Marriage Story (2019)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ the 2 three-minute featurettes Netflix offer, Directing with Noah Baumbach and An Ensemble Story. Obviously they’re really EPK promo pieces, but not wholly without insight.
Tuesday, 12 May 2020
Monday, 11 May 2020
Sunday, 10 May 2020
Films
American Animals (2018)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
this week on 100 Films
6 new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
The 100-Week Roundup III
More next Sunday.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
I haven’t reviewed this until now because I didn’t have much to say about it... Even after reflecting on it, and reading other’s critical reactions, then reflecting on it some more (for over eight months at this point), I didn’t have much to contribute. Why was that? And I’ve kind of realised it’s because the film didn’t make me feel very much... I do consider Once Upon a Time to be a very good film. But at the same time, I didn’t leave the cinema feeling moved or wowed.Read more here.
The 100-Week Roundup III
including...Read more here.
Power Rangers
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Warriors
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 9 May 2020
Films
Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2018)
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Top Secret! (1984)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Top Secret! (1984)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Last week I mentioned that I was going to start counting "films" and "cuts" separately, to finally settle a matter of uncertainty that's been bothering me for years (i.e. when a release includes multiple cuts of the same film, do those count as multiple films or just one film?) As I have over 2,300 titles to go through working it out (some I knew off the top of my head, some I had to check), I thought it would take a while -- weeks, maybe months -- but I've actually finished it this week! Once I started I spent altogether too much time on it (even though I've finished it between updates, it's taken multiple sessions across every day this week). I've done a lot of it from memory rather than double-checking every single title, so hopefully I've not overlooked anything in my speed. If I have, well, it'll get corrected someday.
As you can see, I found well over 100 alternate cuts ‘hiding’ among my film tally, but also quite a few that hadn’t been counted. Also, for the cuts tally I decided to only count additional cuts -- i.e. if a film only has one version it'll be listed as 1 film + 0 cuts, but if there are two versions it'll count as 1 film + 1 cut, and so on. Still haven't worked out how to square this with the running time total, nor what to do about alternative cuts of TV episodes (there are enough that I want to record them, but few enough that having a whole column for it seems daft). For now, they carry on as they were before.
And while all that is the big news this week, there were also some new additions, prime among them an upgrade of the 1989-1997 Batman movie series to UHD.
Number of titles in collection: 2,364 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,105 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,259 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 55 [up 4]
Number of discs in collection: 6,122 [up 5]
Number of films: 2,645 [down 119]
Number of additional cuts: 168
Number of TV episodes: 8,887 [no change]
Number of short films: 722 [up 2]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Last week I mentioned that I was going to start counting "films" and "cuts" separately, to finally settle a matter of uncertainty that's been bothering me for years (i.e. when a release includes multiple cuts of the same film, do those count as multiple films or just one film?) As I have over 2,300 titles to go through working it out (some I knew off the top of my head, some I had to check), I thought it would take a while -- weeks, maybe months -- but I've actually finished it this week! Once I started I spent altogether too much time on it (even though I've finished it between updates, it's taken multiple sessions across every day this week). I've done a lot of it from memory rather than double-checking every single title, so hopefully I've not overlooked anything in my speed. If I have, well, it'll get corrected someday.
As you can see, I found well over 100 alternate cuts ‘hiding’ among my film tally, but also quite a few that hadn’t been counted. Also, for the cuts tally I decided to only count additional cuts -- i.e. if a film only has one version it'll be listed as 1 film + 0 cuts, but if there are two versions it'll count as 1 film + 1 cut, and so on. Still haven't worked out how to square this with the running time total, nor what to do about alternative cuts of TV episodes (there are enough that I want to record them, but few enough that having a whole column for it seems daft). For now, they carry on as they were before.
And while all that is the big news this week, there were also some new additions, prime among them an upgrade of the 1989-1997 Batman movie series to UHD.
Number of titles in collection: 2,364 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,105 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,259 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 55 [up 4]
Number of discs in collection: 6,122 [up 5]
Number of films: 2,645 [down 119]
Number of additional cuts: 168
Number of TV episodes: 8,887 [no change]
Number of short films: 722 [up 2]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 8 May 2020
Films
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
[#103 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Blindspot 2020 #5
[#103 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Blindspot 2020 #5
Thursday, 7 May 2020
Films
Black Angel (1946)
[#102 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ all of Arrow's Blu-ray's special features, including an audio commentary (bit dry but full of trivia and biographical information), an appreciation by Neil Sinyard (the highlight being a story about a member of the supporting cast and Frank Sinatra's wig), a trailer and photo galleries
Flash Gordon (1980)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #20. Inspired by the announcement of the gorgeous-looking 40th anniversary 4K edition — I thought I ought to watch my current copy before that renders it obsolete! (Though as I own this edition, its fun cover art would ensure it wasn’t a wasted purchase.)
[#102 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ all of Arrow's Blu-ray's special features, including an audio commentary (bit dry but full of trivia and biographical information), an appreciation by Neil Sinyard (the highlight being a story about a member of the supporting cast and Frank Sinatra's wig), a trailer and photo galleries
Flash Gordon (1980)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #20. Inspired by the announcement of the gorgeous-looking 40th anniversary 4K edition — I thought I ought to watch my current copy before that renders it obsolete! (Though as I own this edition, its fun cover art would ensure it wasn’t a wasted purchase.)
Wednesday, 6 May 2020
Films
The Head Hunter (2018)
[#101 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Joker (2019)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
[#101 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Joker (2019)
[#100 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Tuesday, 5 May 2020
Theatre
Frankenstein
This is the one directed by Danny Boyle and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, in which they alternated the roles of Frankenstein and the Creature for each performance. Both versions are available on YouTube at the moment. Consensus seems to be that the one with Miller as the Creature is better, so that's what I watched.
[Watch Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and/or Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature (again) on YouTube.]
This is the one directed by Danny Boyle and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, in which they alternated the roles of Frankenstein and the Creature for each performance. Both versions are available on YouTube at the moment. Consensus seems to be that the one with Miller as the Creature is better, so that's what I watched.
[Watch Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and/or Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature (again) on YouTube.]
Monday, 4 May 2020
TV
The Twilight Zone
3x29 Four O'Clock
5x18 Black Leather Jackets
More of the series' worst episodes, which I'll be reviewing in 100 Films' next TV column.
3x29 Four O'Clock
5x18 Black Leather Jackets
More of the series' worst episodes, which I'll be reviewing in 100 Films' next TV column.
Films
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
The Green Hornet 3D (2011)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #19. First time in 3D, which was pretty good overall, especially bearing in mind this was a relatively early post-conversion.
[#98 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
The Green Hornet 3D (2011)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #19. First time in 3D, which was pretty good overall, especially bearing in mind this was a relatively early post-conversion.
Sunday, 3 May 2020
Films
Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
DC Showcase: Jonah Hex (2010)
[#96a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
[#97 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
DC Showcase: Jonah Hex (2010)
[#96a in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
this week on 100 Films
It's once again time to look back over the past month at 100 Films in a Year -- and it's a record-smasher...
In other news, 2 reviews were published this week...
The Lunchbox (2013)
Zatoichi at Large (1972)
More next Sunday.
In other news, 2 reviews were published this week...
The Lunchbox (2013)
This week the world heard the sad news that the actor Irrfan Khan had passed away aged just 53. An award-winning film star in India, Khan also had a noteworthy presence as a supporting actor in Western films... I’d seen those films and noted Khan’s presence — he’s the kind of actor who turns up and elevates the film almost just by being there, bringing a depth and interest to even the smallest roles. But I’d never seen any of the many films in which he played the lead, so it seemed appropriate to turn to one of the most internationally acclaimed of his films in tribute.Read more here.
Zatoichi at Large (1972)
The 23rd film in the Zatoichi series is also the worst according to Letterboxd users, who rate it below even the ’00s spinoff, Ichi. But as with all things in this crazy, mixed-up world of ours, there are those who disagree: The Digital Bits give it a B+, which puts it in the series’ top half (to be precise, it makes it =7th, but with seven other films). You can add me to that (very short) list. It’s not an exceptional Zatoichi film by any means, but it is a middle-of-the-range entry, and a long way from the worst the series has to offer.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 2 May 2020
TV
The Twilight Zone
4x15 The Incredible World of Horace Ford
+ the audio commentary by TZ expert Marc Scott Zicree (who here talks a mile a minute, seeming to just pour out everything he knows and thinks) and TV writer/producer Jeff Vlaming. They’re much more fond of the episode than I was; but rather than illuminating for me what’s good about it, I felt like they were trying to make up justifications for why bits that aren’t good are good.
4x15 The Incredible World of Horace Ford
+ the audio commentary by TZ expert Marc Scott Zicree (who here talks a mile a minute, seeming to just pour out everything he knows and thinks) and TV writer/producer Jeff Vlaming. They’re much more fond of the episode than I was; but rather than illuminating for me what’s good about it, I felt like they were trying to make up justifications for why bits that aren’t good are good.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
This week's additions include another classic season of Doctor Who on Blu-ray, which replaces some of my DVDs but not all (due to missing special features, titles in box sets, etc). At some point this series of re-releases is going to start including that missing stuff, and it'll swing from "upgrading fewer DVDs than it should" to "upgrading more DVDs than it should". That'll be nice. I also got the complete Samurai Jack on Blu-ray, so together they marked a big increase on the TV episode count.
Also this week: 3-for-£30 4K UHD titles, so the Ultra HD tally jumps up a bit. Two were upgrades: one from DVD (American Gangster), one from Blu-ray (Gladiator), but I'm keeping the original Blu-ray for the time being because it's in a digibook. I really ought to read that book and see if it's worth keeping...
Number of titles in collection: 2,360 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,105 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,255 [up 7]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 51 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 6,117 [up 20]
Number of films: 2,764 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 8,887 [up 80]
Number of short films: 720 [up 1]
Those UHD titles also highlighted a dilemma I struggle with regularly, because both contain theatrical and extended cuts of the movie. Does that count as one film each or two? Some would say one, because the different cuts are alternatives, not different films. On the other hand, on a list of "films I have to watch" I would list both cuts, because they're different, so that count should include them, right? Often these days I side a bit more with the former, but in the past I've done the latter, and now my film count is a mess of contradicting points of view. It's finally gotten to me enough that I'm going to add a "cuts" column next to the "films" one, kind of like how Blu-ray.com will list a release as having "1 movie, 2 cuts". It'll take a lot of work (I'll have to go through all 2,360 titles and figure them out), but it might be worth it in the long run.
Of course, that still doesn't settle how I should count it for the running time -- all cuts or just one? Eesh. Oh, and what about TV shows with multiple variants of some episodes? Arrgh...
See you next week, faithful reader.
This week's additions include another classic season of Doctor Who on Blu-ray, which replaces some of my DVDs but not all (due to missing special features, titles in box sets, etc). At some point this series of re-releases is going to start including that missing stuff, and it'll swing from "upgrading fewer DVDs than it should" to "upgrading more DVDs than it should". That'll be nice. I also got the complete Samurai Jack on Blu-ray, so together they marked a big increase on the TV episode count.
Also this week: 3-for-£30 4K UHD titles, so the Ultra HD tally jumps up a bit. Two were upgrades: one from DVD (American Gangster), one from Blu-ray (Gladiator), but I'm keeping the original Blu-ray for the time being because it's in a digibook. I really ought to read that book and see if it's worth keeping...
Number of titles in collection: 2,360 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,105 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,255 [up 7]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 51 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 6,117 [up 20]
Number of films: 2,764 [up 6]
Number of TV episodes: 8,887 [up 80]
Number of short films: 720 [up 1]
Those UHD titles also highlighted a dilemma I struggle with regularly, because both contain theatrical and extended cuts of the movie. Does that count as one film each or two? Some would say one, because the different cuts are alternatives, not different films. On the other hand, on a list of "films I have to watch" I would list both cuts, because they're different, so that count should include them, right? Often these days I side a bit more with the former, but in the past I've done the latter, and now my film count is a mess of contradicting points of view. It's finally gotten to me enough that I'm going to add a "cuts" column next to the "films" one, kind of like how Blu-ray.com will list a release as having "1 movie, 2 cuts". It'll take a lot of work (I'll have to go through all 2,360 titles and figure them out), but it might be worth it in the long run.
Of course, that still doesn't settle how I should count it for the running time -- all cuts or just one? Eesh. Oh, and what about TV shows with multiple variants of some episodes? Arrgh...
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 1 May 2020
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)