Articles

Axed BBC drama Ripper Street could be revived by LOVEFiLM for third series
by Ben Dowell (from Radio Times)

I was disappointed when they cancelled Ripper Street (even though I haven't started season two yet, I enjoyed the first), but this has come as a right surprise nonetheless. Hope it comes to pass.

TV

Elementary
2x07 The Marchioness

Friends
6x05 The One with Joey's Porsche [4th or so watch]

The Happenings
1x01 Alien Invasion
Usually-comedic (and gory) magicians Barry and Stuart get their own series on Watch "from the makers of Derren Brown", in which they string together a selection of magic tricks posing as supernatural events in order to convince a community that something paranormal is happening. Here, it's a small British town that they try to make believe is being observed by aliens. Some of the tricks are quite familiar if you watch enough magic -- they're still impressive in their own right, just increasingly seen -- while others feel fresher. All are suitably baffling. I'm not sure how well the "convince a whole town" element works, though. But maybe.
[Watch it (again) on Watch's website.]

Person of Interest
2x07 Critical
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Arrow
2x07 State v. Queen
Did they re-cast the Count with a worse actor just to (spoilers!) kill him off? Or was it actually the same guy but I remembered him being not quite so bad?

Have I Got News For You
46x08 (29/11/2013 edition; extended repeat)

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x10 Episode 10

Films

Kick-Ass (2010)
[2nd watch]

This was #39 in 100 Films 2010. I haven't seen it since that first viewing, but the sequel is out on DVD & Blu-ray today so I watched this last night in preparation. Sadly my copy of said follow-up didn't arrive today, but expect it to turn up here just as soon as it does.

TV

Castle
3x10 Last Call
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x11 The Eleventh Doctor [final episode]

Friends
6x04 The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance [4th or so watch]
Behind that so-dull-it-sounds-like-a-spoof title lies one of Friends' funniest episodes.

Hebburn
2x02 Easy Tiger
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Yonderland
1x01 The Chosen Mum
The Horrible Histories gang do fantasy in this new Sky1 comedy (which has almost finished on the actual telly, so I've got some catching up to do). Like so many genre series, episode one is all about setting up the premise. Still funny though, so hopefully the rest will be even better.

Films

Hanna (2011)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Read my drabble review here.

DVD Extras

Special Features on Hanna

An alternate ending that was thankfully unused, and some near-pointless deleted scenes; a handful of featurettes looking at the fights, the fairytale inspirations, the music, and the military escape scene; and some promo stuff.

Plus I listened to a couple of short snippets of the commentary, which sounded interesting but also a bit quiet at times.

this week on 100 Films

The second 100 Films Advent Calendar is well and truly underway now, meaning that 7 new reviews were published this week.

First, on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm:


Hanna (2011)

There’s the genre’s typical globetrotting, fistfighting thrills; but also an allegorical coming-of-age indie drama; plus a surreal, fairytale tone that drifts across proceedings like a pleasant morning mist.

Read more here.


And the rest:


Black Death (2010)

Though not entirely devoid of gore or jumps, this is more a creeping horror; a tale of the supernatural where an uncanny mood is more important than visceral thrills. I don’t think it’s too lofty to suggest comparison to The Wicker Man rather than an historical Saw.

Read more here.


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

There’s no shortage of ambition in the rendering on screen, but the film sadly comes up short on occasion. Despite director Michael Apted’s experienced hand on the wheel, the course strays into Syfy Channel TV movie territory at times, with a kind of cheapness that won’t please anyone

Read more here.


Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Extended Cut) (2013)

Having heard only bad things, I expected a soul-crushing dud of Van Helsing proportions. Actually, it’s a lot of fun.

Read more here.


LEGO Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite (2013)

I’ve seen a couple of the LEGO Star Wars TV specials and found them to be quite fun, but LEGO Batman can’t reach their level. It’s not just that it’s almost four times as long as one of those, it’s that the humour it does contain doesn’t hit home in the same way. It’s often too juvenile, too “that’ll do”

Read more here.


Side by Side (2012)

a documentary on camera technology. No, wait, come back! It’s much more interesting than that sounds. Side by Side is, primarily, about the debate between those who prefer the old film ways and those who embrace the digital future...

Read more here.


Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

In an ethnically diverse and equal future, white American Kirk and white Vulcan-American Spock are commanded by white American Pike and white American Marcus to lead their crew to capture a Starfleet-targeting terrorist: John Harrison, a white Englishman

Read more here.


And one related review was new to the new blog too...


The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

The epic final battle comes as close to rivalling Helm’s Deep as anything I can think of, albeit — in typical Narnia style — in broad daylight on a big field. It has a real story to it, with specific moves being made by each side in the name of an overall strategy, rather than just A Lot Of Good Guys charging at A Lot Of Bad Guys and hacking away ’til one side wins, the apparent battle tactic in most other such large encounters on film.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x10 The Price of Hope
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
6x03 The One with Ross's Denial [4th or so watch]

Was It Something I Said
1x08 Episode 8 (extended repeat) [season finale]
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]

Films

Arthur Christmas (2011)
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Collection Count

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

You might think my collection has stopped growing as I await Christmas, but oh no! There's one new slightly-random impulse-buy this week (a film called Dimensions that looks potentially fascinating); Kick-Ass 2 is in the post; and The Long Goodbye is on pre-order for the 16th. Should be something to update with every week even before The Big Day, then.

Number of titles in collection: 1,641 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,198 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 443 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,074 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,747 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,030 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friends
6x02 The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel [4th or so watch]

Live at the Apollo
9x02 Episode 2

Poirot
13x05 Curtain: Poirot's Last Case [series finale]
A great final episode, and a great final story actually -- why isn't it one of the best-known ones? Maybe fans are too concerned with spoiling the twist (and rightly so), which has been the fate of Murder on the Orient Express.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Friends
6x01 The One After Vegas [4th or so watch]


The Mentalist
6x07 The Great Red Dragon
6x08 Red John

I got bored of waiting for Channel 5 -- I wanted answers. And here they are.

It's tough to say whether they were underwhelming or not. The reveal could never really have lived up to all those expectations, could it? Yet for that, I thought it was a pretty great episode, and actually having the courage of their convictions at the end was good. Be interesting to see where things go from here for the show, though whether the revamp will be strong enough to sustain it long-term is another matter.

One thing I did find weird, though: if you've got an eight-part story (as this kinda was), why does Part 6 end on a great big cliffhanger and Part 7 kinda feel like "The End (For Now)"? Did they just assume everyone had read the title of episode 8 in advance and knew there was an immediate final act to come? Because if I hadn't known better, I'd've presumed it was returning to the old Mentalist style of spending ages between Red John episodes. Doesn't really matter, just a stylistic point.

[Watch The Great Red Dragon on Demand 5 from Tuesday 10th December, and Red John from Tuesday 17th December.]

Films

On the Waterfront (1954)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Elementary
2x06 An Unnatural Arrangement


Friends
5x23 The One in Vegas Part 1 [4th or so watch]
5x24 The One in Vegas Part 2 [season finale; 4th or so watch]


The Mentalist
6x06 Fire and Brimstone

Alright, look: I'm not naive/stupid/ill-informed — I know there's an episode coming up called Red John (already aired in the US), and the answer to the entire series' overarching mystery is contained within… but how in the hell is that not the next episode?! I mean, I thought we might get to that reveal here — how is there at least another 45 minutes before that revelation?

Also, on a separate but related note: if the series is essentially relaunching after that point, why is said relaunch before the Christmas break? Surely it would've been neater to tell the final act of the Red John tale in 2013, then start afresh with the first episode next year? But I suppose this is US network TV we're talking about: they probably don't want anyone going away over Christmas thinking the show's finished and then not watching when it returns in January. Though how long it can go without its main driving storyline is a whole other issue.

Well, that said, it could go quite a while, because the Red John case was never really the series' primary joy; but, equally, it might feel a tad unfocused long-term without that to latch on to.

Anyway, this is really a debate for another time.

[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Friends
5x21 The One with the Ball [4th or so watch]
5x22 The One with Joey's Big Break [4th or so watch]

The Great British Bake Off
4x10 Class of 2012

Person of Interest
2x06 The High Road
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Friends
5x20 The One with the Ride Along [4th or so watch]

Have I Got News For You
46x07 (22/11/2013 edition; extended repeat)

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x09 Episode 9

TV

Friends
5x18 The One Where Rachel Smokes [4th or so watch]
5x19 The One Where Ross Can't Flirt [5th or so watch]

The Mentalist
6x05 The Red Tattoo
So... nearly... there...
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Articles

Ian Fleming hit a Nazi, but you should have seen the one that got away…
by David Mitchell (from The Observer)

Turns out Sky Atlantic's new Ian Fleming biopic is mostly fiction, but looks like it's being fact, but kinda admits it's fiction, but only after tricking you into thinking it's fact. And that's wrong.

this week on 100 Films

A busy week on 100 Films in a Year -- well, actually, it was a pretty quiet week, and then suddenly a very busy last few days.

Anyway...

First, as it's December 1st, here's the November update. And because I've reached 100 films, it looks back at all the previous #100s too. Exciting.

Secondly, as it's December 1st, it's time to launch the 100 Films Advent Calendar 2013! I Know, I bet you can barely contain your excitement. 25 days of solid new reviews -- thrilling!

Thirdly, two new reviews were published this week, and they were...


Dredd (2012)

It's the gritty take on 2000AD’s primary hero that aficionados have long desired, but also an exemplary sci-fi/action movie in its own right. With impressive gun battles, dry humour, and Karl Urban nailing the title character (yes, including the voice)

Read more here.


Shane (1953)

The general shape of the plot is one familiar to Western fans, though that may well be because the others are based on Shane: a mysterious stranger riders into town, just looking for lodgings and/or work. Turns out the honest good-hearted town-folk are in some way being oppressed by a local gang/landowner/etc. The stranger doesn’t want to intervene, he just wants a quiet life… but eventually something galvanises him and he can’t help it. Cue climactic shoot-out.

Read more here.


And finally, there were a couple of reviews new to the new blog too...


Casanova (2005)

pales in comparison to the Russell T Davies-scripted, David Tennant-starring BBC production from the same year. Where that version is witty, clever, entertaining and actually does something with the characters, this film is silly, predictable and only occasionally graced with an amusing moment.

Read more here.


Make/Remake: Assaults on Precinct 13

Comparing the 1976 cult classic to its glossy 2005 remake.

Individual reviews can be found here and here, while the comparison is here.

Swing Time (1936)

One interesting note is some story similarities to Sideways — yes, Sideways, the recent Oscar-winning indie comedy about love and wine tasting. Whether Swing Time had any influence on that (made almost 70 years later), or it’s just a huge coincidence, I don’t know, but there are several reminiscent moments throughout the engaged-man-and-buddy-find-love-in-far-off-location-(then-accidentally-let-truth-slip) plot.

Read more here.


Phew!

More next Sunday. Seven more, hopefully.