TV

Castle
6x08 A Murder is Forever

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
5x03 Episode 3

this week on 100 Films

It's the time of the month for 100 Films in a Year to look back at recent TV...




Also this week, I published 4 brand-new reviews...


American Ultra (2015)

Max Landis’ wish-fulfilment screenplay (by which I mean Max Landis’ screenplay is about fulfilling Max Landis’ wishes) sees Jesse Eisenberg as a laggard stoner who turns out to be a CIA sleeper agent with Bourne-esque abilities, which are revealed when the director of a rival CIA programme (Topher Grace) sets out to kill him and anyone who stands in their way, including girlfriend Kristen Stewart.

Read more here.


Fast & Furious 7 (2015)

the action is ridiculous and implausible. Even the stuff that doesn’t seem physically impossible is overblown. But it’s so ludicrous that the film can’t possibly be trying to claim it’s real anymore, and therefore it kind of works — they’ve committed to it. Though anyone who started out enjoying this series for its broadly-realistic car-racing thrills must be pretty disappointed in it by this point.

Read more here.


Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)

It’s an action-fantasy movie… starring owls. It’s animated, but in a dark, realistic way (think Rango with less cartoonishness and less light). It’s based on a kids’ book series… but directed by Zack Snyder, clearly reining in his R-rated impulses (violence occurs just off screen, leading to “did that happen?” confusion)

Read more here.


Pride and Prejudice (1940)

The first adaptation of Jane Austen’s ever-popular novel, MGM’s film is a compromised endeavour: by executives softening dialogue and rewriting characters; by changing its setting to permit grander costumes; by Gone with the Wind using all the Technicolor stock, forcing the lavish production to shoot in black-and-white.

Read more here.


Finally, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 huge '80s blockbuster classics...


Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

It’s pretty much a perfect adventure movie: relentlessly paced, packed with action, lightened with humour, full of likeable heroes, who are brave and competent but also a little bit flawed, and hissable villains, with scene after scene of imaginative situations and fabulously staged derring-do.

Read more here.


Return of the Jedi (1983)

These days, the answer to the question “how did they do that?” is “CGI”. Back in the ’80s, however, they had to be a bit more creative... For example, the shot where the Imperial fleet spring their trap on the Rebels was the most complex matte shot ever attempted, with dozens of separate model elements having to be printed in.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
[#151 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

The Survivalist (2015)
[#150 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: 1,886 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,203 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 685 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 4,864 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,079 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,421 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

We Love Sitcom
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Tokyo Tribe (2014)
[#149 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

One of Us
Part 4 Adam and Grace [finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
6x07 Like Father, Like Daughter

The Great British Bake Off
7x04 Batter Week
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
6x06 Get a Clue

The Musketeers
2x05 The Return

Films

Tale of Tales (2015)
[#148 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

One of Us
Part 3 Glenarvon Loch
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
[#147 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

TV

One of Us
Part 2 Beneath the Surface
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
10x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


Barely Lethal (2015)

if its establishing concept sounds like something you might enjoy, and you go in with suitably lowered expectations, then I think there’s a fair chance you’d find it to be a frequently amusing, occasionally very funny, and sometimes quite sweet high school comedy — with added doses of action comedy for good measure.

Read more here.


Ben-Hur (1959)

the other subtext I alluded to earlier: the possibility that Judah and Messala were once lovers. The claim originates with screenwriter Gore Vidal, who may or may not have written some or all of the screenplay that was used for shooting. According to Vidal, he and Stephen Boyd discussed the idea before shooting began, and then Boyd played the scenes with it in mind. [...] the content of the film makes it easy to believe — the scenes between Messala and Judah, especially when they’re first reunited, absolutely play like there’s a romantic history between them.

Read more here.


Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)

With ten varied adversaries to defeat, Return puts greater emphasis on the action than did its more dramatic forebear. The fighting is solid, with the enemies’ different skills adding some occasional freshness, but the plot underneath is thin.

Read more here.


Steve Jobs (2015)

Sorkin’s writing is awe-inducing, especially to anyone who’s ever dabbled in or dreamed of being a writer. The construction of it all, at every level — from line to line, from scene to scene, from act to act, across the whole piece… And this is a particularly magnificent construction, so precisely structured, rife with mirroring and repetition, and yet done so well that it doesn’t feel locked in to or constrained by an unwavering structure.

Read more here.


Ten Little Indians (1974)

The third English-language screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famed mystery, one of the best-selling novels of all time, relocates the action to the middle of a desert but is otherwise a word-for-word remake of the 1965 version [...] It’s interesting, therefore, that this lacks the atmosphere or tension of that version.

Read more here.


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


Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

an exciting, humorous, creepy, fun movie. That the sequels haven’t lived up to it is disappointing, but the first still stands as a near-perfect example of big-budget swashbuckling entertainment — it’s basically the dictionary definition of a summer blockbuster.

Read more here.


Pulp Fiction (1994)

Most films can be divvied up into heroes and villains one way or another — I’ve certainly managed it for the previous 70 films in this list. Pulp Fiction muddies its waters considerably, with criminals for heroes at the best of times, and the “short story collection” style meaning there’s an abundance of characters anyway, some of whom arguably change sides from one tale to the next. Nonetheless, you’d have to point to hitmen Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, and their ever-so-Tarantino rambling conversations about nothing and everything, as the film’s primary duo.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
5x02 Episode 2

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
5x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Rushmore (1998)
[#146 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: 1,885 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 683 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,863 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 2,076 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,421 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 473 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Are You Being Served?
You Can't Teach a New Dog Old Tricks [2016 special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Castle
6x05 Time Will Tell

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

One of Us
Part 1 The Storm
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
6x04 Number One Fan

The Great British Bake Off
7x03 Bread Week
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Midnight Special (2016)
[#145 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]