Arrow
6x02 Tribute
The Good Place
1x02 Flying
Monday, 13 November 2017
Sunday, 12 November 2017
TV
Castle
8x09 Tone Death
Red Dwarf
12x05 M-Corp
Stranger Things 2
2x05 Chapter Five: Dig Dug
2x06 Chapter Six: The Spy
8x09 Tone Death
Red Dwarf
12x05 M-Corp
Stranger Things 2
2x05 Chapter Five: Dig Dug
2x06 Chapter Six: The Spy
this week on 100 Films
4 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...
Anomalisa (2015)
Assassin's Creed (2016)
Batman vs. Two-Face (2017)
Eye in the Sky (2015)
More next Sunday.
Anomalisa (2015)
Although an everyday kind of drama that would be largely achievable in live-action, it uses its animated form to its advantage when depicting the central conceit, giving every character who isn’t Michael and Lisa the same face and having them all voiced by the same actor (Tom Noonan). For me, this was the most effective part of the movie. It’s a really neat way of executing the concept of not being able to tell people apart. Noonan is the film’s real star, too, voicing “everyone else” in a way that makes them sound plausibly unique but also all the sameRead more here.
Assassin's Creed (2016)
the action carries no weight: our hero can’t change the past, just witness it as he helps the bad guys watch to see where the MacGuffin ended up. So we are literally watching someone watch someone else do all the action — like, y’know, watching someone else play a video game. It’s almost a meta commentary on video game movies, except I don’t think that was the intention.Read more here.
Batman vs. Two-Face (2017)
we don’t want a serious Bat-adventure, we want something light, daft, and above all fun. Batman vs. Two-Face isn’t exactly a sombre affair, but it isn’t funny enough either... The tone is just wrong. The makers admit they were trying to mix “camp with noir”, but — as I think any of us could’ve told them — that’s an unnatural combination that just doesn’t work.Read more here.
Eye in the Sky (2015)
After a multinational mission is launched to capture wanted terrorists in Kenya, surveillance observes them prepping suicide bombers. The mission objective is changed to “kill”, but commanders watching from afar via drone are forced to reconsider their options due to a civilian presence near the target. It’s a tense thriller driven by a compelling moral dilemma — in fact, the dilemma is an old one: would you sacrifice one innocent life to potentially save dozens more? It’s just that it’s now framed in the super-modern context of using drones to dispatch death from the other side of the world.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 11 November 2017
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Eight new purchases this week -- everything I mentioned last week finally showed up, and a couple more! You won't see that many new titles added, however, because one upgrades a DVD and two upgrade Blu-rays to better Blu-rays. Still, a wealth of new discs thanks to how many of those BDs have (useless to me) DVD copies.
Number of titles in collection: 2,049 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,169 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 880 [up 6]
Number of discs in collection: 5,255 [up 12]
Number of films: 2,284 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 7,967 [up 22]
Number of short films: 594 [no change]
It's also time for another running time update. Despite all those new titles, this is actually the smallest increase since May (only by about three hours though, so it's hardly anything outside the norm).
Total running time of collection (approx.):
389 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 2 hours, and 45 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Eight new purchases this week -- everything I mentioned last week finally showed up, and a couple more! You won't see that many new titles added, however, because one upgrades a DVD and two upgrade Blu-rays to better Blu-rays. Still, a wealth of new discs thanks to how many of those BDs have (useless to me) DVD copies.
Number of titles in collection: 2,049 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,169 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 880 [up 6]
Number of discs in collection: 5,255 [up 12]
Number of films: 2,284 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 7,967 [up 22]
Number of short films: 594 [no change]
It's also time for another running time update. Despite all those new titles, this is actually the smallest increase since May (only by about three hours though, so it's hardly anything outside the norm).
Total running time of collection (approx.):
389 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 2 hours, and 45 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 10 November 2017
Thursday, 9 November 2017
TV
Arrow
6x01 Fallout
Oh look, everybody apart from the minor guest star survived. There's a surprise.
Bounty Hunters
1x02 Episode 2
Detectorists
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
6x01 Fallout
Oh look, everybody apart from the minor guest star survived. There's a surprise.
Bounty Hunters
1x02 Episode 2
Detectorists
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
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.
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.
Monday, 6 November 2017
Sunday, 5 November 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.]
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.]
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)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More next Sunday.
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 sillyRead more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 4 November 2017
Films
Batman vs. Two-Face (2017)
[#153 in 100 Films in a Year 2017]
Candyman (1992)
[#152 in 100 Films in a Year 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.
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.
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