TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x15 (21/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Person of Interest
3x22 A House Divided
3x23 Deus Ex Machina [season finale]
[Watch A House Divided and Deus Ex Machina (again) on Demand 5.]

TVT

The Americans
3x09 Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?

The Great British Bake Off
6x04 Desserts
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 11 The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapter 4 [2nd read]

TV

The Americans
3x08 Divestment

Yonderland
2x06 Game of Crones

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 10 Movies to Change the World

TV

The Americans
3x07 Walter Taffet

Two Tribes
2x40 (31/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
9x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 8 New Directors, New Form
Part 9 American Cinema of the 70s

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapter 3 [2nd read]

TV

The Americans
3x06 Born Again

Two Tribes
2x35 (30/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 6 Sex & Melodrama
Part 7 European New Wave

Fiction

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Chapters 1-2 [2nd read]

I never re-read books, in part because I don't read enough in the first place (and if I did, there's always so much more to read!) Obviously, this is an exception. I first read it years ago, at uni, and have been wanting to re-read it for a while. I was spurred on by watching Inherent Vice the other day, of course, and also by it only being a short'un. It's not quite as I remember it -- I think the stuff that really stuck with me, that I really enjoyed, must be to come later. We'll see.

this week on 100 Films

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


Interstellar (2014)

criticism/acceptance seems to hinge on the final act. Without getting into spoilers, then, “it’s too far-fetched” is one criticism I’ve seen. Of a science fiction movie. I guess it depends what you’re expecting. The rest of the film is grounded in realistic or plausible science, so when it really pushes at the boundaries of the unknown at the end, some people struggle to accept that

Read more here.


TMNT (2007)

The kids’ phenomenon of the ’80s/’90s has never quite gone away, and this film is one thing that kept it ticking over in the ’00s. I watched out of nostalgia, which may’ve been a mistake.

Read more here.


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


A Few Good Men (1992)
I really ought to watch this again, next time without over two months between most of the film and the final half hour! (Can't believe I stood for that back then...)
Read my review here.


The Prestige (2006)

A well-handled complex narrative (it again jumps about in time, but never to the audience’s confusion), even if the twists are relatively easy to guess. A credit, then, that the film doesn’t totally rely on them.

Read more here.


Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

After the widespread disappointment with Insurrection, the ninth big screen outing for Star Trek, fans hoped this tenth would mark a return to their old adage “even ones good, odd ones bad.” They had reasons to be hopeful: a new director, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and (potentially) the final outing for the beloved Next Generation crew... Sadly, it wasn’t to be: Nemesis was a critical and commercial flop... And quite rightly, because it isn’t very good.

Read more here.


Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

F.W. Murnau's first film in America, throughout the decades hailed as one of the greatest film ever made. Maybe it is, in some respects -- for a film made 80 years ago it certainly stands up very well today.

Read more here.


What makes a film a film?

I don’t mean “as opposed to a book”, or “as opposed to a pile of rubbish”; but rather, “as opposed to a TV special”, or different to a direct-to-DVD movie — indeed, is there a difference?

Read more here.


And that's the end of the archive reviews! Yes, really! Here's a word on what's next:


Archive Reposts: Mop-up & More

After 14 months of dedicated effort, yesterday's repost of my Sunrise review means I've finally reached the end of my archive reposts... at least as far as reviews are concerned. There are a few posts left to go until I've fully re-uploaded all my priceless older content, and I've split them into the following categories...

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Americans
3x05 Salang Pass

Films

Inherent Vice (2014)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

The Theory of Everything (2014)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Collection Count

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

A couple of releases from the US finally made their way to me this week. Next week, a bumper crop of stuff I bought on offer.

Number of titles in collection: 1,786 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,208 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 578 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,441 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,930 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,634 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 448 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
9x14 (14/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Americans
3x04 Dimebag

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
7x07 (7/8/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

The Americans
3x03 Open House

The Great British Bake Off
6x03 Bread
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Two Tribes
2x34 (29/7/15 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]
Part 5 Post-War Cinema