TV

Anna & Katy
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Great British Sewing Bee
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Broadchurch
Part 7 (of 8)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mad Men
6x03 The Collaborators
That felt more like it. (This episode is on Sky Atlantic tomorrow.)

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
6x04 (13/4/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Dinosaur Project (2012)
[#41 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

DVD Extras

The Evolution of The Dinosaur Project

24-minute making-of on the Dinosaur Project BD. In some respects, it makes the film seem more impressive... which is kinda the wrong way round.

It also looks like they made a rod for their own backs by making it "found footage", which is somewhat ironic as that seems to be many people's top complaint about it. If only they just hadn't bothered...

TV

Arrow
1x18 Salvation

The Good Life
3x01 The Early Birds

The Mentalist
5x17 Red, White and Blue
Can't believe it's taken them 'til season five to use that title!
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Plebs
1x04 The Herpes Cat
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Scott & Bailey
3x02 Episode 2
A very sloppy flashback episode -- hard to tell what was set in the past and what in the 'present' (which is already removed in some way thanks to that opening to episode one that ended with "eight months earlier"), and no tension because we know where it all ends up. If this had been linear and the first episode it would've been fine, but why have last week's isolated case only to jump back into the ongoing stories here? Daft.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Non-Fiction

JN-T: The Life & Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner by Richard Marson
Chapter 3

Articles

Solo revealed as title of William Boyd James Bond book
by Simon Reynolds (from Digital Spy)

Not the most exciting title ever, but obviously I'm still looking forward to this.

You can read the full press release at The Book Bond.

TV

Not Going Out
6x02 Skiing
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
1x07 The Girl Next Door

Films

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
[#40 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

The BBFC, IMDb (when referring to its original title), and the film's title card call it 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer; but Wikipedia and the film's posters call it the more sensible Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. So which is it? I'd go with the film's copyright, but there wasn't proper info for that at the end of the film. Grr.


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Extended Version (2002/2005)
[#40a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
[3rd watch]

Similar to Philosopher's Stone last week, it's been years and years since I've seen this; indeed, I'm not even convinced I've seen it since the cinema, over a decade ago. But I feel I must've, so, we'll go with third watch.

Already longer than its predecessor, here they've added 13½ minutes (just over double the 6½ on Philosopher's), pushing it to nearly three hours long. I'm not sure such length is all warranted, but hey-ho.

Non-Fiction

JN-T: The Life & Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner by Richard Marson
Chapter 2

this week on 100 Films

Just one new review on 100 Films in a Year this week...


Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

It doesn’t make much sense, it’s scrappy around the edges, but at times it exhibits a kind of loose fun and modest excitement. I can see why it appeals to those who saw it at the right age.

Read more here.


But also, new to the new blog were...


The Black Dahlia (2006)

It’s one of many problems in a film that tries hard to be a proper noir but fails in almost every respect: performances (most of which wind up flat), corny dialogue, plot, pretty-but-vacant direction, and even voice-over narration.

Read more here.


Death Race (2008)

There’s no denying that Death Race is B-movie tosh, but at least it’s an example of fairly entertaining B-movie tosh... It caters perfectly to its intended audience: there’s fast cars, sexy girls, lots of action, big explosions.

Read more here.


Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

Woody Allen mixes a bit of the thriller into his usual relationship-based comedy/drama style, with effective results. The combination produces an engaging thriller with the usual character-focused drama woven around it

Read more here.


Mean Streets (1973)

Semi-autobiographical New York gangster movie, guaranteed a place in history as the first collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro

Read more here.


Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

Despite the success of their two Sherlock Holmes films, Fox decided the character was outdated and resolved not to make any more. Universal clearly disagreed, and the popular pairing of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce reprised their roles for this, the first of twelve Holmes films the studio would make with the duo

Read more here.


Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)

As ever it’s packed with inventive humour, both visual and verbal, and Gromit remains one of the finest silent comedy characters ever created. The amount of emotion and story that can be conveyed with a lump of plasticine is tribute to the abilities of Park and his team

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
33x09 Cold War

After last week's misfire, this was a return to form. The studio submarine sets were brilliantly done, there were some great guest turns from Liam Cunningham and David Warner, effective effects (models!)... but best of all, the Ice Warrior -- he looked fantastic. So creepily used too, but also powerfully when appropriate.

Not everyone was enamoured with the episode, it would seem by reading some online reaction, but overall I thought it was very good. Mark Gatiss may be a huge fan and seem like a lovely guy, and he does great work on Sherlock, but his scripts for Who aren't always the sharpest. That said, even though I liked Night Terrors, this was probably his strongest effort since his first. One hopes it's not the last time we see the new-look(-ish) Martians...

[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


The Good Life
2x07 Going to Pot? [season finale]


The Voice UK
2x03 The Blind Auditions 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Last Boy Scout (1991)
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,550 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,160 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 390 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,881 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,666 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,754 [up 8]
Number of short films in collection: 377 [no change]

Despite what the numbers would seem to tell you, I didn't get an eight-part TV series on a four-disc Blu-ray set this week. No, I upgraded my Schindler's List DVD to Blu-ray (same number of films, same number of discs), and bought The Kingdom I&II on DVD (new title, four discs, eight episodes). So, DVDs actually go down one and then up one again, while Blu-rays just go up one.

Fascinating, right?

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
13x01 (5/4/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


How I Met Your Mother
8x11 The Final Page Part 1

Apparently this originally aired as a one-hour episode in the US. Which is interesting, because in no way whatsoever does this feel like it's only the first half of something. Indeed, HIMYM has had definitely-standalone episodes that were less self-contained than this.

But the answer comes halfway down the Wikipedia page: "episodes 11 and 12 were not planned to be shown together as a two part, one hour combined episode. But the decision was made to present them together after the show was preempted because of Hurricane Sandy." So there you go.

Also, "Before the two episodes were combined, episode 11 was entitled The Silence of the Jinx and episode 12 was entitled The Robin." Why they felt the need to ditch those titles, goodness only knows.

[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]


Veronica Mars
1x06 Return of the Kane

TV

Elementary
1x19 Snow Angels
After yonks away, Elementary's back with a pretty good episode. It seems to have found a better groove as the season progresses, being less of a regular cop show and moving (slightly) more in the direction of "adventures" for its leads, which is what Sherlock Holmes should have really. It's still no Sherlock, but it's getting good enough on its own feet.
Unfortunately, it's now another fortnight 'til the next episode. Silly Americans and their silly scheduling.

The Matt Lucas Awards
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
6x03 (6/4/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
6x01 Rabbit
There seem to have been a fair few articles slagging off Not Going Out to accompany its return for a sixth run, either explicitly or by association. Well, tosh and piffle. I like it, and I found this a particularly amusing episode. I laughed out loud several times, and that happens too rarely in so many 'acclaimed' 'comedies'.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Plebs
1x03 The Erotic Vase
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Non-Fiction

JN-T: The Life & Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner by Richard Marson
Preface
Chapter 1

You may have heard of this -- I mentioned SFX's review a month ago, and more recently it caused a stir that led to the front page of a couple of tabloids... just as SFX predicted! According to the publisher's site it's not out yet, but they sent out a bunch of copies already (mine arrived today, and based on twitter I've received it a few days later than a lot of people!), so... yeah.

Not read much of it yet, as you can see, but it's a solid opening. The really interesting stuff -- the Doctor Who years, and all the controversy -- is still to come.

Additionally, today I've also spotted a few reviews of the book that exceed the mere critical appraisal to become worthwhile reading in their own right. There's Matthew Sweet's for the Guardian, Brian J. Robb's for Sci-Fi Bulletin, and Anthony Weight's for Doctor Who News. The last includes this particularly insightful, truthful comment near the end:

I think [Nathan-Turner] would have been pleased that he’ll be remembered, and that’s where the curse of Doctor Who is at least paying him something back. [The BBC1 controller when Who was axed in 1989,] Jonathan Powell – refreshingly honest as an interviewee here – may well have been a far superior drama producer to Nathan-Turner, with a track record the latter couldn’t hope to match. He’s produced several BAFTA-winning productions of high quality. But he’ll never have a biography written about him. Nobody will ever research his life in detail, track down and speak to his teachers and schoolfriends. Trace the progress of his career in television, from the studio floor to the producer’s chair. When he dies, it will be little-noted outside of his friends and family.

Doctor Who can destroy careers. But Doctor Who fans remember.

TV

The Great British Sewing Bee
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
45x01 (5/4/2013 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Veronica Mars
1x05 You Think You Know Somebody

DVD Extras

Secrets Revealed! Quidditch
Secrets Revealed! Hagrid
The Harry Potters You Never Met
(from the Harry Potter Wizard's Collection Bonus Disc)

A series off 11-minute (ish) featurettes that are exclusively found on the aforementioned bonus disc. The most interesting is the Hagrid one, showing how they went about making the 6-foot Robbie Coltrane appear like a giant across the eight films. To be honest, I thought they'd given up after the first few, but nooo, they really hadn't -- and it's quite remarkable how it was all done.

The third featurette is about the lead cast's stunt doubles, many of whom remained the same throughout the series. An ominous note creeps in early on when they discuss how Daniel Radcliffe became great mates with the guy who doubled for him on "six of the eight films". Why not all? The featurette reveals what can happen when stunts go wrong...

Finally, the Quidditch featurette is also fairly good, skipping the standard "what blue screen is" stuff that we all know now in favour of the particular challenges of making people fly on brooms, and how they evolved and changed that down the films.

TV

Anna & Katy
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Broadchurch
Part 6 (of 8)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Heading Out
1x06 Episode 6 [series finale]
Apparently this has gone down really badly with both critics and audiences, so I guess it's not coming back. I rather liked it though.

It's Kevin
1x01 Episode 1
A mixed bag, as sketch shows always are. Can't actually tell if I liked it or not.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
5x16 There Will Be Blood
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]