Sunday 14 January 2018

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2017/2018 Episode 5 (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
11x07 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Love Punch (2013)
[#7 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

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


District 9 (2009)
The first half is excitingly original and interestingly ideas-driven, with allegory that is powerful if perhaps a little heavy-handed (I suppose that’s kind of unavoidable when you make a movie about segregation and set it in South Africa). The second half is just a shoot-em-up.
Read more here.


Forbidden Planet (1956)
Once it gets past everyone’s lustfulness (it feels uncomfortably like watching the filmmakers play out some personal fantasies), there are proper big sci-fi ideas driving Forbidden Planet. There are also some gloriously pulpy action sequences, like a fight against an invisible monster. It’s backed up by great special effects.
Read more here.


Get Out (2017)
Get Out unfurls with a slow-burn tension, where you can’t be sure that Chris isn’t just being paranoid. Well, we can be sure, because we know we’re watching a horror movie. In terms of that genre, it’s effectively creepy without indulging in many outright scares — it foregrounds an encroaching sense of unease rather than pure terror.
Read more here.


Her (2013)
People often refer to the template of Black Mirror as “what if technology but MORE”, and Her definitely fulfils that brief: “what if Siri was genuinely intelligent and someone fell in love with her?” Also like an episode of Black Mirror, it’s as much about what this reveals about humanity as it is about the crazy sci-fi concept
Read more here.


Moon (2009)
Like so much good sci-fi, it uses its imagined situation as impetus to explore the effect on its characters (or, in this case, character) and what the human reaction would be in such a situation. Maybe this is becoming a cliché already, but it’s quite like an episode of Black Mirror in that regard.
Read more here.


I also selected the 22 films I must watch during 2018 for my Blindspot and "What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen" challenges. Read about those at these two links:







More next Sunday.