TV

The Great British Bake Off
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x10 The Blood Line [season finale]
Much to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed that. Except for Jilly Kitzinger surviving -- what a missed opportunity for a reference to Danes' infamous "she should've run faster" -- and the mention of the families having a Plan B. Who wants them back, really? If Torchwood does get a fifth series (and, based on reaction to this one, it would be fairly lucky if it did), the less said about this one the better. We certainly don't want a sequel.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Holiday (1938)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Comics

Detective Comics #1 by Tony S. Daniel
The first-ever relaunch for one of DC's two flagship titles (the other, Action Comics, also became one of The New 52 this month).
It was released almost two weeks ago, but for once this isn't my tardiness: it's taken this long for my mail-ordered copy to arrive. And now I await delivery of my comics from earlier this week -- I sense a pattern emerging...

Articles

Weekend Report: Lion King Reclaims Box Office Crown by Ray Subers
(from Box Office Mojo)

All three genuinely new releases combined to make less than the 3D re-release of The Lion King this weekend, reaffirming the Disney animated classic's continued popularity a whole 17 years after its initial run...

The first re-release to debut on top of the charts since Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi back in March 1997, The Lion King earned an estimated $29.3 million from 2,330 locations, which is the fifth-highest September opening ever.

Bad weekend for new releases, but it shows how phenomenally popular The Lion King is. And rightly so.

this week on 100 Films

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

A Bunch of Amateurs (2008)

It’s thoroughly predictable — most viewers could probably map out the plot before the film even begins, so it’s certainly easy to guess what’s coming next as it trots along — but there’s also something reassuring about that predictability — it’s exactly the sort of Quaint British Movie you expect it to be. Some will find that insufferable; I’m sure there are some who find it absolutely lovely and it’s the only kind of film they ever want to watch.

The Day of the Locust (1975)

The magnificent riot at the end is a tour de force of cinema that single-handedly almost justifies that whole theme — it’s what happens when their frustrations at dreams not being realised overflows. It could be argued it makes an easy juxtaposition — of fans baying for stars at a premiere with a revenge-fuelled mob baying for blood — but it’s still a just one. It’s capped off by the way one turns into the other, and how that turns into a kind of apocalypse.

More next Sunday.