TV

Doctor Who
34x08 Mummy on the Orient Express
Really enjoyed that, which makes a good few in a row for me now. Opinion seems very divided on this season: my Twitter feed is full of hatred for it, comments sections on websites see plenty of others declaring it the best run ever, and commenters regularly disagreeing with reviewers about which episodes are great and which are weak. There's a range of opinions on everything, of course, and especially Who, but it feels more pronounced this year.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Extra
1x08 Mummy on the Orient Express
The series rarely builds extensive sets (as far as I'm aware), more often using location filming, so it would've been nice to learn a bit more about the process behind the Orient Express. Still, between the impressive monster, a big-name guest star and a big-name cameo, I guess there was more than enough to discuss.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Panel-show-tastic!

Have I Got News For You
48x01 (3/10/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Whose Line is it Anyway?
2x04 (8/12/89 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Would I Lie To You?
8x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
21x16 Planet of Fire Part Four

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Whose Line is it Anyway?
2x03 (24/11/89 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Doctor Who
21x15 Planet of Fire Part Three
This seems to have turned into a fairly aimless runaround, but at least the cliffhanger was good.

Grantchester
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The Great British Bake Off
5x10 The Final
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
13x10 (2/10/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Spanking the Monkey (1994)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Aaaand that's 100! Now, how far will I get...

TV

Doctor Who
21x14 Planet of Fire Part Two

Forever
1x01 Pilot
Welshman Ioan Gruffudd is a 200-year-old Englishman who can't die in this new American procedural -- hey, when there are so many cop shows on TV, you need a good twist. On the evidence of this opener it's not an exceptional show, but it is above-average and pretty entertaining, with enough amusing bits to make up for the rote elements. The writers could have done with a healthy dose of "show don't tell" instead of the mass of voiceover, though.

Whose Line is it Anyway?
2x01 (10/11/89 edition)
2x02 (17/11/89 edition)
Following "most fans"' advice, I decided to jump ahead to series two. The format is the same -- indeed, many of the rounds are exactly the same -- and yet instead of being a little awkward and occasionally amusing, it's now frequently hilarious. Not sure how or why that's changed, but hooray.
[Watch 2x01 and 2x02 (again) on 4oD.]

Would I Lie To You?
8x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Go Ahead, Get Excited for the New Twin Peaks. Even If It Turns Out Awful.
by James Poniewozik (from TIME)

Why it's OK to stop being cynical and start being excited for something -- in this case, new Twin Peaks.

TV

Doctor Who
21x13 Planet of Fire Part One
This week's Who serial was one of the first I locked in for our tied-to-the-new-episodes classic viewing. For Saturday's episode, they shot in Lanzarote doubling for the Moon; in this serial, they shot in Lanzarote doubling for the planet Sarn... and also Lanzarote. It looks incredible, actually -- a great use of location in both episodes. I guess there's not the budget to do it more often, but going overseas is probably the best way to find a genuinely alien-looking landscape.
Also, this is The One With Peri's Bikini, lest we forget (as if).

Gilmore Girls
2x14 It Should've Been Lorelai [2nd watch]
The first episode to feature Mädchen Amick as Christopher's new lady -- on the same day as the Twin Peaks news! Complete coincidence.

Scott & Bailey
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Whose Line is it Anyway?
1x01 (23/9/88 edition)
1x03 (7/10/88 edition)
Remember years ago I caught and liked some random episodes of WLIIA on Dave? Well, I stumbled across the whole darn thing on 4oD and thought I'd start at the start. It's remarkable how slow and kind of awkward it is -- and very obvious that the improvisation is genuinely completely improvised. How things have changed in the intervening 26 years! The first episode wasn't much cop, to be honest, but a quality line-up helped the next one I tried. Apparently "most fans feel that the show was at its best from Series 2-6, with Series 1 being too smart and low-budget," so maybe I should skip ahead in future.
[Watch 1x01 and 1x03 (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Twin Peaks to return with new episodes in 2016
by Morgan Jeffery (from Digital Spy)

Best TV revival news since 2003!

Massively excited for this. Two years seems such a long time off... but as all I've actually seen of Twin Peaks is the first season, and that was many years ago, I've actually got a season one re-watch and first time viewing of the much-longer second season and the movie to fill (some of) that time.

Co-creator Mark Frost has been doing a ton of interviews, but some choice ones I read include those at TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter and HitFix.

TV

Crimes of Passion
1x06 Tragedy in a Country Churchyard [season finale]
This hasn't been to everyone's taste (there was at least one moany letter in the Radio Times, not to mention a 'pick of the day' review for this episode by a writer who even said they hadn't watched most of the series), but I've enjoyed it and hope to see more.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
[#99 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

This week saw the start of October, meaning it was time for the regular 100 Films in a Year monthly update...




As well as that, three brand-new reviews were published this week...


A Beautiful Mind (2001)

There’s a Big Twist that they skilfully kept out of the advertising, and which many people have done a fair job of keeping quiet for the past 13 years; but, unlike most Big Twists, this one isn’t at the end of the film — in fact, it’s pretty early on, and the bulk of the movie is spent dealing with its fall-out.

Read more here.


Clear and Present Danger (1994)

The plot isn’t exactly inspiring, sadly, but it does allow for a few more memorable sequences: an alleyway ambush on an American convoy, with Ryan in the thick of the action, which is apparently still used to train real troops; and, in a very modern twist, a sequence where Ryan hacks into a corrupt colleague’s computer, while the colleague tries to delete the files Ryan is looking for.

Read more here.


Patriot Games (1992)

a sprawling tale. Although most of the major characters start off connected by a failed assassination, they soon splinter to go about their business in unconnected sequences, which finally come back together towards the end. To describe it as “novelistic” might be obvious, but it’s not been streamlined for the big screen.

Read more here.


Finally, this week's archive re-posts had a bit of a one-track mind...


David Fincher Week

With Fincher's latest in cinemas this week, it seems a good time to repost my 2011 'week'. Starting with this somewhat-self-indulgent introduction...

Read more here.


The end of David Fincher Week

...and continuing with my summary post from the week's end.

Read more here.


Se7en (1995)

The quality of a crime thriller is often so tied to its mystery that the film can only sustain so many viewings — sometimes, only one — before you know it too well. I have seen Se7en at least seven times now, which for me is a lot — a helluva lot, even — and yet I still get something from it every time. That’s a rarity, that’s a reason to love it, and that is why it may well be my favourite film.

Read more here.


Fight Club (1999)

At one point consensus seemed to have it that Fight Club was easily Fincher’s best movie, a generation-defining statement, “the first great film of the 21st Century” despite being released in 1999... I’ve always preferred Se7en myself. I still do. But Fight Club is nonetheless an exceptional film.

Read more here.


Panic Room (2002)

stands out as (arguably) Fincher’s most atypical film. Whereas his others are all epic, in one way or another, this is the exact opposite. It’s very contained, virtually the entire running time spent on one night in one house, alleviated only by brief outside bookends and a guided tour of the house at the start. Fortunately, it’s still an outstanding little thriller.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
34x07 Kill the Moon
This may well be the first classic of the Capaldi era. Not everyone on Twitter agreed though, so we'll see... but it felt great to me.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Extra
1x07 Kill the Moon
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x18 (4/10/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Articles

Lost ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Film Discovered After Almost a Century
by Kevin Noonan (from Variety)

A nearly 100-year-old silent film version of “Sherlock Holmes” starring famed Holmes thespian and American actor William Gillette has been discovered at the Cinémathèque Française

Exciting! Lord knows how us normal people who don't attend silent film festivals will ever get to see it, but, y'know, we'll see.

What It's like to Fly the $23,000 Singapore Airlines Suites Class
by Derek Low
This looks amazing! Definitely sits high on the list of "things to do if I win an insane amount on the Lottery".

Collection Count

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

Nothing again -- again! -- this week. I imagine it'll be quite a small monthly running time update, then...

Number of titles in collection: 1,697 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 494 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,232 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,830 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,242 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

Plus this week it's time for a running time update, so...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
304 days, 18 hours, and 3 minutes.
(Up 10 hours and 13 minutes from last month.)

It's approaching the time when all of the summer's big blockbusters hit disc, and as I skipped them all at the cinema I'll be buying a fair few. Hopefully these updates will get a bit livelier then, then.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Detectorists
1x01 Episode 1
BBC Four sitcom about metal detector users -- aka detectorists -- not incompetent police detectives, or something.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
1x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
8x03 Episode 3

TV

Doctor Who
25x04 Remembrance of the Daleks Part Four [3rd watch]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
3x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Two Tribes
1x30 (26/9/14 edition) [season finale]
Hope this is coming back.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
25x03 Remembrance of the Daleks Part Three [3rd watch]

The Great British Bake Off
5x09 Semi-final - Patisserie
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
13x09 (26/9/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
1x29 (25/9/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
25x02 Remembrance of the Daleks Part Two [3rd watch]

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
2x05 Episode 5

Two Tribes
1x28 (24/9/14 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]