TV

Gavin & Stacey
2x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]


Wallander [Swedish]
3x01 Den orolige mannen (aka The Troubled Man)
[#41 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

The final series of Wallander is finally making its way to British TV, four years since the last. Hurrah! Plus, as this first feature-length episode was released in cinemas in Sweden, it counts towards 100 Films (just as three episodes from season one and one from season two did as well).

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

TV

Game of Thrones
4x06 The Laws of Gods and Men
4x07 Mockingbird

I've been trying to pace my viewing of GoT season 4 -- as you may remember, I started late, spurred on by spoilers and the attempt to avoid them; but I didn't want to catch up too fast -- how annoying would it be to watch three or four or five episodes in quick succession and then have to wait a full week between each further one?! And that worked...

...until now, because The Laws of Gods and Men -- and in particular its ending -- were so damn good that I couldn't resist ploughing straight on into last week's episode. While that didn't exactly tackle the things one might've expected it to, it had more than enough quality in its own right. GoT is always a great show, but it seems to be particularly on point this season.

So now I am at last fully caught up, and with exceptional timing: while all other TV-pace GoT fans are in the middle of a fortnight with no new episode, I'll only have a regular week-long break until the next. Huzzah!



Have I Got News For You
47x06 (9/5/2014 edition; extended repeat) [2nd watch]
I really noticed the extensions, which was nice.


Vera
4x02 Protected
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Comics

Coffin Hill
#4-6 by Caitlin Kittredge & Inaki Miranda
#7 by Caitlin Kittredge & Stephen Sadowksi

I think serialised comics should make like serialised TV shows, and come with "previously on" sections as standard. Picking this back up after four months, I really struggled to remember what was going on, and I still don't think I have it fully. OK, that's partly my fault for leaving it so long (I didn't realise it had been so long -- God, time flies), but it also means that the series didn't grip or engage me fully, so I won't bother continuing with it.

this week on 100 Films

One new review was published to 100 Films in a Year again this week...


The Wolverine: Extended Cut (2013)

refreshingly different to other superhero movies. That’s largely thanks to its Japanese setting and supporting cast... Those might sound like superficial differences, but the change of faces, scenery and culture seems to have infused the film’s attitude. Couple that with a plot that is more of a thriller than one of the usual three Superhero Movie storylines, and the end result is a moderately unique movie.

Read more here.


Plus one more new to the new blog...


A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

I forget which British paper described this as “the best film ever, ever, ever”. It may’ve been The Guardian. They’re not right, of course, but it has its moments

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gavin & Stacey
2x01 Episode 1 [2nd watch]

How I Met Your Mother
9x16 How Your Mother Met Me
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Person of Interest
2x17 Proteus
As various series reach the end of their seasons, it's time to resume some others and, soon, start some new ones. Which is good, because there's a big pile of stuff I've had saved up for months.

Films

Punisher: War Zone (2008)
[#40 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Comics

The New 52: Futures End #0 by Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Zircher, Aaron Lopresti & Jesus Merino

Yes, that's right: DC's contribution to FCBD 2014 has four credited writers and five credited pencillers! (If you only counted eight above, you're right: Dan Jurgens has a credit for both.) And for all that, it's not a story that's piqued my interest to read the full series, which started earlier this month.

Collection Count

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

This week, a couple of new BDs push my film total over the 1,800 mark. Based on the two years that I've done "since last year" increase tallies (2013 and 2011), I'll probably cross the 2,000 mark in July 2015. Unless I finally start reducing my collection, of course...

Number of titles in collection: 1,675 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 473 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,168 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,801 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,126 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 409 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Arrow
2x23 Unthinkable [season finale]
They seemed to pile everything on extra thick for the finale -- not only the epic action, but also the cheese. S'all good fun though.

Elementary
2x24 The Grand Experiment [season finale]
Pretty sure there's no experiment in this, grand or otherwise.

Episodes
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale; 2nd watch]

Films

Doctor Who: Celebrating 50 Years of Fandom

A Kickstarted Who documentary, due for release to mark the 50th anniversary but which finally turned up in the past month or so. It's a somewhat unfocused affair, with a random grab-bag of interviewees sharing their Who-related stories.

When it does hone in on a topic, like the appeal of conventions, or the effect of the revived series, or the gender of fans, it often raises interesting ideas but then fails to explore them further. There are several almost-throwaway remarks from interviewees which have the most potential for genuine interest here, but there never followed up on. It's a shame the filmmakers didn't put that extra effort into their film's construction.

There's a good documentary to be made exploring the details of fandom -- the story of it, the whys of it, the ways in which it's changed, the good and the bad of it -- but, sadly, this only skims the surface.

If you still fancy seeing the documentary, you can buy it on DVD, Blu-ray or HD download here, or stream it for £2.49 from here.

Comics

Rocket Raccoon: Free Comic Book Day by Joe Caramagna, Adam Archer & Ty Templeton

Marvel are very obviously pitching Rocket to be the break-out star of their late summer blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy: there's already tonnes of merchandise announced featuring him, there's a new on-going comic coming up, and he was the star of their FCBD offering this year.

In two short 10-page tales (one a reprint), Caramagna demonstrates that it's perfectly possible to tell a decent, self-contained story -- and if he can do it in ten, why the hell can't most comic book writers do it in 20?! OK, so these are simple, fun, all-ages quickies, not the grown-up in-depth tales most comic book fans expect nowadays, but I think the point stands -- it can be done.

Articles

Edgar Wright Departs Ant-Man
by James White (from Empire)

Well here's something no one saw coming! Wright's been working on an Ant-Man movie since before the MCU began (with Iron Man in 2008), and had recently cast it and got deep into pre-production. Bet there must be a juicy behind-the-scenes story there...

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x18 The Apartment
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Gavin & Stacey
1x04 Episode 4 [2nd watch]
1x05 Episode 5 [2nd watch]

Comics

Batman Eternal #6 by Ray Fawkes & Trevor McCarthy with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, John Layman & Tim Seeley

Apparently the team are setting a bunch of story lines in motion over four or five issues at this point (starting with #4, though that was tied to the main story (or what was apparently the main story) so it was less obvious). The problem with that style of storytelling is nothing seems to be moving forward, and you have to keep track of a ton of things all at once. (I'm certainly not the only one feeling this.)

This issue feels particularly slight, not helped by its style: out of 20 story pages, a ridiculous six are splash pages. Only one or two of those are earned, meaning the rest just pad out an overly-short story.

After an exciting and promising opening salvo, Eternal is losing its way right now. Fingers crossed they can pull it back.

TV

Arrow
2x21 City of Blood
2x22 Streets of Fire
I happened to read some of a review that said City of Blood felt very much like "Part 1 of 2". The advantage to being a couple of weeks behind is I was able to watch both of these back to back. Unfortunately, it was actually "Part 1 of 3". On the bright side, the finale is on tomorrow -- not too long to wait.

Elementary
2x23 Art in the Blood

Gavin & Stacey
1x03 Episode 3 [2nd watch]

Films

A Beautiful Mind (2001)
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

LOVEFiLM didn't bother to send me a replacement disc, so I watched the remaining 90 minutes via an HD download.

Articles

Batman vs Superman movie named Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
by Greg Laing (from Digital Spy)

If everyone's been calling your film Batman vs Superman, why would you title it Batman v Superman?! It's a silly little difference that just draws attention to itself, as evidenced by the abundance of headlines and tweets like this one.

TV

Castle
3x24 Knockout [season finale]
I knew they were going somewhere with Montgomery, the way they'd been building him up through the last few episodes.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Game of Thrones
4x05 First of His Name
Bit of a "move the pieces into place" episode, but hey-ho, you need those sometimes.

Gavin & Stacey
1x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]

The Mentalist
6x19 Brown Eyed Girls

TV

24
8x23 2:00PM - 3:00PM
8x24 3:00PM - 4:00PM [series finale]

Here's a philosophical question for you: if something is made as a last-ever episode -- a series finale -- but then later they bring the series back, is it still a series finale? And does it make a difference if the revival is under a slightly different name?

That shouldn't really be my main concern after an Exciting Two-Hour 24 Finale, really, should it; but the episodes themselves were a little silly, and poorly paced, and the ending saw both the villains vanquished and Jack proved right and Jack having to go on the run because he did wrong. Does that even make sense? Not convinced. Having your cake and eating it, etc. This is what happens when you're desperate to leave things open-ended for the movie you're hoping to make.


Gavin & Stacey
1x01 Episode 1 [3rd watch]

Here's my latest comedy re-watch, then.

Comics

Kill Shakespeare #1 by Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col & Andy Belanger

Another give-it-a-go cut-price #1 reprint. Didn't care for this as much, though; though not as little as some people did.