Batman Ninja (2018)
[#146 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Monday, 2 July 2018
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Non-Fiction
Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 8 (pages 27-39)
Chapter 8 (pages 27-39)
this week on 100 Films
Pinch, punch, it's the first of the month, meaning it's time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at June...
Also this past week, a TV review covering Luke Cage season two and the Westworld finale...
And in normal business, there were 5 brand-new reviews...
Call Me by My Name (2017)
Game Night (2018)
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008)
Perfect Sense (2011)
The Snowman (2017)
More next Sunday.
Also this past week, a TV review covering Luke Cage season two and the Westworld finale...
And in normal business, there were 5 brand-new reviews...
Call Me by My Name (2017)
It’s an effective and truthful depiction of young love — falteringly, unassured, but driven by powerful emotions and burning lust. Although Oliver initially seems hyper-confident, as he opens up to Elio it becomes clear that this is new for him too, and of course Elio’s only young, inexperienced even with girls at the film’s start, so of course love is a new thing to him. So, in some respects it doesn’t matter that the film’s about a gay relationship — the feeling it conjures of young love is universal. Of course, there are many reasons why it matters immensely that it’s about a gay relationship, but those concerns are largely external to the film itself.Read more here.
Game Night (2018)
It’s the kind of film where I don’t want to say much more than I already have, because obviously the joy lies in the jokes (and jokes are a lot less funny if you spoil them) and the plot developments. At the risk of just reeling off a list of superlatives, I’ll say that what unfolds is fast, inventive, clever, and, above all, hilariously funny. There are more laughs in its opening montage than many modern comedies manage in a whole film.Read more here.
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008)
The key to my enjoyment was watching it in 3D, in which it plays more like a theme park attraction than a movie: from the very beginning it has loads of those “sticking stuff out into the audience” hijinks that no one bothers with anymore (indeed, after watching a dozen other 3D movies on my TV, I don’t think I’ve seen anything poke out before). Gimmicky and in your face (literally) though it may be, the effect works, it’s uncomplicatedly fun, and it makes the movie better just because it’s trying.Read more here.
Perfect Sense (2011)
there’s more emotional power in the montages about senses and what was being lost — the ideas-y stuff — than there is in the character- and relationship-based bits. Those are actually surprisingly clunky at first, with even McGregor and Green — both actors I like a good deal — struggling to make them work. Things do smooth out in that regard, but the romance plot proceeds to conform to a pretty standard shape. Was the sci-fi crisis meant to reflect the relationship, or is the relationship a down-to-earth framework on which to hang a big sci-fi story? I suspect the latter, because it’s the end-of-the-world theatrics that prove more interesting.Read more here.
The Snowman (2017)
It’s like the whole thing has been almost-correctly-but-not-quite translated from another language. I’m not just talking about the dialogue (though that’s sometimes that way too), but the very essence of the movie — the character arcs, the storylines, even the construction of individual scenes. Like many a Google Translate offering, you can kinda tell what it’s meant to be, but it doesn’t actually make sense in itself.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 30 June 2018
Films
Becoming Bond (2017)
[#144 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
More fun than a docudrama should be. And it made me really want to rewatch On Her Majesty's Secret Service, too... so...
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
[4th or so watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #24
[#144 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
More fun than a docudrama should be. And it made me really want to rewatch On Her Majesty's Secret Service, too... so...
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
[4th or so watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #24
Non-Fiction
Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 8 (pages 22-25)
Chapter 8 (pages 22-25)
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
This week's additions include the first release in what's being branded as Doctor Who: The Collection, a season-by-season re-release of classic-era Who on Blu-ray, with upscaled episodes and new special features. Hopefully it'll sell well enough that they'll continue to do all 26 seasons, a) because I want them all, but b) so I can replace more of my DVDs. Y'see, I intended for this set to replace my DVD copies of the five stories in it, but I own three of them in box sets with other stories, so I've got to keep those for now, and of the remaining two stories, one of the DVDs has a special feature I'm interested in that's been moved to another (theoretical) Blu-ray set, i.e. it'll only be released again if they complete the range. So, for now, of the five DVDs I should've been able to replace, only one actually can be!
Oh, and it's the monthly running time update this week too. Excitement overload!
Number of titles in collection: 2,120 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,156 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 964 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 5,418 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,368 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 8,082 [up 16]
Number of short films: 614 [no change]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
399 days, 6 hours, and 38 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 6 hours, and 40 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
This week's additions include the first release in what's being branded as Doctor Who: The Collection, a season-by-season re-release of classic-era Who on Blu-ray, with upscaled episodes and new special features. Hopefully it'll sell well enough that they'll continue to do all 26 seasons, a) because I want them all, but b) so I can replace more of my DVDs. Y'see, I intended for this set to replace my DVD copies of the five stories in it, but I own three of them in box sets with other stories, so I've got to keep those for now, and of the remaining two stories, one of the DVDs has a special feature I'm interested in that's been moved to another (theoretical) Blu-ray set, i.e. it'll only be released again if they complete the range. So, for now, of the five DVDs I should've been able to replace, only one actually can be!
Oh, and it's the monthly running time update this week too. Excitement overload!
Number of titles in collection: 2,120 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,156 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 964 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 5,418 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,368 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 8,082 [up 16]
Number of short films: 614 [no change]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
399 days, 6 hours, and 38 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 6 hours, and 40 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 29 June 2018
Films
Amadeus: Director's Cut (1984/2002)
[#142 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #6
If You Meet Sartana... Pray for Your Death (1968)
[#143 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
[#142 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2018 #6
If You Meet Sartana... Pray for Your Death (1968)
[#143 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
Non-Fiction
Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 2: 1990-2013 by Paul Kirkley
Introduction
Previously on Space Helmet for a Cow...
Chapter 8 (pages 7-21)
Picking up where volume one left off (including the chapter numbering), I wondered how Space Helmet was going to continue its "warts and all" behind-the-scenes narrative into New Who, which is still so recent that one suspects the full behind-the-scenes truth has yet to come out (aside from a few titbits, anyway). Well, the introduction addresses this head on: it notes that it's too soon for people involved to have come clean about everything, and expressly mentions the rumours and hearsay that have been reported by the likes of Private Eye, saying it won't cover them unless they've been verified. Which is fair enough, but surely means Vol.2 can't be to New Who what Vol.1 was to the classic era. I guess we'll have to wait another couple of decades for that book.
Introduction
Previously on Space Helmet for a Cow...
Chapter 8 (pages 7-21)
Picking up where volume one left off (including the chapter numbering), I wondered how Space Helmet was going to continue its "warts and all" behind-the-scenes narrative into New Who, which is still so recent that one suspects the full behind-the-scenes truth has yet to come out (aside from a few titbits, anyway). Well, the introduction addresses this head on: it notes that it's too soon for people involved to have come clean about everything, and expressly mentions the rumours and hearsay that have been reported by the likes of Private Eye, saying it won't cover them unless they've been verified. Which is fair enough, but surely means Vol.2 can't be to New Who what Vol.1 was to the classic era. I guess we'll have to wait another couple of decades for that book.
Thursday, 28 June 2018
Non-Fiction
Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 1: 1963-1989 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 7 (pages 249-267) [the end]
That was a really good read -- a fun, comprehensive history of the delightfully barmy history of Doctor Who's production, accompanied by reviews of every single TV story for good measure. I liked it so much, I've already bought volume two so I can just go straight on.
Chapter 7 (pages 249-267) [the end]
That was a really good read -- a fun, comprehensive history of the delightfully barmy history of Doctor Who's production, accompanied by reviews of every single TV story for good measure. I liked it so much, I've already bought volume two so I can just go straight on.
Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Non-Fiction
Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 1: 1963-1989 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 7 (pages 245-248)
Chapter 7 (pages 245-248)
Tuesday, 26 June 2018
Films
Sanjuro (1962)
[#139 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
The sequel to Yojimbo, released just nine months later -- and how long ago did I watch Yojimbo for the first time? Nine months! (Genuinely, that's a coincidence.)
[#139 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
The sequel to Yojimbo, released just nine months later -- and how long ago did I watch Yojimbo for the first time? Nine months! (Genuinely, that's a coincidence.)
Non-Fiction
Space Helmet for a Cow: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who - Volume 1: 1963-1989 by Paul Kirkley
Chapter 7 (pages 230-244)
Chapter 7 (pages 230-244)
Monday, 25 June 2018
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