TV

Lucifer
1x06 Favorite Son
1x07 Wingman

Strike
2x02 Career of Evil Part 2 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Bad Boys (1995)
[2nd watch]

Rewatchathon 2018 #11

TV

The 90th Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars. It felt like a fairly uneventful ceremony, with no surprise winners, but some very welcome ones (Roger Deakins!)

Lucifer
1x05 Sweet Kicks

Oscars 2018: Red Carpet Live

Room 101
7x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strike
2x01 Career of Evil Part 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Oscars: Greatest Shocks, Frocks and Fairytales

Room 101
7x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

In & Out (1997)
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
[#38 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

A new month began in the middle of the past week, so it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back over February...





There were also 5 brand-new reviews published this week...


La La Land (2016)

Yes, I am very, very, exceptionally late to the party here. For example: whenever I watch a film I log it on Letterboxd, then have a scan through the ratings my ‘friends’ have given it, whether that’s just one other person or a few dozen. This had by far the highest number of ‘friends’ who’d already seen it that I’ve ever encountered. And it was on Letterboxd that I first encountered La La Land, in fact, when it started screening at festivals in the latter half of 2016 and everyone was raving about it. It was a must-see long before the Oscar buzz started to build, and obviously that only intensified the film’s reputation. It’s a lot of anticipation to heap upon one movie. Fortunately, La La Land can bear it.

Read more here.


The Love Punch (2013)

if you like any (or all) of Brosnan, Thompson, Imrie, and Spall, as well as the idea of a bit of gently-farcical gadding about in the south of France, then The Love Punch is amiable fluff to while away 90 minutes on a Sunday.

Read more here.


Making of the Living Dead

To mark the UK release of Criterion’s remastered, definitive Blu-ray edition of George A. Romero’s seminal subgenre-starting zombie classic Night of the Living Dead, I finally got round to watching two related feature-length documentaries that, er, aren’t included on that release. Never mind, eh? Anyway, here are my thoughts on One for the Fire: The Legacy of "Night of the Living Dead" and Birth of the Living Dead.

Read the reviews here.


T2 Trainspotting (2017)

At one point during T2, a younger character accuses some of the returning characters of living in the past; that it’s all they talk about. It’s true of the characters, and it’s kinda true of the film itself too: this belated sequel to the era-defining original feels try-hard, like it wants to recapture the verve and inventiveness of its predecessor, but everyone’s now too grown up to do it properly.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Lucifer
1x04 Manly Whatnots

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1x06 The Green Opal Affair

Films

Sausage Party (2016)
[#37 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

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

Just one new addition this week. It's clearly been quite a quiet month too, as the running time update shows.

Number of titles in collection: 2,086 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,163 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 923 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,345 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,327 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,005 [no change]
Number of short films: 605 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
394 days, 20 hours, and 5 minutes.
(Up 8 hours and 28 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

24 Hours in Police Custody
6x01 Sex and Corruption
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Lucifer
1x03 The Would-Be Prince of Darkness

TV

Lucifer
1x01 Pilot
1x02 Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil.

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
6x08 Episode 8 [season finale]

TV

Death in Paradise
7x08 Melodies of Murder [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

I Origins (2014)
[#36 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Absentia
1x09 Child's Play
1x10 Original Sin [season finale]
Well, that wasn't really worth it. The series started out OK, but it got pretty stupid by the end. And Nick Durand may be the most irritatingly dumb FBI agent ever. Apparently there's the possibility of a second season. I hope not, because I don't want to end up considering watching it.

Room 101
7x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Villainess (2017)
[#35 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

TV

Absentia
1x07 A & B
1x08 Brave Boy

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1x05 The Deadly Games Affair

Films

Mindhorn (2016)
[#34 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

My Cousin Rachel (2017)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Shrek (2001)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #10. Goodness knows when I last watched Shrek, but I'd wager it's been the best part of 15 years. Some of it holds up, some of it really feels "of its time", not least the song choices. Speaking of which, I also watched the Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party short, which definitely didn't feel as entertaining as it did all those years ago.

this week on 100 Films

Slightly later than intended (not that anyone notices but me), this week saw the latest TV review column posted at 100 Films in a Year...





There were also 4 brand-new film reviews...


Big Game (2014)

I’ve read some complaints that, given the daft premise, Big Game is not a comedy. I don’t know what movie they were watching, but I thought it was pretty fun. It’s not an out-and-out parody, but surely no one involved thought they were making a serious action flick? Or maybe I’m wrong, I dunno — but whether it was me or them, one of us has misread the intended tone.

Read more here.


The Duellists (1977)

Ultimately, honour and the futility of fighting are what The Duellists is most about, if it’s about anything — if you like, you can enjoy it as merely a series of well-staged combats between two men, each stubborn in their own different way.

Read more here.


Mute (2018)

I don’t think Mute is anything like as unremittingly terrible as some reviews would have you believe, but it is a tonally strange film. I’m not sure it works as a whole, but bits really do. I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of it becoming a cult classic, and maybe in a couple of years we’ll all be reevaluating it.

Read more here.


Warcraft: The Beginning (2016)

It plays like a $160 million fan film. It doesn’t bother with world-building, just throwing the viewer in at the deep end. That can work, but it needs to be carefully managed. Warcraft just ploughs ahead, going deeper and deeper. It’s been made for people who know this world, its places, its people, its concepts, its rules.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Big Fish (2003)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Blindspot 2018 #2

Mission: Impossible (1996)
[4th watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #9
+ all the featurettes on the Blu-ray