Films

The Falcon's Alibi (1946)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

this week on 100 Films

100 Films in a Year begins its mini-celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary this week...


Make/Remake: Doctor Who and the Daleks

Something about those pepperpot-shaped apparently-robotic villains clicked with the British public, and Dalekmania was born. Toys and merchandise flowed forth. The series soon began to include serials featuring the Daleks on a regular basis. And, naturally, someone snapped up the movie rights.

Rather than an original storyline, the ensuing film was an adaptation of the TV series’ first Dalek serial...

Read more here.


Plus, archive reviews new to the new blog...


Avatar [3D] (2009)

All this is realised through unrelenting CGI. It’s very good, but here Avatar falls victim to its own hype once again, because it’s still not 100% perfect. Perhaps it’s the closest yet seen — it certainly remains consistent throughout — but nothing had me wondering if they’d perhaps used prosthetics in addition to the CGI, as Davy Jones did at several points during Dead Man’s Chest, and I remain convinced that wonderful modelwork, as seen in the likes of Lord of the Rings, is still an unbeatable tool for creating convincing environments.

Read more here.


The Departed (2006)

An all-star cast lead Scorsese’s Oscar-winning remake of Hong Kong action thriller Infernal Affairs. It’s an unusual yet striking mix of elements: cops vs. robbers thriller, gangster drama, relationships of those who protect/threaten us drama, and several more.

Read more here.


No Country for Old Men (2007)

real life: random and lacking closure and satisfaction. But this isn’t real life, it’s a movie; and a movie with a near-fantasy (or, more accurately, horror) aspect too, in its unstoppable villain; so I think I want my proper tied-together plot, thank you very much

Read more here.


Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Judi Dench is brilliant as ever in a rare villainous role (the Oscar would’ve been hers were it not for Helen Mirren’s equally brilliant but more obvious turn in The Queen)

Read more here.


Wanted (2008)

If you don’t mind your action being computer-aided and as realistic as… well, a comic book… then there’s much to enjoy. Except, you already enjoyed most of it in the trailer.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

This is the 5,000th post on My Cultural Experience!

Atlantis
1x07 The Rules of Engagement
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x06 The Sixth Doctor

Friends
4x16 The One with the Fake Party [4th or so watch]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,632 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,195 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 437 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,053 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,739 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,022 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
The TV Movie [3rd third; 5th watch]

Everything from DVD chapter 14 (with the Doctor and Grace in the Master's ambulance, i.e. before the bike chase) to the end. For those of you who remember the TVM, you'll realise that's an awful lot of its action: the bike chase, all the stuff with the clock, the Eye of Harmony climax, 'temporal orbit', etc etc. Yes, it's a longer part than the other two (remember 25/25/35), but it feels a little less like watching an "extended Part 3 of 3" and more like watching "Parts 3 & 4 of 4".

On the whole, I think the TVM is quite distinctly underrated. It was a shock to the system in 1996, but compared to the new series... well, it's actually very like the new series: the bike chase, kissing/hand-holding, "drezz for the occasion", the humour, everything at the clock, the characterisation of Grace and Chang Lee, everything McGann does -- all could fit comfortably in episodes masterminded by RTD or Moffat.

It's not perfect -- the opening few minutes are a mess of references and infodumpery; bits of the climax don't make a lick of sense -- but, on the whole, I love it.


Friends
4x14 The One with Joey's Dirty Day [4th or so watch]
4x15 The One with All the Rugby [4th or so watch]
Or, The Ones Where Emily Turns Up And Is Intensely Irritating.


The Graham Norton Show
14x04 (1/11/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


Have I Got News For You
46x04 (25/10/2013 edition)
Although an extended version of this episode is listed, it wasn't shown. Which is one of the reasons I'm so behind on it now.

Audio Drama

Doctor Who [Big Finish]
The Light at the End Part Two (of 2)

Hm. Well. OK.

Obviously the Doctor being completely wiped out of history is a suitably epic story for a Big Anniversary Doctor Team-Up Special, but it feels so... low-key. Like how it would be handled in a short story, rather than a novel or a season finale... or a big anniversary special. I also didn't quite get all of the plan. The weapon the Master uses makes sense, but why put it in that particular human, on that particular date? As the listener the choice of 23rd November 1963 is obvious, but why in the story?

Still, at least the Doctors knocking around together is fun at times. I'm pretty sure Big Finish have teamed up the Sixth and Seventh before -- I've not heard those stories (obviously), but somehow it didn't feel fresh. Maybe the Fifth and Seventh would've been more unusual? The best bits are the Fourth and Eighth together, which are mainly in Part One but make a comeback towards the end of Part Two... though leaving the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh together for the last quarter(-ish) makes it feel like the early days of Big Finish, when they were the only Doctors they had. Or maybe that was the point.

As for the appearances by the First, Second and Third... I get why their audio is obscured, to help hide the impressions that are being done; but they're still obviously impressions, and by making them so quiet in the mix we have to strain to hear them -- which makes the fact they're impressions more obvious because we're listening so hard.

The Light at the End is pleasant enough on the whole, but with some script polishing (I've not even mentioned some of the clunky dialogue) and a splash more of the epic, this could've rivalled the new series for grandiosity. Whether Moffat's come up with something bigger for The Day of the Doctor or not, the TV series has already out-agrandised this audio in the past. Shame.

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 24-25 [the end]

A marvellous conclusion, full of defences for things that don't often get defended but deserve defending -- like RTD's writing style (p.678-9), the quality of Rose (p.681-5); plus spot-on criticism of forum-dwelling 'fans' (p.691-2).

TV

Elementary
2x02 Solve for X
Gotta hand it to Elementary -- they do at least come up with more unusual storylines than detective shows' usual stomping ground. Fundamentally it all works in the same way, of course, but it at least makes it feel fresher.

Friends
4x13 The One with Rachel's Crush [4th or so watch]
Or, The One Where Joey Says "How You Doin'?" For the First Time.

The Newsroom
2x07 Red Team III
Underwhelming title for such a pivotal episode. But have the makers forgotten that sometime between "the past" (which has nearly caught up with the present) and "the present", Maggie has to do that thing to her hair? Shouldn't she have done it more or less immediately after the incident that provoked it? What's going to provoke it?
I was also a little surprised there were two whole episodes left after the events of this one, but it's a two-parter, so that makes more sense.

Was It Something I Said
1x04 Episode 4 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]

Audio Drama

Doctor Who [Big Finish]
The Light at the End Part One (of 2)

While Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special seems to mainly focus on the last seven-or-so years of nuWho, and Moffat goes on and on (and on) about how it looks to the future more than the past, here's the other 50th anniversary special: the Big Finish-produced multi-Doctor team-up, featuring all the classic Doctors (because they're not allowed the new ones). Hey, at least between the two stories we get everyone but the Ninth (ah, Christopher Eccleston.)

I think it was designed to be listened to as a whole, because even the cliffhanger is not that cliffhanger-y, and the parts are eight minutes different in length -- if you moved the end of Part 1 forward by about four minutes, you might be in a more cliffhanger-y situation. But I guess I shouldn't judge until I listen to the second almost-half. So far, intriguing, but also surprisingly low-key for a story featuring multiple Doctors, the Master, and the possible destruction of the TARDIS and/or all of time.

TV

Arrow
2x03 Broken Dolls
Ooh, blatant Batman reference is blatant!


Doctor Who
2x07 The End of Tomorrow
2x08 The Waking Ally
2x09 Flashpoint

Parts four to six of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the second-ever Dalek serial. It's a marvellous story, actually, packed with incident and scale — things lacking from the "trek across the planet for half the story" first Dalek serial. It's also fantastically realised on what must have been the usual tiny budget — epic location filming, numerous (relatively) elaborate studio sets… The final scene, with Susan's departure (the first original regular to leave), is a particular highlight — not because we're glad to be rid of her, but because it's beautifully written and performed, especially by Hartnell.

And also...

Doctor Who
The TV Movie [2nd third; 5th watch]

I forgot to mention last time (in amongst all my other waffle) that the TVM is the 40th episode of #bbbDW50 -- at the end of this week it'll be two-thirds complete! More on giving over 20% of the viewing to the new series when I get there, next week.

So, 'Part 2' of the TVM takes us from "the morning after" (beginning of DVD chapter 8) to the Master and Chang Lee posing as paramedics to collect the Doctor and Grace from her house (end of DVD chapter 13) -- a bit of a cliffhanger, as our heroes happily trot off with a guy we know to be evil. Dun-dun-duuuun! Maybe not quite as effective as 'Part 1', but better than the next option (after the bike chase); and hey, the classic series has its fair share of under-dramatic episode endings.


Friends
4x12 The One with the Embryos [4th or so watch]
I suppose The One Where the Girls Lose Their Apartment to the Boys would've given away the ending rather. But it's that one.


Person of Interest
2x02 Bad Code
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Doctor Who
2x04 World's End
2x05 The Daleks
2x06 Day of Reckoning

What's this, #bbbDW50 returning to the First Doctor? No, don't be daft — that'd be silly! This is extracurricular viewing, designed to facilitate a companion piece to my Dr Who and the Daleks retrospective/comparison on 100 Films later this month.

That's because, for those who don't know, these are parts one to three of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which was the basis for the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie. I've never seen the TV version before, but it's a mightily impressive production — some grand sets, and the stuff filmed in a deserted London is astounding. Though, weirdly, the famous shot of the Daleks crossing the bridge isn't here; instead, we just see their tops drifting past from below — I guess while some photographer was grabbing a more iconic image!


Friends
4x11 The One with Phoebe's Uterus [4th or so watch]


The Mentalist
6x01 The Desert Rose
As if Arrow, Castle, Elementary and Person of Interest weren't enough... and I'm still going on The Newsroom... and I've not even started Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or Ripper Street series 2, or the already-finished Peaky Blinders... and I have loads of other complete series recorded/downloaded from earlier in the year that I've not got to... and I'm years behind on Misfits, which just restarted also... Why is there so much TV right now?!
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]


The Wrong Mans
1x06 Running Mans [season finale]
Sounds likely there'll be another series of this -- very much yay.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 23

TV

Archer
4x11 The Papal Chase
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]


Doctor Who
The TV Movie [1st third; 5th watch]

Choices are limited when it comes to representing the Eighth Doctor as part of #bbbDW50 -- it's either this again, or a half-arsed 'animation' of Shada (that they didn't include properly on the DVD anyway, so I don't know how we'd have gone about watching it).

So it's back to the TV movie, for something like the fifth time for me and second for my viewing companion. That's not so bad: I do like it, and the last time was five years ago now. Just to mix things up, we're going to watch it as a three parter, stripped across the week as per usual. It's not the easiest thing to divide into traditionally-sized 25 minute chunks -- it might seem roughly the right length, but it depends how well-balanced you want your episodes. See, there's actually great cliffhanger points (and DVD chapter stops!) at exactly 25 and 50 minutes... but that leaves a "Part 3" that's 35 minutes long. Alternatively, using the chapter points, you can get a "1st third" that's 30 minutes (ch.1-8), with a second of 27 minutes (ch.9-14) and third of 29 minutes (ch.15-24) -- pretty equal.

(Splitting it neatly in half for two new-series-length episodes, however, is next to impossible -- there's a huge sequence right in the middle that leaves you with clearly lopsided 'halves', whether you're using chapter points or not. And that's one of the reasons we're watching it in three, not two.)

Anyway, I went for 25/25/35 -- that's the more entertaining way to split it, because it means 'Part 1' ends with the Doctor's whole "Who. Am. Iiiiaiaiaaargh?!" bit, which is quite a natural end-point, rather than a semi-decent one at the next chapter break. The TVM's biggest sin is being too old-fan friendly: if it began in San Francisco, 1999, with all the gang shootings, and a box appearing out of thin air, and a mysterious man, and a surgeon... that could all work. Instead, it begins on Skaro with a huge exposition dump, which is fine if you're a fan -- plenty of nods -- but must've been awful for total newcomers.

That aside, there's a nice vein of sly humour that would sit well in the revived series, and incredibly classy direction from Geoffrey Sax (apparently they've tried to get him on the new series several times, but he's always been in another job). With the (very good) regeneration out of the way, so a new Doctor and Master in place, the best bits are yet to come.


Friends
4x10 The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie [4th or so watch]

DVD Extras

The Doctor's Strange love, Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the TV Movie

Featurette on the Doctor Who TV Movie Special Edition DVD, in which Who author Simon Guerrier, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures writer Joseph Lidster, and comedian Josie Long discuss why the TV Movie is actually pretty good.

Perhaps most surprising is how many similarities they draw up with the new series. This was filmed while David Tennant was still the Doctor, and I think those things are, if anything, even more pertinent after Matt Smith's incarnation.

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 22

TV

Doctor Who
33x06b The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later
This prequel-esque mini-scene was first released yonks ago, but I've finally bothered to watch it thanks to the Series 7 box set. It has more point and amusement than your average DW prequel/short/thing, at least.

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x05 The Fifth Doctor

Friends
4x09 The One Where They're Going to Party! [4th or so watch]

this week on 100 Films

Lots to report this week -- it's been a very busy one on 100 Films in a Year.

Firstly, it's now November, so here's the monthly update for October. It's mainly filled with my next topic...

In honour of Halloween last Thursday, the past seven days have been the Week of the Living Dead for 100 Films. All six reviews are summarised in chronological order at that link.

...but even then that wasn't all this week, oh no. In total there were seven brand-new reviews published in the past seven days. In alphabetical order, they were:


Dawn of the Dead (1978)

The film is rich with analogy and symbolism for them that wants it; what’s kind of depressing is that so many viewers today don’t. I’m a fan of a well-constructed largely-mindless action movie as much as the next Bloke, on the right occasion, but that’s now what Romero was purporting to construct. It’s not “pretentious” to see these themes, because that’s why he made the film.

Read more here.


Day of the Dead (1985)

the darkest and most nihilistic of all Romero’s films, lacking the humour that played such a significant role in Dawn. It’s not as if Night was rolling in laughs, but... there are no villains — characters conflict, but their motives are all understandable. Day has a clear-cut villain: the base’s new commander, Captain Rhodes, a power-mad borderline-caricature of small man syndrome. This is where that B-movie thing comes in: he’s eminently quotable, but he’s also thoroughly unlikeable.

Read more here.


Diary of the Dead (2007)

a greater focus on action and gore than ever before. The first three films limit the majority of their violence to a final-act brawl... but here we’re given a smattering throughout, with no all-or-nothing finale. That’s not a bad thing, but it makes it feel more pervasive — even more so than Land, which was an action-adventure movie through and through.

Read more here.


Land of the Dead (2005)

clearly bursting with Romero’s usual socio-political analogies and commentary. There’s the rich/poor divide and the abundance of entertainment; there’s certainly some post-9/11 thoughts, and perhaps post-Katrina too; perhaps the zombies represent foreign nationals, either breaking in or kicking off a revolution; and there are freedom fighters within too, who are incarcerated and apparently tortured without trial...

Read more here.


Night of the Living Dead (1968)

The Walking Dead, Warm Bodies, World War Z… zombies seem to be everywhere at the minute (generally in things beginning with ‘W’, for some reason), and generating big business. But this particular subgenre began 45 years ago, in a simple black & white independent movie, made for less than 1% of Brad Pitt’s salary for World War Z.

Read more here.


Survival of the Dead (2009)

There are, unquestionably, better zombie movies written and directed by George A. Romero, but I think here he’s produced one of his most watchable; one that can be as entertaining as the others, is still at times as innovative, and does even support a deeper reading, if you’re prepared to look for it. The film not only shows us that the dead can survive, but that so should Romero’s reputation.

Read more here.


Toy Story of Terror! (2013)

a mash-up of horror-trope-spoofery and usual kids’ tale Toy Story antics, pretty much divided half-and-half around the midpoint. Which is no bad thing when it’s all so much fun. The horror movie stuff early on is a suitable tribute to the genre, packed with atmosphere. Of course it’s kid-friendly and so not really scary, but there are plenty of nice references and a solid mystery

Read more here.


And on top of all that, one review was new to the new blog...


2012 (2009)

The end of the world occurs courtesy of messy CGI. I’ve seen better graphics in current-generation computer games than some of the sequences here. And there’s too much of it. Letting Emmerich’s imagination — and budget — run rampant means there’s an assault of imagery that’s just too much for one film.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x06 The Song of the Sirens
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
4x08 The One with Chandler in a Box [4th or so watch]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,630 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,194 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 436 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,050 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,736 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,022 [up 15]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [no change]

Plus this week it's time for a running time update, so...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
291 days, 8 hours, and 11 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 10 hours, and 5 minutes from last month.)

That jump is made up from 17 films, 55 episodes of TV, and 13 shorts.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Castle
3x05 Anatomy of a Murder
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Doctor Who
25x07 The Happiness Patrol Part Three [2nd watch]
The end of #bbbDW50's time in the classic era proper (the TV Movie gets counted as "classic Who", because obviously it's not part of modern BBC Wales-made nuWho, but it's not really classic Who, is it? It's in-between-y. But anyway.) It's a great one to end on, in my opinion, undervalued by fans thanks to some of the admittedly-somewhat-silly bits. Yet even for that, I kinda like the Kandy Man too.

Friends
4x07 The One Where Chandler Crosses the Line [4th or so watch]

The Graham Norton Show
14x03 (25/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Was It Something I Said
1x03 Episode 3 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]