TV

Castle
3x12 Poof! You're Dead
About magic, not homosexuals.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
6x14 The One Where Chandler Can't Cry [4th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x13 Christmas Show [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

This is coming to Sky Movies/Now TV on Christmas Eve, so I intend to have a review up then.

Fiction

The Best of Times by Michael Morpurgo,
illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark

A Christmassy tale.

TV

Friends
6x13 The One with Rachel's Sister [4th or so watch]

Live at the Apollo
9x04 Episode 4
Apparently the broadcasts of Live at the Apollo have all been knocked back a week due to the Nelson Mandela tribute shown on Friday 6th... but they keep putting the ones that would have been on up on iPlayer, so I'm 'ahead'. Weird.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
2x08 'Til Death
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Elementary
2x08 Blood is Thicker

Friends
6x12 The One with the Joke [4th or so watch]

TV

Arrow
2x08 The Scientist
Spin-off setup alert! I thought they did a pretty good job, though, and clearly it's a fairly slow-build setup rather than a backdoor pilot (that said, one of those was due later in the season, so...)

Have I Got News For You
46x09 (6/12/2013 edition; extended repeat)

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x11 Episode 11

TV

The British Comedy Awards 2013
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friends
6x11 The One with the Apothecary Table [4th or so watch]

this week on 100 Films

The 100 Films Advent Calendar marches on this week, leading to seven new reviews again...


Fast & Furious (2009)

Some say this is the worst of the series, and I think I agree. 2 Fast 2 Furious has a stupid name and Tokyo Drift is almost a direct-to-DVD cheapo, but they embrace their trashy roots and are kinda fun. #4 takes itself too seriously as a revenge/drug-smuggling thriller.

Read more here.


Flight (2012)

After a decade locked away in motion-capture madness, Robert Zemeckis returned to the realms of the real with this Oscar-nominated drama... Cue a film that attempts a grown-up account of addiction, but fumbles it, in the process missing the more interesting story of the crash investigation.

Read more here.


G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

If Team America: World Police had been made for children, it would be a lot like this.

If The Asylum made blockbusters instead of mockbusters, they would be a lot like this.

If Michael Bay were a less skilled director, his movies would be a lot like this.

Read more here.


Jack Reacher (2012)

an enthralling action-thriller with an unusual-these-days emphasis on the thriller part. There’s still a well-executed car chase, an epic punchy-shooty climax, and the odd spot of running and fighting along the way, but primarily this is a mystery that our heroes must wind their way through.

Read more here.


Lady of Deceit (1947) aka Born to Kill

Even today, it’s quite a nasty little work, although tastes have evolved to the point where “discriminating people” are likely to be attracted to it — though not purely for the violence. You’d imagine that would pale by today’s standards, but even now the opening double homicide is quite shocking

Read more here.


Real Steel (2011)

Once upon a time, Real Steel would have been rated PG, been aimed at 7- to 10-year-old boys, and would probably have been quite the success. In the current Hollywood moviemaking climate, however, it’s rated PG-13, consequently aimed at teenage boys and grown men who still have the tastes of teenage boys, and seems to be regularly slated in online comment sections. That’s a shame because, despite some corny and cheesy bits, it generally works.

Read more here.


Wolf (1994)

It’s about werewolves. But don’t go thinking this is like An American Werewolf in London or The Wolfman, and certainly don’t attach it to the modern Twilight-type werewolf saga — this is a supernatural movie For Adults. Not in the sense of there being excessive violence or sex or swearing or what have you, but, rather, because of the characters and their situations.

Read more here.


Plus, new to the new blog...


Friday the 13th Part III [3D] (1982)

They have a whale of a time shoving stuff out into the audience for almost no reason — just like the stereotype of 3D films, of course. That’s part of the fun of trashy 3D movies so I’m not criticising it, but what sadly doesn’t work is the ColorCode 3D system... It provides lovely depth to normal scenes, but as soon as something’s attempting to come out at you it fails.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x11 Hunger Pangs
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Derren Brown: The Great Art Robbery
Well that was super. You know Derren's always going to have a few extra tricks up his sleeve, but then there are a couple more even beyond that...
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friends
6x10 The One with the Routine [5th or so watch]
Sometimes Friends titles pick on a bizarrely minor point; and sometimes, they're bang on.

Yonderland
1x03 Reformation

Collection Count

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

As noted last week, I was expecting one new addition this week and one next. But the freakishly slow Christmastime post seems to have suddenly sprung back to life, and next week's parcel dropped today... along with something else I ordered that should have taken until next week, making a grand total of three!

There'll be nothing next week, now. Well, almost certainly nothing...

Number of titles in collection: 1,644 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,198 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 446 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,079 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 1,749 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,052 [up 22]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friends
6x09 The One Where Ross Got High [4th or so watch]

The Graham Norton Show
14x08 (6/12/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Hebburn
2x03 Knocking About
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
9x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
3x11 Nikki Heat
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
6x08 The One with Ross's Teeth [4th or so watch]

TV

Friends
6x06 The One on the Last Night [5th or so watch]
6x07 The One Where Phoebe Runs [4th or so watch]

The Graham Norton Show
14x07 (29/11/13 edition)

Suburgatory
2x14 T-Ball & Sympathy

Yonderland
1x02 Wizard Bradley

Films

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Articles

Axed BBC drama Ripper Street could be revived by LOVEFiLM for third series
by Ben Dowell (from Radio Times)

I was disappointed when they cancelled Ripper Street (even though I haven't started season two yet, I enjoyed the first), but this has come as a right surprise nonetheless. Hope it comes to pass.

TV

Elementary
2x07 The Marchioness

Friends
6x05 The One with Joey's Porsche [4th or so watch]

The Happenings
1x01 Alien Invasion
Usually-comedic (and gory) magicians Barry and Stuart get their own series on Watch "from the makers of Derren Brown", in which they string together a selection of magic tricks posing as supernatural events in order to convince a community that something paranormal is happening. Here, it's a small British town that they try to make believe is being observed by aliens. Some of the tricks are quite familiar if you watch enough magic -- they're still impressive in their own right, just increasingly seen -- while others feel fresher. All are suitably baffling. I'm not sure how well the "convince a whole town" element works, though. But maybe.
[Watch it (again) on Watch's website.]

Person of Interest
2x07 Critical
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Arrow
2x07 State v. Queen
Did they re-cast the Count with a worse actor just to (spoilers!) kill him off? Or was it actually the same guy but I remembered him being not quite so bad?

Have I Got News For You
46x08 (29/11/2013 edition; extended repeat)

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x10 Episode 10

Films

Kick-Ass (2010)
[2nd watch]

This was #39 in 100 Films 2010. I haven't seen it since that first viewing, but the sequel is out on DVD & Blu-ray today so I watched this last night in preparation. Sadly my copy of said follow-up didn't arrive today, but expect it to turn up here just as soon as it does.

TV

Castle
3x10 Last Call
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x11 The Eleventh Doctor [final episode]

Friends
6x04 The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance [4th or so watch]
Behind that so-dull-it-sounds-like-a-spoof title lies one of Friends' funniest episodes.

Hebburn
2x02 Easy Tiger
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Yonderland
1x01 The Chosen Mum
The Horrible Histories gang do fantasy in this new Sky1 comedy (which has almost finished on the actual telly, so I've got some catching up to do). Like so many genre series, episode one is all about setting up the premise. Still funny though, so hopefully the rest will be even better.