Troy (2004)
[#18 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
[3rd watch]
Not the whole thing, and I didn't mean to watch it! I was flicking to see what was on, thought "that's a slightly odd advert"... and it turned out to be Troy. I remember liking it (see my review of the Director's Cut), but today it struck me as quite poor in almost every regard: the script, the acting, the direction and production values -- more Hallmark mini-series than big-budget all-star blockbuster. Game of Thrones looks more expensive, and that's not just down to 10 years of technical improvements.
Still, I got suckered in, and it does have good stuff -- the battles and fights are really well staged, if nothing else. And I watched it to the end from when I joined (a good 2½-3 hours, with ad breaks), so there's clearly something there.
Saturday, 21 June 2014
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
All the neat, fairly-rounded numbers of last week (1680, 1200, 480...) go flying this week -- as they all inevitably do -- with two new Blu-rays.
Number of titles in collection: 1,682 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,200 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 482 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 4,178 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,807 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 414 [up 4]
See you next week, faithful reader.
All the neat, fairly-rounded numbers of last week (1680, 1200, 480...) go flying this week -- as they all inevitably do -- with two new Blu-rays.
Number of titles in collection: 1,682 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,200 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 482 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 4,178 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,807 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 414 [up 4]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 20 June 2014
TV
Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x05 Jarvis Cocker's BritPop Herd [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]
1x05 Jarvis Cocker's BritPop Herd [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]
Thursday, 19 June 2014
TV
Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
1x04 Until I'm Married or You're Dead
That was good. Wish I'd watched the rest of the series now.
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]
1x04 Until I'm Married or You're Dead
That was good. Wish I'd watched the rest of the series now.
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
TV
Penny Dreadful
1x01 Night Work
With Game of Thrones over for another year, here's what I'm hoping can be televisual methadone: much-anticipated, good-looking series from the creators of Skyfall (writer John Logan, who creates and writes, and director Sam Mendes, who exec produces) set in Victorian England about Dracula and Frankenstein and all that kind of stuff existing together. Interesting first episode, but it's clearly only just getting going, so we'll see. It would help if the direction didn't use some of the same tricks multiple times...
1x01 Night Work
With Game of Thrones over for another year, here's what I'm hoping can be televisual methadone: much-anticipated, good-looking series from the creators of Skyfall (writer John Logan, who creates and writes, and director Sam Mendes, who exec produces) set in Victorian England about Dracula and Frankenstein and all that kind of stuff existing together. Interesting first episode, but it's clearly only just getting going, so we'll see. It would help if the direction didn't use some of the same tricks multiple times...
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Monday, 16 June 2014
TV
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
6x02 (13/6/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Game of Thrones
4x10 The Children [season finale]
And that's it for another year! As usual, some satisfying conclusions (of a sort), while other stuff is left brazenly hanging. It's almost enough to make you want to dive straight into the books... were it not for the fact that at this point they've deviated so much there's no choice but to read the whole darn thing, not just start with Book 4. (I do want to read the books, mind, but no one's getting straight to 'new' stuff if they're only starting now!)
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x06 The Psychiatrist
6x02 (13/6/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Game of Thrones
4x10 The Children [season finale]
And that's it for another year! As usual, some satisfying conclusions (of a sort), while other stuff is left brazenly hanging. It's almost enough to make you want to dive straight into the books... were it not for the fact that at this point they've deviated so much there's no choice but to read the whole darn thing, not just start with Book 4. (I do want to read the books, mind, but no one's getting straight to 'new' stuff if they're only starting now!)
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x06 The Psychiatrist
Sunday, 15 June 2014
TV
How I Met Your Mother
9x19 Vesuvius
OK, I have no idea what the episode titles mean at this point.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
9x19 Vesuvius
OK, I have no idea what the episode titles mean at this point.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Fiction
Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross
Part Two: Chapter 1
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang
Fourth Hugo Best Novelette nominee.
It's another first-person letter "like it's a real historical document... about the future!" one, a style that has increasingly grated with me as my Hugo reading has gone on. Perhaps that means I'm judging this one unfairly, but as it also did the "two apparently unconnected story threads unfolding at the same time... that come together at the end!" thing again; and it had pretty much the same primary SF idea as an episode of Black Mirror, which I felt did it better. Add all that together and I didn't warm to it at all!
Nonetheless, you can read it at the above link.
So that's not a good hit rate for the novelettes, I'm afraid. I'm not even going to bother with the fifth, because I've not heard a single person have anything good to say about it. The Lady Astronaut of Mars is definitely my top pick, and I'll have to debate amongst myself which (if any) I rank below it, and in what order.
Part Two: Chapter 1
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang
Fourth Hugo Best Novelette nominee.
It's another first-person letter "like it's a real historical document... about the future!" one, a style that has increasingly grated with me as my Hugo reading has gone on. Perhaps that means I'm judging this one unfairly, but as it also did the "two apparently unconnected story threads unfolding at the same time... that come together at the end!" thing again; and it had pretty much the same primary SF idea as an episode of Black Mirror, which I felt did it better. Add all that together and I didn't warm to it at all!
Nonetheless, you can read it at the above link.
So that's not a good hit rate for the novelettes, I'm afraid. I'm not even going to bother with the fifth, because I've not heard a single person have anything good to say about it. The Lady Astronaut of Mars is definitely my top pick, and I'll have to debate amongst myself which (if any) I rank below it, and in what order.
this week on 100 Films
Four brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...
Elysium (2013)
Ghost Rider (2007)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
The Punisher (2004)
Additionally, new to the new blog was...
Boogie Nights (1997)
More next Sunday.
Elysium (2013)
Elysium is a parable; one related to current hot-button topics (in the US especially) like immigration and access to healthcare for the poor. I’m sure some would therefore characterise it as Left Wing, for good or ill, but I think its underlying message is more fundamental than that: it’s just humanitarian.Read more here.
Ghost Rider (2007)
The MacGuffin storyline feels ripped from Constantine, but here executed via a screenplay written in Dairylea on a block of Stilton, shot on Camembert film with Cheddar cameras.Read more here.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
it’s a difficult film to digest in one viewing, because there’s so much there... it’s packed with incident, and shaped in a non-traditional narrative structure. A first viewing is an exercise in following what’s going on, what connects to what else, why things are happening in such an order. It fairly begs, “get a handle on it this time, you can analyse it when you watch it again”.Read more here.
The Punisher (2004)
This is the second of three live-action Punishers, all unconnected. Now the rights are back with Marvel, how long before another reboot?Read more here.
Additionally, new to the new blog was...
Boogie Nights (1997)
I didn’t fall for it in the same way I did for Magnolia... One I may get a better feel for when I see it again some day.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 14 June 2014
TV
Celebrity Fifteen to One
1x02 (13/6/2014 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x05 The Hospital Visit
With Sarah Jane Smith!
1x02 (13/6/2014 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x05 The Hospital Visit
With Sarah Jane Smith!
Films
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008)
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]
Plus the DVD's special features, which included a short EPK-y "making of", an even shorter overview of teen teams in Marvel comics, and some extended trailers for the Hulk Vs shorts that made them look so good I went and ordered the Blu-ray (a US import only £2 dearer than buying the UK DVD).
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]
Plus the DVD's special features, which included a short EPK-y "making of", an even shorter overview of teen teams in Marvel comics, and some extended trailers for the Hulk Vs shorts that made them look so good I went and ordered the Blu-ray (a US import only £2 dearer than buying the UK DVD).
Fiction
The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Third Hugo Best Novelette nominee. It's a really great story, in an alternate-history SF setting, but about people and characters in that world (which is quickly, effectively sketched) rather than the world itself. It's overall quality is a light year beyond the other two, in my estimation.
You can read it online at the above link.
Third Hugo Best Novelette nominee. It's a really great story, in an alternate-history SF setting, but about people and characters in that world (which is quickly, effectively sketched) rather than the world itself. It's overall quality is a light year beyond the other two, in my estimation.
You can read it online at the above link.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
This week, the two '60s Thunderbirds movies on US Blu; two cuts of Oliver Stone's Alexander, one of them superseding The Final Cut; and an upgrade for Atonement.
Also this week, a running time update (hurrah!)
Number of titles in collection: 1,680 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,200 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 480 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 4,176 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,805 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 410 [no change]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
299 days, 10 hours, and 58 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 2 hours, and 41 minutes from last month.)
That'll be over 300 days next month, most likely!
But before that... see you next week, faithful reader.
This week, the two '60s Thunderbirds movies on US Blu; two cuts of Oliver Stone's Alexander, one of them superseding The Final Cut; and an upgrade for Atonement.
Also this week, a running time update (hurrah!)
Number of titles in collection: 1,680 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,200 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 480 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 4,176 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,805 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 410 [no change]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
299 days, 10 hours, and 58 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 2 hours, and 41 minutes from last month.)
That'll be over 300 days next month, most likely!
But before that... see you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 13 June 2014
TV
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
6x01 (6/6/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Episodes
3x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Mad Men
7x04 The Monolith
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x04 Have a Break, Take a Husband
6x01 (6/6/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Episodes
3x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Mad Men
7x04 The Monolith
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x04 Have a Break, Take a Husband
Thursday, 12 June 2014
TV
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
1x03 Love Thy Neighbour
Vera
4x04 Death of a Family Man [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
1x03 Love Thy Neighbour
Vera
4x04 Death of a Family Man [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
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