TV

Deadwood
1x01 Deadwood [2nd watch]

With a continuation movie finally on the way sometime soon ("spring" is the official date and, well, it's already March), it's about time I did something I've been meaning to do for a very, very long time: finish Deadwood -- which begins by rewatching what I'd seen before, i.e. season one and the first episode or two of season two. Frankly, I thought it got off to a bit of a slow start, and it's remarkable how dated it looks (it is almost 15 years old, mind), but we'll see.

I also listened to the audio commentary on this episode by creator & episode writer David Milch, which was sometimes interesting but rather patchy. It was also riddled with spoilers for later in the season, some of which I fortunately remembered from my previous viewing, some of which I didn't. Oh well.

Films

The Matrix (1999)
[5th watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #8. I can't remember when I last watched The Matrix, but it's not logged on here, so it's been at least 11 years. It still holds up, of course.

Films

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

After a few fairly quiet weeks at 100 Films in a Year, it's kind of a busy one! Firstly, now that it's March, my look back at February...





There was also my monthly TV review...





And 2 new film reviews were published too...


Green Book (2018)

White people tell black people all about racism (again) in this year’s surprise Best Picture victor... The reaction to Green Book has been an odd one. It was initially well received, winning the People’s Choice Award after its premiere at TIFF, and racking up acclaim from both critics (a Certified Fresh 79% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (8.3 on IMDb, which places it 128th on their Top 250 list). But the more widely it’s been seen and discussed, the more the tide has turned, especially as a more diverse audience has come to it.

Read more here.


Serenity (2019)

Sorry, Browncoats — this has nothing to do with Joss Whedon’s sci-fi classic. But if you’re instead worried this might supplant that in the general consciousness, never fear: despite coming with the pedigree of a cast headlined by Oscar winners Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway (plus Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou, and Diane Lane), and a quality writer-director in Steven Knight (the man behind Locke and Peaky Blinders), this Serenity is a dud of epic proportions. I mean, the fact that, even with those names involved, it’s being dumped in the UK as a Sky Cinema Original should tell you something…

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Friends
1x01 The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate [many-th watch]

Can't believe it's over five years since I last started a watch-through of Friends! And this isn't even that, just an episode watched at random by accident. May need to do a full rewatch soon, though...

Films

Swimming with Men (2018)
[#29 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Collection Count

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

This week, a trilogy box set gets upgraded from Blu-ray to UHD, which would normally mean more discs, but my previous set is so old it has digital copies on discs, one per film, so the UHD discs just replace those in the count. On the other hand, another trilogy box set gets upgraded from Blu-ray to UHD, adding both UHD discs and special features discs in the process. With two brand-new regular Blu-rays and a DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade as well, the number of new titles is five, but the final count looks like this...

Number of titles in collection: 2,193 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,139 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,054 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 21 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,685 [up 11]
Number of films: 2,509 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,426 [no change]
Number of short films: 655 [up 1]

Oh, and it's already time for a monthly running time update! Feels like only the other day I was doing the last one of these...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
418 days, 10 hours, and 2 minutes.
(Up 23 hours and 34 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley
1x03 The Jewel in the Crown [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Insert Name Here
4x05 Harry
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
16x13 Phenomenal
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Predator (2018)
[#28 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Insert Name Here
4x04 Emma
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Punisher
2x13 The Whirlwind [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

TV

The Punisher
2x12 Collision Course
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Serenity (2019)
[#27 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

The 91st Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars. Hurrah for Olivia Colman and Spider-Verse! As for the controversial Best Picture winner, well, it's certainly not the year's best film, I'll say that.

Films

Green Book (2018)
[#26 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Great News
2x13 Early Retirement [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Live from the Red Carpet: Oscars 2019

Films

Roma (2018)
[#25 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
Will this win Best Picture? We'll find out in just a few hours' time...

this week on 100 Films

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


Ocean's Eight (2018)

Eight works as breezy entertainment. It’s not as perfectly slick and polished as Eleven — but then, that would’ve been asking a lot. It’s not as boundary-pushing as Twelve (a seemingly muddled film that gets interesting the more you think/read about it), but nor is it as aimless and derivative as I found Thirteen.

Read more here.


Roma (2018)

Drawn from writer-director Alfonso Cuarón’s memories of growing up in the Colonia Roma neighbourhood of Mexico City, Roma is the story of what happens to a middle-class family’s housemaid, Cleo (played by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio), over the course of ten months in 1970 and 1971. It’s also one of the best-reviewed films of the year, winner of BAFTA’s Best Film award (amongst others), and a frontrunner for the same at tonight’s Oscars. No pressure, then.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

The Punisher
2x11 The Abyss
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Rope (1948)
[#24 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
Blindspot 2019 #2

Collection Count

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

Just one addition this week, which is nice because I thought there were going to be none. I suppose I shouldn't buy new stuff every week, really...

Number of titles in collection: 2,191 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,140 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,051 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 19 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,674 [up 2]
Number of films: 2,507 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 8,426 [no change]
Number of short films: 654 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.