TV

Castle
8x06 Cool Boys

The Flash
4x01 The Flash Reborn

Red Dwarf
12x04 Mechocracy

Films

Passengers 3D (2016)
[#156 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

TV

Castle
8x05 The Nose

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
6x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
[2nd watch]

Rewatchathon 2017 #41

Articles

X-Men at 25: The Unlikely Story of the Animated Hit No Network Wanted
by Aaron Couch & Byron Burton (from The Hollywood Reporter)

Celebrating a quarter-century of one of the great superhero TV series. Personally, it was a defining part of my childhood -- I'd credit it with my enduring love of the X-Men franchise.

TV

Bounty Hunters
1x01 Episode 1

Films

Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends (2014)
[#155 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
8x10 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
4x10 Episode 10 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
6x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Awakenings (1990)
[#154 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

this week on 100 Films

A new month began this week, so it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the last one...





Additionally, 4 brand-new reviews were published this week...


Awakenings (1990)

I’m not sure why it isn’t better remembered. Okay, it’s a little schmaltzy towards the end, but there are plenty of films that are worse for that which are held in higher esteem by some. Perhaps it’s not schmaltzy enough for those people, but still too much for people who hate that kind of thing? Or maybe it’s something else — but I don’t know what, because the rest of the film is packed with quality and subtlety.

Read more here.


The Exorcist (1973)

Everyone’s so busy talking about The Scary Stuff when it comes to The Exorcist, no one ever tells you how low-key and grounded a lot of it is. Okay, the talking in voices and spinning heads and vomiting green gunk and bloody crucifix masturbation are pretty memorable, so fair enough. Before that, though, it’s more of a character drama, about a single mother struggling to handle what appears to be her daughter’s out-of-control mental health problems.

Read more here.


The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

For the third Halloween in a row, I subjected myself to true cinematic horror: a Twilight film. I suppose this one’s theoretically the turning point of the franchise: it’s the middle movie in the film series, while in the books it’s the penultimate instalment — surely in every regard placed to set up the final conflict. Well, you wouldn’t know it, because this is another Twilight film where very little happens.

Read more here.


What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

it embraces mundanity — putting these supernatural creates in the same dull suburban lifestyles that we all know, like struggling to get into the good nightclubs, or a supposedly grand ball taking place in a rundown community centre. Perhaps best of all are bits which straddle the two stools — the practicalities of being a vampire; like how do you get dressed up to go out if you can’t see your reflection, or having to clean up the mess after drinking someone’s blood. The film plays these various comic facets with a great deal of wit and cleverness, but it’s also suitably silly

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Castle
8x04 What Lies Beneath

Duck Quacks Don't Echo
6x07 Episode 7

Films

Batman vs. Two-Face (2017)
[#153 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Candyman (1992)
[#152 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]

Collection Count

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

I was expecting about seven new Blu-rays this week, but in the end only one turned up. Slightly concerned where some of the others have got to, actually...

Number of titles in collection: 2,044 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,170 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 874 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,243 [up 1]
Number of films: 2,280 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 7,945 [no change]
Number of short films: 594 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
4x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Upstart Crow
2x06 Sweet Sorrow [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
8x09 Patisserie Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
4x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Upstart Crow
2x05 Beware My Sting!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Blade Runner 2049: How VFX Masters Replicated Sean Young as Rachael
by Bill Desowitz (from IndieWire)

Interesting piece on how they created one of the film's most amazing special effects. (Sorry about the spoiler in the headline, but it has been out for almost a month now.)

Articles

Ghostwatch: The 1992 paranormal investigation that just had to be true, because it was on the BBC
by David Barnett (from the Independent)

I know I shared one good, long piece on Ghostwatch just last week, but here's another anyway. It was the 25th anniversary this year, so no wonder a host of articles popped up (there were many more than these two). If I'd been at home last night I might've finally watched it, but I wasn't, so I didn't. Is it weird to watch it in November?

Articles

Blade Runner 2049 Was First Cut Into A Four-Hour, Two-Part Epic (But We’ll Never See This Version)
by Zack Sharf (from IndieWire)

The headline has most of it covered, but obviously there's more detail in the story.

this week on 100 Films

This week on 100 Films in a Year it was time for my monthly TV review...





And 2 brand-new reviews were published too...


Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

It’s been a busy year for the MCU. Long gone are the days of Marvel Studios putting out one or two movies a year — this is their third theatrical release in 2017, alongside three full seasons of Netflix shows and two network TV series currently running. Whew! Nonetheless, according to Rotten Tomatoes this Thor threequel is the best-reviewed thing they’ve released this year (so far). Some critics have even said it’s the best Marvel Studios movie ever made. Well, let’s not get too hasty.

Read more here.


Transformers: Age of Extinction 3D (2014)

On a purely technical level, Age of Extinction is a masterpiece. As well as 3D, significant chunks of the film were shot for IMAX, and the IMAX 3D stuff is incredible. Sometimes director Michael Bay uses it for just regular scenes, like Mark Wahlberg driving his truck or walking around an old theatre, and even those bits are a riot of depth and dimensionality. So when it opens out to show wide scenery, or for the action sequences… wow! And Bay chooses to use IMAX, like, all the time

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Red Dwarf
12x03 Timewave