TV

Miranda
1x03 Job
1x04 Holiday
Still brilliant!
[Watch Job and Holiday again on iPlayer.]

Russell Howard's Good News
1x07 (3/12/09 edition, extended repeat)
[You can (still) only see the shorter version on iPlayer.]

We Need Answers
2x01 Women
How I missed the first series of this I'll never know, though to be fair it was only three episodes. It must've gone down well because this new run lasts thirteen. It's utterly, utterly barmy, but quite fun because of it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2006)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
Following Transformers 2 and Inglourious Basterds, my catch-up of what I missed this summer continues.

DVD Extras

First Footage from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
and
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Sneak Peek
on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Blu-ray

The theme park (aka The Wizarding World of Harry Potter) looks suitably like a Potter fan's dream; Deathly Hallows looks entertainingly different to all the other films.

new review at 100 Films

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

every inch a Boy’s Own adventure, packing every facet of that genre of storytelling into its brisk running time. There’s secret bases, ray guns, giant robots, flying aircraft carriers, snow-bound Himalayan treks, creature-infested secret jungle islands, huge underground bases, space rockets, planes that are also submarines, tree bridges over impossibly deep gorges… If it’s part of the genre, it’s probably here

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently a whole pile of feature films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.

shameless eBay self promotion

I currently have a raft of items for sale on Popular Internet Auction Site eBay. So tardy have I been in promoting these items here that some have already sold, while others are already being bid on. (Long-term readers may recognise some of the items from when I did this before, about 14 months ago.)

Here's a list of what I currently have on the go, then, in case anyone's interested. Several are already being bid on.

'Exclusive' & New DVDs

300 Special Edition, with The Art of the Film mini-book

Crash (2004) new

Wanted with mini-comic & exclusive website access code

Films on DVD

The Da Vinci Code Special Edition

Dark City (theatrical cut)

Dark City: Director's Cut (US Region 1)

The Fountain

Ghostbusters 15th Anniversary Edition

Highlander 2-disc 'European edition'

Marnie

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Special Edition

The Ultimate Mummy Collection including The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns

No Country For Old Men

Nosferatu (1922) Special Edition

Predator

Se7en 2-disc edition

Underworld Special Extended Edition

Underworld Evolution

Masters of Cinema DVDs

#1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#71 Mad Detective

TV on DVD

Band of Brothers in original tin packaging

The Complete Fawlty Towers 3-disc set

The Sopranos Series 1 Collector's Edition

The Sopranos Series 2

The Sopranos Series 3

Books

From Russia With Love (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

You Only Live Twice (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

Sold

Batman Begins Special Edition

The Dark Knight Special Edition with mini-comic

Fight Club Definitive Edition (uncut)

The Great Dictator 2-disc edition

Highlander Immortal Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition

Monty Python's Life of Brian The Immaculate Edition

This is Spinal Tap Special Edition

Zodiac: Director's Cut

That's all for now. I'll aim to update this when things sell.

TV

Doctor Who [new]
4x16a Dreamland
Full-episode-length animated special, starring David Tennant (of course). More thoughts on this coming soon.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
6x09 (30/11/09 edition)
Yes, last week's.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Miranda
1x01 Date
1x02 Teacher
This is brilliant! Despite all the dross, sometimes we can still produce wonderful sitcoms. Also, loving the return of "You Have Been Watching..." -- fits perfectly with the show's style. Lovely.
[Watch Date and Teacher again on iPlayer.]

Articles

Russell T Davies On The End of Time
and
More Wit And Wisdom Of Russell T Davies
and
Russell T Davies And The Line That Must Never Be Uttered
by Dave Golder (from SFX)

Three-part interview with nearly-gone Who supremo Russell T Davies, days one to three of SFX's Christmas Countdown, covering both the forthcoming 10th Doctor finale and some of his thoughts on his whole tenure. Even though he's been interview countless times over the years, not least in the past few months, there are still some new things for fans to learn.

And Davies certainly knows how to cater for his audience -- his mass press/TV interviews are perfectly fine for a general audience, but for SF/F mag SFX Davies' is thoroughly geek-friendly, referencing specific classic Who stories right from question one.

TV

Top Gear
14x03 Episode 3
Yes, last week's. And I want one of those caravans.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Children of Heaven (1997)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
The film referred to in that wonderful Ebert article I linked to a while back (just under three months -- or a quarter of a year -- ago, to be exact).

new review at 100 Films

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Robert Shaw makes a terrific villain: calm, uncompromising, and British, the primary prerequisite of a perfect Hollywood bad guy. As the unlikely hero, Garber, Walter Matthau is a terrific foil at the other end of the phone, dryly sardonic as he attempts to effectually organise a dozen services.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently a whole pile of feature films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
3x09 Slapsgiving

Films

Inglourious Basterds (2009)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

TV

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
17x12 (27/11/09 edition)
Yes, last week's. Just in time.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

40 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It is Real and Has a Trailer
(from WorstPreviews)
Title pretty much says it all -- there really is a film called that. Can you guess what it's a spoof of?

Joss Whedon on Why Dollhouse Was Cancelled
(from WorstPreviews)
"In a polite way, he explained that Fox ruined the show that he originally envisioned." Read the article for the full reasoning.

Collection Count

Collection Count, now in its seventh week, tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics.

As with last week's jiggery pokery, this week sees six new Blu-rays and seven new DVDs... but two of the BDs replace DVDs, and so funny stuff happens. Well, not as funny as before; so unfunny, in fact, that the statistics show no signs of replacements going on. In fact, it was funnier earlier in the week, when there were just two new DVDs and two new BDs and nothing had happened at all. Not that that was that funny.

In fact, a bigger spanner is thrown in the works by the arrival of The Godfather Trilogy on Blu-ray -- I have it on DVD, but it's in a rather lovely Steelbook that I'm not sure I want to get rid of. What do you mean that's sad? I'm the guy who posts a total of his DVD collection every week.

Anyway...

Number of titles in collection: 1,098 [up 11]
Of which DVDs: 1,050 [up 5]
Of which Blu-rays: 48 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 2,692 [up 23]
Number of films in collection: 1,144 [up 11]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,747 [up 31]

Statistic of the week:

Number of Digital Copies:
Ah digital copies -- the bane of any current DVD collection. What's the point? And why are they on a new disc which then just connects to the 'net to download them? What a waste of a DVD!

Anyway, I have just 10 of the abominations (0.9% of the collection). Some almost have a point -- the theatrical cut on Watchmen: Director's Cut or The X Files: I Want to Believe -- while the ones that just duplicate the DVD/BD... don't.

See you next week, faithful reader.

new review at 100 Films

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

It’s also scary in places, as it should be, because it’s a vampire horror movie that just happens to take the making of another real one as its starting point. Unfortunately, as the plot becomes confusing and ill explained towards the end, so the scares dissipate alongside the viewer’s understanding.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently a whole pile of feature films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.

TV

The Armstrong and Miller Show
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
6x09 Ignorance is Bliss

How I Met Your Mother
3x08 Spoiler Alert
Another excellent episode, that again I'd call one of the best.

Films

Rage (2009)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Watched for free, legally, at the auteurs (though by the time you read this its free-ness will probably have ended).

By the looks of its IMDb page this is a film that's viciously hated by many, and normally it wouldn't be my cup of tea either, but I actually thought it was brilliant.

Articles

BBC's Paradox drops over 1 million by Dan French
(from Digital Spy)
"...managed 2.94m (11.5%) during the 9pm hour compared to last week's 4.13m (16.3%)." As rubbish as it looks, then.

Holden: 'My show is credit crunch comedy' by Daniel Kilkelly
(from Digital Spy)
As in, "we couldn't afford any jokes", I presume.

Kelly: 'I want to do a direct film' by Mayer Nissim
(from Digital Spy)
"Richard Kelly has said that he would like to tell a more "straightforward" story with one of his future projects."
Good plan!

Twilight Unmasked in Buffy #33 by Shaun Manning
(from Comic Book Resources)
Is this the real Big Bad in Buffy Season Eight? Somehow, I doubt it.
Edit: some (but not full) clarification here.

new review at 100 Films

Brute Force (1947)

Early on it’s quite humourous, with a weak warden, jaunty calypso-singing inmate and amusingly drunk doctor. Then there are the flashbacks to the outside world, laden with undercooked romance and awkward dialogue. In the final act it turns decidedly grim: warden Munsey lives up to his lowly reputation, goading one prisoner to suicide and beating another close to death; and one of the good guys betrays his mates, ultimately leading to wholesale slaughter as the escape plan goes awry.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently a whole pile of feature films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.