Dexter
8x05 This Little Piggy
I haven't always been convinced in previous episodes, but between this one and the trailer for next time, I think this might turn out to be a cracking final season.
Doctor Who
10x01 The Three Doctors Episode One [2nd watch]
A break from the Doctor-by-Doctor approach now for, appropriately enough, the series' 10th anniversary serial. It also features the first appearance of evil Time Lord Omega, who some rumours suggest will turn up for the 50th. Even if he doesn't, it's another iconic (ish) villain to add to the list.
I can't remember when I first watched The Three Doctors -- after its DVD release, but before this blog's existence, so clearly a number of years ago. I didn't care for it then, for whatever reason, but I rather enjoyed this first episode. Hopefully the rest of the serial will keep it up.
Friends
1x19 The One Where the Monkey Gets Away [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Friday, 13 September 2013
Films
Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter (2013)
[#75b in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 (2012)
[#75a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
The two most recent Marvel short films, the latter included on the Blu-ray of Avengers Assemble this time last year, the former on the released-this-week Blu-ray of Iron Man 3.
Both are entertaining, though Agent Carter is definitely the winner -- a 'sequel' to 2011's Captain America, in just 15 minutes it manages to entirely better it.
[#75b in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 (2012)
[#75a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
The two most recent Marvel short films, the latter included on the Blu-ray of Avengers Assemble this time last year, the former on the released-this-week Blu-ray of Iron Man 3.
Both are entertaining, though Agent Carter is definitely the winner -- a 'sequel' to 2011's Captain America, in just 15 minutes it manages to entirely better it.
Articles
DVD Preview: Scream of the Shalka
by Christopher Allen (from Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: Official BBC Worldwide Site)
After a near-decade of waiting, Shalka finally makes it to DVD next Monday. Here, the BBC's official 50th anniversary site previews the release, mounting a mini-defence of the serial and nothing that the disc features "a fascinating interview with Ben Lavender, creator of the BBC iPlayer and the 82 presentations he had to make to get iPlayer in front of the Director-General!"
Relatedly:
Doctor Who: The Simon Clark Story That Never Was
by Ian Berriman (from SFX)
The Shalka sequel that was half-written and fully outlined sounds great. Someone somewhere make it happen somehow, please!
by Christopher Allen (from Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: Official BBC Worldwide Site)
After a near-decade of waiting, Shalka finally makes it to DVD next Monday. Here, the BBC's official 50th anniversary site previews the release, mounting a mini-defence of the serial and nothing that the disc features "a fascinating interview with Ben Lavender, creator of the BBC iPlayer and the 82 presentations he had to make to get iPlayer in front of the Director-General!"
Relatedly:
Doctor Who: The Simon Clark Story That Never Was
by Ian Berriman (from SFX)
The Shalka sequel that was half-written and fully outlined sounds great. Someone somewhere make it happen somehow, please!
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
TV
Dexter
8x03 What's Eating Dexter Morgan?
Doctor Who
8x04 Terror of the Autons Episode Four
Despite the title, I think it's fair to say this is definitely a Master story with the Autons re-employed as his drones. Which is fair enough, what with this being his introductory adventure 'n' all. Whether it was a wise idea to include him in every single story of season 8 or not is another matter... one I won't be finding out about, because of course we're toddling on to something else.
Three best things in this story:
1) The UNIT family, feeling properly established. Yes, season 7 had a version of it, but I don't think it clicked as well as this.
2) The Master. Delgado really hits the ground running.
3) The Autons are better served overall by Spearhead from Space, but some moments here -- the suffocating chair, the freaky troll-doll, the policemen who take the Doctor and Jo at the end of episode two, etc -- are some of their most effective of all.
Marred only by some dodgy direction, over-reliance on blue screen, and those Auton voices -- and, actually, some rush-resolved subplots, like that poor susceptible manager of the plastics factory -- Terror is a good story overall.
Friends
1x16 The One with Two Parts Part 1 [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
1x17 The One with Two Parts Part 2 [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Suburgatory
2x08 Black Thai
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
8x03 What's Eating Dexter Morgan?
Doctor Who
8x04 Terror of the Autons Episode Four
Despite the title, I think it's fair to say this is definitely a Master story with the Autons re-employed as his drones. Which is fair enough, what with this being his introductory adventure 'n' all. Whether it was a wise idea to include him in every single story of season 8 or not is another matter... one I won't be finding out about, because of course we're toddling on to something else.
Three best things in this story:
1) The UNIT family, feeling properly established. Yes, season 7 had a version of it, but I don't think it clicked as well as this.
2) The Master. Delgado really hits the ground running.
3) The Autons are better served overall by Spearhead from Space, but some moments here -- the suffocating chair, the freaky troll-doll, the policemen who take the Doctor and Jo at the end of episode two, etc -- are some of their most effective of all.
Marred only by some dodgy direction, over-reliance on blue screen, and those Auton voices -- and, actually, some rush-resolved subplots, like that poor susceptible manager of the plastics factory -- Terror is a good story overall.
Friends
1x16 The One with Two Parts Part 1 [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
1x17 The One with Two Parts Part 2 [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Suburgatory
2x08 Black Thai
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
TV
Dexter
8x02 Every Silver Lining...
Friends
1x15 The One with the Stoned Guy [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
It strikes me how often Friends episodes don't name themselves after the most memorable element. This one, for example, is The One Where Ross Talks Dirty, or The One with the WENUS.
The Last Leg
3x06 (4/9/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
8x02 Every Silver Lining...
Friends
1x15 The One with the Stoned Guy [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
It strikes me how often Friends episodes don't name themselves after the most memorable element. This one, for example, is The One Where Ross Talks Dirty, or The One with the WENUS.
The Last Leg
3x06 (4/9/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Monday, 9 September 2013
TV
Dexter
8x01 A Beautiful Day
So Dexter's final season begins, two months to the date since I finished series 7 -- and, more importantly, carefully timed so that I can watch it at my usual rate (an episode every day or two) right up to the finale (more or less), which is a fortnight today.
Doctor Who
8x03 Terror of the Autons Episode Three
And my carefully-timed Who season is officially back on track today, too. Nifty. More thoughts on the story itself with its final episode on Wednesday.
Friends
1x14 The One with the Candy Hearts [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
QI
11x01 Knees & Knockers (XL edition)
Here we go again: another year of desperately trying to find all the XL repeats once the BBC start titting about with them, and to see all the episodes once the BBC start bunging the last few around as 'specials'.
But, uh, the show itself is good as well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
8x01 A Beautiful Day
So Dexter's final season begins, two months to the date since I finished series 7 -- and, more importantly, carefully timed so that I can watch it at my usual rate (an episode every day or two) right up to the finale (more or less), which is a fortnight today.
Doctor Who
8x03 Terror of the Autons Episode Three
And my carefully-timed Who season is officially back on track today, too. Nifty. More thoughts on the story itself with its final episode on Wednesday.
Friends
1x14 The One with the Candy Hearts [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
QI
11x01 Knees & Knockers (XL edition)
Here we go again: another year of desperately trying to find all the XL repeats once the BBC start titting about with them, and to see all the episodes once the BBC start bunging the last few around as 'specials'.
But, uh, the show itself is good as well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Sunday, 8 September 2013
TV
Doctor Who
8x02 Terror of the Autons Episode Two
Some well-known scenes of Auton violence in this episode (the man-eating plastic chair, the living doll). What most amused me was that both were greeted with expressions of "why would anyone buy that?!" from the regular folk they were about to kill, whereas nowadays inflatable plastic chairs and ugly dolls are readily available and (apparently) desired left, right and centre. Some of the special effects in these sequences are actually pretty good, especially for the era, though whoever felt it was necessary to use bluescreen to create such fantastical locations as a phone box and a domestic kitchen was off their rocker (or just over-obsessed with the technology).
The Great British Bake Off
4x03 Desserts
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Would I Lie To You?
7x09 The Unseen Bits [season finale]
Why they always broadcast these clip shows in a random slot months after the regular series, I'll never know.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
8x02 Terror of the Autons Episode Two
Some well-known scenes of Auton violence in this episode (the man-eating plastic chair, the living doll). What most amused me was that both were greeted with expressions of "why would anyone buy that?!" from the regular folk they were about to kill, whereas nowadays inflatable plastic chairs and ugly dolls are readily available and (apparently) desired left, right and centre. Some of the special effects in these sequences are actually pretty good, especially for the era, though whoever felt it was necessary to use bluescreen to create such fantastical locations as a phone box and a domestic kitchen was off their rocker (or just over-obsessed with the technology).
The Great British Bake Off
4x03 Desserts
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Would I Lie To You?
7x09 The Unseen Bits [season finale]
Why they always broadcast these clip shows in a random slot months after the regular series, I'll never know.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
this fortnight on 100 Films
With very little to report last week, I thought I'd hold off and summarise a whole fortnight on 100 Films in a Year.
First up, we're now well into September, so here's a look back at August. This month's list of five is "adaptations that changed the book's title". I say "five" -- I got 11 examples in there. Hey-ho.
In regular business, two new reviews were posted this week (yes, "week" singular, because there were none the week before). They were...
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
The Tempest (2010)
And new to the new blog this fortnight...
Mamma Mia! (2008)
More next Sunday.
First up, we're now well into September, so here's a look back at August. This month's list of five is "adaptations that changed the book's title". I say "five" -- I got 11 examples in there. Hey-ho.
In regular business, two new reviews were posted this week (yes, "week" singular, because there were none the week before). They were...
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
cabin-in-the-woods horror movie The Cabin in the Woods is as much a deconstruction, or even spoof, of the genre as an entry in it... This means it’s one for the genre literateRead more here.
The Tempest (2010)
a radical-seeming interpretation of Shakespeare’s final play. The main character’s changed gender! There’s CGI being tossed about everywhere! It’s got Russell Brand in it! If that sounds superficial, it is. It's still set in the Elizabethan period, in Elizabethan dress, with a cast of mostly classical actors, enacted on an island that is admittedly a stunning setting but is nonetheless where the original play is set.Read more here.
And new to the new blog this fortnight...
Mamma Mia! (2008)
As camp as a row of tents, disliked by critics, loved by audiences: Mamma Mia! is everything you’d expect from Abba.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
TV
Friends
1x13 The One with the Boobies [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Mock the Week
12x07 (5/9/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Vera
3x02 Poster Child
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
1x13 The One with the Boobies [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Mock the Week
12x07 (5/9/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Vera
3x02 Poster Child
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
DVD Extras
When Worlds Collide
Not the 1951 sci-fi movie, but a 46-minute documentary on the DVD of The Happiness Patrol about Doctor Who's relationship to and depiction of political ideologies down the years. Didn't intend to watch it but got engrossed, because it's a particularly fascinating piece.
Not the 1951 sci-fi movie, but a 46-minute documentary on the DVD of The Happiness Patrol about Doctor Who's relationship to and depiction of political ideologies down the years. Didn't intend to watch it but got engrossed, because it's a particularly fascinating piece.
Articles
Grading Mojo's Summer Forecast
by Ray Subers (from Box Office Mojo)
Before the summer movie season began, BOM made predictions on how all the movies expected to gross over $100 million would fare. As well as being a summary of how good (or not) their predictions were, this also serves as a handy retrospective on how this summer panned out at the box office.
by Ray Subers (from Box Office Mojo)
Before the summer movie season began, BOM made predictions on how all the movies expected to gross over $100 million would fare. As well as being a summary of how good (or not) their predictions were, this also serves as a handy retrospective on how this summer panned out at the box office.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
At one point this week, nearly all of the statistics sat at nice rounded numbers: 1,600 titles; 1,175 DVDs; 425 BDs; 3,995 discs; even 1,705 films and 5,910 episodes of TV. Then more stuff arrived. As I promised, this week is busy.
In the end, every single number goes up; and while they're not all neatly rounded, one really is:
4,000 discs.
Wow. That's a bit... insane. While I mull over the extent of my addiction, here's the stats:
Number of titles in collection: 1,603 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,175 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 428 [up 6]
Number of discs in collection: 4,000 [up 14]
Number of films in collection: 1,710 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,921 [up 42]
Number of short films in collection: 392 [up 1]
And I haven't even mentioned that this week it's time for the monthly running time update, which has also had a helluva boost...
Total running time of collection (approx.):
287 days, 18 hours, and 53 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 17 hours, and 48 minutes from last month.)
That's the biggest increase since December 2011's post-Christmas count. Yes, 2011 -- even the December 2012 post-Christmas one wasn't so large! I probably ought to slow down...
But there's definitely more to come next week. See you then, faithful reader.
At one point this week, nearly all of the statistics sat at nice rounded numbers: 1,600 titles; 1,175 DVDs; 425 BDs; 3,995 discs; even 1,705 films and 5,910 episodes of TV. Then more stuff arrived. As I promised, this week is busy.
In the end, every single number goes up; and while they're not all neatly rounded, one really is:
4,000 discs.
Wow. That's a bit... insane. While I mull over the extent of my addiction, here's the stats:
Number of titles in collection: 1,603 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,175 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 428 [up 6]
Number of discs in collection: 4,000 [up 14]
Number of films in collection: 1,710 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,921 [up 42]
Number of short films in collection: 392 [up 1]
And I haven't even mentioned that this week it's time for the monthly running time update, which has also had a helluva boost...
Total running time of collection (approx.):
287 days, 18 hours, and 53 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 17 hours, and 48 minutes from last month.)
That's the biggest increase since December 2011's post-Christmas count. Yes, 2011 -- even the December 2012 post-Christmas one wasn't so large! I probably ought to slow down...
But there's definitely more to come next week. See you then, faithful reader.
Friday, 6 September 2013
TV
Doctor Who
8x01 Terror of the Autons Episode One
#bbbDW50 moves on to the Third Doctor today, with the second of three stories I've never seen. It also has the distinction of being the best-regarded story I've never seen… of those three. It came 51st on DWM's Mighty 200, leaving it overall the 6th highest-rated story we'll be watching during this project.
So far we've had the Daleks and the Ice Warriors, and here we get the Autons and (in his first appearance) the Master. Not every story in this season features a well-known or returning villain, but I've done a fair job of including most of the main ones -- this is a celebration of the series' history on its golden anniversary, after all. Which others will turn up before we're done? Well, that's a surprise.
This is also the first story for Jo Grant, who of course popped up in The Sarah Jane Adventures a few years ago. Again, my choices partly keep in mind my co-viewer, often showing them the origins or earlier versions of things they'll be familiar with from the new series (and, obviously, its spin-offs).
It's a great introduction for all these new characters too, with both Jo and the Master making their mark from the off. It's a funny one to jump into from the black and white era -- when Who went colour it didn't do it by halves: this is full-on vibrant and psychedelic, from the Doctor's outfits right on down.
It's a pretty cracking tale too, as you'd expect from writer Robert Holmes, although the direction (by producer Barry Letts) is spoof-level awful. One shot in particular sees Jo's face obscured by a prop, at which point the camera slowly and 'subtly' tries to correct the angle so we can see her... except she really is badly hidden, so it keeps trying again... and again... That's on top of numerous instances of poorly-chosen close-ups (showing an actor who isn't talking, then cutting away as soon as the one you're watching begins to speak) and an over-reliance on blue screen (aka CSO), which I guess was New and Exciting at the time (there are more 'virtual sets' here than we have nowadays!)
Ah well, it's all good fun.
Friends
1x12 The One with the Dozen Lasagnas [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
The Newsroom
2x02 The Genoa Tip
I guess I'm not alone in not so much watching the story as playing "guess how it'll all go wrong!" That's what happens when you open your series with a flashforward showing that it's all going to go wrong...
8x01 Terror of the Autons Episode One
#bbbDW50 moves on to the Third Doctor today, with the second of three stories I've never seen. It also has the distinction of being the best-regarded story I've never seen… of those three. It came 51st on DWM's Mighty 200, leaving it overall the 6th highest-rated story we'll be watching during this project.
So far we've had the Daleks and the Ice Warriors, and here we get the Autons and (in his first appearance) the Master. Not every story in this season features a well-known or returning villain, but I've done a fair job of including most of the main ones -- this is a celebration of the series' history on its golden anniversary, after all. Which others will turn up before we're done? Well, that's a surprise.
This is also the first story for Jo Grant, who of course popped up in The Sarah Jane Adventures a few years ago. Again, my choices partly keep in mind my co-viewer, often showing them the origins or earlier versions of things they'll be familiar with from the new series (and, obviously, its spin-offs).
It's a great introduction for all these new characters too, with both Jo and the Master making their mark from the off. It's a funny one to jump into from the black and white era -- when Who went colour it didn't do it by halves: this is full-on vibrant and psychedelic, from the Doctor's outfits right on down.
It's a pretty cracking tale too, as you'd expect from writer Robert Holmes, although the direction (by producer Barry Letts) is spoof-level awful. One shot in particular sees Jo's face obscured by a prop, at which point the camera slowly and 'subtly' tries to correct the angle so we can see her... except she really is badly hidden, so it keeps trying again... and again... That's on top of numerous instances of poorly-chosen close-ups (showing an actor who isn't talking, then cutting away as soon as the one you're watching begins to speak) and an over-reliance on blue screen (aka CSO), which I guess was New and Exciting at the time (there are more 'virtual sets' here than we have nowadays!)
Ah well, it's all good fun.
Friends
1x12 The One with the Dozen Lasagnas [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
The Newsroom
2x02 The Genoa Tip
I guess I'm not alone in not so much watching the story as playing "guess how it'll all go wrong!" That's what happens when you open your series with a flashforward showing that it's all going to go wrong...
Thursday, 5 September 2013
TV
Friends
1x10 The One with the Monkey [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
1x11 The One with Mrs Bing [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Pointless Celebrities
4x05 (31/8/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
1x10 The One with the Monkey [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
1x11 The One with Mrs Bing [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
Pointless Celebrities
4x05 (31/8/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Films
The Tempest (2010)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Read my review here from Friday morning. The UK TV premiere is on BBC Two at 11:05pm on Friday night.
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Read my review here from Friday morning. The UK TV premiere is on BBC Two at 11:05pm on Friday night.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
TV
Doctor Who
6x28 The Seeds of Death Episode Six
The Second Doctor phase of #bbbDW50 comes to an end with the action-packed finale to the Ice Warrior's second story. The Seeds of Death suffers the same way as so many Who six-parters, from a sometimes slow and sometimes repetitive middle section, but there are great bits liberally scattered throughout and plenty of superb direction. Not one of the show's best perhaps, but a solid yarn.
Friends
1x09 The One Where Underdog Gets Away [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
A Thanksgiving Friends...
The Last Leg
3x05 (28/8/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Suburgatory
2x07 Krampus
...and a Christmas Suburgatory. It's all a bit prematurely festive.
That said, this is one of Suburgatory's best episodes, so that's nice.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
6x28 The Seeds of Death Episode Six
The Second Doctor phase of #bbbDW50 comes to an end with the action-packed finale to the Ice Warrior's second story. The Seeds of Death suffers the same way as so many Who six-parters, from a sometimes slow and sometimes repetitive middle section, but there are great bits liberally scattered throughout and plenty of superb direction. Not one of the show's best perhaps, but a solid yarn.
Friends
1x09 The One Where Underdog Gets Away [goodness-knows-what-th watch]
A Thanksgiving Friends...
The Last Leg
3x05 (28/8/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Suburgatory
2x07 Krampus
...and a Christmas Suburgatory. It's all a bit prematurely festive.
That said, this is one of Suburgatory's best episodes, so that's nice.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)