TV

Law & Order: UK
6x07 Fault Lines [season finale]
After a series that has mostly been very good, I thought that was a rather weak episode. Shame.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The Mad Bad Ad Show
1x01 Episode 1
Well, that was moderately entertaining.
(Note how the programme guide URL for Episode 1 says "episode-2". What?)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Pointless
6x05 (17/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Devil (2010)
[#19 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

Kick-Ass 2 to shoot this summer, says Mark Millar
by Mark Langshaw (from Digital Spy)
Funny: earlier today I was wondering if we'd ever see Kick-Ass 2 now, and then later read this news! Sounds a bit implausible -- shooting this summer, with no director or screenwriter announced? -- but you never know: it's an indie film, they may've developed it in secret. Time will tell.

The Most Expensive Starbucks Drink Ever: $23.60 Plus Tip
by Piper Weiss (from Shine from Yahoo!)

TV

Top Gear
18x03 (12/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

102 Dalmatians (2000)
[#18 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Unstoppable (2010)
[#17 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Really cracking on with film viewing at the minute... massively behind with review writing, though...

TV

The Magicians
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
A spectacular end to a series full of fantastic magic. And, if you think back over it, including all guest acts and forfeits, there were a total of 84 tricks performed across the series. 84!

The Mentalist
4x12 My Bloody Valentine
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Friday 9th March. Probably.]

Pointless
6x04 (16/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stella
1x05 Episode 5
1x06 Episode 6
Just as I was commenting (to myself, at least) about how well constructed Stella's plots actually were, it goes and does a standard groom-to-be-looks-like-he's-having-an-affair-but-is-actually-getting-secret-dance-lessons-for-the-wedding plot. But at least it does it as amusingly as ever.

Articles

Beyond Dark Knight: What if Wes Anderson made Batman reboot?
and
After Dark Knight: Are you ready for Batman, the musical?
and
After Dark Knight: How about Robert Downey Jr as the Joker?
and
After Dark Knight: Could Arkham City work as a movie?
and
After Dark Knight: What if Tim Burton took back Gotham?
by Geoff Boucher & Sean Hartter (from Hero Complex at the Los Angeles Times)

when the credits roll on The Dark Knight Rises this July, it will mark the end of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy... Warner Bros. executives have made it clear they won’t leave the iconic property sitting on a shelf, however, and a new director and star tandem could be inhabiting Wayne Manor by 2014. But how on earth will any filmmaker follow the work of Nolan and company?

Five-part series suggesting (with tongue firmly in cheek) 15 possible futures for the Batman film series.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
10x14 (3/2/12 edition)

Pointless
6x03 (15/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
2x02 The Woman in the Attic
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Knight and Day (2010)
[#16 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

The Best New Action Classics, Volume 1
by Scott Weinberg (from Movies.com)

I was tweeting in highly opinionated fashion about how "foreign" films are presently kicking Hollywood's ass, as far as quality action films are concerned. Then I got a response from Duncan Jones, director of Moon and Source Code, asking me to write a piece about the best recent action movies I've seen from around the planet. And when the guy who debuted with one of the best sci-fi films in 20 years asks for a favor, you do it.

Now here's a list that merits some reading, watching and ticking-off-of-the-list-what-I've-watched...

James Bond Movie Poster Mashups
(from Empire)
Fun fun fun.

Collection Count

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

Finally, 300 Blu-rays! And my collection was nicely balanced on round numbers (1450/1150/300) until Master of Cinema's Repo Man went and turned up early. On the other hand, its Steelbook looks beautiful, I'm excited to watch it, and it turned up early. Yay!

Number of titles in collection: 1,451 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,150 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 301 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,595 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,541 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,417 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Priest (2011)
[#15 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

So far this year I've watched eight films from 2011, plus two from 2010, meaning the two years of the 2010s make up two-thirds of my viewing to date. Bit unbalanced, that.

(For the sake of completeness, the remainder included one from the '80s, one from the '90s, and three from the '00s.)

Articles

Sherlock exec comments on Johnny Lee Miller Elementary casting
by Morgan Jeffery (from Digital Spy)

The controversial US series setting Sherlock Holmes in the modern day, Elementary, has cast Jonny Lee Miller as its lead. Miller appeared alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, star of the acclaimed British series setting Sherlock Holmes in the modern day, last year in Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein. Producer of Sherlock Sue Vertue pithily comments, "let's hope their pilot script has stayed further away from our Sherlock than their casting choice."

TV

10 O'Clock Live
2x01 (8/2/12 edition)
It's back! (Has it really been almost a year? And over a year since it began? Crikey. Time flies.) I'm still watching it a week late! (I said time flies.) And if they have tweaked or changed the format you'd never know. It felt shorter, but they still made more mistakes than it's common to see on a live show. So it's still sort-of-quite-good, but still commendable for looking at the news in a slightly more accessible (read: funny) way than most programming.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Pointless
6x02 (14/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
12x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask
1x02 Episode 2

Pointless
6x01 (13/2/12 edition)
There were 30 episodes in series one and two of Pointless... 50 episodes in series three... 60 episodes in series four and five... and now this one has 70! I guess that shows its continued widening success. And apparently the next celebrity specials will be on Saturday night BBC One, so that's nice for them.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
[#14 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Articles

IDW announce Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover
by Chuck Foster (from Doctor Who News)

That would be US comics publisher IDW Publishing, and this would be a new comic (presumably a miniseries) in which Matt Smith's Doctor meets the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew. It's called Assimilation², is rumoured to feature the Borg and the Cybermen, and begins in May. Chances of being able to pick it up over here: slim (apparently there's some contractual thing stopping IDW's Who comics being sold in the UK).

TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
2x02 (14/1/12 edition)
Lots of catching up to do...
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Law & Order: UK
6x06 Dawn Till Dusk
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
5x05 (11/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Onion News Network
1x10 American Dream [season finale]
I was wondering why ONN had suddenly developed end credits. Answer (as I suspected): season finale.

Comics

All Star Western #5 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat

Last issue I comment that "some of these 20-page comics feel brief, lightweight and not worth their cover price, while others pack so much in I'm counting the pages to check it's not a bumper-length edition." This is another example of that. The speed of storytelling, humour and strong plotting make this a great action/adventure/detective comic. Nice work all.

Back-up strip The Barbary Ghost continues too, again with solid art by Phil Winslade, though Gray and Palmiotti provide more clunky dialogue and a tale heavy on exposition, setting up next issue's (final?) part. I don't know if they're overworked or going for a different pulpier style, but I don't think these secondary stories work as well as the main Hex-starring one.


Animal Man #6 by Jeff Lemire, John Paul Leon & Travel Foreman
Remember how issue 1 mentioned Buddy Baker (aka Animal Man) had recently acted in a movie about a washed-up superhero? Well, here we get to see it... or the opening chunk of it anyway, before a clever conceit kicks in. It's a filler issue, certainly -- presumably needing to sync up with Swamp Thing or something -- but as filler issues go it's an excellent idea.


Wolverine and the X-Men #5 by Jason Aaron & Nick Bradshaw
This continues to be exactly the kind of X-Men comic I want to be reading: fun, accessible, not reliant on plot points from other books that I don't read, and with a darker edge at times. The slightly cartoony art sets the tone perfectly, actually. This isn't a kiddy book -- the T+ rating seems bang on -- but it is for people who like their comics to be enjoyable, rather than mired in decades of continuity and po-faced seriousness.

Articles

BitTorrent doesn't hurt US box-office, delayed international releases drive downloading
by Cory Doctorow (from boingboing)

Title says it all, really. Or, to expand a little:

There's only one Internet, networked culture doesn't respect national boundaries. A particularly effective marketing campaign for a new release in America will stimulate demand in other countries, and if there's no legitimate way to fulfill demand, then some portion of viewers will choose illegitimate routes... the delayed release makes downloading easier and more attractive.