TV

Death in Paradise
7x03 Written in Murder
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Zatoichi on the Road (1963)
[#11 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2017/2018 Episode 6 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Would I Lie To You?
11x08 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

La La Land (2016)
[#10 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

It's that time of the month over at 100 Films in a Year: the TV review...





Plus there were 4 brand-new film reviews too...


Black Swan (2010)

Described by director Darren Aronofsky as “a psychological thriller horror film”, Black Swan straddles the divide between classy Cinema and genre Movies as artfully as, say, a Hitchcock thriller. [...] Shot handheld on a mix of 16mm and video-capable HD DSLRs,it has a documentary look, often emphasised by its editing — at times it could almost pass for a fly-on-the-wall look behind the scenes of a ballet company. [This] serves to make the film’s unsettling parts all the more effective

Read more here.


Bright (2017)

Bright is a long way from perfect, but it’s also pretty far from being the disaster of epic proportions that critical and social media reaction seems suspiciously keen to paint it as (the Cannes-like “Netflix make TV not movies” sentiment is strong in some quarters). It’s a middle-of-the-road blockbuster movie, with some very solid plus points that are let down by some irritating negatives.

Read more here.


The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017)

has some very good ideas that could’ve made for a worthy continuation of the original film. Chief among them is the mystery of John’s relatively sudden ageing. Is he dying? Is he just entering a new phase of his existence? Either way: why? The film asks these questions, makes nods towards possible explanations, but otherwise doesn’t seek to explore it too much.

Read more here.


The Mummy (2017)

It’s a tonal mishmash. It’s not exciting enough to satisfy as an action movie, but not scary enough to qualify as a horror. There’s humour, but it’s poorly integrated, feeling at odds with the dark tone. This is a PG-13 movie that kinda wants to be an R, but not so much that it’ll really commit to sitting on that PG-13/R line.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Theatre

Aladdin

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 2,076 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,166 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 910 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,327 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,315 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,005 [no change]
Number of short films: 599 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

QI
15x12 Occult
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017)
[#9 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

The Man from Earth (2007)
[2nd watch]

Rewatchathon 2018 #3

+ one of the two audio commentaries, featuring director Richard Schenkman and actor John Billingsley

Films

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
[#8 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

Die Hard (1988)
[4th watch]

Rewatchathon 2018 #2. It's been almost ten years since I last watched Die Hard. Where does time go?!

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2017/2018 Episode 5 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
11x07 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Love Punch (2013)
[#7 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

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


District 9 (2009)

The first half is excitingly original and interestingly ideas-driven, with allegory that is powerful if perhaps a little heavy-handed (I suppose that’s kind of unavoidable when you make a movie about segregation and set it in South Africa). The second half is just a shoot-em-up.

Read more here.


Forbidden Planet (1956)

Once it gets past everyone’s lustfulness (it feels uncomfortably like watching the filmmakers play out some personal fantasies), there are proper big sci-fi ideas driving Forbidden Planet. There are also some gloriously pulpy action sequences, like a fight against an invisible monster. It’s backed up by great special effects.

Read more here.


Get Out (2017)

Get Out unfurls with a slow-burn tension, where you can’t be sure that Chris isn’t just being paranoid. Well, we can be sure, because we know we’re watching a horror movie. In terms of that genre, it’s effectively creepy without indulging in many outright scares — it foregrounds an encroaching sense of unease rather than pure terror.

Read more here.


Her (2013)

People often refer to the template of Black Mirror as “what if technology but MORE”, and Her definitely fulfils that brief: “what if Siri was genuinely intelligent and someone fell in love with her?” Also like an episode of Black Mirror, it’s as much about what this reveals about humanity as it is about the crazy sci-fi concept

Read more here.


Moon (2009)

Like so much good sci-fi, it uses its imagined situation as impetus to explore the effect on its characters (or, in this case, character) and what the human reaction would be in such a situation. Maybe this is becoming a cliché already, but it’s quite like an episode of Black Mirror in that regard.

Read more here.


I also selected the 22 films I must watch during 2018 for my Blindspot and "What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen" challenges. Read about those at these two links:







More next Sunday.

TV

Upstart Crow
2x07 A Christmas Crow [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Vera
8x01 Blood and Bone
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

The Purge (2013)
[#5 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

After all the new stuff and yearly stats last week, this week there's absolutely nothing to report. Not a sausage.

Number of titles in collection: 2,075 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,166 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 909 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,325 [no change]
Number of films: 2,314 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,005 [no change]
Number of short films: 599 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader, when there will be some additions, I promise.

TV

Blue Planet II
Episode 6 Coasts
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Death in Paradise
7x02 The Stakes are High
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
11x06 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]