TV

Bounty Hunters
1x05 Episode 5

The Good Place
1x08 Most Improved Player

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
6x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Punisher
1x12 Home

Films

Men in Black II (2002)
[3rd watch]

Rewatchathon 2017 #45

TV

The Good Place
1x07 The Eternal Shriek

The Musketeers
3x10 We Are the Garrison [series finale]

The Punisher
1x11 Danger Close

Would I Lie To You?
11x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Men in Black (1997)
[3rd watch]

Rewatchathon 2017 #44

TV

Bounty Hunters
1x04 Episode 4

Castle
8x11 Dead Red

The Good Place
1x06 What We Owe to Each Other

Films

Saludos Amigos (1942)
[#161 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Tea for Two (1950)
[#162 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

this week on 100 Films

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


Another Earth (2011)

I’ve seen it decried for not ditching the sci-fi stuff to focus on the characters’ emotional situation and relationship, and the same for not ditching the emotional stuff to focus on the sci-fi concepts. Personally, I think the film is doing exactly what it sets out to do: using aspects of each genre to comment on, reflect, and influence the other.

Read more here.


Hail, Caesar! (2016)

maybe there are indeed hidden depths here, but I think I’d prefer it as just a zany caper centred on Josh Brolin’s character, surrounded by the game all-star supporting cast, rather than having lengthy asides where a room of kinda-recognisable supporting actors discuss economics and communist philosophies and that kind of thing.

Read more here.


Napoleon (1927)

At 5½ hours, Napoleon is rather like a miniseries from the silent era — a comparison that feels more apt than ever in this age of binge-watching... Yet despite that length, the film doesn’t even reach the Napoleonic Wars. No wonder Gance wanted to do six movies — or six seasons, as we might interpret it today. (In the end, he went over-schedule and over-budget on this first film, covering just two-thirds of the story he’d intended and spending the budget for the entire series. I imagine I’d outrage some silent film fans/scholars if I called him the Peter Jackson of his day…)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Arrow
6x03 Next of Kin

Detectorists
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Punisher
1x10 Virtue of the Vicious

Films

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 3D (2017)
[#160 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Collection Count

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

This week, I picked up the 40th anniversary Blu-ray of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, replacing both an old DVD and an old Blu-ray. With one new release purchased as well, the net result is very little change.

Number of titles in collection: 2,053 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,168 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 885 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,270 [no change]
Number of films: 2,287 [down 2]
Number of TV episodes: 7,980 [no change]
Number of short films: 594 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Insert Name Here
3x01 Tom
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Musketeers
3x09 The Prize

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
6x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Punisher
1x09 Front Toward Enemy

Films

Zatoichi the Fugitive (1963)
[#159 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

TV

The Punisher
1x08 Cold Steel

TV

Castle
8x10 Witness for the Prosecution

The Good Place
1x05 Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis

Films

Spider-Man: Homecoming 3D (2017)
[2nd watch]

Rewatchathon 2017 #43

TV

Bounty Hunters
1x03 Episode 3

The Good Place
1x04 Jason Mendoza

The Punisher
1x06 The Judas Goat
1x07 Crosshairs

Would I Lie To You?
11x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Flash
4x03 Luck Be a Lady

The Good Place
1x03 Tahani Al-Jamil

The Punisher
1x05 Gunner

TV

The Punisher
1x04 Resupply

Films

The Great Wall 3D (2016)
[#158 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

this week on 100 Films

It was already time for another TV round-up this week over at 100 Films in a Year...





There were 3 brand-new reviews, too...


Fandango (1985)

If we’re being picky then its structure is a little episodic, but the scrapes the gang get into are linked by arcs that chart their characters’ development, which is where the film has it’s heart. It’s also resplendent with nice little touches, like well-composed shots (for a first timer, Reynolds clearly knew what he was doing), poignant character moments, and some occasionally profound dialogue, too.

Read more here.


Justice League (2017)

I enjoyed it. On the whole it’s not as thought-provoking as Batman v Superman, but is instead a fun time with some good character bits thrown in. From early reviews I feared the whole story would be choppily edited, and the opening act is indeed a bit disjointed and jumpy, but the closer it gets to the team being assembled the more it settles down. Once they’re together, it’s a fairly straightforward action-adventure movie, with the heroes in pursuit of the villain to stop his world-ending plan. Unlike BvS it’s not full of portentous (or, depending on your predilections, pretentious) themes to ponder, but it’s still a reasonably entertaining action movie.

Read more here.


Wonder Woman (2017)

The fourth film in DC’s shared cinematic universe is by far its best reviewed to date. It’s also the first superhero movie of the modern era to be based around a female character. I can’t help but think one has a lot to do with the other, because, in my estimation, Wonder Woman is not massively better than or different to the action-adventure blockbusters we get several of every year — the only exception being, of course, that it stars a woman. While that is undoubtedly important, and its meaningfulness can apparently not be understated, it doesn’t automatically elevate the quality of the rest of the movie. Or maybe it does for some people — maybe “the same, but with a woman” is enough to make it a genre classic.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.