TV

24: Live Another Day
9x07 5:00PM - 6:00PM
9x08 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Miranda
3x06 A Brief Encounter [season finale; 2nd watch]
You know, I think Miranda is a good demonstration of why so many British sitcoms tap out after two series. That's not to say the third is bad -- there are some great bits, even whole episodes -- but at times it leans too heavily on the catchphrases, or just runs round in circles (this episode is particularly guilty of that).

Films

Deep Blue Sea (1999)
[#138 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x06 4:00PM - 5:00PM

Friday Night Dinner
4x05 The Funeral
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
3x05 Three Little Words [2nd watch]

this week on 100 Films

Lots of exciting TV covered in 100 Films in a Year's monthly round-up...




3 brand-new reviews were also published this week...


The Bank Job (2008)

Inspired by a real 1971 robbery, plus a host of other issues that were in the news around that time, The Bank Job is a rich stew of fact, supposition, and wild imagination. Apparently the filmmakers claimed it was very much based on a true story, including new information from an inside source, though eventually admitted some of it (including a major character) was wholly fiction.

Read more here.


Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

it’s visually sumptuous and impressively mounted, with well-imagined semi-plausible versions of the tale’s fantastical elements. However, despite the epic length (and four screenwriters), it never gets inside characters’ heads — they’re just going through motions dictated centuries ago.

Read more here.


Scotland, Pa. (2001)

Shakespeare gets transposed to 1970s Pennsylvania in this blackly comedic reimagining of Macbeth, which converts the Thane of Glamis into a diner chef and the Scottish throne into ownership of a new concept: drive-thru.

Read more here.


And my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

The plot hinges on the romance of Claudio and Hero, and the machinations of Don John to disrupt it, but the central characters are Beatrice and Benedick and the witty verbal sparring that characterises their love-hate relationship [which] at its best, plays like a period screwball comedy.

Read more here.


Mystery Men (1999)

it’s an undervalued comedy. The ensemble cast are all perfect... the material they have to deliver is both witty and suitably silly, and it incorporates superhero tropes and references without relying on them. In the sub-subgenre of superhero comedies, all others are number two, or lower.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x05 3:00PM - 4:00PM

Miranda
3x04 Je Regret Nothing [2nd watch]

Films

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
[#137 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Thanks to sales and offers from the past few weeks all turning up at once, there are six new additions this week (one of them an upgrade from a previous Blu-ray), featuring a mass of films and TV episodes.

Number of titles in collection: 1,882 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 680 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 4,837 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 2,075 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,324 [up 16]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x04 2:00PM - 3:00PM

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x03 1:00PM - 2:00PM

Friday Night Dinner
4x04 The Pyjamas
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
3x03 The Dinner Party [3rd watch]

TV

24: Live Another Day
9x01 11:00AM - 12:00PM
9x02 12:00PM - 1:00PM
With the new spin-off on the horizon, finally getting round to the last go-round of the original-flavour series: this "event series" (rather than a full season 9, at least officially) from 2014 (which is when I finally got round to watching season 8!) Despite the supposed distance, it's very much the same 24 it was towards the end of its regular run.

Miranda
3x02 What a Surprise [2nd watch]

Films

Enemy (2013)
[#136 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Friday Night Dinner
4x03 Congratulations
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Miranda
3x01 It Was Panning [3rd watch]

Films

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
[#135 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Cowboy Bebop
1x19 Wild Horses
1x20 Pierrot Le Fou

Miranda
2x06 The Perfect Christmas [season finale; 3rd watch]

this week on 100 Films

A whopping 7 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week! They were...


Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

it’s dark, and to do it justice the makers needed to make it R-rated [and] they’ve done just that. So here we have a very faithful adaptation of the graphic novel… but it’s a bit short, so there’s a 28-minute prologue stuck on the front. Designed to ameliorate some of the issues people have with the original book, it’s actually only made things worse, containing brand-new controversial elements all of its own. Oh dear.

Read more here.


Blackhat (2015)

The great Michael Mann, who once helmed genre-defining crime movies with expertly-directed sequences, here delivers a movie that looks like an amateur cheapie by a film student who’s watched too many Paul Greengrass movies without learning anything meaningful from them.

Read more here.


Brooklyn (2015)

Guiding us through this, the film’s heart in every respect, is Saoirse Ronan’s leading performance. I will watch Ronan in essentially anything at this point, both because she seems to choose good material and because, even when she doesn’t, she’s great in it. This is probably her first really mature performance, convincing as a somewhat shy young woman who makes her way out into the world, in the process realising all the confidence she should have in herself.

Read more here.


Chappie (2015)

Neill Blomkamp seems to be on M. Night Shyamalan’s career path: a massively-praised Oscar-nominated breakthrough genre movie, followed by a series of increasingly maligned follow-ups.

Read more here.


Lucy (2014)

After years producing movies in the Taken stable, Luc Besson directs one himself. Unfortunately it’s a poor effort — not a bad movie, exactly, but a deeply silly one.

Read more here.


Pan (2015)

this is an exciting and enjoyable fantasy adventure, best commended for its inventive, well-realised visuals and colourful design, which when it really clicks can be quite incredible. I suppose that might not be enough to overcome a familiar plot for some viewers, but it eases the way in this particular example.

Read more here.


The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

It’s easy to dismiss films like this as twee vehicles chasing the so-called ‘grey pound’, but, in this instance at least, that would do it a disservice. When a film is as amusing and emotional as this one, while also exploring an increasingly relevant aspect of life... then its audience should reach far wider than the age bracket of its principal characters.

Read more here.


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


Mission: Impossible II (2000)

M:i-2, as we used to call it, is pretty much everyone’s least-favourite Mission movie, a place only cemented by the two excellent instalments that have been released during this blog’s lifetime. To be honest, I’ve never really been sure why. It’s very much a John Woo movie, all overblown action and melodramatic stakes, and I’d be tempted to say that turns people off were it not for the love Face/Off receives. Personally I like his style

Read more here.


Moulin Rouge! (2001)

These days there are plenty of musicals appearing on the big screen, and they’re often contending for the top gongs come awards season. This wasn’t the case back in 2001 — Moulin Rouge, divisive as it is, changed all that. Baz Luhrmann’s injection of modern MTV style gave the genre a kick up the arse, which isn’t necessarily to the taste of classic musical fans but certainly brought the genre renewed mainstream attention.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
[#134 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,877 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 675 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,825 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 2,070 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,308 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Armageddon (1998)
[#133 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

Preacher
1x09 Finish the Song
1x10 Call and Response [season finale]
[Watch Finish the Song and Call and Response (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Talking Preacher
1x02 Talking Preacher on Call and Response [season finale]
Considering how much there could be to say about adapting Preacher for TV (why they made all the changes they made, the thought processes involved in making those decisions, etc), this is incredibly lightweight. I mean, I guess it's kind of designed to be, but a proper in-depth discussion would be great. Maybe there'll be something on the Blu-ray...
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Instant Video.]

Films

Road Games (1981)
[#132 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]