Films

Back in Time (2015)
[#161 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

The Grandmaster (2013)
[#160 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Europa Report (2013)
[#158 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
[#159 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Circle (2015)
[#157 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Coherence (2013)
[#156 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

The Decoy Bride (2011)
[#155 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Jurassic World (2015)
[#154 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Crying of Lot 49 (2007)

it appears to be a student short, possibly only made for some school project. It adapts the entire novel in just seven minutes, solely through meaningful images and music — there are no actors, no dialogue, no voiceover. A solid knowledge of the book is essential to understand what’s going

Read more here.


Dreams of a Life (2011)

In 2006, the body of 38-year-old Joyce Vincent was found in her London bedsit, surrounded by Christmas presents and with the TV still on. Sad, but largely unremarkable, were it not for the fact that she’d been dead for three years. Carol Morley’s documentary attempts to uncover the story of Joyce’s life, and how it reached a point where no one noticed she’d been gone for so long.

Read more here.


Parabellum (2015)

Alfred Hitchcock once said said that “movies are real life with the boring parts cut out.” Valenta Rinner’s movie is the opposite of this in every respect: it isn’t real life, which is fine, but he only left the boring parts in, which isn’t.

Read more here.


Supermen of Malegaon (2008)

It’s an incredible, one-of-a-kind film; more powerful and life-affirming than it perhaps has any right to be. But then the filmmakers of Malegaon don’t really care about such things. They make movies because they want to, whether they ‘should’ or not; they make them better than you might expect; and it enriches their lives. Their story may do the same for you. In my opinion, it’s an essential film; a true must-see.

Read more here.


Terror by Night (1946)

For what is the shortest film in the series, screenwriter Frank Gruber and regular director/producer Roy William Neill have constructed a contained, almost claustrophobic version of a Holmes tale. There are definite pros to this: it’s effectively a locked room mystery, with an element of howdunnit closely tied to the whodunnit.

Read more here.


Just five archive posts were reposted this week, finishing off 2010. Next week, 2011 begins.


August 2010

At this exact point last year, as we head into the year's final third, I was 22 films behind The Target -- i.e. the rate of film-watching that would get me to exactly 100 films by December 31st at a regular, consistent pace. This year, I'm 23 films ahead. I'm having a little party. By myself. Nibbles?

Read more here.


September 2010

And lo, in the 9th month of the 10th year, I didst see 11 new films, and one of them was Number One-Hundred! Excuse me while I do a little victory dance.

Read more here.


October 2010

October last year was something of a tipping point, when I finally stopped falling behind and actually began catching up. This year, I’m just forging ahead...

Read more here.


November 2010

After doing so well for most of the year — including last month, where I made appropriate headway toward my new goal of 130 films — it’s rather slipped in November. Just four new films (and a couple of others I’ll review, but that don’t count in the slightest). I blame TV.

Read more here.


December 2010

So here we are, the final few new films I watched in 2010... And, as you’ll see in just a few lines, I sadly didn’t beat my previous record of 129 films. Hey ho — I made it to 100 (and comfortably over it), and after failing last year and barely scraping through the year before, I’m more than happy with that.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
35x05 The Girl Who Died
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
5x04 Into the Wilderness [2nd watch]

Films

Wings (1927)
[#153 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

One early-arrival new release this week. Been a long time since that happened, but HMV are back selling online and it seems they're as premature with pre-orders as ever -- hurrah! There's a few more new releases in the next couple of weeks, so that'll be even more exciting. As exciting as this ever gets, anyway.

Number of titles in collection: 1,802 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 594 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,531 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,954 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,801 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 456 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

A Clockwork Orange (1971)
[#152 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #8

TV

Top Coppers
1x06 The Passion of the Chris [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Inside Netflix's $12-Million, Oscar-Seeking Gamble on Beasts of No Nation
by Nicole LaPorte (from Fast Company)

An interesting piece on the strategy behind Netflix's release of a prestige, awards-baiting film, and what it might mean for the future of filmed entertainment.

TV

Top Coppers
1x05 The Escape of Vince Rust
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dreams of a Life (2011)
[#151 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

The Crying of Lot 49 (2007)
[#149a in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Parabellum (2015)
[#150 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Supermen of Malegaon (2008)
[#149 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
My review will be up here in the morning.

Films

Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
[#148 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
[#147 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Castle
5x11 Under the Influence

Doctor Who
35x04 Before the Flood
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
5x03 House of Hormones [2nd watch]

Films

Ender's Game (2013)
[#146 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

Just two brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


Rush (2013)

Appropriately, the racing sequences are the best part. Those were the days when F1 was a little wild and uncontrolled, which the film does a good job of conveying, and also of using to its advantage to create tense and exciting set pieces. Kudos to every element of production here, not only the brilliant camerawork and editing, and the array of special effects required to tie it together, but also the production design that makes the one or two tracks they filmed on look like circuits all around the world.

Read more here.


Shallow Grave (1994)

it concerns three ultra-chummy flatmates in contemporary Edinburgh who take in a fourth lodger, who promptly dies, leaving behind an insane amount of cash. Rather than report it, they dispose of the corpse and keep the cash. You don’t get much further from Merchant-Ivory than that.

Read more here.


Meanwhile, my archive posts are well into 2010 now, with 11 more reposted this week...


A final push...!

So today is the final day of 2008, and so the final day of this blog's second year. And have I made it to 100? Not yet.

Read more here.


Another dismal January

It seems like barely a couple of months since I was posting about a dismal January; but, of course, it was a year ago -- and I've just had another equally mediocre month.

Read more here.


Sit-rep (or, ‘In want of a better title’)

The start of April marks the end of the year’s first quarter in just about every way possible (meaning in months, weeks and days). Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that the same will be said for this year’s attempt at 100 films.

Read more here.


July 2009

one month on from my last post, and at around 58% of the way through 2009 I find the actions toward my titular aim floundering this year — never mind the last post, it’s been over a month since I actually watched a film.

Read more here.


It’s halfway through 2009!

“But it’s September!” I hear you cry in response to my patently ludicrous title. “That’s not halfway through the year by any reasonable measure!” No, it isn’t — but it is (if you haven’t already guessed) the point at which I’ve seen 50 new films in 2009 (at last!)

Read more here.


The end is nigh…

this is simply an observation (and little more than that, I’m afraid) that there are a mere 31 days of 2009 left. Indeed, 31 days of this decade. Cripes.

Read more here.


Another year over, or: Third time unlucky

“Another year over,” sang John Lennon, “and what have you done?” (Well, if you re-arrange the lyrics he did.) Failed to reach 100 films, that’s what. Well… There’s a first time for everything. It had to happen sooner or later.

Read more here.


A ¼ through 2010

Pat on the back over, it’s back to actually watching films. 25 in two months — 150 by the end of December? Well, we’ll see..

Read more here.


May 2010

I’ve decided to start putting these little lists up every month as a way of keeping the blog current and offering myself a chance to reflect on How Things Are Going. Having switched to longer reviews in the blog’s second year, and ultimately abandoned posting them in order too, I feel I’ve lost this side of things a little. And without it, the whole exercise becomes just a random selection of films.

Read more here.


June 2010

The start of July is, perhaps obviously, halfway through the year. In terms of film-viewing, then, I should have reached 50, obviously. As attentive regular readers will be aware, I actually reached 50 last month. It’s nice to be well ahead of schedule after last year’s failure

Read more here.


July 2010

July last year was when I didn’t watch a single film, so while I’ve not watched a great many this month (compared to the rest of the year so far), I’ve done a bang-up job compared to 2009.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
6x10 Class of 2014
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
50x01 (2/10/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]