Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 117-127)

this week on 100 Films

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


Despicable Me 2 (2013)

This is a film that rambles around a lot in the telling, presumably out of fear that it might ever become boring to hyperactive youngsters. Unfortunately, it almost had the opposite effect on me. The main plot just felt like a shape on which to hang the romantic and Minion subplots, but those subplots just felt like a constant distraction from the main plot. The end result is a film that’s narratively unsatisfying on all fronts.

Read more here.


Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)

The 31st official Godzilla film from Japan’s Toho studio is the second part of their anime trilogy. Released theatrically in Japan, it’s a Netflix exclusive in the rest of the world — which is probably for the best, because it means we don’t have to pay money specifically for this shite.

Read more here.


If You Meet Sartana… Pray for Your Death (1968)

in contrast to the rough, dusty Spaghetti Western heroes we’re used to, Sartana cuts quite the dash, smartly dressed in a black suit replete with red-lined cape. He may be an out-for-himself money-centric gunslinger just like the rest, but he’s also a cardsharp for variety, which is revealed in a fun sequence when he joins a poker game shortly after arriving in town. Him pulling a fast one on the other players leads to a stand-off and shoot-out, because what doesn’t in this movie?

Read more here.


Rocky III (1982)

much more action orientated than the first two films. Those were almost social dramas that happen to be about someone who boxes, while this is a sports movie through and through. Stallone once confessed he’d run out of ideas after the first two films, which is why this and Rocky IV focus so much on the fights and training. [Nonetheless,] the action and montages are slick and exciting, making this perhaps the most adrenally satisfying of the series to date.

Read more here.


Zatoichi's Revenge (1965)

Repetitious or not, there’s a lot of really great stuff in Zatoichi’s Revenge to mark it out as another superb entry in the series. I feel like I say something along those lines in almost every review, but the series is on a real winning streak at this point

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Legion
1x07 Chapter 7

Films

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #28

So. Good. And Fallout's meant to be even better? Can't wait.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 2,130 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,157 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 973 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,434 [up 5]
Number of films: 2,376 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,104 [no change]
Number of short films: 618 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Lupin the 3rd: Part IV
1x02 The Fake Fantasista

Films

Free Enterprise (1998)
[#158 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Kidnapped (1917)
[#159 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Preceded by the shorts Friends, Romans and Leo, Little Red Riding Hood, Quaint Provincetown, and Microscopic Pond Life.

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 109-116)

TV

Legion
1x06 Chapter 6

Films

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
[#156 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Zatoichi and the Doomed Man (1965)
[#157 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 100-108)

TV

Legion
1x05 Chapter 5

Films

Cash on Demand (1961)
[#154 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Despicable Me 2 3D (2013)
[#155 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 90-99)

TV

Legion
1x04 Chapter 4

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x01 The Rom-Com
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
[#153 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 82-90)

TV

Legion
1x03 Chapter 3

Films

Rocky IV (1985)
[#152 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Rocky VI (1986)
[#152a in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
No, I didn't accidentally skip one (the sixth film is called Rocky Balboa anyhow) -- this is a parody of Rocky IV, with the Roman numerals inverted for comedic effect. Or something. I dunno. It's not very funny, anyhow -- Rocky IV is a better parody of itself.

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 73-81)