Headshot (2017)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
Tuesday, 4 July 2017
Sunday, 2 July 2017
this week on 100 Films
July has reached us this weekend, so it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at June...
There were also 3 brand-new reviews published this week...
Baby Driver (2017)
Dragon (Wu Xia) (2011)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
More next Sunday.
There were also 3 brand-new reviews published this week...
Baby Driver (2017)
the main thing the film has attracted attention for is the driving. Done for real by stunt drivers with not a lick of CGI, that knowledge means it packs a viscerally real punch. But it’s not just snobbery: this is genuinely breathtaking action, slickly planned, masterfully performed, magnificently shot and edited. It’s this year’s Fury Road — a kinetic action spectacle made with skill rather than hand-waiving fast-cuts.Read more here.
Dragon (Wu Xia) (2011)
when the action does kick in, it’s fantastic. With the combat directed by star Donnie Yen, these sequences are expertly and inventively choreographed dust-ups. It’s stylishly directed by Peter Chan — classy, but also thrilling, exciting, and sometimes innovative; and the whole is majestically shot by DP Lai Yiu-FaiRead more here.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
When J.K. Rowling wrote the seven-book Harry Potter series, she didn’t just make it all up as she went along — it was well planned in advance. And she didn’t just envisage a seven-book story, either — she built a whole world, including a massive history that is only fleetingly referred to in Potter itself. It’s part of that history that the five-film Fantastic Beasts series is setting out to explore. (Despite sharing a title with a short tie-in book Rowling once wrote, Fantastic Beasts isn’t somehow an adaptation of that tiny tome, despite what some pithily moronic internet commenters who think they’re funny would believe.)Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 1 July 2017
TV
The Americans
5x13 The Soviet Division [season finale]
Doctor Who
36x12 The Doctor Falls [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
5x13 The Soviet Division [season finale]
Doctor Who
36x12 The Doctor Falls [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Five acquisitions this week, including two lovely multi-film box sets (Sinbad and Marx Brothers), a DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade, and that rarest of things nowadays: a new purchase on DVD.
Number of titles in collection: 1,993 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,181 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 812 [up 4]
Number of discs in collection: 5,100 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,203 [up 10]
Number of TV episodes: 7,784 [no change]
Number of short films: 566 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Five acquisitions this week, including two lovely multi-film box sets (Sinbad and Marx Brothers), a DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade, and that rarest of things nowadays: a new purchase on DVD.
Number of titles in collection: 1,993 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,181 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 812 [up 4]
Number of discs in collection: 5,100 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,203 [up 10]
Number of TV episodes: 7,784 [no change]
Number of short films: 566 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 30 June 2017
Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Films
Baby Driver (2017)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2017 #19... though it was my first time watching the so-called "Big Screen Edition", which is the Blu-ray version of the IMAX cut of the film: it's about 30 seconds longer and has two sequences in an IMAX aspect ratio.
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2017 #19... though it was my first time watching the so-called "Big Screen Edition", which is the Blu-ray version of the IMAX cut of the film: it's about 30 seconds longer and has two sequences in an IMAX aspect ratio.
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Monday, 26 June 2017
Sunday, 25 June 2017
this week on 100 Films
7 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Moonlight (2016)
Our Kind of Traitor (2016)
Space Jam (1996)
Review Roundup
More next Sunday.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
We’ve all read reviews where a critic (or blogger!) will write something like, “it would benefit from being 10 minutes shorter”. That sounds very precise and therefore clever, but it’s really a number plucked from thin air. No one who’s written a sentence like that has actually sat down with a film, noted all the bits they’d cut, added them up, and then presented that total in their review. It is, at best, intuition (at worst, it’s random and thoughtless). However, with 10 Cloverfield Lane I can say exactly how much needs to be cut: 9 minutes and 10 seconds. To be exact, those’d be the 9 minutes and 10 seconds between a (spoilery) revelation and the credits rolling.Read more here.
Moonlight (2016)
In telling the story of a young gay black man, Moonlight is exposing a world and lifestyle that’s not seen much, or at all, in (mainstream) cinema — that is, being black and gay. Or just being gay, really. Or black, to an extent. There’s an inherent positivity in getting such untold stories out into the open. Nonetheless, there’s a certain universality to Chiron’s experience.Read more here.
Our Kind of Traitor (2016)
Some of Traitor’s detractors have a problem with it right from the off, finding the premise to be inherently ridiculous. I disagree. In fact, I think it’s quite a good plan on Dima’s part: to use an unsuspected casual acquaintance to smuggle important documents to the authorities. The way the MacKendricks continue to be involved does wind up stretching credibility, but that’s narrative structure for you — it’d be a real trick to construct a satisfying relay of perspective characters.Read more here.
Space Jam (1996)
It is joyless. Not funny. Not clever. It’s just flat. The concept of character is nonexistent — no one has an arc. It wastes time on a subplot about a bunch of players who aren’t Michael Jordan. (I say “wastes time” — the whole thing’s a waste of time.) Bill Murray turns up for no apparent reason — did he need the money? Does he really love basketball? I don’t know. He brings some small joy just by being him. Elsewhere, there’s a grand total of one funny line.Read more here.
Review Roundup
Quick reviews of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie, and Young Frankenstein.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 24 June 2017
TV
Doctor Who
36x11 World Enough and Time
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
The Persuaders!
1x10 Chain of Events
Pitch Battle
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
36x11 World Enough and Time
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
The Persuaders!
1x10 Chain of Events
Pitch Battle
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
A couple of new additions this week, but really it's all about the monthly running time update. Yes, it's that time! And it's a pretty huge one -- the biggest in almost 10 months, in fact. A major part of that was getting all of Star Trek: The Original Series at the start of the month: it accounts for exactly 75% of this month's increase.
Number of titles in collection: 1,989 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,181 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 808 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 5,089 [up 3]
Number of films: 2,193 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 7,784 [no change]
Number of short films: 566 [no change]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
377 days, 18 hours, and 10 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 19 hours, and 26 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
A couple of new additions this week, but really it's all about the monthly running time update. Yes, it's that time! And it's a pretty huge one -- the biggest in almost 10 months, in fact. A major part of that was getting all of Star Trek: The Original Series at the start of the month: it accounts for exactly 75% of this month's increase.
Number of titles in collection: 1,989 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,181 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 808 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 5,089 [up 3]
Number of films: 2,193 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 7,784 [no change]
Number of short films: 566 [no change]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
377 days, 18 hours, and 10 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 19 hours, and 26 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
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