Films

Man of Tai Chi (2013)
[#49 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Arrow
3x17 Suicidal Tendencies

Forever
1x14 Hitler on the Half Shell

Films

Monsters University (2013)
[#48 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Elementary
3x15 When Your Number's Up

Outnumbered
3x06 The Hospital [season finale; 2nd watch]

Relatively Clever
1x01 Episode 1
Well that was pretty awful.

Films

Pain & Gain (2013)
[#47 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

The Mentalist
7x08 The Whites of His Eyes
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Poldark
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Rocketeer (1991)
[#46 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

To kick things off this week, it's April! That means it's time to look back at what occurred on 100 Films in a Year in March...




On to regular business: three brand-new reviews were published this week...


God Bless America (2011)

on the surface, a little too ridiculous, but that’s masking a witty comedy and surprisingly truthful character piece. The latter is where the film’s most consistent joys are to be found. It’s carried by the charisma of the two leads; they’re a joy to spend time with, even if you for some reason objected to their righteous crusade.

Read more here.


Nativity 2: Danger in the Manager! (2012)

Today has something to do with Jesus, right? Well, this has something to do with Jesus, kinda.

Read more here.


The Shining (1980)

Kubrick turned his hand to horror for this Stephen King adaptation. Poorly received on release and reviled by King, it has since been reassessed as a classic. I’ve never read the novel, so have no opinion on the film’s level of faithfulness... As a movie in its own right, however, The Shining is bloody scary.

Read more here.


Plus five archive reviews were reposted...


Educating Rita (1983)

Julie Walters makes her big screen debut opposite Michael Caine in this British comedy drama about a 26-year-old University student and her disenchanted drink-sodden tutor, adapted by Willy Russell from his own play and directed by the man behind Alfie and three Bond films.

Read more here.


High Society (1956)

Cole Porter-scored musical remake of The Philadelphia Story, which is probably most famous for featuring Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and being star Grace Kelly’s final film before becoming a princess. Despite rarely singing, Kelly is by far the film’s standout element — it’s easy to believe three different men would be vying for her affection

Read more here.


The Man Who Sued God (2001)

funny, and righteous, and silly, and fantastical -- in an "oh, if only it were true!" way -- because in reality any such case would likely be laughed out of court and the insurance companies allowed to continue with their sorry and disreputable business. And some of these things which meant I loved it -- the "only in a film" moral victories, the sillification of the church(es), and so on -- will mean others hate it

Read more here.


Taxi Driver (1976)

I didn’t buy Travis’ slide into psychosis, which is unfortunate as it’s the core of the film and why it’s meant to be so great. In fact, I found Robert Pupkin’s broadly similar, self delusion-based character arc in The King of Comedy more believable.

Read more here.


Trainspotting (1996)

Choose great direction.
Choose iconic images.
Choose a great soundtrack.
Choose a brilliant cast.

Choose the rest of this review here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Voice UK
4x15 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
[#45 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

As well as Interstellar (as mentioned last week), this week saw a whole host of titles picked up in the sales -- six, to be precise, with more to come next week. And there I was thinking it was going to be a quiet month...

Number of titles in collection: 1,754 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,207 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 547 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 4,367 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,895 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,474 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 444 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gotham
1x14 The Fearsome Dr. Crane
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Outnumbered
3x05 The Restaurant [3rd watch]
(I've only mentioned seeing this once before, but I've definitely seen it more times than that. Maybe only most of it... Anyway, that's the numerical discrepancy explained.)

Films

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
[2nd watch]

This was #80 in 100 Films 2011. Revisiting it before I watch the sequel tomorrow.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x12 Beach House
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Critical
1x06 Episode 6

The Flash
1x16 Rogue Time

TV

Killer Magic
1x01 Toys
Almost a year after the pilot, BBC Three finally have a series of this.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
7x07 Little Yellow House
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Person of Interest
3x02 Nothing to Hide
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Arrow
3x16 The Offer

Elementary
3x14 The Female of the Species

Films

Empire of the Sun (1987)
[#44 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

There's only about half-a-dozen Spielberg films I've not seen now...

TV

The Flash
1x15 Out of Time

In and Out of the Kitchen
1x03 The Lodger [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Poldark
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Outnumbered
3x04 The Pigeon [2nd watch]

Films

Tarzan (1999)
[#43 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]