Films

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
[#91 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Ready or Not (2019)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

The Twilight Zone
1x31 The Chaser

Films

The Escape (2016)
[#89a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

The Wedding Guest (2018)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Elephant Man (1980)

The Elephant Man is sometimes placed alongside Dune and The Straight Story as anomalies in Lynch’s filmography, which is more often characterised for its horror-inducing oddness and sometimes-incomprehensible plotting. Of course, upon proper examination, all three of these movies exhibit Lynchian touches, perhaps none more so than The Elephant Man. It’s there in the avant-garde opening; the dream sequence; the sound design, for which he’s co-credited; the focus on industrial machinery. The film can certainly be read as a Victorian melodrama, but in execution it’s far from a Merchant Ivory movie.

Read more here.


Extraction (2020)

the action sequences are great, more than making up for the lightweight plot mechanics. Letting stunt coordinators move into full-on directing has been the saviour of the action movie genre in recent years, working wonders for the John Wick series in particular... Hargrave is the latest to suggest he might have a bright career ahead of him on the basis of his ability to stage electrifyingly choreographed combat scenes.

Read more here.


Men in Black: International (2019)

It’s not that the movie is bad per se, it’s just mediocre; bland; uninspired. It’s devoid of wit or charm — which, considering the cast, is kind of remarkable. I mean, it’s not just Hemsworth and Thompson — two appealing, capable leads. There’s also Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson, and Rebecca Ferguson pops up (I didn’t even know she was in it ’til she did), and there’s Rafe Spall (limited by having to be a blatant red herring), and the voice of Kumail Nanjiani. Whoever’s your favourite out of that talented cast, they’re wasted.

Read more here.


Review Roundup: Superman Sequels

You'll believe a franchise can die!
Featuring:
Superman II
Superman III
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
4x36 The Faceless Ones Episode 6

Films

Extraction (2020)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Music

Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Nightwish
[2nd listen]

I listened to this back when it came out in 2015 (I assumed I'd logged it here, but it seems not), but haven't listened to it in full since; though there are two tracks (Shudder Before the Beautiful and Alpenglow) that I've listened to over 100 times each (fun what you can learn from iTunes Apple's Music app).

Anyway, it was alright. Not my favourite. Their new album's out now but I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive.

Collection Count

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

Thanks in part to nothing turning up (when it should have) last week, this week is a record-breaker! It's the most new additions I've had in a single week since starting this column. The previous high was 14 in July 2011, but this week sees 18 new purchases for a +16 net (one DVD-to-BD upgrade and one BD-to-4K upgrade).

Now, I really must slow down my purchasing.

Number of titles in collection: 2,356 [up 16]
Of which DVDs: 1,108 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,248 [up 17]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 48 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,097 [up 26]
Number of films: 2,758 [up 17]
Number of TV episodes: 8,807 [no change]
Number of short films: 719 [up 12]

All of that was just in time for the monthly running time update. Although there were lots of new titles and discs, many of them were quite short films, and the previous weeks of this month were nothing special, so this month's increase isn't huge (though there have been plenty lower).

Total running time of collection (approx.):
444 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 12 hours, and 54 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
27x03 (24/4/20 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
59x04 (24/4/20 edition)
[Watch the it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Sheik (1921)
[#86 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

The Son of the Sheik (1926)
[#87 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

The Big Night In
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Men in Black: International (2019)
[#85 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Films

End of the Century (2019)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Long Day's Journey Into Night 3D (2018)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

The Twilight Zone
1x35 The Mighty Casey
Another of the series' very worst episodes.

Films

Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman (2006)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

The Secret Life of Pets 2 3D (2019)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

Archer
6x09 Pocket Listing

Doctor Who
4x35 The Faceless Ones Episode 5

Films

6 Underground (2019)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

Quiz
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
I didn't necessarily intend to watch it all in one sitting, but it was so good.
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Sarah Jane Adventures
6x00 Farewell, Sarah Jane [special]
A touching little video, written by Russell T Davies and featuring a host of cameos, to mark the anniversary of Lis Sladen's death.
[Watch it (again) on the YouTube.]

this week on 100 Films

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


The 100-Week Roundup II

including...
Laura
Jigsaw
and
Inferno in 3D

Read more here.


The Avengers (1998)

much to my surprise, I kind of loved it... the film embraces the mannered, quirky tone of the TV series, then turns it up to eleven. Personally I think it’s a tonne of fun, with arch performances, ripe dialogue, and a deliciously camp air. If it wasn’t for WB’s post-production fiddling, which has left the plot feeling a bit janky and spasmodic, I reckon this would be a cult classic by now.

Read more here.


Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Some people criticised Homecoming for having too much Iron Man and going too far in making Spider-Man into Iron Man Jr. I felt they got the balance about right, all things considered — it’s not very true to comic book canon, but, as the third big-screen iteration of Spidey in the modern era, it made a reasonable change. Far from Home is where it becomes overpowering. It has to lean heavily on the overall continuity of the MCU, which means all the business of The Blip (as what we call The Snap is called in-universe) and Iron Man’s death is front-loaded into the movie. The former is waived away as quickly as they can; the latter weighs heavy on the entire rest of the plot.

Read more here.


Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D (1991/2017)

As you might expect from a genuine 3D advocate like Cameron, a lot of the effect is quite subtle — it’s aiming for realistic spacing, not an in-your-face exaggeration of depth. That kind of subtlety is arguably a reason a lot of people feel 3D adds little [but] Put a good subtle-3D shot against its 2D counterpart and suddenly you’re aware of the natural awareness of shape and depth the extra dimension is adding. [T2] does have moments that I think demonstrate that kind of effect. And, at other times, the 3D is much more obvious; mostly during big action set pieces, as you’d expect.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Rock (1996)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #17

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ the audio commentary by co-writer Mark Rosenthal. I don’t very often listen to audio commentaries, so why I did this one, of all films, I don’t really know. But here we are. It was moderately interesting.