TV

In and Out of the Kitchen
1x01 The Diet
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Poldark
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
2x18 (11/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
[#35 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Arrow
3x13 Canaries
or, "The One Where Everyone Tells Everyone Else Everything".

Critical
1x03 Episode 3

Forever
1x12 The Wolves of Deep Brooklyn

Two Tribes
2x17 (10/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Mentalist
7x05 The Silver Briefcase
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Only Connect
Comic Relief Special: Waterbabies v Tillers
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
4x11 The Knockouts 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Violet & Daisy (2011)
[#34 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

Just three brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, again. They were...


The Hound of the Baskervilles (1981)

Sherlock Holmes has appeared in more films than any other fictional character... “Who’s the best?” debates usually settle around Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett and, these days, Benedict Cumberbatch, however the “Sherlockian’s Sherlock” is, believe it or not, a Russian: Vasily Livanov, who starred in five popular (in their homeland) Russian miniseries/TV movies between 1979 and 1986 that some regard as definitive adaptations. The most famous Holmes adventure of them all was the subject of the third series, a two-part feature-length adaptation.

Read more here.


Last Passenger (2013)

If you’ve ever found a late-night train commute dull, this single-location thriller may make you rethink any complaints. Half-a-dozen people travelling from London to Tunbridge Wells find their train speeding out of control. It’s up to them to discover what’s happening and how to stop it.

Read more here.


Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014)

manages the tricky feat of feeling both too rushed and too long. There’s no time for mystery or surprise as it hurtles through the plot — not that there’s too much of that, either. Half of it recycles Buzz’s arc from Toy Story 1... the other half is a villain with what I think is an original idea, but isn’t given enough time to be developed.

Read more here.


A more solid six archive reviews were reposted, however...


The Band Wagon (1953)

There are several great numbers: Astaire dancing his way around an amusement arcade; That's Entertainment, written for the film and easily demonstrating why it quickly became a standard; and a big closing dance routine... that I actually liked! It's a hard-boiled crime thriller told through the medium of dance

Read more here.


Best in Show (2000)

The script, acting and direction always err just this side of believability, meaning if you came to this cold (and managed to not recognise any actors) you might be fooled into believing it was genuine. That doesn’t mean it’s short on laughs however — quite the opposite

Read more here.


Eastern Promises (2007)

Viggo Mortensen’s Oscar-nominated performance is the focus... Apparently thoroughly immersed in the role, he gives a distinguished performance throughout and is central to what are by far the film’s most memorable moments: a nude steam baths fight, which has become justifiably infamous, and a game-changing twist

Read more here.


Jane Eyre (1944)

Despite a suitably dramatic entrance, Orson Welles’ stilted and occasionally overplayed performance, as well as a lack of chemistry with the equally weak Joan Fontaine, does nothing to liven up what is already a rather uninspired production.

Read more here.


Rock n Roll Nerd (2008)

aspiring filmmaker Rhian Skirving decided to film [her neighbour] Tim Minchin’s last ditch attempt at making it. They expected to film, at best, a small-scale suburban documentary about a wannabe failing to become a somebody, but what they wound up with was something rather different. Minchin was a hit at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, from where he was whisked off to the famous Fringe, where he had “the most successful first season of any performer in the history of Edinburgh…” Not what either of them had expected

Read more here.


Unthinkable (2010)

wholly reliant on the script and performances to draw us into its story, and its debate. The debate in question is torture, and whether it’s excusable, and under what circumstances, and how far it’s OK to go. Though it’s grafted on to a story, it’s pretty clear that screenwriters Oren Moverman and Peter Woodward are as much, if not more, concerned with the issues at play... In my opinion, it works; at least, works well enough.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
2x05 An Extra Slice
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
4x10 The Knockouts 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,747 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 539 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,357 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,888 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,474 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 443 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Two Tribes
2x16 (9/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
4x09 The Battles 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x08 USPIS
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Elementary
3x11 The Illustrious Client
3x12 The One That Got Away

Two Tribes
2x15 (6/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
2x10 The Land of Happy Donkeys
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

The Last Leg
6x08 (27/2/15 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Mentalist
7x04 Black Market
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

Critical
1x02 Episode 2

The Flash
1x13 The Nuclear Man

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
2x04 Episode 4 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Two Tribes
2x14 (5/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wolf Hall
Part 6 Masters of Phantoms [finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wolf Hall: The Inside Story
Illuminating half-hour interview with star Mark Rylance and director Peter Kosminsky.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

Just two brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Godzilla (2014)

after over an hour and a half of teasing us, there’s an almighty brawl, and Godzilla is shown off in all his glory. Edwards isn’t trying to hide the monster, he’s saving it. He’s denying us shots of it not to punish the viewer or to trick us, but literally to tease us, to build excitement and suspense and desire for the final battle. Too many people aren’t used to this — modern blockbusters have trained them for non-stop show-us-all-you’ve-got action from start to finish — and that’s a shame, and their loss, because Edwards’ method is superior

Read more here.


Show Boat (1951)

the boat sets sail to the strains of Ol’ Man River, a downright fantastic song. “I get weary and sick of trying / I’m tired of living and scared of dying” — a bit fatalistic for a bright little musical about two people falling in love on a show boat? No, it’s just an indication of where things are going — into darkness, as modern parlance would have it

Read more here.


Not the best week for archive reviews, either, with a mere four being reposted to the new blog...


Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

George Clooney’s directorial debut is part biopic, part comedy, and part spy thriller. It’s the last part that works best, but perhaps that’s just because I have a predilection for spy thrillers

Read more here.


Dragonslayer (1981)

the realisation of the dragon is definitely one of the film's high points. It's an impressive creation, brought to the screen in those wonderful pre-CGI days through a total of 16 puppets, which included a 40-foot hydraulic model... Of course it has that veneer of '80s effects work, which is either nostalgic or amateurish depending on your point of view (and, most likely, age).

Read more here.


Rage (2009)

I really didn’t expect to like this: a series of straight-to-camera monologues, performed in front of just plain-coloured backgrounds, about the fashion industry... despite the concept’s innate pretentiousness, it’s an intriguing one. Once Rage settled into its stride (or, perhaps, I settled into its stride), however, I loved it.

Read more here.


What About Bob? (1991)

a comedy about mental health. As such, it feels primed for misunderstanding and inappropriateness. And it is indeed a little worrying early on: Bill Murray’s performance is, from the off, superbly believable, but it’s undercut by bad ‘this is a comedy’ music that suggests we’re meant to laugh at his impairments rather than feel sympathy.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Two Tribes
2x13 (4/3/15 edition)
Episode 12 has "been permanently revoked as it was subject to a factual inaccuracy." Oo-er.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Six additions this week, thanks to a good offer from Eureka/Masters of Cinema. They're technically six individual films, but thanks to one of them actually being three-flms-in-one and another having two additional features (that were edited from the main feature), plus all the discs to account for that (and that MoC often do dual format titles where two DVDs contain the material from one Blu-ray), and the numbers below look like there's been at least one many-film boxset.

But there hasn't.

Well, not really.


Number of titles in collection: 1,745 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 537 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 4,354 [up 13]
Number of films in collection: 1,886 [up 10]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,474 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 443 [up 1]


See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Room 101
15x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Godzilla (2014)
[#31 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]