TV

Episodes
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x23 Fast Enough [season finale]

Game of Thrones
5x09 The Dance of Dragons

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x01 Eurovision Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Forever
1x22 The Last Death of Henry Morgan [series finale]
Cancelled before its time, perhaps, but at least it wrapped up most of the mysteries.

Have I Got News For You
49x07 (22/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Now You See Me (2013)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Vicious
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Ladyhawke (1985)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

A new month began during this week on 100 Films in a Year, so we begin with a look back at... wait a minute! I forgot to post the look-back at April! Right then:



And now, May too:




After all that, six brand-new reviews were published this week...


The Black Cauldron (1985)

an intriguing footnote in the history of Disney animation. Their 25th ‘official’ film, it was the first with no songs, the first to earn a PG, and flopped so badly they disowned it for over a decade. Fully-animated sequences were cut after disastrous test screenings for parents, and famed exec Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly ordered 12 minutes cut, muddling the film’s story.

Read more here.


Hancock (Extended Version) (2008)

If you’ve only seen the humour-focused trailers, seeing Hancock described as a comedy-drama might come as a surprise. There’s a whole behind-the-scenes story here, it would seem... [they] thought they were making a character drama superhero movie, while studio executives were more interested in it being a superhero action-comedy... While the marketing went all-out on the comedy angle, the film itself is torn between these two pillars, leaving viewers with mismanaged expectations

Read more here.


Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

The first of Summer 2013’s “Die Hard in the White House” movies... The remarkable thing, watching both movies, is just how many plot beats are so similar. Even when they’re not exactly the same, they’re functionally identical. For example, a plane shoots up Washington merely as a distraction to get the President sent to the White House’s bunker; in White House Down, an explosion at the Capitol is staged merely as a distraction to get the President sent to the White House’s bunker.

Read more here.


Room 237 (2012)

Possibly-crazy people offer definitely-crazy theories on the subtextual meaning of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in this controversial film analysis documentary.

Read more here.


Violet & Daisy (2011)

plays like Tarantino with a metric tonne of Quirk slathered over it. On the bright side, it’s sort of entertaining, albeit fundamentally derivative with a sheen of left-field try-hard wacky-uniqueness.

Read more here.


White House Down (2013)

where your opinion is likely to land is most succinctly summed up in Film4’s review by Rebecca Davis: “Whether or not you enjoy this film depends entirely on whether you judge it to be po-faced or parody. If you believe it’s the former, you’ll probably hate it. If you believe it’s the latter, you’ll have an absolute blast.” I definitely judge it to be a parody... not an out-and-out Airplane-style parody, but very much a self-aware retro-styled tongue-in-cheek Action Movie.

Read more here.


Finally, there were six archive reviews republished too...


Capote (2005)

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning lead performance dominates this movie... in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote’s work process, it’s the character of the man, and how it’s affected, that is really revealed to the viewer

Read more here.


Catfish (2010)

a documentary (probably -- we'll come to that) in which 20-something Nev falls in love with a girl somewhere else in America over the internet. He and his friends become suspicious that she's not who she claims and set off to find out The Truth. ...reflects our current relationship with social networking technology... how these tools are and can be used, and what effects this can have on human relations.

Read more here.


The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Wordy political intrigue tries to coexist with broad comedy which is squashed against swashbuckling adventure. The latter two could co-exist, but the film feels like it wants to be the former and so suffers for it. The comedy jars too much to be effective... It should at least be able to swash buckles effectively, but entirely fails to achieve this until the climax.

Read more here.


The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

If some later Disney ventures have lost sight of the correct spirit for Pooh’s adventures, at least this original is a great adaptation. Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, and, above all, fun fun fun fun fun.

Read more here.


The Naked City (1948)

Police procedural film noir, shot entirely on location in New York... The story is quite straightforward -- girl is murdered, police investigate -- but it exists mainly as a structure on which to hang perspectives of the city, its criminals and its law enforcement

Read more here.


New York Stories (1989)

Anthology of three shorts, connected only by the New York setting, directed by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Elementary
3x22 The Best Way Out is Always Through

Pointless Celebrities
7x05 British Film
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Expendables 3 (Extended Version) (2014)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

A nice big five additions this week. (Current prediction for the next six weeks: 0. Well, we'll see...)

Number of titles in collection: 1,772 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 564 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,394 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,911 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x04 (29/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Car Share
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Ending with one of the funniest episodes -- brilliant! Really hope they make more. The ratings were strong, so I guess it's just down to Peter Kay and co. And to think I wasn't going to even bother with it...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Game of Thrones
5x08 Hardhome

Films

Changing Lanes (2002)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

Four brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Bullet to the Head (2012)

At times, you get the impression that director Walter Hill wants this to be a noir tale: there’s a hardboiled voiceover, a story mired in corrupt officials, twists about who to trust, and so on. But these elements are only fleeting, never building a consistency where you could plausibly claim it as any kind of neo-noir. Instead, it’s more of a buddy movie in the ’80s mould.

Read more here.


Feast (2014)

This year’s Best Animated Short Oscar winner is a charming little tale of a dog and his owner. I absolutely adored it

Read more here.


Seven Psychopaths (2012)

The writer-director and star of In Bruges re-team for the former’s sophomore feature; and if that doesn’t sound oddball enough for you, the lead cast is rounded out by Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. Zaniness is sure to ensue.

Read more here.


Shutter Island (2010)

One of the things Lehane set out to do in his novel was write “a gothic”, and Scorsese and co have taken that ball and run with it. It’s overflowing with a fantastic atmosphere: unsettling, creepy, chilling, horror-movie scary when needed (some sequences are properly hair-raising); truly gothic-feeling.

Read more here.


Plus eight archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Almost Famous (2000)

Crowe’s autobiographical screenplay is a good one, with plenty of amusing and dramatic moments to keep it ticking over — the most memorable, on a crashing plane, manages both with aplomb. Likewise, his direction is rarely flashy but always works. The music, costumes, design and cinematography evoke the period well

Read more here.


Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

John Cusack spends the entire film doing a blatant and middling impression of writer/director Woody Allen. But he nonetheless does OK, and the rest of the cast are note-perfect, the script pacy and funny, the photography gorgeous, and the long takes never more appropriate

Read more here.


Goodfellas (1990)

In the lead role, Ray Liotta seems to have been underrated, lost behind the top billing of De Niro and the award-winning craziness of Joe Pesci. He carries the film, with a performance that isn't showy but is perfectly pitched.

Read more here.


A Good Woman (2004)

reviewers like to pounce on the US cast members. Scarlett Johansson is neither here nor there, as per usual, but I thought Helen Hunt was quite good. It's undoubtable that they're overshadowed by British thesps like Tom Wilkinson and Stephen Campbell Moore however, but that's just par for the course.

Read more here.


Road to Singapore (1940)

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby star as a pair of young(ish) playboy sailors who run away from responsibility and family expectations in this comedy that launched the perennially popular Road to… series, which would spawn six sequels over the next 22 years.

Read more here.


Road to Morocco (1942)

Gentle, silly humour abound in this comedy, the third in the Road to… series. If you remember those plays that Morecambe & Wise used to do you’ll have a fair idea what this feels like

Read more here.


Road to Rio (1947)

If you’ve seen one Road to film then you’ve a fair idea what to expect from any other: lots of comedy, a few songs, a bit of romance, as well as some general hijinks. The differences, in all of these aspects, lie in the specifics: which songs, which gags, and so on... One might say it’s a variety show with a framing device, though there is a little more to the narrative than that.

Read more here.


Some Like It Hot (1959)

enjoying it again, didn’t want to skip the chance of handing it five stars in this pathetically brief review... it’s a very funny film even 50 years on. It rattles from situation to situation at an occasionally surprising pace, literally without a dull moment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume Two

The second (or third) and final season of the 2D-animated Star Wars spin-off, presented on DVD as a one-hour movie.

This season was designed specifically to tie in with the then-imminent third/sixth live-action Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith (which I'll be watching this weekend as part of my Star Wars re-view) -- the last episode takes place just minutes before the opening scene of Episode III, and the rest of the season details (in part) adventures alluded to in the movie.

There are pros and cons, compared to Volume One. The episodes here were three or four times as long, meaning they didn't have to focus quite so heavily on action and could dwell on character a bit more. At times that works; at others they seem to have forgotten the episodes were longer, so only afforded them the same amount of plot -- the individual action scenes just go on longer.

The Battle of Coruscant (which we see the end of in Episode III) is good, but because Anakin and Obi-Wan aren't allowed to turn up until the end, they have a subplot where they're off on some Outer Rim world saving a Native American-esque people (who also kinda look like Avatar's Na'vi) from nasty mutation. It's a bit "so what?" given everything else going on, but at least there's Mace Windu, Yoda, and some minor Jedi kicking ass on Coruscant to keep the mood up.

As with the first volume, a surprisingly-thorough episode-by-episode guide (though, when the episodes are 12-15 minutes long, it seems a bit less ridiculous) can be found on Wookieepedia

Posters for each season, which reflect Anakin's shift to the dark side.
(Wish I had them bigger/higher quality...)

Collection Count

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

A new release and a DVD-to-BD upgrade this week, which may explain some of the funny (non-)changes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,768 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 559 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,907 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Shutter Island (2010)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume One

Not to be confused with Star Wars: The Clone Wars (either the film or the TV series), this is the 2D-animated series that originally bridged the gap between Episodes II and III.

Originally released as 20 three-minute shorts across two seasons (though it's clearly one work -- presumably there was a gap halfway for production reasons), on DVD it's edited together into an hour-long movie. Its origins show through in just how action-packed and fast-moving it is, though that's no bad thing. The story is relatively slight, but it's beautifully animated, put together with a great amount of skill and creativity.

For the really interested, there's a ludicrously thorough episode guide (as in, each of the three-minute segments has its own entire page) available on Wookieepedia -- here's season one (chapters 1-10), and season two (chapters 11-20). All things considered, there's a surprising amount of detail there.