TV

Castle
4x01 Rise
Channel 5 have not only bumped Castle to 5USA, they also started showing it a couple of months ago without any fanfare (none that I saw, anyway). So I've had to resort to... alternative methods... to catch up. But catch up I will, oh yes.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x10 Episode 10
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
7x08 Plane
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

The 2014 Advent Calendar continues this week on 100 Films in a Year, meaning there were another seven new reviews...


Dead Poets Society (1989)

Here’s a film all children should see, to understand the value of free thought and rejecting the system. Cynics probably find its purity of message, coupled with a tragic ending, to be over-sentimental and twee, but this earnestness is what makes it work.

Read more here.


Edge of Tomorrow, aka Live. Die. Repeat. (2014)

It’s Groundhog Day with shoot-the-aliens bits. It’s easy to be cynical about Edge of Tomorrow — it’s a mega-budgeted Tom Cruise actioner that sounds like a semi-rip-off of several other movies and was perceived as a flop (it wasn’t, at all) that no one knew how to sell. In fact, it’s a very entertaining movie — suitably exciting, surprisingly funny, and actually quite clever.

Read more here.


Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Inspired by the true story of a US Army DJ in Vietnam during the war, the resulting film is a showcase for star Robin Williams — reportedly, his antics aren’t even close to what really happened. Doesn’t matter though, does it, because this is Williams at his best.

Read more here.


Good Will Hunting (1997)

Damon and Williams have numerous incredible scenes together; encounters that feel like genuine slowly-evolving therapy, rather than the simplistic and implausible series of repeated revelations and breakthroughs that such treatment is often reduced to on screen. They run the emotional gamut, too, [including] intense humour — that’s what you get when you have Robin Williams at your disposal, of course. His Oscar is well earnt.

Read more here.


Pacific Rim (2013)

This is a film about giant monsters invading Earth, and we fight back with giant robots. It has the logic of the Japanese movies, anime and art that inspired it rather than any basis in the real world. Which is fine — del Toro has said it was aimed at 11-year-old boys (hence the “for over 13s” rating, of course), and it slots pretty neatly into that world.

Read more here.


Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

There’s fun to be had seeing the creation of a classic movie — I’m sure it’s not 100% the honest truth of how it went, but it is based on the tapes Travers insisted were made of the meetings, so it would seem the spirit is faithful. This isn’t a dry “making of” narrative, however, but a lively romp, as the two sides clash over jaunty tunes, characterisation, casting, and made-up words.

Read more here.


The Searchers (1956)

Westerns don’t come more renowned than this Ford-Wayne collaboration about the years-long hunt for a girl kidnapped by Native Americans. Alongside the usual Western thrills, peerlessly executed, it touches on themes of obsession and racism

Read more here.


Also this week, one archive review was re-posted...


Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)

Judi Dench is clearly having a whale of a time in this 1930s-set comedy about a 70-year-old widow who starts up a nude revue.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Gotham
1x09 Harvey Dent
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Pointless Celebrities
6x28 Number 1s
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

This week, the subtraction of that duplicate I mentioned last time, plus four new acquisitions, gives us the following:

Number of titles in collection: 1,713 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,205 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 508 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,278 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,848 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,317 [down 5]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Not Going Out
7x07 Surprise

The Thick of It
2x01 Episode 4

TV

Forever
1x10 The Man in the Killer Suit

The Newsroom
3x03 Main Justice

TV

Arrow
3x06 Guilty

Pointless Celebrities
6x27 Writers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Good Will Hunting (1997)
[#125 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Elementary
3x04 Bella

The Missing
Part 6 Concrete
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Thick of It
1x02 Episode 2
1x03 Episode 3 [season finale]

TV

The Flash
1x06 The Flash is Born

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
28x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Atlantis
2x03 Telemon
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gotham
1x08 The Mask
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Thick of It
1x01 Episode 1
Picked up the complete collection of this in a Black Friday deal -- now I hope it lives up to its reputation. On the evidence of this first episode, the potential is there, though I confess I laughed more heartily at the episode's deleted scenes.
Incidentally, The Observer described the series as a "cross between Yes Minister and The Office", which couldn't be more true if it was a joint spin-off of the two.

Films

After the Thin Man (1936)
[#124 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

this week on 100 Films

It's been a busy old week at 100 Films in a Year. Firstly, it's December (did you notice?) which meant it was time to look back at November's viewing:




Then, the 3rd annual 100 Films Advent Calendar kicked off -- 25 days of shiny new reviews, people!




And, of course, that means a whole week of reviews -- seven brand-new ones, to be precise. They were...


The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Fortunately for us, ASM2 has some new twists on the old formulas. Harry’s transformation may be inevitable, but it’s played with different emphasis and motivations. Plus Dane DeHaan is a much more unusual and engaging actor than James Franco, his version of Harry notably different from the previous “pretty young rich kid”.

Read more here.


Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Cue two hours in which cars drive fast, people punch each other, and things blow up. Furious 6 (as it’s called on screen, to forcefully indicate a barely-existent “Part Two”-ness with the previous film) doesn’t ask much of you as a viewer, and doesn’t give you much back either — which is fair enough, in its own way. In other ways, it’s a disappointment.

Read more here.


In Your Eyes (2014)

Anyone expecting a heavy fantasy flick from the creator of Buffy and the director of The Avengers will be sorely disappointed by what they find here. Rather than being the film’s subject, the fantasy element is an unusual way in to a relationship... I don’t believe the phenomenon that connects the two leads is ever explained, or even investigated. The focus instead lies on the effects it has on the characters.

Read more here.


The Kings of Summer (2013)

I wasn’t sure I’d like this — it looked Quirky and Indie and Hipster-y — but I wound up rather loving it. It mashes zany ‘comedy’-comedy with indie drama — the kind of tonal disjunct some despise, because they like their films neatly Funny or Serious, but which I always have an affinity towards.

Read more here.


The Night of the Hunter (1955)

I guess this is one of the reasons why groups including the BFI recommend it as a must-see for kids. Although it’s dark and grim, it rarely wavers from the John’s point of view — it’s an induction into the harshness of the adult world for the two young siblings; a harshness the sweet, innocent community they come from does nothing to prepare them for.

Read more here.


No (2012)

Most strikingly, the whole thing is shot on genuine ’80s videocameras, complete with poor resolution, colour bleeding, and all that jazz. Sounds like a pretentious gimmick, doesn’t it? It actually works rather well: it quickly evokes the era, it allows genuine news footage from the period to blend seamlessly with freshly-shot material (and it really does), and you quickly stop noticing.

Read more here.


We're the Millers (2013)

It’s not, generally speaking, “my kind of film” [but] I thought I’d give this a go. I’m glad I did, because while it’s not particularly remarkable, nor likely to redeem the entire [modern mainstream American comedy] genre for me, it is a suitably amusing and entertaining comedy.

Read more here.


Phew!

The fun continues with even more next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,710 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,205 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 505 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,277 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,845 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,322 [up 24]
Number of short films in collection: 438 [no change]

One of these actually replaces an existing DVD set, but I haven't had time to factor that in. Next week, then... provided I don't forget.

See you then, faithful reader.

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x19 Teach Me Tonight [2nd watch]

Have I Got News For You
48x08 (28/11/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Oldboy (2003)
[#123 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2014 #11

TV

Arrow
3x05 The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak

Forever
1x09 6 A.M.

Miranda
3x01 It Was Panning [2nd watch]
Thought they were starting a repeat run of this before the new episodes at Christmas, but it appears to be airing as a one-off. Oh well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Gilmore Girls
2x18 Back in the Saddle Again [2nd watch]

Live at the Apollo
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Newsroom
3x02 Run

Films

Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
[#122 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

The Flash
1x05 Plastique

The Missing
Part 5 Molly
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]