TV

Gotham
1x21 The Anvil or the Hammer

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x06 (27/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x23 Johnny and Dora [season finale]

Person of Interest
3x13 4C
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Episodes
4x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vicious
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

TMNT (2007)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x10 (17/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition) (2003/2004)
[3rd or so watch]

Consensus marks this as the best of the trilogy. For me, Fellowship still edges it, but this is nonetheless a great finale.

Films

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) (2002/2003)
[3rd or so watch]

I've warmed to The Two Towers down the years... or rather I had, because this time I found it a bit of a slog again. It's the only one of the three where I'd entertain an argument that the Extended Edition makes it worse.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x22 The Chopper

Gotham
1x20 Under the Knife

Mock the Week
14x02 (18/06/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

First things first, this week 100 Films in a Year was nominated for a Liebster Award. More on that here:




Relatedly, I dragged this interview from 2011 out of the archive:




In regular business, three brand-new reviews were published this week...


The Rocketeer (1991)

the first act drags and unbalances the film, which picks up considerably (though gradually) after the Rocketeer himself finally turns up. It would feel a much better film, and perhaps be better regarded, if it didn’t dilly-dally for so long before getting to the meat of the plot and action. It doesn’t help that it has ambition ahead of its era when it comes to special effects.

Read more here.


The Voices (2014)

The Voices isn’t your usual kind of film — obviously. In the special features, everyone’s very keen to talk about how it exists outside of genre, and they’re right. From some of the premise (his pets talk!) and marketing, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just a comedy. It is a comedy, but a very black one. A very, very black one. A total-absence-of-light black one.

Read more here.


X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut (2014/2015)

So is this cut better? Well, no. Is it worse? Well, not really. It’s just different. On the one hand, here we have some extra fleshing out of Raven and Hank’s characters, more action for future-Magneto and Iceman, and a more decent role for Rogue... On the other hand, it makes for a slightly less streamlined film

Read more here.


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


Manhattan (1979)

for me, the best bit of the entire film is the opening three-and-a-half minutes, in which the beautiful images, Allen’s narration and Gershwin’s music combine in a tribute to what must be the most genuinely loved of all cities.

Read more here.


The Right Stuff (1983)

it’s nice to actually get some coverage of these earlier, vital missions, though such an in-depth knowledge of what was to follow has its problems for The Right Stuff’s narrative, just as knowing the facts always does for a historical movie. Equally, it gives the emotional resonance a helping hand

Read more here.


Verity (2010)

The short’s tagline — “men, bitches and Daleks” — sums up its thematic concerns: Verity Lambert argues with the man who hired her, faces animosity from other female members of staff, and saves the day by forcing the Daleks into [Doctor Who] despite Sydney Newman’s forbiddance.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) (2001/2002)
[3rd or so watch]

Has it really been five years since I last watched Lord of the Rings?! Bloody hell! And it was only the theatricals then, so I haven't seen these extended ones for... God only knows. At least seven or eight years, I'd wager. That's insane. Must start watching them more often again.


The Thing (1982)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #5

Collection Count

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

Multiple new acquisitions this week, though as several of them were upgrades from DVDs it threw the maths into a bit of a tizzy. Basically, I replaced my individual DVDs of the first three Mission: Impossible films, totalling five discs, with a single four-disc Blu-ray box set.

Such kinks have been largely eradicated from the final result by a last-minute new DVD arrivals.

Number of titles in collection: 1,779 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,207 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 572 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,411 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 1,924 [up 6]
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.

TV

Coldplay + Game of Thrones: The Musical for Red Nose Day
Sketch for Red Nose Day USA that I finally got round to watching. It had its moments.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x05 (20/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Ripper Street
3x02 The Beating of Her Wings
I'd heard tell this was the best series yet, and based on these first two episodes I can well believe it. Looking forward to how it develops from here, though how it will I can't quite imagine.
[Watch it now on Amazon Instant Video, or on BBC One (edited) soon.]

Vicious
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Episodes
4x06 Episode 6

Gotham
1x19 Beasts of Prey

The Last Leg
7x01 (26/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Two Tribes
2x28 (13/7/15 edition)
Two Tribes returned to BBC Two for two episodes, then after two days was replaced by golf for two weeks. (I don't know if the golf really lasts two weeks, but for all I know it will.)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut (2014/2015)
[#96a in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

The theatrical cut of Days of Future Past was 2014 #113 when I watched it last November. This new cut, released on DVD and Blu-ray this week, adds 17 minutes. Does it make a huge difference? Not really.

TV

Ripper Street
3x01 Whitechapel Terminus
The Amazon-saved series returns to BBC One later this month... so I'm finally getting round to watching it on Amazon. Well, I watched the first two series months after they aired, so it's only right. It's at least as good as ever, which is nice, and by jumping ahead four years it's almost like a mini-reboot. Leaves you feeling a bit dazed if you can't quite remember how the last series ended, but on the bright side it does (eventually) recap anything you need to know.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x21 Det. Dave Majors

Gotham
1x18 Everyone Has a Cobblepot
Has it really been nearly three months?! Time to finish this one off...

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x20 AC/DC

Mock the Week
14x01 (11/06/15 edition)
Got some catching up to do...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
8x04 (13/6/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Voices (2014)
[#96 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]