Elementary
2x01 Step Nine
Sherlock Holmes in London? What an original idea! Good plot, though.
Friends
4x04 The One with the Ballroom Dancing [4th or so watch]
The Great British Bake Off
4x11 The Final
Despite it getting higher viewing figures than The X Factor, I've managed to go a whole week without having the Bake Off final spoiled. (It would've been simpler to watch it sooner, of course... but then, I didn't take any special measures (I just kind of forgot about it), and it still wasn't ruined, so...)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Suburgatory
2x13 Blowtox and Burlap
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
DVD Extras
For Every Dawn There is a Day Or Why George Romero Would Never Direct a Rambo Movie
by Calum Waddell
Booklet included with the UK Day of the Dead Blu-ray, which again is one long essay by Waddell. Although he valiantly defends the film, and again expands upon what it Means, there were a lot of little niggles (in his conclusion he uses the word "anecdote" instead of "antidote"!) that make it feel kind of amateurish -- or, worse, fannish.
by Calum Waddell
Booklet included with the UK Day of the Dead Blu-ray, which again is one long essay by Waddell. Although he valiantly defends the film, and again expands upon what it Means, there were a lot of little niggles (in his conclusion he uses the word "anecdote" instead of "antidote"!) that make it feel kind of amateurish -- or, worse, fannish.
Comics
Day of the Dead: Desertion by Stefan Hutchinson, Barry Keating & Jeff Zornow
A full-length (well, one-shot length) comic included with Arrow Video's Blu-ray of Day of the Dead. Unfortunately, it's pretty terrible. There are some neat ideas in there, which someone of Romero's ability could have explored, but here it's just rendered with ultra-violence and extreme language purely for shock factor. Plus, dialogue that no one in the world would ever actually say -- it's over-written to the point of absurdity.
A full-length (well, one-shot length) comic included with Arrow Video's Blu-ray of Day of the Dead. Unfortunately, it's pretty terrible. There are some neat ideas in there, which someone of Romero's ability could have explored, but here it's just rendered with ultra-violence and extreme language purely for shock factor. Plus, dialogue that no one in the world would ever actually say -- it's over-written to the point of absurdity.
Monday, 28 October 2013
TV
Arrow
2x01 City of Heroes
Ah Arrow -- it can be ever so cheesy and silly, but occasionally it's really good, and overall it's fun. Unlike the godawful Once Upon a Time, which I've finally decided to just give up on.
Doctor Who
25x05 The Happiness Patrol Part One [2nd watch]
With less than a month to go 'til the 50th anniversary special, #bbbDW50 reaches the end of the classic era proper with this Seventh Doctor story.
It's the one that exploded across the news a few years ago for being a satire on Margaret Thatcher, which was a bit baffling for Doctor Who fans: we'd always known that; why was it news? (Indeed, the autobiography which was the source for the news story had been out for a few years itself.) It's a controversial story all round, in fact: this is also the one with the Kandy Man, who is both divisive (you just know there are some fans who are going to give themselves an aneurism over a villain made from sweets) and possibly copyright-infringing (the Bertie Bassett people complained and the BBC had to promise never to bring him back).
Then there's all the stuff with indoor sets that are meant to be be outdoor streets, and the garish costumes, and painting the TARDIS pink... In DWM's Mighty 200 it came a lowly 170th, putting it in the bottom half of Sylvester McCoy stories (albeit at the top of said half).
Personally, I've always liked it. It's got a barminess undercut with a serious side that works. The guest star is Sheila Hancock, who is always magnificent. And there's that bit where the Doctor talks his way out of getting shot which is simply marvellous.
Some people dismiss the McCoy years out of hand, without even considering they might have some merit. Yes, the show had been getting steadily worse for years (while '60s and '70s stories can hold up well today, several '80s ones really, really do not), but it picked back up again towards the end. It's a shame that by then so few people cared; and even those who were watching assumed it was still all bad, and can't get over that to this day.
Friends
4x03 The One with the 'Cuffs [4th or so watch]
Have I Got News For You
46x03 (18/10/2013 edition; extended repeat)
2x01 City of Heroes
Ah Arrow -- it can be ever so cheesy and silly, but occasionally it's really good, and overall it's fun. Unlike the godawful Once Upon a Time, which I've finally decided to just give up on.
Doctor Who
25x05 The Happiness Patrol Part One [2nd watch]
With less than a month to go 'til the 50th anniversary special, #bbbDW50 reaches the end of the classic era proper with this Seventh Doctor story.
It's the one that exploded across the news a few years ago for being a satire on Margaret Thatcher, which was a bit baffling for Doctor Who fans: we'd always known that; why was it news? (Indeed, the autobiography which was the source for the news story had been out for a few years itself.) It's a controversial story all round, in fact: this is also the one with the Kandy Man, who is both divisive (you just know there are some fans who are going to give themselves an aneurism over a villain made from sweets) and possibly copyright-infringing (the Bertie Bassett people complained and the BBC had to promise never to bring him back).
Then there's all the stuff with indoor sets that are meant to be be outdoor streets, and the garish costumes, and painting the TARDIS pink... In DWM's Mighty 200 it came a lowly 170th, putting it in the bottom half of Sylvester McCoy stories (albeit at the top of said half).
Personally, I've always liked it. It's got a barminess undercut with a serious side that works. The guest star is Sheila Hancock, who is always magnificent. And there's that bit where the Doctor talks his way out of getting shot which is simply marvellous.
Some people dismiss the McCoy years out of hand, without even considering they might have some merit. Yes, the show had been getting steadily worse for years (while '60s and '70s stories can hold up well today, several '80s ones really, really do not), but it picked back up again towards the end. It's a shame that by then so few people cared; and even those who were watching assumed it was still all bad, and can't get over that to this day.
Friends
4x03 The One with the 'Cuffs [4th or so watch]
Have I Got News For You
46x03 (18/10/2013 edition; extended repeat)
DVD Extras
For Every Night There is a Dawn (Or how George Romero never recovered from the Vietnam War)
by Calum Waddell
Booklet included with the UK Dawn of the Dead Blu-ray, which is one long, interesting essay by Waddell.
by Calum Waddell
Booklet included with the UK Dawn of the Dead Blu-ray, which is one long, interesting essay by Waddell.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
TV
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x04 The Fourth Doctor
Friends
4x02 The One with the Cat [4th or so watch]
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
1x04 The Fourth Doctor
Friends
4x02 The One with the Cat [4th or so watch]
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Films
Toy Story of Terror! (2013)
[#93a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Pixar's latest Toy Story short is this made-for-TV Halloween special, shown in the US a couple of weeks ago and now available through Sky Movies in the UK. It's good fun, so a shame Sky got their grubby little mitts on it.
[#93a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
Pixar's latest Toy Story short is this made-for-TV Halloween special, shown in the US a couple of weeks ago and now available through Sky Movies in the UK. It's good fun, so a shame Sky got their grubby little mitts on it.
Non-Fiction
Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 21
Book Two, Chapter 21
this week on 100 Films
Five brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...
The Italian Job (2003)
Man on a Ledge (2012)
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2012)
And there were four reviews new to the new blog, too...
Die Hard 2 (1990)
An Education (2009)
Is Anybody There? (2008)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
More next Sunday.
The Italian Job (2003)
I’ve never seen the original, but from what I gather the only similarity is they both feature Minis in their climactic sequence — and even then, the original used ‘real’ Minis while this uses those daft big-as-a-regular-car new ones. In that respect it’s one of those remakes/reboots that is just using the name for brand recognition, and they normally turn out to be awful. But maybe The Italian Job is the exception...Read more here.
Man on a Ledge (2012)
A man books into a swish hotel, has a nice meal, then climbs out the window. Onlookers and police gather. Will he jump? Or is he just a distraction? What follows is pretty generic ‘single location thriller’ material, with a thoroughly daft ending… but when the whole film strains plausibility, do we buy it?Read more here.
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
The supporting cast is a veritable who’s who of recognisable British faces, stars of screens both big and small. Barely a speaking part goes by without an actor you’re certain to recognise. I’d list them but, honestly, there are far, far too many. [But,] of course Dominic Cooper’s in it — is it even legal to make a mid-budget British movie without him now?Read more here.
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
I also didn’t ‘feel’ the juxtaposition of shadowy city in the film’s early sections with bright snowy country later on. Nonetheless, there is a clear contrast on screen, particularly as the city is all shot at night and is very black, while most of the country scenes occur in daylight, emphasising the near-ceaseless white of the snow.Read more here.
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2012)
The master of miniatures back when special effects were truly special, rather than copious CGI ladled all over a couple of thousand shots throughout a blockbuster, the effect of Harryhausen’s work in (primarily) the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s is to thank for much of the best creativity in sci-fi/fantasy filmmaking of the last 20 to 30 years.Read more here.
And there were four reviews new to the new blog, too...
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Arguably the other main reason Die Hard worked so well — the confined office block setting — is also discarded, giving McClane a whole airport to run around. We have to be grateful that this isn’t just a straight forward rehash of the first film... but it doesn’t have the same brilliant simplicity.Read more here.
An Education (2009)
Jenny’s induction into her new friends’ higher-class world isn’t marred by the usual abundance of “embarrassing faux pas” humour that such tales normally fall back on. I’ve never understood where the entertainment value is supposed to lie in seeing the character we’re asked to like being put through the kind of social embarrassment that happens all too often in real life and that we’d really rather like to forget.Read more here.
Is Anybody There? (2008)
Perhaps if you’ve ever been that child who wondered and worried about what comes after death, or struggled to find your place in the world, or become stuck in a situation where you feel you may as just give up, or known people who’ve been abandoned as they grew old, or who have suffered that horrible, sometimes slow, sometimes all too fast, loss of their mental faculties, then this film will engage you too.Read more here.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
it may lack the depth of X-Men or X2, both of which played with subtexts of social exclusion and derision... but, taken as a straightforward action-adventure movie about people with extraordinary abilities fighting each other, it more than satisfies.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 26 October 2013
TV
Atlantis
1x05 White Lies
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Friends
4x01 The One with the Jellyfish [4th or so watch]
The Sarah Millican Slightly Longer Television Programme
3x04 Episode 4
1x05 White Lies
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Friends
4x01 The One with the Jellyfish [4th or so watch]
The Sarah Millican Slightly Longer Television Programme
3x04 Episode 4
Films
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
It's almost Halloween (had you noticed?), and this year I'm finally going to execute my long-held plan to watch all of George A. Romero's "Dead" films in a week. Starting today, with the first (obv.) The plan is to also run reviews daily on 100 Films, starting from Monday.
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
It's almost Halloween (had you noticed?), and this year I'm finally going to execute my long-held plan to watch all of George A. Romero's "Dead" films in a week. Starting today, with the first (obv.) The plan is to also run reviews daily on 100 Films, starting from Monday.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Number of titles in collection: 1,628 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,193 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 435 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 4,046 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,735 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,007 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Number of titles in collection: 1,628 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,193 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 435 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 4,046 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,735 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,007 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 25 October 2013
TV
Archer
4x10 Un Chien Tangerine
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Doctor Who
22x09 The Two Doctors Part Three [2nd watch]
It seems even the great, legendary Robert Holmes can't muster a good Sixth Doctor story.
Here, we get an underused Patrick Troughton (though, even then, he can't help but be brilliant); Sontarans who may as well not be in it (they could be any generic heavies); and we're treated to some of the era's trademark violence, as the Doctor murders a villain with cyanide gas, a Sontaran's dismembered leg is gleefully waved about, and a supporting character is bloodily stabbed in the chest; the last leads to a death scene that I think is supposed to be poignant but is just comic, and is overshadowed by a final shot where the camera adjusts to highlight a different character's chest.
It's not all bad. There's the highly comical sight of the cast traipsing around Seville in daft sci-fi costumes; there's a surprisingly impressive explosion, which must have been practical; and, among the cast, there's Troughton, and Frazer Hines, plus Nicola Bryant bringing her ample charms.
Unless memory cheats, this is the end of the Bad Part of #bbbDW50 -- though some may disagree, as the next couple of stories (at least) are under-rated personal favourites.
Friends
3x25 The One at the Beach [season finale; 4th or so watch]
The Graham Norton Show
14x02 (18/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Was It Something I Said
1x02 Episode 2 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]
4x10 Un Chien Tangerine
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Doctor Who
22x09 The Two Doctors Part Three [2nd watch]
It seems even the great, legendary Robert Holmes can't muster a good Sixth Doctor story.
Here, we get an underused Patrick Troughton (though, even then, he can't help but be brilliant); Sontarans who may as well not be in it (they could be any generic heavies); and we're treated to some of the era's trademark violence, as the Doctor murders a villain with cyanide gas, a Sontaran's dismembered leg is gleefully waved about, and a supporting character is bloodily stabbed in the chest; the last leads to a death scene that I think is supposed to be poignant but is just comic, and is overshadowed by a final shot where the camera adjusts to highlight a different character's chest.
It's not all bad. There's the highly comical sight of the cast traipsing around Seville in daft sci-fi costumes; there's a surprisingly impressive explosion, which must have been practical; and, among the cast, there's Troughton, and Frazer Hines, plus Nicola Bryant bringing her ample charms.
Unless memory cheats, this is the end of the Bad Part of #bbbDW50 -- though some may disagree, as the next couple of stories (at least) are under-rated personal favourites.
Friends
3x25 The One at the Beach [season finale; 4th or so watch]
The Graham Norton Show
14x02 (18/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Was It Something I Said
1x02 Episode 2 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]
Non-Fiction
Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 16
Interlude
Chapters 17-20
Book Two, Chapter 16
Interlude
Chapters 17-20
Thursday, 24 October 2013
TV
Archer
4x07 Live and Let Dine
4x09 The Honeymooners
C5 have deigned to show more episodes, meaning I get more Archer for the first time in a month. And there was another one on in the middle of the night, too. Hurrah, and/or about bloody time!
[Watch Live and Let Dine & The Honeymooners (again) on Demand 5.]
Friends
3x23 The One with Ross's Thing [4th or so watch]
3x24 The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion [4th or so watch]
Man Down
1x01 Episode 1
Don't think I'll be bothering with any more of this.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
The Newsroom
2x06 One Step Too Many
4x07 Live and Let Dine
4x09 The Honeymooners
C5 have deigned to show more episodes, meaning I get more Archer for the first time in a month. And there was another one on in the middle of the night, too. Hurrah, and/or about bloody time!
[Watch Live and Let Dine & The Honeymooners (again) on Demand 5.]
Friends
3x23 The One with Ross's Thing [4th or so watch]
3x24 The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion [4th or so watch]
Man Down
1x01 Episode 1
Don't think I'll be bothering with any more of this.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
The Newsroom
2x06 One Step Too Many
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
TV
Castle
3x04 Punked
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Doctor Who
22x08 The Two Doctors Part Two [2nd watch]
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x03 The Third Doctor
Friends
3x22 The One with the Screamer [4th or so watch]
3x04 Punked
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Doctor Who
22x08 The Two Doctors Part Two [2nd watch]
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x03 The Third Doctor
Friends
3x22 The One with the Screamer [4th or so watch]
Films
The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
aka Zatôichi monogatari, the first of 26 movies starring Shintarô Katsu as the titular blind swordsman.
Criterion are releasing a lavish (almost-)complete Blu-ray set of the series later in the year, which is massively tempting (it looks gorgeous), but as I've had the first few films knocking about on DVD for a few years I thought I should check one or two of them out before committing to Criterion's set.
One thing's for certain: the picture quality in the new set will be more pleasant. Not just because it's in HD, but because the 2006 US DVD I watched this on presented the film in its correct ultra-wide aspect ratio... but stuck within a 4:3 frame, with the subtitles under the film image -- i.e. a nightmare to watch nicely on a widescreen TV. I'll be happy to take it in again when I get that BD set.
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]
aka Zatôichi monogatari, the first of 26 movies starring Shintarô Katsu as the titular blind swordsman.
Criterion are releasing a lavish (almost-)complete Blu-ray set of the series later in the year, which is massively tempting (it looks gorgeous), but as I've had the first few films knocking about on DVD for a few years I thought I should check one or two of them out before committing to Criterion's set.
One thing's for certain: the picture quality in the new set will be more pleasant. Not just because it's in HD, but because the 2006 US DVD I watched this on presented the film in its correct ultra-wide aspect ratio... but stuck within a 4:3 frame, with the subtitles under the film image -- i.e. a nightmare to watch nicely on a widescreen TV. I'll be happy to take it in again when I get that BD set.
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
TV
Friends
3x21 The One with a Chick and a Duck [4th or so watch]
The Great British Bake Off
4x09 French Week
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
The Wrong Mans
1x04 Inside Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
3x21 The One with a Chick and a Duck [4th or so watch]
The Great British Bake Off
4x09 French Week
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
The Wrong Mans
1x04 Inside Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
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