TV

Forever
1x13 Diamonds Are Forever

In and Out of the Kitchen
1x02 Valentine's Day
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Two Tribes
2x23 (18/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Looper (2012)
[#40 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

The Mentalist
7x06 Green Light
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Person of Interest
3x01 Liberty
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Two Tribes
2x22 (17/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Arrow
3x15 Nanda Parbat

Elementary
3x13 Hemlock

Two Tribes
2x21 (16/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Videodrome (1983)
[#38 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Arrow
3x14 The Return

Critical
1x04 Episode 4

Films

God Bless America (2011)
[#37 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Two Tribes
2x20 (13/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
[#36 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

this week on 100 Films

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


Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

When it comes to hitman movies, I’d’ve said there’s Léon and then there’s everything else. Now, I’d happily slot Ghost Dog in that gap.

Read more here.


Machine Gun Preacher (2011)

The film on the whole is too preachy, both about Christianity and the situation in Africa. It doesn’t feel like a professional medium-budget movie made by experienced filmmakers with a name cast, but instead like one of those specialist Christian movies, Preacher(gun)manmashed together with a polemical charity documentary about Africa, and then with some Rambo action sequences grafted on for good measure.

Read more here.


Punisher: War Zone (2008)

The 2004 film of Marvel’s foremost vigilante killer was the Punisher as mainstream Hollywood PG-13 blockbuster, but this follow-up takes a different route. It’s more the grimy, low-budget, direct-to-DVD, B-movie version of the character; all action, gore, and a conscious lack of class. For some that will make the entire endeavour distasteful, but I can’t help but feel it’s a more faithful depiction of the character.

Read more here.


Ten Little Indians (1965)

one of Agatha Christie’s bleakest books, this follows the track of most adaptations and uses the upbeat ending Christie herself wrote for a stage adaptation. Apparently other changes abound, with characters and their actions updated to have a more ’60s vibe. Novel purists may wish to avoid it.

Read more here.



Plus eight archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Agatha (1979)

It’s easy to see the attraction of Christie’s disappearance: it’s a real-life mystery about arguably the greatest mystery author ever, with enough unusual events surrounding it to make it extra suspicious and a long enough gap for something significant to have happened. But while the idea is initially exciting, when it comes to retelling it there isn’t a great deal there

Read more here.


Clockwise (1986)

all go wrong it does, in a manner that’s rather reminiscent of Fawlty Towers — not in the sense that Cleese is repeating himself, but rather that you could replace Stimpson with Basil Fawlty and merrily carry on along much the same path; though, I hasten to add that Stimpson is not a clone of Fawlty, but he is prone to ending up in similar accident-and-misunderstanding-based farcical situations.

Read more here.


Exam (2009)

Eight young professional types go into a job exam/interview; the next hour-and-a-half is all mysteries and riddles... The film occurs in real-time (more or less) in a single room. These are two narrative tricks I always enjoy the potential of... Writer-director Stuart Hazeldine's screenplay is inventive enough to keep the story rolling throughout the entire film

Read more here.


Force of Evil (1948)

I found it dull. The romance subplot feels tacked on and implausible, the main gambling plot is often poorly explained. I never felt properly attached to any of the characters — it doesn’t help that the lead is half-villainous, but then that’s worked fine elsewhere — and as the plot rumbles confusingly on I cared less and less, which made it tough to sit through.

Read more here.


Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert [3D] (2008)

Rubbish. In almost every way possible. I could expand on that in numerous ways, but what would be the point?

Read more here. It was part of Channel 4's 3D Week, which I also posted about this week.


Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

every inch a Boy’s Own adventure, packing every facet of that genre of storytelling into its brisk running time. There’s secret bases, ray guns, giant robots, flying aircraft carriers, snow-bound Himalayan treks, creature-infested secret jungle islands, huge underground bases, space rockets, planes that are also submarines, tree bridges over impossibly deep gorges… If it’s part of the genre, it’s probably here, and all finally executed with ’00s-level special effects.

Read more here.


Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

melding several styles into a cohesive whole — mystery, rom-com, existentialism, a bit of fantasy, and those IKEA graphics from Fight Club. Some plot beats may be clichéd, but that’s almost the point; besides, there’s plenty of originality to make up for it.

Read more here.


The World of Tomorrow (1998)

Before Sky Captain, there was this: a six-minute reel, shot, edited and, er, special-effects-ed, by Conran on an amateur basis over four years, demonstrating the production techniques and storyline he had in mind for a feature-length homage / reimagining of ’40s cinema serials.

Read more here.



More next Sunday.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x10 The Pontiac Bandit Returns
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Voice UK
4x12 The Quarter-Final
4x13 The Quarter-Final Result
[Watch the quarter final and the results (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Extended Edition) (2013/2014)
[#35a in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

As per last year, I'm watching the extended version of the previous film immediately before the 'new' one -- it's out on DVD/Blu-ray in the US on Tuesday (already have my copy), and in the UK on April 20th.

Collection Count

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

Two new additions, plus one switch from BD to DVD that I forgot to account for previously. It's also that time of the month: the running time update! Woo!

Number of titles in collection: 1,748 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,207 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 541 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,360 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,889 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,474 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 443 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
314 days, 18 hours, and 39 minutes.
(Up 23 hours and 26 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gotham
1x11 Rogues' Gallery
1x12 What the Little Bird Told Him
C5 bring Gotham back with a double-bill. I did wonder why, 'til it turned out to be a two-parter.
[Watch both episodes (again) on Demand 5.]

Two Tribes
2x19 (12/3/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2x09 The Road Trip
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Comic Relief 2015
Part 2 (of 2)
The rest.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
2x11 The Lips and Arseholes of Alan Davies [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Dave OD.]

Comic Relief 2015
Part 1 (of 2)
The first three hours (despite what the listed running time says).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x14 Fallout

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.]