Films

Fanny and Alexander (1982)
[#215 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Blindspot 2020 #9

Films

Mission: Impossible II (2000)
[6th watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #39. Continuing the 4K M:I rewatch that I started back in May. Didn't necessarily intend for them to be so spread out, but there's no rush either.

TV

Jonathan Creek
5x01 The Letters of Septimus Noone
What an odd episode! We see the murder happen when it happens, leaving Jonathan to solve a mystery we already know the solution to. It’s like it was written and/or directed and/or edited by people who’ve never seen a murder mystery before. No wonder it’s the series’ lowest-rated episode on IMDb.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Enola Holmes (2020)
[#214 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

The Hippopotamus (2017)
[#213 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Collection Count

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

I promised one of those stats this week would be the delayed monthly running time update, but I've been too busy to sort that out; not to mention that this week's additions include some uncertainties.

How so? Well, I upgraded a DVD to Blu-ray, but I'm not sure if I'm keeping the DVD too; and I upgraded a pair of Blu-rays to a 4K box set, but I'm not sure if I'm keeping the Blu-rays too. I should probably get rid of them all (my collection can't keep expanding indefinitely!), but, I don't know, it's some kind of sentimental attachment, I guess.

For now, I've just added the additions and made no subtractions. My plan is to make decisions (hopefully "get rid of"!) by next week, in time for the very-delayed-but-definitely-going-to-happen 'monthly' running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 2,447 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,089 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,358 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 74 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,295 [up 10]
Number of films: 2,768 [up 4]
Number of additional cuts: 187 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,964 [no change]
Number of short films: 764 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Criminal: United Kingdom
2x04 Sandeep [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Elementary
7x04 Red Light, Green Light

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
7x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

TV

Criminal: United Kingdom
2x03 Danielle
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Elementary
7x03 The Price of Admission

The Great British Bake Off
11x01 Cake Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

TV

Elementary
7x02 Gutshot

Jonathan Creek
5x00c The Clue of the Savant's Thumb [Easter special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Who Dares Wins
12x03 (13/7/19 edition)

TV

Criminal: United Kingdom
2x02 Alex
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Elementary
7x01 The Further Adventures

Strike
3x04 Lethal White Part 4 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Rookie
2x19 The Q Word
2x20 The Hunt [season finale]

Strike
3x03 Lethal White Part 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Who Dares Wins
12x02 (11/5/19 edition)

TV

Criminal: United Kingdom
2x01 Julia
Remember how this was originally made by four different countries doing the same format? Only the UK one seems to have been recommissioned, and in all the press pushing this second season (of which there's been a surprising amount) I don't think I've seen a single mention of the original multi-country setup. Considering that was a selling point first time round, you'd think it'd at least warrant a mention...
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Friday Night Dinner
6x06 The Females [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Insert Name Here
4x08 Rob [series finale]

Strike
3x02 Lethal White Part 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Out of Africa (1985)
[#212 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

this week on 100 Films

9 new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


Bait (2019)

The past and the present — the old ways and the new — clash head-on in Mark Jenkin’s Bait, both in its storyline and its production... It was shot on 16mm black-and-white stock with a wind-up camera, with all the sound post-synced... it’s actually a wonderful marriage of form and content; the earthy, hand-hewn visuals reflect the film’s themes.

Read more here.


Bill & Ted’s Double-Bill

As Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) slightly belatedly face the music in UK cinemas, now seemed a good time to review their first excellent adventure and second bogus journey…

Read more here.


Safety Last! (1923)

The first two-thirds of the film are a very solid 4-out-of-5 farce, but the final act mixes laughs with thrills in a perfectly executed, constantly escalating sequence that is a 6-out-of-5-level climax.

Read more here.


Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

“I’ll be back,” the Terminator famously said in The Terminator, and he has been proven right — again and again. And again. This may be a franchise about time travel, but it’s us who seem to be stuck in some kind of time loop, because this is now the third attempt at creating a direct sequel to Terminator 2... As well as being the third Terminator 3, Dark Fate is also the third attempt to start a new trilogy, and is now the third to see those plans aborted after poor box office.

Read more here.


The 100-Week Roundup XII

Featuring...
- Bridget Jones's Baby
- Network
- Prevenge
- Ran

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Insert Name Here
4x06 Liz
4x07 Jules

The Rookie
2x18 Under the Gun

Strike
3x01 Lethal White Part 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Waking Ned (1998)
[#211 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Collection Count

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

Two new additions this week, one a box set, so plenty of bits & bobs to add.

Number of titles in collection: 2,444 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,089 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,355 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 72 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 6,285 [up 7]
Number of films: 2,764 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 186 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,964 [up 6]
Number of short films: 764 [up 2]

It's also meant to be the running time update this week, but I've been too busy to get that ready to go, unfortunately. Hopefully I'll get it sorted in time for next week, but it may even have to get pushed to the week after.

Either way, see you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2019/2020 Episode 6 (of 10)

Friday Night Dinner
6x05 The Cage
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Jonathan Creek
5x00b The Judas Tree [Easter special; 2nd watch]
When I first watched this in 2010, I commented it wasn't "vintage Creek". It's far-fetched even by the series' own standards, and whether it all really hangs together is certainly debatable.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Twilight Zone
5x13 Ring-a-Ding Girl
5x30 Stopover in a Quiet Town
And that completes my "best of" selection! From now on they're just "episodes" (until I do another "worst of", anyway).

Music

Under Stars by Amy Macdonald

TV

The Twilight Zone
4x13 The New Exhibit
+ audio commentary by TZ expert Marc Scott Zicree and Bill Warren, author of a book about classic sci-fi films.

I'm almost at the end of my "best of" picks here, which represent the top 33% of the series (according to the average of various ranking lists), and this is the second and last episode included from season 4. It really is a widely disliked season. On the commentary, even the usually praise-full Zicree is mostly quite critical of this episode!