TV

Lupin the 3rd: Part IV
1x05 The Magician's Left Hand

Films

Body of Lies (2008)
[#168 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 11 (pages 162-170)

this week on 100 Films

Time for the monthly TV roundup at 100 Films in a Year...





Plus 5 brand-new film reviews too...


The Great Wall (2016)

the 3D is spectacular. Although it’s a post-conversion, the film definitely seems to have been shot with it in mind. The massive scale of the wall allows for both deep scenery shots and extreme height, especially when we follow the class of warriors who dive off the wall to fight while abseiling down it. Then there are the arrows, throwing axes, leaping monsters, exploding monsters…

Read more here.


The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)

It’s good in places, most of it ticking along at a level of passable entertainment — but it ticks along for too long, it’s not funny enough, and it can’t bring it all together in the way the other two films did. It suffers most of all from those comparisons, because it’s simply not a patch on the other two LEGO movies.

Read more here.


Mission: Impossible III (2006)

whenever I watch M:i:III I end up loving it more than I think I will — it’s an incredibly proficient, entertaining action-thriller. That I’d still rank it near the bottom of the franchise says more about the quality of the other instalments than it does the film itself.

Read more here.


Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Living up to the hype seemed like an impossible mission all of its own. Well, if there’s one thing Ethan Hunt and his IMF teammates can pull off, it’s… a rubber mask. But if there’s another, it’s the impossible — and how!

...the real point of the movie; the thing the trailers and posters and behind-the-scenes videos have all sold it on: the action sequences. Simply, they’re incredible. Cruise’s dedication to giving the audience something new and exciting and awe-inspiring to watch is second to none.

Read more here.


The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)

If the plot sounds like an adventure movie but also a bit, well, weird, then you’ve probably got a handle on The Navigator already. It’s a men-on-a-mission time travel adventure quest filtered through an arthouse sensibility... So, on the one hand, it can play as a straightforward heroic quest, but the sometimes slow pace and occasional presence of symbolism suggest, on the other, a film with greater depths.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The LEGO Ninjago Movie 3D (2017)
[#167 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

This week, it's time for the monthly running time update. This month, the total crosses 400 days. Not a particularly auspicious number, aside from being a helluva lot.

Number of titles in collection: 2,132 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,157 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 975 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,436 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,378 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,104 [no change]
Number of short films: 619 [up 1]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
400 days, 6 hours, and 21 minutes.
(Up 23 hours and 43 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Lupin the 3rd: Part IV
1x04 With a Gun in My Hand

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema
1x02 The Heist
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Wind River (2017)
[#166 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 156-161)

TV

Lupin the 3rd: Part IV
1x03 0.2% Chance of Survival

Films

Full Metal Jacket (1987)
[#165 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #7

+ the half-hour making-of on the Blu-ray, Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil, which is insightful.

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 144-155)

Films

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
[#164 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
[#163 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Podcasts

The Empire Film Podcast
Christopher McQuarrie Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Special

Empire's legendary near-three-hour chat with writer-director Christopher McQuarrie about Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. That's longer than the film itself, fact fans. And I could happily have listened to a couple of hours more. Looking forward to the one they've recorded for Fallout.

Non-Fiction

Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 10 (pages 135-144)

Films

The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
[#162 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the Blu-ray's extras & booklet

Superman III (1983)
[#161 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 128-134)

TV

Legion
1x08 Chapter 8 [season finale]

Films

Iron Monkey (1993)
[#160 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]