TV

10 Minute Tales
Episode 7 The Three Kings
Episode 9 Syncing
If only Syncing had a decent, sense-making ending, it might've been rather good. As it stands, it's a couple of neat sound/image-trickery ideas in search of a story to support them.

24
7x01 8:00AM - 9:00AM
It's been literally years since I last watched a series of 24: you may remember this seventh season was delayed a full 12 months thanks to the Writers' Strike (in the interim we were treated to the season-bridging TV movie Redemption), and season eight has just kicked off in the US (with the UK broadcast beginning next Sunday). Add it all up and it's about two-and-a-half years since I saw the end of season six.
I only missed Day 7 (as some like to call it) when it was on because I didn't have Sky1 then (I say "only" -- I was all prepared to be dishonest, I just didn't get round to it), so it's only now -- prompted, of course, by season eight beginning -- that I'm catching up. Is it the long-awaited return to form some fans claimed? Or just another chapter in the show's descent into overblown unbelievable uber-threats? Well, I'll have to wait and see, but this is certainly a strong start going in the right direction.

Peep Show
1x01 Warring Factions
Everyone goes on about the brilliance of Peep Show, and I've just discovered I can watch it online for free (legally) so thought I'd give it a go. The first-ever episode clearly has potential and a couple of good moments, but it certainly isn't great yet. I presume, therefore, that things only get better, and so I shall continue to watch.
[Watch for free at LOVEFiLM or on 4oD.]

TV

Wallander [British]
2x02 The Man Who Smiled
Kurt Wallander is depressed. No change there, you might think, but now he's properly depressed in the wake of shooting Svartman -- sorry, Racist Murderer Guy -- in last week's episode. It feels odd for a series of out-of-sequence novel adaptations to have such a linking thread, but it's a good showcase for Branagh. I imagine it must frustrate some viewers -- "he killed a bad man, why can't he just get over it?" -- but I should imagine murder, even of someone so deserving, isn't that easy to deal with in reality.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Man Who Sued God (2001)
[#3 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Probably because it stars Billy Connolly and has a rather quirky subject matter, I'd always assumed this was a British film. But no, it's a very, very Australian one. Which is fair enough.

Articles

Most Overrated Movie of 2009: Avatar by ShepRamsey
(from MovieChopShop)
Yes. And here's a good explanation of why.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats
9x02 (15/1/10 edition)
I wasn't going to bother with this series of 8 Out of 10 Cats, largely because it isn't often that good (I blame people like sex-obsessed Jason Manford and the frankly sporadic and over-praised Sean Lock -- who are both, unfortunately, team captains), but I needed something on the half-hour-comedy end of the spectrum and, with How I Met Your Mother 4 still downloading on its way and Mock the Week not back til next week, there wasn't much choice. I expect last week's, with Shappi Khorsandi, would've been better, but 4oD (on the telly) doesn't have series link. Ho hum.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Lark Rise to Candleford
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wallander [Swedish]
1x11 Blodsband (aka The Black King / Blood Line / Bound by Blood / Blood Ties)
After a promising beginning this turned into one of the weakest, for me. Shame.

Articles

Lasseter: '2D animation was a scapegoat' by Mayer Nissim
(from Digital Spy)
Very, very true. This is why it's a Good Thing that Pixar are now in charge of Disney.

Laurie "kicking ass" directing House by Dan French
(from Digital Spy)

[Hugh Laurie] is a MULTI threat. Actor, Producer, Director, Author, Comedian, Singer, Musician and the man can dance, yo.

Nolan: 'Inception a four-dimensional Bond' by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Finally, some idea what it's actually about... and it sounds good.

Tarantino admits dislike for digital cinema by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
"Admits"?! Cos he's not been going on about it for years!

Will Red Riding be welcomed home in the US? by Danny Leigh
(from Film Blog at guardian.co.uk)
Interesting piece speculating on the Red Riding Trilogy's imminent US release

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week. This week's numbers boosted by a host of released-just-after-Christmas and random-January-sale purchases.

Number of titles in collection: 1,121 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,064 [up 7]
Of which Blu-rays: 57 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 2,753 [up 14]
Number of films in collection: 1,164 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,870 [up 6]

Statistic of the week:

Total running time of collection (approx.):
190 days, 19 hours, and 48 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 23 hours, and 9 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

FlashForward
1x10 A561984 [midseason finale]
And FlashForward returns in... Christ, I dunno -- ages. Maybe it'll get better...
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

How I Met Your Mother
3x20 Miracles [season finale]
Surprisingly, nearly caught up with E4 now (though only cos they switched from "every weeknight" to "every Thursday").

Survivors [2008]
2x01 Episode 1
After an unsatisfying first season finale, Survivors returns with a bang: loads of info about the shady organisation barely glimpsed previously, lots of other character and plot advancement (well, sort of), and some truly epic sequences on deserted city streets and in a collapsing hospital -- very impressive effects work there as well. Next week also looks heavy on arc plot -- maybe Survivors is shifting from a largely "encounter of the week"-based format into a more serialised one? Ideally, I hope they can strike a better balance between the two.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Winstone: 'Money problems killed Sweeney' by Simon Reynolds and Stella Papamichael
(from Digital Spy)
It was literally about to start filming when the money pulled out, donchaknow, and was apparently going to be brilliant. Shame.

TV

Law & Order: UK
2x01 Samaritan
L&O:UK season one returns, sneakily now being branded as season two by ITV (and whoever it is releasing them on DVD).
Lesson of this week's episode: you can't trust the Police. True that.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

QI
7x07 Girls and Boys (extended repeat)
According to iPlayer, this week's edition sees "Stephen Fry gallantly grapple with girls and boys". Oh my!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Magazines

Sight & Sound Vol.20 #1
So, I basically read the whole thing, from cover to cover (though not in that order). First time I've read a Sight & Sound; it was more or less what I expected, though not quite as depressingly academic, so that's a good thing.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
3x18 Rebound Bro
3x19 Everything Must Go
Oh, nearly at the end of season three! I guess I better, er, get hold of season four...

Wallander [Swedish]
1x10 Luftslottet (aka The Castle Ruins)
I think I missed what relevance the title had...

Articles

First A-Team Teaser Trailer Arrives by Owen Williams
(from Empire)
This looks utterly ridiculous... and utterly cool because of it. Wonderful use of the series' opening monologue as all of the trailer's narration, making it sound like that's exactly what it was written for.

Sony reboots Spider-Man film franchise by Mike Moody
(from Digital Spy)
Well I never. After managing to secure Raimi and co and properly entering development, I didn't see this one coming.
It'll be interesting to see how easy that is to sell to a general public not as familiar with random reboots and changes as a geek fanbase are. That said, it'll have been so long since Spidey 3 by the time this hits that half the core audience -- i.e. kids -- might be more than happy to see the franchise start from scratch.

And following that...

10 Directors Who Could Take Over Spider-Man by James White
and
10 Actors Who Could Take Over Spider-Man by Helen O'Hara
(from Empire)
Do what they say on the tin.
(As in they do, not you have to.)

TV

The Force
Episode 3 (of 3)

How I Met Your Mother
3x16 Sandcastles in the Sand
3x17 The Goat

Wallander [Swedish]
1x09 Täckmanteln (aka The Container Lorry)

Films

Doctor Faustus (1967)
[first third; part of 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Elizabethan tragedy is hard going, even when it's made to feel like a Hammer production! Aiming to watch the rest tomorrow (when I finish it'll be assigned a number).

Articles

20 Things We Learnt from The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter by Ian Berriman
(from SFX)
SFX reviews/previews/ruins the forthcoming extended reprint of Russell T Davies' inconceivably brilliant Writer's Tale. Spoilers ahoy!

TV

How I Met Your Mother
3x15 The Chain of Screaming

Wallander [British]
2x01 Faceless Killers
It's a little weird going back to 'our' Wallander having seen so many of the Swedish ones -- so much more stylised, moodier, trying to be in some way unique. I guess Sweden don't have the proliferation of police procedurals filling their TV schedules that we do. Both versions are very good, however, just in slightly different ways.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

We Need Answers
2x06 The Sun
Once again I'm left wondering about BBC's policy to series links on the iPlayer, as I've missed two episodes of this due to the assumption it had one (I swear I saw it on episode one...)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

His Girl Friday (1940)
[#2 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Suspiria DVD trailer
More of a featurette extract than a trailer (in fairness, it says this relatively early on). So interesting it's convinced me (along with the DVD Times review) to take a punt on the new Blu-ray.

Articles

Moulin Rouge named best film of decade by Marcell Minaya
(from Digital Spy)
I think Moulin Rouge is brilliant, and very underrated in some circles, but this is a huge surprise.