Films

Transcendence (2014)
[#16 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

It's the first day of a brand new month, which means over at 100 Films in a Year it's time to look back on the one just gone. Here's to my best January ever:




On top of that, five brand-new reviews were published this week. They were...


After the Thin Man (1936)

For my money, a more successful venture than the first film, however good that was. From the start it has its focus in the right place: rather than a lengthy preamble with the supporting cast (as in the first film), here we begin with Nick and Nora arriving in San Francisco and teasing the horde of journalists that greet them.

Read more here.


All is Lost (2013)

It’s hard to succinctly pigeonhole All is Lost. It’s a survival movie, if that’s really a genre; man vs the elements. It’s an adventure movie, a little bit in the old-fashioned sense, as here’s a man who, through no choice of his own, has what you might describe as “an adventure”.

Read more here.


Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

I’ve never seen a Wes Anderson film before, but his reputation is such that I don’t think you need to have to spot that Mr. Fox has been heavily Anderson-ised... So it’s Quirky with a capital Q, and yet, miraculously, not irritatingly so

Read more here.


The Running Man (1987)

In an ever-so-’80s vision of the future (my God, those costumes!), Arnie’s wrongfully-convicted fugitive ends up on TV’s most popular show, where criminals fight for their freedom against a variety of imposing opponents. Secretly, he’s there to try to overthrow the corrupt regime.

Read more here.


This is Not a Film (2011)

After being banned from filmmaking for 20 years, and while waiting for a decision on his appeal against the sentence, [Iranian director Jafar] Panahi invites his friend and fellow filmmaker Mojtab Mirtahmasb to his house, where the latter films the former as he reads and enacts portions of the screenplay for his intended next project, as well as chatting about the nature of filmmaking.

Read more here.


Finally, six archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Burn After Reading (2008)

It's nothing like No Country for Old Men, other than being occasionally obtuse, but that's the Coen's style. Still, I'm sure No Country is the better -- or Better -- film, but in the same way I prefer eating a bacon cheeseburger to a pile of vegetables, I think I enjoyed watching Burn After Reading more.

Read more here.


His Girl Friday (1940)

an acknowledged classic — 19th on the AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs, 58th on Empire’s 500 Greatest, 106th on They Shoot Pictures’ 1,000 Greatest, 245th on IMDb’s Top 250, preserved by the US’s National Film Registry, and countless other such accolades — so you probably don’t need me to tell you why it’s so good. But it really, really is.

Read more here.


An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Famous/infamous documentary centred on Al Gore’s presentation about global warming.

Read more here.


Léon: Version Intégrale (1994/1996)

personally, I prefer this version. Not because there's anything wrong with the original -- far from it -- but because this one has more... The additions build on the characters and relationships, primarily between the two leads, and also add extra doses of humour and action.

Read more here.


Texas Across the River (1966)

a fairly entertaining film. Little more than a comedic Western runaround, it sees Alain Delon — as a Spanish nobleman — trying to get to Texas to escape the Cavalry (led by Jim Phelps himself, Peter Graves) and marry his betrothed. On the way he enlists the help of Dean Martin and his Indian sidekick. Hilarity ensues!

Read more here.


The Wraith of Cobble Hill (2005)

its modern, urban story seems to clash with the cartoonish style employed to bring it to the screen. There are no flights of fantasy, few implausible shots, nothing that couldn't be achieved in live action even on a low budget. Ultimately the only reason for it being animated is, why shouldn't it be?

Read more here.


More next Sunday!

TV

The Voice UK
4x04 The Blind Auditions 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
[#15 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,732 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 524 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,329 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,870 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,464 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 441 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
2x04 A British Asian Comedian Can No Longer Afford to Buy a House Because of James Brown
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Castle
4x12 Dial M for Mayor

The Last Leg
6x03 (23/1/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Outnumbered
2x06 The Football Match [2nd watch]

TV

Castle
4x11 Till Death Do Us Part

The Last Leg
6x02 (16/1/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
8x03 (23/1/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Broadchurch
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Castle
4x10 Cuffed

Outnumbered
2x05 The Night Out [2nd watch]

Films

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1981)
[#14 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Produced for Russian TV as a two-parter... which of course means it's feature-length, and perfectly good enough to consider as a film. This will be my contribution to the Russia in Classic Film Blogathon, so more on it then.

Films

Argo (Extended Cut) (2012/2013)
[#13 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

I launched a new mini-series of reviews this week on 100 Films in a Year: every Thursday between now and the end of February will be Thin Man Thursday, reviewing the six detective comedies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. If you've not seen them, they come highly recommended.


Elsewise, six new reviews were posted this week...


The Crab with the Golden Claws (1947)

Adapted from the ninth Tintin adventure, which is the one that introduces popular supporting character/co-lead Captain Haddock, the plot sees Tintin following clues left by a dead seaman to uncover an opium smuggling operation being run on Haddock’s boat without his knowledge. Animated via stop motion using doll-like puppets, the film was only ever screened twice

Read more here.


The Grey (2011)

Promoted as Liam Neeson’s latest Taken-style actioner, The Grey is more of a survival horror, but with wolves instead of some mystical entity — though given the apparent lack of accuracy in the wolves’ behaviour, perhaps they’re supernatural after all.

Read more here.


Parker (2013)

Parker trailed well — funny lines, promising action, solid setup — but doesn't deliver. The funny lines remain funny, but the trailer has them all. The plot's generic — not necessarily a problem, but here it's hampered by pointless asides and subplots. The action only delivers once or twice

Read more here.


The Thin Man (1934)

Playing like a cross between an Agatha Christie mystery and a screwball comedy... The murder mystery is standard enough, albeit with enough genuine suspects and twists to keep the viewer guessing. The real joy comes from the investigators: retired detective and alcohol fan Nick Charles (William Powell) and his rich, interested wife Nora (Myrna Loy). Plus their dog, Asta, who gets up to all kinds of mischief.

Read more here.


The Woman in Green (1945)

it seems Moriarty may have finally outwitted our hero, leading to a remarkably effective climax with a hypnotised Holmes at the villains’ mercy. Moriarty’s plan is genuinely despicable, with the initial murders being entirely incidental to his end goal. It gives the film a subtly different tone to the rest of the series.

Read more here.


Finally, six archive reviews were also reposted to the new blog -- including four animated adventures for Sherlock Holmes...


La Antena (2007)

it's incredibly imaginative, especially with its visuals, which are often pleasantly barmy. The setting is a dystopian future (or alternate reality) where people can no longer speak (thus justifying the silent film styling), and this world is wonderfully realised without a hint of realism or awkward attempts to explain why things are the way they are.

Read more here.


The Baskerville Curse (1983)

this is an adaptation of that perennially popular Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and as such Peter O’Toole barely features. A shame, as he’s the only half decent thing in this mess.

Read more here.


The Sign of Four (1983)

a 49-minute animated Sherlock Holmes adaptation from the ’80s, one of four in this particular series [featuring] the voice of Peter O’Toole. Vocally he makes for a good Holmes, though the character design could be a little better.

Read more here.


A Study in Scarlet (1983)

Peter O’Toole is again the voice of the famous sleuth in this disappointing animated adaptation of the first Sherlock Holmes mystery.

Read more here.


Valley of Fear (1983)

The negatives of the previous films still remain, primarily the weak ’80s TV animation. It’s not as badly designed as the bright-and-colourful version of Baskervilles, at least. O’Toole’s performance is nothing to write home about either.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Outnumbered
2x04 The Airport [2nd watch]

The Voice UK
4x03 The Blind Auditions 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Hancock (Extended Version) (2008)
[#12 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

An addition and an upgrade this week make small tweaks, but there's a running time update to coalesce the past month's additions in an exciting way.

Number of titles in collection: 1,731 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 523 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,327 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,869 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,464 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 441 [no change]

As promised...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
312 days, 20 hours, and 50 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 13 hours, and 51 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
2x03 Two Lesbians Pissed on by Bats
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Outnumbered
2x03 The Old-Fashioned Sunday [3rd watch]

Fiction

The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun by Hergé
[second half]

TV

Hergé's Adventures of Tintin
The Calculus Affair

This is the animated 'film' (actually a TV series edited together into one 57-minute chunk) that I referred to when I read the book. My comment that it "bears no resemblance to the book whatsoever" was based on the series' Wikipedia entry, which says the following:

The Calculus Case (The Calculus Affair) was the most altered series, the changes amounting to a completely different story altogether.

Having watched it, I can say that's utter poppycock. Lots has been changed, certainly, but all of the set piece action sequences remain, and the fundamentals of the plot are the same too. One character has been cut, there's a bigger role for the Thom(p)sons, and who gets where when and how has been tweaked, but it's still about Bordurians kidnapping Calculus because he's invented a sonic weapon, and Tintin and Haddock travelling to Borduria to rescue him from a castle-prison.

It's actually pretty good, too, with a nice clean animation style and some fun antics. Absolute purists must hate the deviations, but it's mostly in the right spirit.

Fiction

The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun by Hergé
[first half]

As mentioned, this is Part 2 of one of the most popular Tintin stories. It's pretty good, but I have to say I'm not quite seeing what's so good (unlike with The Calculus Affair, for instance).

TV

Death in Paradise
4x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
10x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]