TV

Film 2015
Episode 7 (25/2/15 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
2x07 (24/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
4x08 The Battles 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

No changes this week. I have half-a-dozen things slated to arrive next month, though, so that should all be a bit busier.

Number of titles in collection: 1,739 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 531 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,341 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,876 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,474 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 442 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
2x08 My Father's Would Be Assassins
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Arrow
3x11 Midnight City

The Last Leg
6x07 (20/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Two Tribes
2x06 (23/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Death in Paradise
4x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
2x03 Episode 3 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
8x10 The Unseen Bits [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Mentalist
7x02 The Greybar Hotel
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Wolf Hall
Part 3 The Devil's Spit
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Broadchurch
2x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Elementary
3x09 The Eternity Injection

Film 2015
Episode 2 (20/1/15 edition)
Episode 3 (27/1/15 edition)
Reviews of Ex Machina, A Most Violent Year, Big Hero 6, The Gambler, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Trash, Inherent Vice, and Son of a Gun (phew!)
[Watch the 20/1 edition (with sign language) and the 27/1 edition (with or without) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x11 The Sound and the Fury

Outnumbered
3x03 The Tennis Match [2nd watch]

TV

The 87th Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars, of course. A mixed bag of the predictable and the perhaps-not-worthy, with some fantastic acceptance speeches.

Castle
4x23 Always [season finale]
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Wednesday 1st April.]

Two Tribes
2x05 (20/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
4x22 Undead Again
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Wednesday 25th March.]

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
2x02 Episode 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]


And of a similar theme...

Film 2015
Episode 6 (18/2/15 edition)
Discussing the Oscar nominations.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Oscar 2015 Nominations Special
Discussing the Oscar nominations.

Oscar 2015: Red Carpet Live
I'm still watching as this is posted, but I bet they're discussing the Oscar nominations.

this week on 100 Films

A whopping seven brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, including a previous Oscar Best Picture winner, and one of the frontrunners for this year's awards...


12 Angry Men (1957)

the outcome rarely seems certain, each victory hard won, so that the film holds you rapt, desperate for sense and reason to prevail. There are moments of tension which may literally push you to the edge of your seat; moments of exultant success which may elicit an exclamation of approval similar to a point scored in a sports match.

Read more here.


2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

This is the first in an occasional series in which I revisit films that are highly acclaimed but I didn’t enjoy first time round... let me begin with a point of clarification: I don’t remember when I first saw 2001, but I was very young, and most likely looking for SF films in the vein of others I’d enjoyed, like, say, Star Wars. I think we can all agree that 2001 is not like Star Wars.

Read more here.


Argo (Extended Cut) (2012/2013)

Hollywood loves a look at itself, and here it’s both satirical (“So you want to come to Hollywood, act like a big shot, without actually doing anything? You’ll fit right in!”) and congratulatory — after all, the plan goes ahead and so (spoilers) Hollywood saves the day. The film creates just the right balance between taking the mick out of Hollywood and bigging-up its role in saving some lives, while also not spending too long on this section that we forget the perilous situation on the other side of the world.

Read more here.


Boyhood (2014)

writer-director Richard Linklater strives to keep things almost unrelentingly normal. Okay, there are abusive relationships — things get a little extreme with her second husband — but even that doesn’t go as far as it could have. No one gets in a shocking accident or develops a fatal illess or dies suddenly; no one is seriously bullied or mugged; no one is arrested or imprisoned; no one is made homeless; no one gets pregnant… the list could go on. Every time you second guess that — every time you think, “oh now we’re going to have something big” — the film just rolls on with normality. Just like real life does, in fact.

Read more here.


Last Action Hero (1993)

a spoof of action-thrillers, albeit with a real-world framing device instead of just leaping in Airplane-style... the film is most alive in the first and third acts, when the two worlds initially collide and, later, when the fictional characters enter our world only to find that not everything’s the same as in the movies.

Read more here.


The Lego Movie (2014)

Despite looking like a 100-minute toy commercial with an irritating theme song, plus a moral message about nonconformity that seems like it’ll get bungled (but doesn’t), The Lego Movie is so much more — and better — than that.

Read more here.


The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)

For my money, unquestionably the series’ weakest entry so far, though others disagree — some even reckon it their favourite. The charm and banter between Powell and Loy is present and correct, though... and there are some good Asta bits.

Read more here.


The Oscars-related fun continues in all of this week's seven archive repost reviews: every one of them is a Best Picture winner...


Annie Hall (1977)

One might call it a romantic comedy, but it’s very much an indie comedy-drama (for one thing, it utilises the ever-popular tactic of not taking place in chronological order), rather than the mainstream cliché-fest that first springs to mind whenever “rom-com” is mentioned.

Read more here.


The Apartment (1960)

Wilder employs long scenes and long takes, but Lemmon never stops bustling through them, always doing something, keeping the film active and moving even when Wilder declines to follow. It's the latter that makes the former so effective, rendering Lemmon's character the odd one in an otherwise static world

Read more here.


Chicago (2002)

In its favour are a number of memorable songs, all performed with impressive routines. On the downside, they’re all quite stagey in their choreography, though this suits the daydream-fantasy style in which they come about.

Read more here.


Crash: Director's Cut (2004)

I'll take any chance I can get to go on about how this is a much better and more Oscar-deserving piece than a certain overrated film about gay cowboys. In my opinion this is a film that should be seen, not necessarily for its message, but for its quality in terms of performance, direction, etc.

Read more here.


Gone with the Wind (1939)

The direction is brilliant, displaying styles you think weren’t invented for another 20 years; all of the design work is gorgeous; and the story is epic and expertly told, moving across genres (romance, war, melodrama, comedy) with ease.

Read more here.


Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

The acting is what shines in this multiple-Oscar-winning custody drama... I personally didn’t find the later courtroom scenes quite as edge-of-your-seat intense as some have, but you can’t fault the abilities of the actors.

Read more here.


Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Everything that claims it’s a “feel-good film” is being slightly disingenuous. It has a happy ending, but until those closing moments it’s unrelentingly grim. Realistic, I’m certain, and depressingly so, but it seems designed for anything but making you feel good.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x06 Jake and Sophia
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Two Tribes
2x04 (19/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
4x07 The Blind Auditions 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Big Hero 6 (2014)
[#28 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Feast (2014)
[#28a in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Excellent short, which screened before Big Hero 6 in cinemas and is on its Blu-ray release (and DVD too, probably). Also up for an Oscar this weekend.

Collection Count

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

This week, four new additions boost almost every stat (no new DVDs, though one BD has a DVD copy, so, y'know). It's also time for the monthly running time count, so it really is an update-tastic edition.

Number of titles in collection: 1,739 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 531 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,341 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,876 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,474 [up 10]
Number of short films in collection: 442 [up 2]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
313 days, 19 hours, and 13 minutes.
(Up 23 hours and 37 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Broadchurch
2x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Castle
4x21 Headhunters
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Wednesday 18th March.]

Room 101
15x06 Episode 6

Two Tribes
2x03 (18/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Boyhood (2014)
[#27 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Death in Paradise
4x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
2x02 (17/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014)
[#26b in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

The latest Toy Story short/TV special, released just before Christmas, is sadly disappointing.

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
2x07 You Can Face Time or You Can Face This
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Two Tribes
2x01 (16/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wolf Hall
Part 3 Anna Regina
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Arrow
3x10 Left Behind
Olly meets up with everyone exactly five years later, doesn't he? Funny that...

Castle
4x20 The Limey
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Wednesday 11th March.]

The Last Leg
6x06 (13/2/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
[#26a in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
[3rd watch]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
8x06 (13/2/15 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Castle
4x19 47 Seconds
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Wednesday 4th March.]

Broadchurch
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]