Tuesday, 29 November 2016

TV

Castle
7x20 Sleeper

The Flash
3x05 Monster

Junior Bake Off
4x09 Heat Nine
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
12x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Monday, 28 November 2016

Sunday, 27 November 2016

TV

Arrow
5x04 Penance

Crisis in Six Scenes
Episode 1 (of 6)
Episode 2 (of 6)
Episode 3 (of 6)
Episode 4 (of 6)
Episode 5 (of 6)
Episode 6 (of 6)
Woody Allen's TV series is basically a long Woody Allen film chopped up into six segments.
[Watch it all (again) on Amazon Prime Video.]

this week on 100 Films

Just 2 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year again this week, and they were...


The Good Dinosaur (2015)
While it may take a while to warm up, The Good Dinosaur is ultimately a very affecting entry in Pixar’s canon. It’s by no means a perfect movie, but I do think it’s an underrated one. And, in all honesty, I enjoyed it more than Inside Out.
Read more here.


The Sting (1973)
Although often billed as a caper, sometimes even as a comedy, it actually has more of an edge. I mean, it’s not The Godfather, but it’s not Ocean’s Eleven either. The star power and chemistry of Redford and Newman are what give the movie a buoyancy to overcome the storyline’s inherent darkness, though I wouldn’t say that reaches far enough to regard the film as a romp
Read more here.


At least my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Toy Story (1995)
Pixar didn’t strike gold with Toy Story just because computer animation was New. It’s the likeable characters, how they develop and learn, the amusing situations they’re put in, plus some heartwarming messages about friendship. There’s more emotion and character development in these wooden-and-plastic toys generated with pixels in a computer than many a film can achieve with real human beings
Read more here.


Toy Story 2 (1999)
a sequel that is slicker, funnier, more exciting, and more emotional than its forebear. Even if it’s happening more often now, good sequels are still hard to do — trust Pixar to have got there ahead of the pack.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Saturday, 26 November 2016

TV

Class
1x07 The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Grand Tour
1x02 Operation Desert Stumble
[Watch it (again) on Amazon Prime Video.]

Films

Jason Bourne (2016)
[#185 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Collection Count

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

A whole bunch of titles this week leads to some relatively big boosts. It's that time of year -- lots of big releases in the run-up to Christmas. Speaking of which, this will be the last update until deep in December, because I'm going away. The next update may even be post-Christmas, so there'll surely be plenty to mention.

Coincidentally, it's also time for a running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 1,913 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,197 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 718 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,915 [up 8]
Number of films in collection: 2,113 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,483 [up 6]
Number of short films in collection: 500 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
363 days, 13 hours, and 47 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 2 hours, and 36 minutes from last month.)

See you next month, faithful reader.

Friday, 25 November 2016

TV

Junior Bake Off
4x07 Heat Seven
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Moonstone
Part 4 (of 5)
Part 5 (of 5)
[Watch parts four and five (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Napoleon (1927)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Acts III and IV, including the famous triptych finale.

Thursday, 24 November 2016

TV

The Flash
3x04 The New Rogues

Junior Bake Off
4x06 Heat Six
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Moonstone
Part 3 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Red Dwarf
11x06 Can of Worms [season finale]
Probably the weakest episode of the season, and they save it for last. Shame.

Films

Napoleon (1927)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Act II. Two more to go.

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

TV

The Moonstone
Part 2 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Napoleon (1927)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

Act I only -- this 5½-hour silent epic is going to take another two or three sittings to get through.

Tuesday, 22 November 2016

Monday, 21 November 2016

Sunday, 20 November 2016

TV

Castle
7x18 At Close Range

Junior Bake Off
4x03 Heat Three
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Deer Hunter (1978)
[#181 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2016 #11

this week on 100 Films

Once again, it's time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the past month on TV...




Also this week, I published just 2 brand-new reviews...


Enemy (2013)
There’s no denying that Enemy is atmospheric, but the actual story was a bit too elliptical for my taste. It was all going fairly swimmingly until it suddenly stopped just before it appeared to be going to offer answers. That naturally suggests you need to go back and reconsider / deconstruct what you’ve already seen, but it nonetheless makes it feel a bit frustrating, at least initially, and makes reading theories online a virtual necessity
Read more here.


A Knight's Tale (2001)
Renowned for its anachronistic use of rock music, there’s actually not much of that, but there’s plenty of comedy and adventure — too much: it’s a little long... An able cast keep it ticking: Heath Ledger hefts the derring-do and romance, with comic support from Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, and Paul Bettany; but love interest Shannyn Sossamon is clearly miscast.
Read more here.


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


Three Kings (1999)
Writer-director David O. Russell may have become increasingly acclaimed this decade with Oscar-nominated movies like The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Hustle, but for me this is still his best work. It mixes laugh-out-loud comedy with serious points about war and an ultimately emotional storyline, created with a filmmaking verve that is frequently exciting and inventive
Read more here.


Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Memorable Scene: Remote control car, James Bond style. Bond lies in the backseat of his BMW, driving it around a multi-storey car park with his mobile phone, deploying its weapons against a gang of attackers. It was a fun concept back in ’97, but I imagine you could do it yourself with an app now. Apart from the weapons. And the legal implications. So maybe not.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.