TV

Agatha Raisin
1x05 Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

The Americans
4x01 Glanders

Person of Interest
5x08 Reassortment

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x22 Bon Voyage [series finale]
Series finale, season finale; potayto, potahto...

Person of Interest
5x07 QSO

Films

Pride and Prejudice (1940)
[#122 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Zoolander (2001)
[#121 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

It may seem a while ago now, but the stunning final two episodes of Game of Thrones aired within the past month -- which makes them the centrepiece of 100 Films in a Year's TV review this month:




Elsewhere, 2 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Just Friends (2005)

Just Friends spends a long time feeling like a morally bankrupt movie. It’s unclear if it’s praising or condemning Chris’ frivolous lifestyle, if he needs saving by coming home, or if he deserves revenge on the people who mistreated him. We know what the standard Hollywood perspective on these things is, so kudos to some degree for dodging it, but it doesn’t commit to the other direction either.

Read more here.


White God (2014)

The film’s third act can pithily be described as Rise of the Planet of the Dogs: having seen the abuses of humans, an impounded Hagen leads a canine uprising that seeks to… well, they don’t speak (they’re dogs, remember, and this isn’t Disney), so who knows what their precise aims are? “Revenge” would be too cruel, but they definitely seeking some retribution.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 3 more posts...


The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

in the same way J.R.R. Tolkien considered it one long novel that had to be split up for the sake of publication, so too the movies work well — best, one could even argue — as a single 11½-hour experience. Having inducted the trilogy’s individual instalments into my 100 Favourites series [last week], I’ve covered most aspects of this epic moviemaking endeavour pretty thoroughly already, so here are links to each of my previous entries

Read more here.


Lost in Translation (2003)

the quality of the BAFTA-winning performances of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson [create] a cross-generational pairing of two lost souls that feels real and touching, rather than tipping into some creepy love affair thing. Nonetheless, through to its ending the film plays with variations on melancholy — a difficult feeling to evoke in movies, in my opinion, but a level writer-director Sofia Coppola here hits with impressive consistency.

Read more here.


Man on Fire (2004)

Memorable Quote #1: “Creasy’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.” — Rayburn
Memorable Quote #2: “Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting.” — Creasy

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Ten Little Indians (1974)
[#120 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]
aka And Then There Were None

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,871 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 669 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,811 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,060 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,306 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x04 Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

Person of Interest
5x06 A More Perfect Union

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x03 Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

Gilmore Girls
7x21 Unto the Breach

Person of Interest
5x05 ShotSeeker

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x20 Lorelai? Lorelai?

Person of Interest
5x04 6,741

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x02 Hell's Bells

Films

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[2nd watch]
This was #92 in 100 Films 2008.

TV

Agatha Raisin
1x01 Walkers of Dembley
Following on from the one-off they did a couple of years ago, Sky have produced a full series of these light and fluffy murder mysteries. It seems each episode adapts a whole novel in 45 minutes, which means either they must've cut a lot or those novels are really slight...

Gilmore Girls
7x19 It's Just Like Riding a Bike

Opera

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
at Glyndebourne

this week on 100 Films

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


Cinderella (2015)

Disney’s animated classic is re-imagined in live-action, losing the songs but expanding the story. The latter serves to find a little more realism in the setup (how Cinders became a servant to her stepmother, etc), as well as in the characters’ motivations and actions.

Read more here.


Crimson Peak (2015)

If you’ve not at least heard of The Castle of Otranto then there’s a chance your expectations of Crimson Peak may be misaligned. Which is not to say you won’t like it, especially if you’re of an open-minded disposition, but if having heard it’s “Gothic” and a “horror movie” has conjured up something Hammer-esque in your mind, then you are indeed off base. [It's] a Gothic Romance, which is as distinct from “horror” as it is from “romance”.

Read more here.


Spy (Extended Cut) (2015)

Apparently [writer-director Paul] Feig is a fan of James Bond and developed, wrote, produced, and directed Spy because he knew no one would ever let him do a real Bond movie. I guess that explains why some of it does work passably well as a genuine action/thriller.

Read more here.


Superman Returns (2006)

Sitting down to Superman Returns cold, it feels like you’re watching a sequel — and in many respects, that’s what it is. Singer loves the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, quite rightly, and when offered the chance to make a new movie with the character essentially set out to make Superman III... What was daft was making a sequel to a 26-year-old movie and assuming that the audience would be instantly familiar with the whole setup.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Although he’s covered by CGI in the final film, it’s Andy Serkis that really brings Gollum — and his alter ego, Sméagol — to life. It may have led to Serkis becoming the go-to expert in performance capture, but it’s also a great acting performance, full of light and shade, and creating sympathy for an ultimately villainous character.

Read more here.


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

made infinitely better by its extended cut, which does clock in at a whopping four and a half hours. It’s a wonderful end to one of the most epic tales in all of fiction (and if I hear anything about the “five million endings” I’ll reach through your screen and slap you unless you can tell me how you would have ended an 11 hour film better).

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,870 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 668 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,810 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,059 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,306 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x18 Hay Bale Maze

Person of Interest
5x03 Truth Be Told

Poldark
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]

Films

American Ultra (2015)
[#119 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Cowboy Bebop
1x17 Mushroom Samba
1x18 Speak Like a Child
Right, let's try this again (again).

Gilmore Girls
7x17 Gilmore Girls Only

Person of Interest
5x02 Snafu

Poldark
1x07 Episode 7

Preacher
1x05 South Will Rise Again
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

TV

Gilmore Girls
7x16 Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore?
One of the few genuinely good episodes in the otherwise fairly dismal seventh season.

Person of Interest
5x01 B.S.O.D.
I think this final season has already ended in the US. Goodness knows when Channel 5 will show it here, so we're just getting on with it by... other means.

Poldark
1x06 Episode 6

Films

Cold in July (2014)
[#118 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]