantic as a lot of current genre telly.

I watched the recently released Blu-ray, which edits it all together into a movie (ironically thereby losing the famous cliffhanger), and it looks bloody stunning in HD. It's not just an image quality thing, it's the quality of the sets, the lighting, and the wonderful model effects... This stuff, made for TV nearly a quarter of a century ago, is still better than lot of today's big-budget movie CGI.


The Voice UK
2x07 The Battle Rounds 1
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]