TV

Joanna Lumley's Nile
Part 1 (of 4)

The World at War Blu-ray is a travesty

I think I may have bemoaned this in the past, but my anger has been provoked again, so here we go.

A quick summary: The World at War is a classic documentary series about World War 2. It was made in 4:3 (fullscreen). The forthcoming remastered DVD and Blu-ray has cropped it -- i.e. cut out a significant chunk of the image -- to 16:9 (widescreen).

That's not on.

The company behind it, Fremantle (also behind plenty of other pop culture travesties, like everything that stars Simon Cowell), have recently (or, recently enough that I've only just noticed) issued their reasons for this bastardisation. Essentially, "because 4:3 is old and 16:9 is modern". They have more specifics than that, but they're all rubbish.

Normally I don't like Amazon reviews about an unreleased product that the reviewer hasn't seen/read/heard... but sometimes there are exceptions, and this is one of them -- especially when there are a bunch of misguided five-star reviews saying how great it is the series is now in widescreen. So I've joined the one-star review crowd.

My review can be found here. I'd copy & paste it, but I'd hate for Amazon to delete it on the assumption I'd nicked it from my own blog (as it were). I'd appreciate if you'd go click "Yes" at the bottom, to say it was helpful, even if you don't really care. I appreciate that by posting it here I'm also chancing people clicking "No" just for the hell of it, but... well, please don't.

And it would also be good to click "Yes" on these two well-informed reviews as well. And, just for good measure, a "No" on this one and, particularly, this one (as you can see in the comments, the guy who wrote the latter is a right idiot).

You're allowed to disagree with me, of course, but if you do then (in this instance) you're just plain wrong.

TV

Dexter
4x01 Living the Dream
Season 4 starts on UK TV sometime this week, I believe -- plus season 5 kicks off before long in the US -- so what better time to get round to it for myself. Somehow I doubt I'll have the patience to make it last 12 weeks, but you never know.

Films

Bride & Prejudice (2004)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Final Destination 3 (2006)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Expendables Explode, Eat Pray Love Carbo-Loads, Scott Pilgrim Powers Down by Brandon Gray
(from Box Office Mojo)

Scott Pilgrim scored a modest estimated $10.5 million [to come 5th for the weekend], which was less than Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist's $11.3 million opening weekend. It also paled compared to the launches of Kick-Ass ($19.8 million) and Zombieland ($24.7 million), among recent fan boy affairs.

So much for all that Comic-Con-based hype, then.

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Final Destination 2 is daft. The concept’s daft, the new additions are daft, the characters are daft, and most of all the deaths are daft. And that’s why it’s an awful lot of fun.

True Lies (1994)

True Lies is unusual on director James Cameron’s CV in that it’s a funny, daft comedy, a spoof of other action films. Where it differs from most spoofs is that it’s also a proper action movie.

More next Sunday.

TV

Robin Hood
3x13 Something Worth Fighting For Part 2 [series finale]
And that's that for this version of Robin Hood. It's a shame the series got cancelled after it was made -- a lot of the ending is very definitive, but with the chance of a fourth run they had to leave it open somehow; if the news had come sooner they could've just rounded it off properly. Oh well.

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
1x02 The Unglamorous Row
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Sandbaggers
3x07 Opposite Numbers [series finale]
And that's Sandbaggers over forever too, sadly -- and on a cliffhanger, damn 'em. Brilliant as ever though. I guess I'll just have to get my hands on Queen & Country for my political/spy fix.

Films

Ocean's Eleven (1960)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
All those people who say the remake is better... are right.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
The 6th film in the Rathbone/Bruce series (I've previously reviewed the preceding five). It's a good entry, moving away from the WW2-spying Nazi-fighting tales of the last three films and back towards proper Holmesian detective work. Apparently the next couple are even better, so I look forward to those.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

TV

How I Met Your Mother
5x12 Girls Vs. Suits
Three recognisable (ish) guest stars, a great big song-and-dance number, and a mother-related plot? That's the kinda palaver you wheel out for a) the first ep back after a Christmas break and b) the 100th episode. And there I was thinking it must've been a sweeps one.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Collection Count

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

A variety of sales make this the biggest update for a while; and there's more to come, as a pile of Criterion DVDs and BDs wing their way to me across the Atlantic. Lovely. (Though my bank balance doesn't agree.)

Number of titles in collection: 1,201 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,102 [up 6]
Of which Blu-rays: 99 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 2,941 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,258 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,176 [up 16]

Statistic of the week:

Titles in regular Amaray cases:
737
(61.4% of the total)

Yep, this is the kind of thing I keep a record of. "Amaray cases", for the uninitiated, are the standard plastic DVD cases that most DVDs come in, especially these days -- Way Back When, when digipacks (i.e. those cardboard fold-out ones) were commonplace for any significant release with more than one disc, and Warner insisted on those dreadful snapper cases, it seemed a worthwhile thing to note. These days, everything comes in a version of Amarays it seems -- you get two or three discs squeezed into regular cases with those stacking systems, or The Bit In The Middle, and whole TV series in those thick ones that hold four or five or six or more discs. Personally, I miss digipacks and all that lovely cardboard, but hey-ho.

What this total doesn't include is boxes with multiple Amarays -- I class those, cunningly, as "box sets" -- or those thin plastic cases you sometimes get, or those thick ones (like you get whole TV series in), or standard Blu-ray cases. I don't know if the latter are being called Amarays (the name originates from the manufacturer/patent holder/something like that of DVD cases), but I just call them Blu-ray Cases, so...

Still awake? No? Well, never mind, it's over now.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Robin Hood
3x12 Something Worth Fighting For Part 1
Only 14 months after it was actually on, I've finally got round to watching this. I'd forgotten what it was like... which is to say, was the writing and acting always this bad? I swear the villains are straight off CBBC...

Films

Late Spring (1949)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
I got on considerably better with this than I did Tokyo Story a few years ago, though it would be a lie to say I'd had some kind of revelation about the genius of Ozu.

TV

Grandma's House
1x01 The day Simon told his family about his important decision
Former Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Simon Amstell turns his hand to sitcom writing and acting. This sample exchange (from the programme itself; you can view the clip here) sums it up:
Simon: Maybe I'll write something or act a bit.
Grandpa: Oh dear...
Tanya: Act?! You can't act. Can you?
Grandpa: No.
Yet for all that, it ultimately manages a few laughs. I'll stick with it; we'll see how it goes.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Normans
Part 2 Conquest
I don't watch that many documentaries, often put off (as much as anything) by all the talk of pointless camerawork and other OTT visuals. This keeps it simple: presenter, talking, with accompanying period illustrations or other evocative shots. OK, so a lot of the footage has very little to do with what he's talking about, but what are they meant to show? No, this is brilliant, and (based on what I read of other programmes) more documentaries should follow its style.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Sandbaggers
3x06 Who Needs Enemies
This is the penultimate-ever episode of The Sandbaggers, so I'm running out of chances to say this: this series is excellent. If you're at all interested in spy dramas/thrillers or other series of that ilk, it's a must-see.

Articles

Dalek Birthday Cake
(from Geeks are Sexy)
That's... just... wow...

Click to enlarge.

The Tempest – Poster for the new adaption
(from Live for Films)
I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but... wow that's a good poster.

Click to enlarge.

TV

The Deep
Part 1 To the Furthest Place
Oh dear. Such a promising idea, wasted with poor writing, unconvincing characters, weak acting, a turgid pace, pointless flashbacks, an implausible set... I laughed out loud several times, usually at the bits that were Deadly Serious. How rubbish. How disappointing. And I'll still watch the rest... all four hours of it... ugh.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
5x11 Last Cigarette Ever
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
1x01 The Guarantee
Conversely (to The Deep), this is beautifully written and acted, both funny and real. Super.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office by Leo
(from the Chive)
Read this. Stick with it. It's worth it.

Serious funny business by Will Gompertz
(from Today on BBC News)
On the rise and rise of stand-up comedy.

Sherlock returning for second series by Ryan Love & Paul Millar
(from Digital Spy)
Hurrah!

TV

Dragons' Den
8x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Rev.
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Total Recall (1990)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Matthew Vaughn Agreed to Direct X-Men: First Class Because He Believes Superhero Movies Will Be Dead Soon by Adam Quigley
(from /Film)
Vaughn speaks with honesty and sense. That said, he may be calling the death a mite too soon -- with Batman 3, The Avengers and a rebooted Spider-Man on the way, amongst others, is the superhero movie really dead just yet? Surely there's a few more years, perhaps half a decade, left at least. I suppose we'll see...

6 ways Torchwood's new season will change everything by Fred Topel (from blastr)
and
Torchwood relaunch is more global by Hanh Nguyen (from Zap2it)
Mostly stuff we've already heard, but a couple of extra bits. I think. When you read enough of these things it becomes hard to know if it's new info or just something you'd assumed already.

our papers are a disaster zone

...and those pupils write for the Telegraph, apparently.

(via @badjournalism and @dvdsmpsn)