TV

Miranda
3x05 Three Little Words
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Bond on Bond by Roger Moore (with Gareth Owen)
Bond on Screen
Bond on Films [the end]

I'll again echo my thoughts on the first half. Though it's a shame the last chapter is just a list of main credits and box office stats -- it might've been nice to hear Moore's thoughts on the films themselves, as opposed to elements of them. Though asking an 85-year-old man to distinguish between 22 broadly similar features would probably have been a bit much...

TV

Blandings
1x01 Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey!
Well, that was broader than I was expecting. Funny in parts though.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
13x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Splash!
1x03 Heat 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Non-Fiction

Bond on Bond by Roger Moore (with Gareth Owen)
Bond on Style
Bond on Location
Bond on Bonds
Bond Behind the Scenes

My thoughts on the first half still apply.

this week on 100 Films

Two new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Django (1966)

Much of the film plays as an action movie. There’s a lot of atmospheric ponderousness at the start, but once things kick off they rarely let up... It’s practically a definition of bang for your buck, which I’m sure goes a long way to explaining its popularity.

Read more here.


Moonfleet (1955)

What you’d call a curio. It’s a colour CinemaScope Hollywood adventure movie from a director best known for epic German silents or dark film noirs; it’s not been passed by the BBFC since its original release in the ’50s; I believe it’s also unavailable in the US; yet a poll in France’s Cahiers du cinéma ranked it the 32nd “most essential film”

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...


Chinatown (1974)

It’s often held up as an example of a perfectly structured screenplay... packed with imagery and subtext for those who want it, but if that’s not your thing it still makes for a darn good thriller with a few neat twists.

Read more here.


Hellboy: Director's Cut (2004)

A surprise hit on release, this live action adaptation of the cult comic book is an exciting and entertaining, though flawed, mix of pulp fantasy, gothic style and action.

Read more here.


Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

del Toro’s creation seems to overflow — the laying of plot threads for a further film is even more overt than it was in the first film — which makes it even more unfortunate that the director’s long term commitment to about half a dozen projects makes a proposed trilogy-closer seem increasingly unlikely.

Read more here.


Sense and Sensibility (1995)

A host of familiar British faces turn up in this Oscar-winning adaptation of the Austen-novel-with-the-name-like-Pride-and-Prejudice-only-not. Fans of any of the following will love this film: Jane Austen, costume drama in general, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part II (2013)
[#7 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

I liked Part 1, but this was excellent. And I got it early: it's not officially out in the US until the 29th. No UK date set yet, but they released Part 1 so I assume it'll follow at some point.

Non-Fiction

Bond on Bond by Roger Moore (with Gareth Owen)
Introduction
Bond on Beginnings
Bond on Villains
Bond on Girls
Bond on Gadgets
Bond on Cars

(or, pretty much exactly half the book)

The suavest Bond of them all, Sir Roger Moore, is our inimitable guide (well, ghostwritten by Gareth Owen) for this lavishly illustrated whistle-stop overview of the entire Bond film series, occasioned by its 50th anniversary last year.

Organised thematically-then-chronologically (rather than the usual guidebook style of chronologically-then-thematically), Moore shares his thoughts on (most of) the series' villains, girls, gadgets, and more. Naturally the strongest memories come from the seven films he starred in, and it is a quick and idiosyncratic tour -- while some topics are afforded lengthy recollections, others get a cursory line or two, while still others get no mention at all.

But it doesn't aim to be a thorough, all-inclusive guide -- it's not written by a fan or an academic who's devoted decades to cataloguing the films' minutiae -- these are Moore's personal memories and opinions; like having a genial chat with the man himself, I shouldn't wonder. For his anecdotes and many of the pictures, that makes it an essential read for fans.

Comics

Star Wars #1 by Brian Wood & Carlos D'Anda

Dark Horse have published dozens -- probably hundreds -- of Star Wars tie-in books down the years, but this is the first simply entitled Star Wars. (So people keep saying, but it isn't. Still, that was 10 years ago.)

Set immediately after the end of A New Hope, it's the further adventures of Luke, Leia, Han and Darth Vader (and the rest). Despite opening with a slightly dull three-page dialogue scene, the rest of the issue is content-packed and largely entertaining. A promising start.


The Superior Spider-Man #1 by Dan Slott & Ryan Stegman

So the controversial new era of Spider-Man begins… and I thought it was really good. So there. Great twist at the end too.

Collection Count

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

This week, I upgraded my Jaws DVD (to the BD digibook, mmm), acquired Dredd, finally got the Doctor Who Legacy Collection box set, and received Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 nearly two weeks before its US release date.

Only a handful of changes mean the numbers look... completely normal, though weirder things happened before the Who set and Batman turned up. Ho hum.

Number of titles in collection: 1,525 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,146 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 379 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,841 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 1,603 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,710 [up 10]
Number of short films in collection: 374 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Romanzo Criminale
2x09 Episode 9
2x10 Episode 10 [series finale]
It's the second -- and very much final -- Romanzo Crimifinale! And these make for a neat two-parter of an ending. In the first, the gang are finally brought to trial, and we see how that pans out for everyone. Then in the second, it's years later and we discover everyone's ultimate fates -- including who the old man was in the pre-titles of series one episode one. Grand.

Yes, Prime Minister [2013]
1x01 Crisis at the Summit
Gold's reboot, from the original writers but with a new cast and set in the present day, and based (in part or whole, I don't know) on the 2010 stage play. It's a little odd, with the characters falling somewhere between impression and re-interpretation, but it is still funny. May just take a bit of time to bed in.

Yes, Prime Minister: Re-elected
A tribute-ish programme to the original and mini behind-the-scenes on the reboot, including interviews with fans, the writers, politicians, Whitehall staff, and so on. Actually very good, aside from the repetitious reminders that there's a new series on Gold, donchaknow.

TV

Romanzo Criminale
2x07 Episode 7
2x08 Episode 8

Non-Fiction

Bond on Set - Filming Skyfall by Greg Williams

The fourth Bond on Set book of behind-the-scenes photos by Williams, one of the series' set photographers. Not for everyone -- the only text comes in tiny scene-setting script extracts and picture credits -- but a great visual record of the film's production.

An interview with Williams for the official 007 website can be read here. One thing you learn in it is that "the first version of the book... 800 pages and it’s now 208 pages." Considering some are half empty (for artistic reasons, no doubt), you do feel that with some judicious re-arranging they could've fit more in if they'd wanted.

Comics

The Amazing Spider-Man #699.1 by Joe Keatinge (with Dan Slott), Valentine De Landro & Marco Checchetto

Entirely about Morbius the Living Vampire, entirely setup for the new Morbius: The Living Vampire series that began a couple of weeks ago, and so entirely a pointless aside as far as I'm concerned. Ho hum.


The Amazing Spider-Man #700 by Dan Slott & Humberto Ramos

The final ever issue! Until they inevitably relaunch it at some point, of course. And it's a bumper-length 104 pages! Finally, a comic that really feels worth their cover price... except because it's longer they've doubled that, naturally. But the whole thing is more than double the length of your regular comic (more like four or five times as long, in fact), so it still feels value for money. Why can't they do this every month?

(Incidentally, this was out December 26th. I actually received it a few days early but have only just got round to it. Why I'm bothering providing my views and summary three weeks late I don't really know, but hey-ho, keeps me happy.)

The contents kick off with a 52-page main story (that's about 2½ regular issues' worth). Here, Slott wraps up stuff he's been building for a very, very long time -- and in the process, justifies (in-story at least) why this is the final issue and why it's being (well, been) replaced by The Superior Spider-Man. This whole storyline has been remarkably controversial, often without justification, but this finale does warrant it. A bit, anyway -- I mean, it's just a story. And it's comics -- nothing's permanent. Still, I can see why some were aggrieved. Personally, I enjoyed it. Also good,, Ramos' cartoony art is a perfect fit for a book like Spidey. Hope the guy doing Superior is as good.

Following the main story, the issue has all sorts of other wonders up its sleeve. There's a whole 'nother issue's worth of back-ups: Spider-Dreams by J.M. DeMatteis and Giuseppe Camuncoli (a neatly constructed, fun tribute to the entire Spider-Man legacy) and Date Night by Jen Van Meter and Stephanie Buscema (retro-styled humorousness). There are galleries of #700's variant covers (there are lots) and the main covers for all 700 issues of the title (packed 100 to a page). There's a brief preview of all the Spidey books coming up, and a whopping seven pages of letters.

Bumper indeed.


Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 by Chris Yost & Paco Medina

Following on immediately from the end of ASM 700, this reads rather as you'd expect issue one of Superior to. I guess it's designed as a bridge, then, allowing the first issue of the new book to be completely new-reader friendly -- always the point of a #1 in the comics world.

TV

Charley Boorman's South African Adventure
Episode 1 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Death in Paradise
2x02 Episode 2
Death in Paradise feels like the kind of series that should have nice punny episode titles -- Nun's the Word or something. But no, it's just the UK-standard episode numbers. How dull.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Elementary
1x08 The Long Fuse
Some good twists in this episode. Better than your average Elementary.

Romanzo Criminale
2x06 Episode 6
There may still be four episodes left, but it definitely feels like the series is moving its pieces into position for the endgame -- because, equally, there are only four episodes left.

Articles

Why companies fail - the rise and fall of HMV
by Philip Beeching (from Philip Beeching: Social Marketing and Advertising Insight)

This was actually written last August, but is even more pertinent in light of recent events. It's also a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes from the man who "worked on the HMV advertising account for over 25 years".

My two favourite bits:

I said, "The three greatest threats to HMV are, online retailers, downloadable music and supermarkets discounting loss leader product". Suddenly I realised the MD had stopped the meeting and was visibly angry. "I have never heard such rubbish", he said, "I accept that supermarkets are a thorn in our side but not for the serious music, games or film buyer and as for the other two, I don't ever see them being a real threat, downloadable music is just a fad"

Oh dear. Also,

I got to know two young entrepreneurs from Jersey, Richard Goulding and Simon Perree who started the highly successful online games, music and video retailer, Play.com in 1998, and I remember them saying to me, "We were just waiting for HMV to turn their big guns on us but we just kept on going and getting bigger and bigger, and thinking they must be going to get their act together soon and come after us but they never did". I think this comment says it all.

Indeed it does.

TV

Spies of Warsaw
Part 1 (of 2)
I don't mind a (shall we say) thoughtfully paced spy thriller -- indeed, I loved Tinker Tailor (both versions) and, more recently, Restless -- but this one pushed it a bit, especially near the start. It's three hours across its two episodes, and one feels like two-and-a-half might've been a better length… but then how do you split that for TV? Just two might've been rushed. Though I suppose one can only know once you see the second half.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Yes, Prime Minister
2x08 The Tangled Web [series finale]
Finishing the old one just in time for the new reboot, which started this evening on Gold.

Films

Dredd (2012)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

John Bishop's Only Joking
1x01 Episode 1

Miranda
3x04 Je Regret Nothing
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
1x21 Many Happy Returns

Romanzo Criminale
2x04 Episode 4
2x05 Episode 5
Halfway...

TV

Romanzo Criminale
2x02 Episode 2
2x03 Episode 3

Stella
2x01 Episode 1
Is it really a year to the day since I started the first series? Time flies.

Films

Underdog (2007)
[#5 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]