TV

Preacher
1x04 Monster Swamp
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Articles

Warcraft Wasn't Made For You: Alienated Viewers and Disengaged Critics
by Richard Newby (from Audiences Everywhere)

Great piece on the abundance of poorly-reviewed films this year being more to do with bad criticism than bad movies.

this week on 100 Films

It's a new month, which means this update begins with a look back at June on 100 Films in a Year...




Also this week, my 100 Favourites project passed the halfway mark. Here's a post marking that occasion:




With those goings on, just 1 brand-new review was published this week...


Adam (2009)

Star Hugh Dancy worked with with writer-director Max Mayer for a month before filming began to develop the character, and spoke with individuals affected by Aspergers to learn about their feelings, sensory issues, and interests. It clearly paid off: I imagine it must be tricky to pull off a character like that without taking it too far, but Dancy is great in the role.

Read more here.


Finally, there were 2 new regular 100 Favourites posts...


Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

it’s a clever, witty, gothic adventure… for kids! Jim Carrey is on fine form as the evil Count Olaf, there’s quality support from some recognisable thesps in guest-star-level roles, the kids are a likeable bunch, and baby Sunny’s subtitled observations are frequently the highlight. Some reviews describe it as “superficial” or a “pantomime”, but even if it is, it’s devilishly entertaining.

Read more here.


Léon (1994)

Besson brews the grittily realistic with something far more fantastical to create a film that is, perhaps, a little too unique for some to get a handle on... For the majority, however, Léon is a gripping, characterful, rewatchable masterpiece.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This week, I picked up the Tarantino XX Blu-ray box set in a sale. It replaces 6 DVDs and 1 Blu-ray (and there's one other film in the set which I'm keeping my individual copy of, just for the packaging). So, that's how I've gone down 6 titles but only down 1 disc and yet somehow up 1 film.

Number of titles in collection: 1,868 [down 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [down 6]
Of which Blu-rays: 666 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,786 [down 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,058 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Pan (2015)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Game of Thrones
6x10 The Winds of Winter [season finale]

Films

The Lobster (2015)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

DC's Legends of Tomorrow
1x15 Destiny
1x16 Legendary [season finale]

Films

The Present (2014)
[#113a in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
Magnificent animated short. Watch it online here.

this week on 100 Films

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


The Boxer from Shantung (1972)

displays a greater focus on plot and character than is perhaps typical for a Shaw Bros movie, but doesn’t exactly stint on action either — the sequences are a little more spread out than usual, and it results in a just-over-two-hours runtime that isn’t typical for these films. Fortunately, it’s an engrossing enough story that this isn’t a problem, even if the narrative has a rise-and-fall kind of shape that is fairly familiar in the gangster genre.

Read more here.


The Descendants (2011)

Though marred by heavy-handed voice-over exposition (it baffles me that it won a Best Screenplay Oscar), it’s lifted by strong performances from the daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) and Clooney, inverting his usual confident demeanour.

Read more here.


Independence Day (Special Edition) (1996/1998)

This was the first time I’d watched Independence Day's extended Special Edition cut, and I’d advise not bothering. It adds around 8½ minutes of new material, but the scenes don’t add all that much, and some of them are so awkwardly rammed in that it’s almost irritating

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Our Hero: The Bride, aka Black Mamba, aka [bleep], is a deadly assassin out for revenge against the gang of former associates who tried to murder her, in particular their leader, Dave. No, wait, that’s not right. What was his name? Anyway…

Read more here.


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

The film's best quality is probably its humorous dialogue... Downey Jr is hilarious, of course, but even he's outmatched by Val Kilmer as sarky investigator Gay Perry. Even more impressively, love interest Michelle Monaghan holds her own against them both. The plot may be so confusing it's easily forgotten, but the whodunnit reveal is beside the point when the journey there is so entertaining.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Nowt to report this week. More next week? Probably not... but you never know.

Number of titles in collection: 1,874 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 666 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,787 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 2,057 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

The Bank Job (2008)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Films

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

aka Иван Васильевич меняет профессию
aka Ivan Vasilyevich menyayet professiyu
aka Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession

TV

Game of Thrones
6x09 Battle of the Bastards
Wow.

TV

Upstart Crow
1x06 The Quality of Mercy [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Barry Lyndon (1975)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #6

this week on 100 Films

It's that time of the month at 100 Films in a Year: the TV review! Spoiler-free coverage of Game of Thrones, Preacher, and more...




As well as that, the blog's raison d'être continued with 4 brand-new reviews...


Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

Why is this film notable? In fact, is it notable? Well, it was voted in to The 50 Greatest Cartoons by some of 1,000 animation professionals, so there’s clearly something there... Maybe it’s the subversiveness that makes it significant? It comes from an era when that must have been a factor, surely — there’s a certain Monty Python-ness to it, and it was made the same year Flying Circus first aired.

Read more here.


Deadpool (2016)

it’s a pretty standard superhero origin plot. But the devil is in the details, and it’s how Deadpool tells its story that matters — the narrative is just a framework on which to hang the gags. The immediate point of comparison on a superhero comedy is surely Kick-Ass, and it doesn’t take deep analysis to see that Deadpool isn’t as subversive as that movie. Where Kick-Ass comments on, at times even deconstructs, the superhero genre, Deadpool takes its rules as a given and throws a shedload of humour on top of it. Is that a problem? It depends what you’re looking for.

Read more here.


Hercules (Extended Cut) (2014)

The answer to the question, “Hey, remember Brett Ratner? Whatever happened to him?”, Hercules stars Dwayne Johnson in full The Rock mode as the eponymous demigod. In this comic book adaptation, we’re introduced to Hercules at a point in his life after the famous labours but before he’d passed into legend, when he’s just a mercenary… or maybe he’s always just been a mercenary, and the legends are a tall tale to help him and his band of warriors sell their wares.

Read more here.


Ip Man 3 (2015)

Early bouts are not bad, though surprisingly underwhelming, but things really pick up later on. An elevator fight between Ip and a Thai boxer is the absolute high point, an incredible close-quarters action scene that spills out into a stairwell, but Donnie Yen vs Mike Tyson is a very good sequence also, and the climax ain’t half bad.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

‘Product placement’ is when companies pay for their products to be featured in a film. I’m clarifying this because it’s important to know that Josie spoofs (rather than features) product placement relentlessly... The great irony of the film’s critical reception is that this spoofing of product placement is kinda on-the-nose, and yet swathes of oh-so-clever critics completely missed that. Rotten Tomatoes even use half of their Critical Consensus summary to say that “the constant appearance of product placement seems rather hypocritical.” Point, missed.

Read more here.


Jurassic Park (1993)

For a certain generation, Star Wars is undeniably the defining cinematic experience. For a more recent one, I guess it’s Harry Potter or something. In between, you have my lot — and as became quite clear with the unexpectedly phenomenal response to Jurassic World this time last year, we have Jurassic Park. It was the first film I ever saw at the cinema, and much of it has been lodged in my memory every since. That it’s beloved shouldn’t be such a surprise, really: it was huge back in 1993, and is one of only ten films that can lay claim to ever having been The Highest Grossing Movie Of All Time.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Have I Got News For You
51x08 (27/5/2016 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Fantastic Four (2015)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

After a busy few weeks, just one newbie this time.

Number of titles in collection: 1,874 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 666 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,787 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 2,057 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,214 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.