TV

Class
1x03 Nightvisiting
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stranger Things
1x04 Chapter Four: The Body
1x05 Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat

Would I Lie To You?
10x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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


The Big Short (2015)

The narrative is laden with concepts that are so complicated even people within the industry don’t properly understand all of them (however did the market fail?!), but the movie nonetheless attempts to explain them in an accessible way. It’s half successful: you kind of understand them at the time, about enough to follow along, but the chances of remembering them later are next to naught.

Read more here.


Christine (1983)

about as scary as… well, I was trying to think of something soft and fluffy that hasn’t ever been used in a horror movie, but that list is increasingly short. But you get my point: it’s not scary. Its 18 certificate is earned by an abundance of very strong language — which, according to screenwriter Bill Phillips, was added for that exact purpose

Read more here.


Cover Girl (1944)

Gene Kelly... provides two decent dance numbers: the first alongside Rita Hayworth and Phil Silvers, the second alongside himself, double exposure allowing his shop-window reflection to leap into the street. Otherwise the songs are forgettable, despite the fact it won an Oscar for its score

Read more here.


Doctor Strange (2016)

the story is familiar — but you can say that about most superhero movies, especially origin films. It’s only a problem if you think movies are entirely about their plot. What Strange offers to accompany this through-the-motions narrative is its visuals, and oh, what visuals they are. You’ve likely seen some of it in the trailers — the folding cities, which look like Inception run through a kaleidoscope. Certainly, their complicated detail and intricacy leaves Nolan’s movie in the shade.

Read more here.


The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again (2016)

If you suffered through The Rocky Horror Glee Show, as I did, you’ll know it was a travesty. Is this even worse? Well, that’s a bit like someone forcing you to eat a dog shit and a cat shit before asking you which tasted nicer. That’s a little unfair: the Glee version was meritless; this one has a couple of minor plus points — so maybe it’s like someone making you eat a very small shit while occasionally showing you a picture of a sexy half-naked person. But unless someone forces you to choose between only this and Glee, there’s no earthly reason to do this particular Time Warp again.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Sideways (2004)

“If anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any fucking Merlot!”

Read more here.


The Sixth Sense (1999)

M. Night Shyamalan gets such a bad rep these days, it’s easy to forget how great his breakthrough movie was... even before that ending, it manages to mix plausible emotional drama with scenes of chilling everyday horror, crafting something that is undoubtedly a genre movie but also not out of place in a list of Best Picture nominees.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

Slightly delayed again this week thanks to a big set turning up on Saturday afternoon that I then had to include.

Of note this week: I've hit exactly 700 Blu-rays. Next week: I'll probably pass 1,900 overall titles.

Also, it's the monthly running time update. Yay!

Number of titles in collection: 1,896 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,198 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 700 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 4,884 [up 12]
Number of films in collection: 2,094 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 7,467 [up 15]
Number of short films in collection: 496 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
361 days, 11 hours, and 11 minutes.
(Up 18 hours and 16 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.