this week on 100 Films

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


Bullet to the Head (2012)

At times, you get the impression that director Walter Hill wants this to be a noir tale: there’s a hardboiled voiceover, a story mired in corrupt officials, twists about who to trust, and so on. But these elements are only fleeting, never building a consistency where you could plausibly claim it as any kind of neo-noir. Instead, it’s more of a buddy movie in the ’80s mould.

Read more here.


Feast (2014)

This year’s Best Animated Short Oscar winner is a charming little tale of a dog and his owner. I absolutely adored it

Read more here.


Seven Psychopaths (2012)

The writer-director and star of In Bruges re-team for the former’s sophomore feature; and if that doesn’t sound oddball enough for you, the lead cast is rounded out by Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. Zaniness is sure to ensue.

Read more here.


Shutter Island (2010)

One of the things Lehane set out to do in his novel was write “a gothic”, and Scorsese and co have taken that ball and run with it. It’s overflowing with a fantastic atmosphere: unsettling, creepy, chilling, horror-movie scary when needed (some sequences are properly hair-raising); truly gothic-feeling.

Read more here.


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


Almost Famous (2000)

Crowe’s autobiographical screenplay is a good one, with plenty of amusing and dramatic moments to keep it ticking over — the most memorable, on a crashing plane, manages both with aplomb. Likewise, his direction is rarely flashy but always works. The music, costumes, design and cinematography evoke the period well

Read more here.


Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

John Cusack spends the entire film doing a blatant and middling impression of writer/director Woody Allen. But he nonetheless does OK, and the rest of the cast are note-perfect, the script pacy and funny, the photography gorgeous, and the long takes never more appropriate

Read more here.


Goodfellas (1990)

In the lead role, Ray Liotta seems to have been underrated, lost behind the top billing of De Niro and the award-winning craziness of Joe Pesci. He carries the film, with a performance that isn't showy but is perfectly pitched.

Read more here.


A Good Woman (2004)

reviewers like to pounce on the US cast members. Scarlett Johansson is neither here nor there, as per usual, but I thought Helen Hunt was quite good. It's undoubtable that they're overshadowed by British thesps like Tom Wilkinson and Stephen Campbell Moore however, but that's just par for the course.

Read more here.


Road to Singapore (1940)

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby star as a pair of young(ish) playboy sailors who run away from responsibility and family expectations in this comedy that launched the perennially popular Road to… series, which would spawn six sequels over the next 22 years.

Read more here.


Road to Morocco (1942)

Gentle, silly humour abound in this comedy, the third in the Road to… series. If you remember those plays that Morecambe & Wise used to do you’ll have a fair idea what this feels like

Read more here.


Road to Rio (1947)

If you’ve seen one Road to film then you’ve a fair idea what to expect from any other: lots of comedy, a few songs, a bit of romance, as well as some general hijinks. The differences, in all of these aspects, lie in the specifics: which songs, which gags, and so on... One might say it’s a variety show with a framing device, though there is a little more to the narrative than that.

Read more here.


Some Like It Hot (1959)

enjoying it again, didn’t want to skip the chance of handing it five stars in this pathetically brief review... it’s a very funny film even 50 years on. It rattles from situation to situation at an occasionally surprising pace, literally without a dull moment.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume Two

The second (or third) and final season of the 2D-animated Star Wars spin-off, presented on DVD as a one-hour movie.

This season was designed specifically to tie in with the then-imminent third/sixth live-action Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith (which I'll be watching this weekend as part of my Star Wars re-view) -- the last episode takes place just minutes before the opening scene of Episode III, and the rest of the season details (in part) adventures alluded to in the movie.

There are pros and cons, compared to Volume One. The episodes here were three or four times as long, meaning they didn't have to focus quite so heavily on action and could dwell on character a bit more. At times that works; at others they seem to have forgotten the episodes were longer, so only afforded them the same amount of plot -- the individual action scenes just go on longer.

The Battle of Coruscant (which we see the end of in Episode III) is good, but because Anakin and Obi-Wan aren't allowed to turn up until the end, they have a subplot where they're off on some Outer Rim world saving a Native American-esque people (who also kinda look like Avatar's Na'vi) from nasty mutation. It's a bit "so what?" given everything else going on, but at least there's Mace Windu, Yoda, and some minor Jedi kicking ass on Coruscant to keep the mood up.

As with the first volume, a surprisingly-thorough episode-by-episode guide (though, when the episodes are 12-15 minutes long, it seems a bit less ridiculous) can be found on Wookieepedia

Posters for each season, which reflect Anakin's shift to the dark side.
(Wish I had them bigger/higher quality...)

Collection Count

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

A new release and a DVD-to-BD upgrade this week, which may explain some of the funny (non-)changes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,768 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,209 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 559 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,907 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Shutter Island (2010)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Star Wars: Clone Wars
Volume One

Not to be confused with Star Wars: The Clone Wars (either the film or the TV series), this is the 2D-animated series that originally bridged the gap between Episodes II and III.

Originally released as 20 three-minute shorts across two seasons (though it's clearly one work -- presumably there was a gap halfway for production reasons), on DVD it's edited together into an hour-long movie. Its origins show through in just how action-packed and fast-moving it is, though that's no bad thing. The story is relatively slight, but it's beautifully animated, put together with a great amount of skill and creativity.

For the really interested, there's a ludicrously thorough episode guide (as in, each of the three-minute segments has its own entire page) available on Wookieepedia -- here's season one (chapters 1-10), and season two (chapters 11-20). All things considered, there's a surprising amount of detail there.

TV

Game of Thrones
5x07 The Gift

Films

Seven Psychopaths (2012)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Films

Building Empire (2006)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Fan documentary on the making of Empire Strikes Back (see also: Star Wars Begins). You can watch it on Vimeo.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x03 (22/5/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Alois Nebel (2011)

A Czech noir animation, set around Christmas 1989 to the backdrop of the country’s Velvet Revolution. Eponymous character Alois Nebel is a train station guard whose flashbacks to an event at the end of World War 2 see him sectioned... [There's] the mystery of what happened in World War 2… sort of. I mean, there is a mystery, but what that mystery is isn’t fully elucidated, it goes AWOL during the middle segment of the film, and it remains pretty easy to guess the outcome.

Read more here.


Empire of the Sun (1987)

At two-and-a-half hours and with a plot that spans a good chunk of the war, Spielberg crafted a certifiable epic here — not his first, and most certainly not his last. Even then, swathes of material reportedly ended up on the cutting room floor, with top-billed cast members like Miranda Richardson reduced to extended cameos.

Read more here.


Robot & Frank (2012)

Ostensibly a science-fiction movie, complete with futuristic-looking cars, a casual robotic presence, and glass-like tablets and smartphones, Robot & Frank is really a drama about, amongst other things, old age. The SF elements provide an interesting angle, of course, but the film's joys and illuminations lie outside the sci-fi elements.

Read more here.


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


The Cat's Meow (2001)

Possibly-true ‘murder mystery’ set in 1920s Hollywood. As with the similar Gosford Park, the point lies less in plot and more in characterisation — there are some good performances, especially from Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley and Edward Herrmann

Read more here.


Culloden (1964)

the story of the 1746 battle — famously, the last fought on British soil — and the events that followed it, as if it were covered by a modern TV news report (albeit a feature-length one). This adopted style — a first — makes for an effective presentation

Read more here.


Ocean's Eleven (1960)

“Remakes are not as good as the original” is one of the rules of filmmaking... Steven Soderbergh’s star-studded 2001 remake of Vegas-set Rat Pack vehicle Ocean’s Eleven is widely seen as a rarity in bucking this trend. And that opinion is right.

Read more here.


Southland Tales (2006)

i thought, with respect to the film’s crazy half-constructed mess of half-ideas, i’d copy&paste my notes rather than a normal review. so at least that’s one answer at the end for you.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

There was quite a bit to cover last week. This week: just one. (Soon: some more.)

Number of titles in collection: 1,767 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,210 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 557 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,390 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,906 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,508 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015

I was away for last year's Eurovision, so downloaded it from iPlayer, but never got round to watching it. It's a bit odd if you don't watch on the night. (Though apparently I caught the voting live. Completely forgot that.) I've still got it, though it'd be even odder to watch over a year later...

Anyway, this year's was good, if not because of the songs (which were largely OK but nothing to write home about) the because of the uncommonly-tight voting. Hurrah for some actual drama during that part of the show.

[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bullet to the Head (2012)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]


Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002/2011)
[3rd or so watch]

You were expecting the Jedi to return? Well, fairly last minute, we decided to follow the so-called "Machete Order". We'll see how well it works when we get to the end, but so far it's OK. Apart from the film itself being pretty poor, that is.

TV

Car Share
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Forever
1x21 The Night in Question

Have I Got News For You
49x06 (15/5/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
[#69 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2015 #3

I've been pretty lax with WDYMYHS this year (I should be on #5 by now), so hopefully this is the start of getting it back on track.

TV

Episodes
4x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
1x22 Rogue Air

Person of Interest
3x09 The Crossing
Channel 5 have decided to take a mid-season break after the last episode, showing how much they hate their viewers -- there's unresolved stuff at the end of this one, but it feels like the big end to a two-parter, whereas the last was just halfway through. Anyway, they do this every season at some point, so, as per usual, I have found other ways to continue.

Films

Behind the Candelabra (2013)
[#68 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Car Share
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Critical
1x13 Episode 13 [season finale]
This has massively grown on me over the course of the season. Hopefully it'll get recommissioned.

Elementary
3x21 Under My Skin

Films

Hummingbird (2013)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Forever
1x20 Best Foot Forward

Game of Thrones
5x06 Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

Outnumbered
5x01 Rites of Passage [2nd watch]