Saturday, 30 August 2014

TV

Doctor Who
34x02 Into the Dalek
Consensus seems to be that this was better than last week. While I didn't dislike last week, I'd agree with that. Not a classic maybe, but a very solid Dalek adventure.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Next week on Doctor Who (in my world), the 4th Doctor is shrunk and goes inside himself to battle The Invisible Enemy...

Doctor Who Extra
1x02 Into the Dalek
This was an improvement, too. More decent episode-focused detail, and the voiceover seemed to have calmed down too -- possibly as a result of all the criticism online? It's just a shame it doesn't have Confidential-style 'witty'/'clever' episode titles. I kinda miss those.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gilmore Girls
2x13 A-Tisket, A-Tasket [2nd watch]

Tumble
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

Last-minute changes abound, as one imported Blu-ray turned up three days later than it should have, and then another turned up three days early!

Number of titles in collection: 1,692 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 489 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,219 [up 14]
Number of films in collection: 1,827 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,214 [up 37]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [up 3]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Friday, 29 August 2014

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
5x04 (22/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Two Tribes
1x08 (27/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Thursday, 28 August 2014

TV

Doctor Who
12x04 Robot Part Four [2nd watch]
The fact this episode is entirely made up of climax is a reminder of how sometimes (often?) classic Who was constructed as a movie split into parts. As for Robot itself, I think the first half is very good and there are excellent ideas and concepts throughout, but some of the execution (both in the writing and realisation on screen) is a let down in the latter two instalments.

Next time on Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi goes Into the Dalek...

The Musketeers
1x07 A Rebellious Woman

Two Tribes
1x09 (28/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Wrath of the Titans (2012)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

TV

Doctor Who
12x03 Robot Part Three [2nd watch]
This isn't the best-regarded of Who stories, but I'd been really liking it... until this episode, when things all got a little silly. UNIT were the most ineffective military ever at stopping the villains escape: "they've gone round the corner into a van! We'll just stand here and shoot at the back of the van!"; "The truck's driving at us! We could shoot the driver, but instead let's just jump out of the way!" Ah well.

The Great British Bake Off
5x04 Desserts
Controversy in the Bake Off tent! A virtual riot on Twitter! Will our little baking show ever be the same again?!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Safe (2012)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Monday, 25 August 2014

TV

Doctor Who
12x01 Robot Part One [2nd watch]

After the success of our 50th anniversary viewing, it's time for some more tie-in classic Who. This time, it'll be a series of four-parters, watched Monday through Thursday between Capaldi episodes, and the aim is for each to have some connection to the episode just gone by.

In this case, Moffat has referenced the Pertwee/Baker regeneration and the style of the ensuing story as being influences on Deep Breath, so it seemed an apt choice. (Stylistically, Talons of Weng-Chiang would have been closer; but a) that's a six-parter, and b) not all the ties will be so obvious.)


Ripper Street
2x08 Our Betrayal Part Two [season finale]

The would've-been-"series-finale" were it not for Amazon. S'a good show, I look forward to the next run... when it eventually arrives on the BBC. Or earlier, perhaps...


Two Tribes
1x06 (25/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5 The Five Orange Pips

One of Doyle's favourite Holmes adventures, and one of those awarded five stars by The Pocket Essential Sherlock Holmes; also the inspiration (loosely) for The House of Fear, which I was finally writing my review for today, hence reading the story.

Sunday, 24 August 2014

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x12 Richard in Stars Hollow [2nd watch]

Ripper Street
2x07 Our Betrayal Part One

Two Tribes
1x05 (22/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Local Hero (1983)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]
Peter Capaldi again (again)!

St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009)
[#74 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 Lair of the White Worm (1988)
Perhaps it’s “so bad it’s good”, but I’m also not sure of that — I think perhaps director Ken Russell and his ensemble knew they were creating the ludicrous. There’s an indefinable charm that a hundred slicker, objectively more accomplished, films just can’t match.
Read more here.


Thor: The Dark World (2003)
When it works, The Dark World is exciting, inventive, and often genuinely hilarious. Placing most of the movie’s biggest laughs during its climactic battle — which already features a thrilling conceit in and of itself — makes the ending one of the best action sequences in the entire Marvel movie canon.
Read more here.


Tower Block (2012)
Screenwriter James Moran seems to have hit a good idea for a single-location thriller, and there are neat sequences in the mix, but there’s not quite enough juice in the concept or characters to sustain a full 90 minutes.
Read more here.


And six reviews were new to the new blog...


Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003)
Documentary, based on the best-selling acclaimed book by Peter Biskind, about the decade in Hollywood between the death and effective re-birth of the studio system. It’s a broad story, with many threads, which means this film has a tendency to sprawl all over the place as it attempts to take an overview of it in chronological order.
Read more here.


The King and I (1956)
there are some recognisable songs and an Oscar-winning performance from Yul Brynner, as well as truly sumptuous sets and costumes.
Read more here.


The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965)
it does a lot of things for a bit: Carry On-level double entendres, intense thriller-like scenes, slapstick sequences, an occasional New Wave-esque light jazz score… flitting around from one style to another with no immediately obvious rhyme nor reason, except perhaps a desire to try out interesting things and see where they lead.
Read more here.


Monster (2003)
Charlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America’s first female serial killers, in this ‘true crime’ biopic.
Read more here.


Ong-Bak (2003)
This is a tricky film to rate. The plot is pretty inconsequential and drags things out a bit toward the end, but that’s not what you come to a film like Ong-Bak for — it’s here for the action.
Read more here.


Sherlock Holmes (2010)
You wait decades for a new Sherlock Holmes film and then two come along at once. One is the Guy Ritchie-directed Robert Downey Jr-starring genuine blockbuster moneymaker. The other is thankfully not the rumoured Sacha Baron Cohen/Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow/other faintly irritating people comedy vehicle, but instead this direct-to-DVD cash-in from mockbuster kings The Asylum. Yes, I’d rather this version, thanks.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Saturday, 23 August 2014

TV

Doctor Who
34x01 Deep Breath
There seems to be a mixed response online... but then there's almost always a mixed response online. I didn't think it was as good as The Eleventh Hour, or even The Christmas Invasion, but on the whole it was a pretty good episode. The best bit, of course, was Capaldi. An excellent performance that shows great promise for the future.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Extra
1x01 Deep Breath
The "new Confidential" is... quite a lot like Confidential, actually. Shame it was so short -- there's a lot to explore in Deep Breath, and with just 11 minutes all they could really say was, "Look! New Doctor!"
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
1x03 (20/8/14 edition)
1x04 (21/8/14 edition)
[Watch episodes three and four (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

American Movie (1999)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,690 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 487 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,205 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,827 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,177 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 435 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Friday, 22 August 2014

TV

The Last Leg
5x03 (15/8/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The One Show
21/8/14 edition
Peter Capaldi was on yesterday's show ahead of his Doctor Who debut tomorrow. Coming on the back of a whistlestop seven-city world tour that only ended on Monday, and before a BFI Q&A session on Saturday -- and then also this today -- they've certainly made him pound the promotional trail hard!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tumble
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]