TV

Death Comes to Pemberley
Part 3 (of 3)
Never read the novel, but I thought that was an engrossing and well-performed drama in its own right.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Elementary
2x09 On the Line

Friends
6x19 The One with Joey's Fridge [4th or so watch]
6x20 The One with Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. [5th or so watch]
Clips shows are clips shows... but Friends clips shows are a cut above the average. I mean, The One with Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. has a proper storyline through it -- one I remember well and had forgotten was bolstered with all those montages. And actually, they're pretty good montages.

Have I Got News For You
46x10 (13/12/2013 edition; extended repeat)
The last proper episode -- #11 is a highlights show that I shan't bother with (but the extended version is still on iPlayer if you want).

Hebburn
2x06 Gas and Air [season finale]
Felt like a series finale... but there's a Christmas special to come, at least.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

With Christmas been and gone, the 100 Films Advent Calendar has to come to a close for another year. But if you've not been keeping up daily, that means there's still three new reviews for you to read...


Arthur Christmas (2011)

a breathless global knockabout — it rattles along so fast, an hour in you’ll think it must be nearly over. Aside from a few longueurs that give you pause to think such thoughts, it’s an entertaining ride, perfect for the family at Christmas.

Read more here.


Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

Kick-Ass joins up with a superhero team trying to do good, the M***********r gradually assembles his own team of villains, and Mindy tries to fit in as a regular high school girl... Whereas the first film riffed on archetypal characters and plots from regular superhero movies, as such providing an entertaining deconstruction of the genre, the sequel doesn’t feel as focussed.

Read more here.


Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Unfortunately, despite the rarely-filmed milieu of video games, it’s all a bit predictable — it basically does with video game characters what Toy Story did with toys, both in terms of the story and its themes of acceptance.

Read more here.


Plus, one new to the new blog...


Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [3D] (2011)

The film burns through ideas and plot points at a rate of knots. While I’m all for not stretching ideas thin, here the opposite is true, with not enough time devoted to explaining things, to characterisation, to making us give a damn about what’s going on or why it’s going on.

Read more here.


With 2013 nearly at a close, I'll be sharing my usual series of wrap-up articles soon. Keep an eye on 100 Films for that, or check back here for more next Sunday.

TV

Death Comes to Pemberley
Part 2 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
6x17 The One with Unagi [5th or so watch]
6x18 The One Where Ross Dates a Student [5th or so watch]
Or, The One with Joey's Twin ("How you dooo-iiin!"), and... no, the second one's good.

Not Going Out
7x01 The House [Christmas special]
Weird for a one-off Christmas special to be the first episode of a series that isn't immediately following it (because it's a one-off, innit). But that's what the episode guide says, so there you go. Either way, I thought it was good fun, and suitably Christmassy in that ghost story tradition... with plenty of laughs too, of course.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Vicious
2x00 Christmas Special
More laughs! It may be a little blunt and old fashioned, but I like Vicious.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Collection Count

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

This week's update includes my Christmas haul, which this year contained just four Blu-rays... and as one of them replaces three I already had, and the another upgrades (and expands) on a DVD I had, some of the changes look even more sedate. And others look huge, because one of those was a 25-film box set.

(Also this week, I noticed that I accidentally wiped out Damages -- I added it correctly here, but on the next update must have mucked up copying & pasting and 'lost' the disc and episode numbers. Rather than go back and correct three previous updates, I've just re-added them here. If I get bored later I may fix them after all and remove this paragraph, we'll see.)

Plus, this is the final update of the year! See how much my collection has grown in the last 12 months too...

Number of titles in collection: 1,644 [no change this week; up 123 in 2013]
Of which DVDs: 1,197 [down 1 this week; up 51 in 2013]
Of which Blu-rays: 447 [up 1 this week; up 72 in 2013]

Number of discs in collection: 4,119 [up 40 this week; up 285 in 2013]
Number of films in collection: 1,772 [up 23 this week; up 172 in 2013]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,098 [up 46 this week; up 398 in 2013]
Number of short films in collection: 406 [no change this week; up 32 in 2013]

Plus the year-end running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
295 days, 18 hours, and 50 minutes.

(Up 1 day, 23 hours, and 20 minutes from last month.)
(Up 18 days, 23 hours, and 53 minutes from last year.)

See you next year, faithful reader!

TV

Hebburn
2x05 Stairway to Hebburn
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Miranda
3x03 The Dinner Party [2nd watch]
I'd forgotten this series of Miranda was only on at the start of this year -- feels much longer ago. Anyway, great episode.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x10 At Christmas [special; 2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Death Comes to Pemberley
Part 1 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
at Christmas [2013]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Still Open All Hours
[2nd half]
Turned it on halfway through; won't be bothering to go back for the first half.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
[2nd half; 3rd or so watch]

Turned this on as something easy to watch. Ought to re-watch the whole saga at some point really...

TV

Doctor Who
33x16 The Time of the Doctor [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

John Bishop's Christmas Show
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mrs Brown's Boys
Buckin' Mammy [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
7x10 At Christmas [special]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

QI
11x14 Kris Kringle (XL edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Sherlock
3x00 Many Happy Returns
A seven-minute mini-episode released as a prequel/teaser to the third series, which begins on New Year's Day. Inessential but fun.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

QI
11x13 Kitchen Sink (XL edition)

Ruth Watson Means Business!
1x15 The Bridge Tea Rooms
In my little home town!
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2013, Episode 3 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The 12 Drinks of Christmas
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Only Connect
8x08 Oenophiles v Bakers
First two times I've ever watched non-celebrity Only Connect, and by some weird fluke all four of these teams will make the semifinals, and both losing teams in these episodes will be the finalists!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

It's the final full week of the 100 Films Advent Calendar 2013, and the means seven brand-new reviews...


A Field in England (2013)

if you’re searching for any kind of mass acceptance you don’t do it with a black-and-white film about a few blokes in period dress running around a field doing weird, inexplicable things. Though you might top it off with a shoot-out that is arguably one of the year’s best action sequences, something Wheatley and co do do.

Read more here.


The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

it's directed by a woman, the first noir to be so. We live in an age where a woman has only recently managed to win the Best Director Oscar... Katherine Bigelow received additional praise in some quarters for taking said award while playing in the "men's world" of the action/war movie, but that's also what Lupino did here.

Read more here.


Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

O’Toole carries us through all this with the skill of a seasoned pro, and yet this was his first major role. No wonder it made him a star over night. He makes every tweak in Lawrence’s attitude plausible; sells both the supreme self-confidence and crushing tumbles to inadequacy. Whatever else is going on, he draws your attention

Read more here.


The Seventh Seal (1957)

A black and white Swedish movie in which a knight ponders the existence of God while playing chess with Death? Yep, here we have the stereotype of arthouse cinema. Let’s be honest, it lives up to most of those expectations.

Read more here.


Shanghai Noon (2000)

There are two reasons we come to a film like this: action and comedy. Some of Chan’s contributions to the former are entertaining, but they’re by no means his best work. Sadly, the latter isn’t that great either. The film works better for both its leads when they’re apart, and that defeats the object.

Read more here.


Shanghai Knights (2003)

as ever, it’s Chan’s action scenes that are the highlight. They’re inventive, exciting, funny, and the speed and dexterity with which they’re performed is often astounding. Those are definitely the reason to watch.

Read more here.


Sharknado (2013)

a defining film of 2013. The volume of conversation it generated, which achieved the near-impossibility of higher viewing figures for its repeats, is exceptional. So I was determined to give it its due in a full-length review. But I can’t be bothered — it doesn’t merit such attention.

Read more here.


That's all for now. More next Sunday.

TV

Only Connect
8x07 Lasletts v Board Gamers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2013, Episode 1 (of 10)
Christmas 2013, Episode 2 (of 10)
[Watch episodes one and two (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

As predicted, no new additions this week. Next week, though... that should be good.

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

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

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friends
6x15 The One That Could Have Been Part 1 [4th or so watch]
6x16 The One That Could Have Been Part 2 [4th or so watch]

Hebburn
2x04 Stairway to Hebburn
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Matt Lucas Awards
3x00 The Matt Lucas Christmas Awards
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Person of Interest
2x09 C.O.D.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Poetry

Wenceslas: A Christmas Poem by Carol Ann Duffy,
illustrated by Stuart Kolakovic

Not convinced about the poem, but Kolakovic's illustrations are beautiful.

(You can read the poem, sans illustrations, on the Guardian's website.)

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.]