TV

24
8x04 7:00PM - 8:00PM [extended version]

It's time to play Count The 24 Story Arcs, because, 3½ episodes in, Story Arc 1 is already at an end, with Story Arc 2 -- which at least spins out of it -- already underway. The rules of the game are: seasons one, two and three did it best, when there were two or three major arcs across an entire season; season four and on mucked it up by having a frankly ludicrous number of arcs/threats every year. Getting through the first so quickly isn't promising, but we'll see -- maybe this new one will run and run...

Also, the "extended" element of this episode is one c.2-minute scene forcibly inserted between the climax and credits. Rather ruins the effect, that. The scene isn't bad in itself, and if they'd inserted it five minutes earlier all would've been fine, but put where it is... I shan't bother with the set's six other elongated episodes (I can just jump to three minutes before the end and watch the extensions in isolation!)


Friends
10x07 The One with the Home Study [5th or so watch]
aka The One Where Phoebe and Mike Give Their Wedding Money to Charity But Then Don't But Then Do But Then Don't.


Have I Got News For You
47x03 (18/4/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

24
8x02 5:00PM - 6:00PM
8x03 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Friends
10x06 The One with Ross's Grant [5th or so watch]

Films

Visions of Light (1992)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Comics

She-Hulk #3 by Charles Soule & Javier Pulido

TV

24
8x01 4:00PM - 5:00PM
It's been three years and 11 months since the finale of this final season aired, so it's really about time I got round to it -- especially with the revival miniseries imminent (its US premiere is under two weeks away now). I've read recently that it's not a particularly great season (very different to what I heard at the time, it would seem), but this is an OK start... and it's been so long since I last watched any 24 (over four years since season seven, and it was a couple of years before that that I watched season six) that I'm not sure I'll be able to make many comparisons anyway.

Arrow
2x17 Birds of Prey
Which (unlike with last episode's titular team) doesn't really feature the Birds of Prey. I bet some fans were pissed.

Friends
10x05 The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits [5th or so watch]

Comics

Batman Eternal #2 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Jason Fabok

TV

Elementary
2x19 The Many Mouths of Aaron Colville

Friends
10x03 The One with Ross's Tan [5th or so watch]
10x04 The One with the Cake [5th or so watch]

The Guess List
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

Batman Eternal #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Jason Fabok

To celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary, DC are releasing this weekly epic by a host of top creators (there's also a "consulting writer" credit for Ray Fawkes, John Layman and Tim Seeley) -- so as it's weekly, I thought I really ought to get reading. Solid start; much promise.

Also:

Batman #28 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Dustin Nguyen

I'm way behind on Batman (OK, let's be honest: a) I'm waaaay behind, and b) I'm waaaay behind on almost everything else too), but #28 steps aside from the main storyline for a preview/flashforward/something to the events of Batman Eternal. Apparently it's set between issues 39 and 40 of the weekly, meaning they won't catch up to it until next year (depending on Christmastime release dates, those two issues might both be out in January 2015).

And it's every inch the issue that knows it's a teaser, full of lines so self consciously cryptic, so avoiding mentioning names or specifics, that you don't think anyone would ever say them in real life -- like, "you know how bad it is out there... you know how much we need what you have in here." Ooh, why's it bad? What does she have? Why would you only allude to it like that if you both know what it is?

Still, it is intriguing, and presents much excitement of its own, so it's all good.


She-Hulk #2 by Charles Soule & Javier Pulido

Less grim than the above. Tonnes of fun, in fact. Hurrah.

TV

Friends
10x01 The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss [5th or so watch]
10x02 The One Where Ross is Fine [5th or so watch]
The final season begins!

Mad Men
7x01 Time Zones
The final season begins!

Person of Interest
2x16 Relevance
...yeah, this is just an episode. But at least it's a Special one.

Films

The Punisher (2004)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Friends
9x22 The One with the Donor [5th or so watch]
9x23 The One in Barbados Part 1 [5th or so watch]
9x24 The One in Barbados Part 2 [season finale; 5th or so watch]

Law & Order: UK
8x03 I Predict a Riot
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Castle
3x17 Countdown
In which the show tries to pretend Castle and Becket might die... twice. On the bright side, a lovely new cool-blue title card (that I guess won't stick around).
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
9x21 The One with the Fertility Test [5th or so watch]

Have I Got News For You
47x02 (11/4/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
9x11 Bedtime Stories
A lot of people have been very critical of HIMYM's final season, but this proves it can still manage "best episode ever?"-level awesome.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Collection Count

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

Once again, no additions to report this week (though I've just ordered some stuff, so next might be busy). Indeed, a slow month all round: only two new titles added, making for a teeny tiny running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 1,664 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,199 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 465 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,156 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,790 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,126 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 409 [no change]

As I intimated at the start, it's time for the running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
297 days, 16 hours, and 16 minutes.
(Up 6 hours and 13 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x14 The Ebony Falcon
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friends
9x20 The One with the Soap Opera Party [5th or so watch]

The Mentalist
6x16 Violets
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Arrow
2x16 Suicide Squad

Shetland
2x06 Blue Lightning Part 2 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Guess List
1x01 Episode 1
It's basically just Blankety Blank with a twist, but it works, so why not?
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Shetland
2x05 Blue Lightning Part 1
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1x01 Meet Rin Tin Tin
1x03 Rin Tin Tin in the Flaming Forest

On DVD, 'remastered' into colour with new music and (some) dialogue. It seems less than half of the episodes have been 'restored' in this way, and these are the first two. (Not that I'm likely to end up watching many/any more, but I thought I'd point this out anyway.)

TV

Castle
3x16 Setup
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
1x06 Episode 6

Friends
9x19 The One with Rachel's Dream [5th or so watch]
Even at this stage, I remember some episodes better than others. This is one I recall well.

Have I Got News For You
47x01 (4/4/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Alter Egos (2012)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The Falcon's Adventure (1946)
[#31 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Box (2009)

I believe the short story is all of six pages long — not exactly feature-length. Kelly has bulked it up by expanding the characters, who are now based on his parents to an almost freakish degree, and a massive back-end extension (the short story accounts for 30 to 40 minutes of the two-hour film) that heads deep into the same “what the…?” territory that he mined in his previous directorial efforts.

Read more here.


Chicken Little (2005)

The director of Disney's woeful The Emperor's New Groove re-tells the well-known centuries-old folk take about a chicken who became a middle school baseball champ before foiling an alien invasion.

Read more here.


The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

If the first instalment was indulgent in setting up the adventure we were about to embark on, this middle part is restless to the point of distraction. It buffets us from action sequence to action sequence with barely a chance to catch our breath. Rather than making time fly, however, this has the unfortunate side effect of making everything feel much longer than it actually is.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...


Kinky Boots (2005)

If nothing else it’s worth seeing for Chiwetel Ejiofor (who you may recognise from films such as Serenity, Inside Man and Children of Men [and this year Oscar nominated for 12 Years a Slave]) as a drag queen.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.