TV

Celebrity Lego Masters at Christmas
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

TV

Gogglebox
20x16 Festive Special
Put this on because I wanted to watch something but felt the need for it to be as easy and inconsequential as possible. Boy, did this fit the bill. To say I watched it is half a lie — I semi paid attention while also scrolling Twitter. Sometimes it's funny, but so much of it is thoroughly inane. Surely the point of showing clips from what they're watching is to allow us to understand their jokey observations — we don't need to watch a clip then have them explain what happened in the clip! Hey-ho, it mostly served the purpose I wanted it to.
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

TV

Antiques Roadshow
Toys and Childhood [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
4x04 Gone Gone
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Happy New Year Live!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x09 Week 2: Thursday
1x10 Week 2: Friday [season finale]
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
6x21 Week 5: Monday
6x22 Week 5: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
4x16 Real Crime
4x17 Coding

Sam Ryder Rocks New Year's Eve
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it all (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
16x00 At Christmas
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

It's a Happy New Year from 100Films.co.uk today! That means things are only just getting underway with my review of last year, but there are still a couple of posts to share.

The main one this week is the final monthly review of 2022...





Also, a new addition to my review-of-the-year regulars, thanks to my newly-formated Challenge...

100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022: Final Standing

As the challenge tracker page will soon be replaced with a version keeping tabs on 2023’s effort, here’s an archive of how it looked at the very end of 2022 — sadly incomplete, after I chose to abandon it. Hopefully I’ll fare better in 2023.

Read more here.


More looks back at 2022 — and maybe even the start of 2023's content — next Sunday.

TV

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Counting this as a short film, so I'll review it on 100 Films at some point. In the meantime, a couple of thoughts on Letterboxd.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Charlie Mackesy: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and Me
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
3x07 The Clouded Mountain
3x08 The Botanic Garden [series finale]
I thought that was pretty great overall. Especially going to miss the theme music, which I came to love. Maybe I'll watch it all over again someday.
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Sam Ryder Rocks New Year's Eve
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it all (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

And this is the last update of the year, so I've got the usual end-of-year change totals too.

As for new addtions this week, there's a couple of Christmas presents and a couple of other things, though my big orders from the US and Australia still haven't arrived, despite being dispatched before Christmas. Hey-ho, I guess that's international postage at this time of year. Hopefully they'll turn up before long (and haven't gone missing).

Meanwhile, here's the usual totals and changes, along with the changes in the past year. Plus there's the 'monthly' running time update, also with its year-on-year increase...

Number of titles in collection: 2,991 [up 4 this week; up 241 in 2022]
Of which DVDs: 1,039 [no change this week; down 16 in 2022]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,952 [up 4 this week; up 257 in 2022]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 222 [up 1 this week; up 81 in 2022]

I didn't quite hit 3,000 titles in the end this year (though I would have sailed past it if some of those orders that are still in the post had arrived in a more timely fashion!), but the increase of 241 is only one higher than 2021's, which was a bit higher than 2020's 234, all of which are ludicrous compared to 2019's 154.

Despite the fact I did buy a few DVDs this year, the total still decreases. If this continues, it might dip below 1,000 in about 2025. UHD discs, on the other hand, continue to increase their increases: up from 48 last year to 81 this year. The number of overall new Blu-rays was down slightly, too, so that's an even greater percentage in 4K. No surprise, really, especially as most of the boutique labels have now joined in.

Number of discs in collection: 7,397 [up 5 this week; up 492 in 2022]
Number of films: 3,649 [up 5 this week; up 385 in 2022]
Number of additional cuts: 296 [no change this week; up 49 in 2022]
Number of TV episodes: 9,508 [no change this week; up 282 in 2022]
Number of short films: 1,025 [no change this week; up 95 in 2022]

That disc increase is higher than last year, but lower than the year before, so... Considering how many older Blu-rays I have with useless DVDs included, and now 4Ks with not-truly-necessary BDs, there's an awful lot of coasters in my collection. The other numbers in this block are broadly similar to last year, although all up slightly — even TV episodes, which surprised me a little, seeing as less and less new TV gets disc releases.

Total running time of collection (approx.):
527 days, 23 hours, and 46 minutes.
(Up 4 days, 14 hours, and 3 minutes from last month.)
(Up 30 days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes from last year.)

Over four-and-a-half days in a single month! I said that Edgar Wallace collection would have quite the impact. The year-on-year increase is roughly in line with last year's, though, although that's above the all-time average. I ought to slow down...

...but I probably won't. See you next week for more, faithful reader!

TV

Detectorists
4x00 Special
Detectorists is such a consistently lovely series that any revisit is almost a worry — what if it breaks the spell? Thankfully, this special is as magnificently low-key funny, heartwarming, and fundamentally nice as ever, while also managing to tell a story worthy of the “Detectorists: The Movie” route they did-but-didn’t-quite go down with it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
3x06 The Abyss
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Father
1x08 The Perfect Shot

The Play What I Wrote
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x08 Week 2: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

His Dark Materials
3x05 No Way Out
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x07 Week 2: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Snowman: The Film That Changed Christmas
A nice mix of making-of history and retrospective about the film’s impact and enduring appeal.
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Films

Tim Minchin: Back (2022)
Not strictly "a film" — it's a comedy special... except it's not really a "comedy special", because what Minchin does isn't standup or even just "funny songs"... so, cabaret? Feels reductive. Anyway, whatever it is, this particular recording of this particular show did, in fact, get a theatrical release, so that makes it "a film" in that sense.

More review-like thoughts on Letterboxd.

TV

Ghosts
4x03 The Hardest Word
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
3x04 Lyra and Her Death
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Only Connect
18s02 Mystery: Endeavours v Whodunnits
Appropriate viewing the same day as Knives Out. And I actually got more than one question right! Wonders will never cease.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x06 Week 2: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Knives Out (2019)
[3rd watch]

In my experience, most murder mysteries struggle to stand up to repeat viewings, or even remakes; and that applies to some of the greats. Once you know who did it and how, watching it again and again is just an exercise in ever-diminishing returns. Not so Knives Out. If anything, I’ve enjoyed it more each time I’ve watched it, catching all the little bits of fun dialogue and neat nuances in the performances. Remarkable.

Also, finally showed it to my partner, a big murder mystery fan (reads tonnes of them, watches tonnes of them, etc, but for whatever reason we’ve just not found the right time for this one until now), and she thought it was great too. Hurrah!

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2022
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium
[Watch it (again) on Disney+.]

His Dark Materials
3x03 The Intention Craft
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x05 Week 1: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Ghosts
4x02 Speak as Ye Choose
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
13x11 The Great Christmas Bake Off 2022
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

His Dark Materials
3x02 The Break
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x04 Week 1: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
4x15 Hit List

TV

Blankety Blank
2x10 Christmas Special [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Christmas Comedy Club with Lost Voice Guy (2022)
They did one of these last year, and on ITVX there's no way to differentiate between the two (other than reading the full blurb, which lists the guests; and then to know whether you're watching 2021's or 2022's, you'd have to know who appeared on each). In other words: ITVX still has some work to do.
[Watch it (again) on ITVX.]

Luke Evans: Showtime
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Only Connect
18s01 Christmas: Polyhymnians v Channel Islanders
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x03 Week 1: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Wonderland: The Story of Christmas

this week on 100Films.co.uk

Firstly, as it's Christmas Day, a short seasonal message from 100Films.co.uk...




Aside from that, the big news this week was that I've officially given up on the eponymous challenge for this year. More on that here...


Abandoning the 100 Films Challenge 2022

Why? When I’m so close and it seems so possible, why? Well, it may look doable on paper, but it isn’t in real life. Not this particular real life, for me, here in 2022. Not for any grand or scary reason; just simple scheduling.

Read more here.


Aside from that, 5 new reviews were posted...


2022 | Week 35

Featuring...
- Mona Lisa (1986)
- Mirror (1975)
- Clerks (1995)
- Persuasion (2022)
- He Walked by Night (1948)

Read more here.


More next Sunday... although, as that's New Year's Day, maybe not.

TV

Blankety Blank
2x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

A Ghost Story for Christmas
Count Magnus
Not a bad little spooky tale, but I made the mistake of watching it right after the Inside No. 9 special, which was so excellent and clever and well-made that, I’m sorry to say, it made this look lesser is every respect by comparison.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
3x01 The Enchanted Sleeper
Doesn't feel like two whole years since the last season of this. It took me a few minutes to settle back into some elements of the story, and it feels a bit like this episode was scene-setting for where future instalments will go, but it also promises some interesting things. And I love the theme music. Great to have it back; going to be sad when it ends.
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
30x09 Christmas Special

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x02 Week 1: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

This Cultural Life
2x03 Tim Minchin
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Normally this week would also have the next monthly running time update, but as next week's post will be on (or just after) December 31st, I'm going to leave it until then, to include all the end-of-year increases too.

As for normal business... some of my long-delayed orders finally turned up, just before the pre-Christmas post cutoff! Hurrah! There's a good few packages of stuff still stuck somewhere, but I guess that's to be expected (especially as several of them are coming from the US). So long as they turn up eventually, that's all that really matters.

In terms of what did arrive, it's enough to make for an above-average week in most stats, and a blazer of an increase in one figure in particular. Y'see, this week's single biggest addition is also an oddity: a new DVD! (But the DVD count stays the same because I upgraded something else to 4K.) It's Network's box set of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series of British '60s B-movies. The 47-film complete series set adds 20 discs and 54 films to my tallies (because it includes seven bonus films made around the same time). Not many single sets are so large. With a running time of over two solid days, it'll certainly have a significant impact on next week's update...

Number of titles in collection: 2,987 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,039 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,948 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 221 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 7,392 [up 33]
Number of films: 3,644 [up 62]
Number of additional cuts: 296 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,508 [up 10]
Number of short films: 1,025 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Blankety Blank
2x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
4x01 Happy Holiday
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Father
1x07 Rivka Rebel

Inside No. 9
8x01 The Bones of St. Nicholas [Christmas special]
Only the second episode of Inside No. 9 I've watched, and I thought it was fantastic — a proper spooky ghost story for Christmas. I really should go back and catch up on the whole series.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
1x01 Week 1: Monday
The regular House of Games (as opposed to the prime time version, right? But this isn't really a third version...) gets a Christmassy makeover for the next two weeks. And the modifications go slightly beyond slapping sleigh bells over the theme and a tree in the corner, so that's nice.
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
4x14 Long Shot

TV

Cunk on Christmas
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

House of the Dragon
1x10 The Black Queen [season finale]
I've been too busy trying to finish my 100 Films Challenge to get round to this finale; but having abandoned that, well, now I have time. And it was worth the wait — which will hopefully be true of season two, too, because I really want to know what happens next but that's a couple of years away.