Archer
2x02 A Going Concern
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
The Secret History of Eurovision
Plenty of British people seem to think it's just a joke or ungrounded PR spin when it's said that Eurovision is much more important on the continent than it is over here, and can have a genuine effect on more serious political issues. Even the Radio Times voiced such ideas in their review of this documentary. But I think this does a good job of showing that, actually, it's true -- the silly camp little thing we largely ignore has been, and continues to be, incredibly significant to much of Europe; and it exposes this while also acknowledging its occasional (well, frequent) silliness and campery. Good documentary.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
The Shadow Line
Part 1 (of 7)
New murder/crime/conspiracy thriller, which started last week (so I am of course watching this week). Rather unusual in all kinds of ways -- pace, writing style, acting -- but all of it marvellous in its irregular fashion. This has "classic in the making" written all over it. If you're not watching, start before it's too late.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
$#*! My Dad Says
1x10 You Can't Handle the Truce
Hold on... what? Last episode, Vince and Bonnie decided to move out of their home, and we saw their dog, who we'd met before. This week, they're in the same place and they're trying to adopt a dog, with no sight or mention of their previous one. So... what?
Well, the TV.com page for this episode says it was originally scheduled to air the week before the first episode featuring the dog, and said dog turned up right at the end, so I presume this episode should really be placed earlier in the season and 5* just weren't paying attention. Tsk.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
TV
Britain's Next Big Thing
Episode 4 (of 7)
Having Theo Paphitis as on-screen presenter (but not even narrator) on the first three episodes of this felt pointless, but now it's moved from wannabes pitching their product to the actual business of getting them on to shop shelves, he seems to have more to do. So that's nice.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Family Guy: Groundbreaking Gags
BBC-produced talking-heads documentary about Family Guy's extraordinarily outrageous humour -- and there's certainly plenty of it to talk about. If you've never watched the show, this is probably a good primer for why you may well not like it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Have I Got News For You
41x04 (6/5/11 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
$#*! My Dad Says
1x09 Make a WISiH
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Episode 4 (of 7)
Having Theo Paphitis as on-screen presenter (but not even narrator) on the first three episodes of this felt pointless, but now it's moved from wannabes pitching their product to the actual business of getting them on to shop shelves, he seems to have more to do. So that's nice.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Family Guy: Groundbreaking Gags
BBC-produced talking-heads documentary about Family Guy's extraordinarily outrageous humour -- and there's certainly plenty of it to talk about. If you've never watched the show, this is probably a good primer for why you may well not like it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Have I Got News For You
41x04 (6/5/11 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
$#*! My Dad Says
1x09 Make a WISiH
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Articles
Character to release winning Blue Peter TARDIS console by Chuck Foster
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Remember in 2009 Blue Peter launched a competition for a viewer to design a TARDIS console to feature in an episode of Doctor Who? If I recall, it was widely believed by fans to be intended for episode 11, The Lodger... which it didn't turn up in. Now it's turned up in the new series, in the Neil Gaiman's episode The Doctor's Wife -- which was originally scheduled to be episode 11 of the last series. Wow. Anyway, said viewer design is (as I've said) finally making it on to TV... and making it into toy form too, as Who toy manufacturer Character are going to be making it into a playset! Lucky winner...
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Remember in 2009 Blue Peter launched a competition for a viewer to design a TARDIS console to feature in an episode of Doctor Who? If I recall, it was widely believed by fans to be intended for episode 11, The Lodger... which it didn't turn up in. Now it's turned up in the new series, in the Neil Gaiman's episode The Doctor's Wife -- which was originally scheduled to be episode 11 of the last series. Wow. Anyway, said viewer design is (as I've said) finally making it on to TV... and making it into toy form too, as Who toy manufacturer Character are going to be making it into a playset! Lucky winner...
Monday, 9 May 2011
TV
Case Sensitive
Part 1 (of 2)
Part 2 (of 2)
Another ITV crime drama with a female detective about people being drowned adapted from a novel. In the same week? Really, ITV? I didn't think as much of this as Vera -- indeed, some of it was downright laughably daft, unfortunately.
[Watch parts one and two (again) on ITV Player.]
Part 1 (of 2)
Part 2 (of 2)
Another ITV crime drama with a female detective about people being drowned adapted from a novel. In the same week? Really, ITV? I didn't think as much of this as Vera -- indeed, some of it was downright laughably daft, unfortunately.
[Watch parts one and two (again) on ITV Player.]
Sunday, 8 May 2011
TV
Exile
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
Listings and reviews took to calling this a "psychological thriller", which I'm not sure is entirely accurate, but I guess they needed some way to pigeonhole it. In reality it combines two usually quite distinct genres: the "conspiracy thriller" and the "serious drama about illness", in roughly equal parts.
Jim Broadbent was exceptional as a man with Alzheimer's -- combined with Danny Brocklehurst's script, Exile gave a more realistic and thorough depiction than normally seen. The thriller side was pretty good with some nice twists, although the hand of "creator" (how can someone "create" but not write a three-part serial? Weird) Paul Abbott seemed obvious at times: John Simm as a roguish journalist investigating a cover-up that may involve his former best friend, while shagging said former-best-friend's wife? Straight out of State of Play, that.
Didn't overshadow it too much though -- this was a superior drama, proof (if it were needed) that claims we can't do Real Drama (provoked every so often by the likes of The Wire or The Killing) are unfounded. We do a lot of tosh, true, but other countries surely churn out a lot of crap that we simply don't see. In fact, if you put together all the high-quality drama the UK produces every year, it'd probably trump the amount of equally-good drama we see coming out of other countries. So there.
[Watch parts one, two and three (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
Listings and reviews took to calling this a "psychological thriller", which I'm not sure is entirely accurate, but I guess they needed some way to pigeonhole it. In reality it combines two usually quite distinct genres: the "conspiracy thriller" and the "serious drama about illness", in roughly equal parts.
Jim Broadbent was exceptional as a man with Alzheimer's -- combined with Danny Brocklehurst's script, Exile gave a more realistic and thorough depiction than normally seen. The thriller side was pretty good with some nice twists, although the hand of "creator" (how can someone "create" but not write a three-part serial? Weird) Paul Abbott seemed obvious at times: John Simm as a roguish journalist investigating a cover-up that may involve his former best friend, while shagging said former-best-friend's wife? Straight out of State of Play, that.
Didn't overshadow it too much though -- this was a superior drama, proof (if it were needed) that claims we can't do Real Drama (provoked every so often by the likes of The Wire or The Killing) are unfounded. We do a lot of tosh, true, but other countries surely churn out a lot of crap that we simply don't see. In fact, if you put together all the high-quality drama the UK produces every year, it'd probably trump the amount of equally-good drama we see coming out of other countries. So there.
[Watch parts one, two and three (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Films
An Education (2009)
[#51 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
This has its UK TV premiere next Friday -- I'll try to have a review up by then, then.
[#51 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
This has its UK TV premiere next Friday -- I'll try to have a review up by then, then.
this week on 100 Films
2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...
Exam (2009)
Once (2006)
More next Sunday.
Exam (2009)
The film occurs in real-time (more or less) in a single room. These are two narrative tricks I always enjoy the potential of... Exam succeeds in both... Writer-director Hazeldine’s screenplay is inventive enough to keep the story rolling throughout the entire film, while the direction and camerawork keeps it visually interesting without tipping over into pointless flashiness.
Once (2006)
The musical bit is both traditional and revisionist. The songs still reveal character and emotion, in the way they do in all good musicals, but here the lead characters are a pair of musicians and the songs are (mostly) placed in a plausible context — strumming on the bus, writing lyrics to a tune, recording in a studio
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
TV
Doctor Who
32x03 The Curse of the Black Spot
A lot of previews/reviews referred to this as a "romp". Bit inaccurate, in my opinion -- it's a standalone story, a more straightforward adventure than the epic timey-wimey antics of the opener, but it's not got that distinct light silliness of a romp.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Doctor Who Confidential
6x03 Ship Ahoy!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
The Event
1x18 Strain
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
4x03 (7/5/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Vera
1x01 Hidden Depths
ITV's newest detective drama. Don't normally watch any of their raft of similar programming, so not entirely sure what led me to watch this one... something a little different, I suppose.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
32x03 The Curse of the Black Spot
A lot of previews/reviews referred to this as a "romp". Bit inaccurate, in my opinion -- it's a standalone story, a more straightforward adventure than the epic timey-wimey antics of the opener, but it's not got that distinct light silliness of a romp.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Doctor Who Confidential
6x03 Ship Ahoy!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
The Event
1x18 Strain
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
4x03 (7/5/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Vera
1x01 Hidden Depths
ITV's newest detective drama. Don't normally watch any of their raft of similar programming, so not entirely sure what led me to watch this one... something a little different, I suppose.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
Films
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Halfway! Hooray! But I'm a massive 24 reviews behind -- one more and it'll be the most I've ever been behind. Ouch.
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Halfway! Hooray! But I'm a massive 24 reviews behind -- one more and it'll be the most I've ever been behind. Ouch.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
A day late again this week, purely because I wasn't paying attention. But there's a couple of new things, so that's nice.
Number of titles in collection: 1,304 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,109 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 195 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 3,238 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 1,376 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,810 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
A day late again this week, purely because I wasn't paying attention. But there's a couple of new things, so that's nice.
Number of titles in collection: 1,304 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,109 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 195 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 3,238 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 1,376 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,810 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 6 May 2011
TV
The Graham Norton Show
9x03 (29/4/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
House
7x20 Changes
Outnumbered
3x01 Programme 1 [2nd watch]
Caught the second half of this as BBC One started a repeat run of this tonight, presumably because it's about a year since it was first on. There's a fourth series coming, but it was only announced just over a month ago so I guess it'll be a while yet.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
9x03 (29/4/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
House
7x20 Changes
Outnumbered
3x01 Programme 1 [2nd watch]
Caught the second half of this as BBC One started a repeat run of this tonight, presumably because it's about a year since it was first on. There's a fourth series coming, but it was only announced just over a month ago so I guess it'll be a while yet.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Thursday, 5 May 2011
TV
10 O'Clock Live
1x15 (28/4/11 edition) [season finale]
Shame this ended the week before the Osama news! No idea if it's been recommissioned or cancelled -- the mixed reaction seemed to continue throughout the series.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Extraordinary Dogs
1x13 The Power in Movement 2 [final episode]
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
The Mentalist
3x18 The Red Mile
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]
1x15 (28/4/11 edition) [season finale]
Shame this ended the week before the Osama news! No idea if it's been recommissioned or cancelled -- the mixed reaction seemed to continue throughout the series.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Extraordinary Dogs
1x13 The Power in Movement 2 [final episode]
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
The Mentalist
3x18 The Red Mile
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
TV
Archer
2x01 Swiss Miss
Hooray to have Archer back! Has it really been over a year?! Still love it.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Yes, Prime Minister
1x03 The Smoke Screen
This is 26 years old now, yet policies and moves discussed in it are still coming to pass and/or still have some bearing on modern politics. Which I guess shows how slowly the world of politics moves -- something Yes [Prime] Minister consistently nailed, and time has proven it right.
2x01 Swiss Miss
Hooray to have Archer back! Has it really been over a year?! Still love it.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Yes, Prime Minister
1x03 The Smoke Screen
This is 26 years old now, yet policies and moves discussed in it are still coming to pass and/or still have some bearing on modern politics. Which I guess shows how slowly the world of politics moves -- something Yes [Prime] Minister consistently nailed, and time has proven it right.
"The Cast Of Doctor Who Read Celebrity Tweets In American Accents"
This is thoroughly, inexplicably random... but quite funny.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
TV
Britain's Next Big Thing
Episode 3 (of 7)
Didn't much like the Habitat people...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
House
7x19 Last Temptation
Cheerio Masters! Really thought they were going to keep her on for a minute there.
Robot Chicken
1x02 Nutcracker Sweet
1x03 Gold Dust Gasoline
1x15 Kiddie Pool
1x04 Plastic Buffet
Episode 3 (of 7)
Didn't much like the Habitat people...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
House
7x19 Last Temptation
Cheerio Masters! Really thought they were going to keep her on for a minute there.
Robot Chicken
1x02 Nutcracker Sweet
1x03 Gold Dust Gasoline
1x15 Kiddie Pool
1x04 Plastic Buffet
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