TV

Castle
5x19 The Lives of Others

Have I Got News For You
50x08 (27/11/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Jessica Jones
1x08 AKA WWJD?
1x09 AKA Sin Bin

TV

Arrow
4x06 Lost Souls

Live at the Apollo
11x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
5x18 The Wild Rover

Detectorists
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Jessica Jones
1x06 AKA You're a Winner!
1x07 AKA Top Shelf Perverts

TV

Castle
5x17 Scared to Death

The Flash
2x06 Enter Zoom

Films

Ant-Man (2015)
[#181 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Paddington (2014)
[#182 in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

TV

Doctor Who
35x11 Heaven Sent
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


An inside out pair of shorts

Pixar’s latest opus, Inside Out, was naturally accompanied by a short film in cinemas. On Blu-ray, it’s accompanied by two. These are they -- Lava and Riley's First Date? -- reviewed in nice quick drabbles.

Read more here.


Jupiter Ascending (2015)

best known (as far as I’m aware) for provoking speculation it would cost Eddie Redmayne the Oscar for Theory of Everything because it came out during voting season and he was so gosh darn bad in it. And it’s also known for being just generally dreadful and universally disdained. [But] the universal disdain wasn’t actually universal — I have actually seen some people praise this film. I know, right? Sadly, I still thought it was awful.

Read more here.


Murder by Death (1976)

A gaggle of famed detectives are summoned to a remote mansion to solve a murder in this detective spoof by playwright Neil Simon. The twist is, all the characters are spoofs of famous literary/film/TV ‘tecs. Also, that the murder hasn’t happened yet. And also, that the person inviting them is Truman Capote. Not “someone playing Truman Capote”, but “Truman Capote playing someone”.

Read more here.


Plus, it's the last-ever archive reposts!


2010: The Full List

I did it! After last year’s slight shortfall, that’s the big news this year... So, here’s the list of all I saw. Slight change this year: the list is in numerical order, aka order viewed... [And] after the lists comes the usual array of fascinating statistics.

Read more here.


2010 In Retrospect

This final look back has my usual mix of features: a ‘Bottom Five’, a ‘Top Ten’, some ‘Also Ran’s, and ‘Didn’t Run’s too.

Read more here.


More -- though only new posts (hurrah!) -- next Sunday.

Films

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Extended Edition) (2014/2015)
[#180a in 100 Films in a Year 2015]

Was this really only out last Monday? Feels like it's been sat on my shelf for weeks! Anyway, it's my third Hobbit film this year (after Part 2 Extended and Part 3 Theatrical back in March).

Collection Count

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

A delayed update this week, because not only was there loads to add, but it all arrived on Saturday afternoon. I thought most of it would arrive next week, but here it is just in time for the last running time update before the post-Christmas end-of-the-year one. That would've been an utter monster if this lot had been there too! As it is, I think it'll now really struggle to beat this... or even come close...

Number of titles in collection: 1,820 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,211 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 609 [up 7]

Number of discs in collection: 4,645 [up 78]
Number of films in collection: 1,980 [up 9]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,051 [up 246]
Number of short films in collection: 465 [up 3]

Yes, 246 episodes of TV. I imagine that'll make quite a difference to the...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
339 days, 1 hour, and 43 minutes.
(Up 10 days, 22 hours, and 18 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Jessica Jones
1x05 AKA The Sandwich Saved Me

TV

Castle
5x15 Target
5x16 Hunt
aka Castle Does Taken, Parts One and Two. Despite the obviousness of that influence, and some very poor green screen shots of a certain foreign city, it was a very good two-parter.

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

TV

Castle
5x14 Reality Star Struck

Have I Got News For You
50x07 (20/11/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
4x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Arrow
4x05 Haunted

Live at the Apollo
11x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
5x13 Recoil

Detectorists
2x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Flash
2x05 The Darkness and the Light

Jessica Jones
1x04 AKA 99 Friends

TV

Jessica Jones
1x03 AKA It's Called Whiskey

this week on 100 Films

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


Inside Out (2015)

Pixar haven’t had the greatest start to the second decade of the 21st Century... This might go some way towards explaining why their release for this year has attracted such acclaim, despite it offering a pretty rote storyline dressed up in some fancy ‘original idea’ clothing (not that it is a truly original idea) and a modicum of genuine emotional resonance.

Read more here.


The Machine (2013)

maybe James, in only his second feature, is trying to show his full range and use the film as a calling card. After all, it does attempt human drama, an exploration of sci-fi ideas, a touch of conspiracy thriller, and an all-action climax. Unfortunately he’s delivered quite a clunky screenplay, which lingers on inexplicable scenes one moment before rushing over vital things the next

Read more here.


One-Eyed Monster (2008)

For the innocents among you… well, maybe you should stop reading now. For the slightly-less-innocent, “one-eyed monster” is a euphemism for a (whisper it) penis. It also contains the word “monster”, like, y’know, a horror movie. What if you made a horror movie where some chap’s one-eyed monster was a monster?!

Read more here.


Turtle Power (2014)

The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ... This informative documentary uses interviews with all the key players to tell the story of how a small indie comic, created incidentally and published almost on a whim, became a true cultural phenomenon.

Read more here.


Plus two archive reposts...


2009: The Full List

So, 2009… the first year I failed to reach my stated goal. Still, I saw 94 new films and bothered to review several others — and here’s a full alphabetical list of the lot of ’em!

Read more here.


2009 In Retrospect

It’s been a somewhat inauspicious year for 100 Films, actually, failing to make the titular target for the first time and not necessarily seeing a great many classic films along the way. 2007’s Top Ten held undeniable classics like Brief Encounter and Citizen Kane, while 2008’s managed the likes of Rashomon [and] Notorious... I don’t mean to spoil this year’s lot, but it looks kinda tame and modern (70% come from the last three years) by comparison.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
35x10 Face the Raven
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Jessica Jones
1x01 AKA Ladies Night
1x02 AKA Crush Syndrome

Collection Count

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

Quite a few additions this week, relatively, which means I sail past 600 Blu-rays without landing neatly on it. Ah well, it's not that interesting a number anyway. Should keep next week's running time update lively, though.

Number of titles in collection: 1,815 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,213 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 602 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,567 [up 22]
Number of films in collection: 1,971 [up 9]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,805 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 462 [up 3]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Have I Got News For You
50x06 (6/11/2015 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

Peter Jackson: 'I didn’t know what the hell I was doing' when I made The Hobbit
by Ben Child (from the Guardian)

With quotes culled from the behind-the-scenes video on the forthcoming Battle of the Five Armies extended DVD, director Peter Jackson candidly admits how he rushed The Hobbit films.


Why Star Wars: The Force Awakens Not Screening for Critics Might Be a Good Thing
by Sam Adams (from Criticwire)

Interesting thoughts on the place for and relevance of movie criticism.