h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tuesday I saw "Hello, my name is Doris." Sally Field played a 60-something accountant whose mother has just died, leaving her alone in a house full of the pack-rat junk the two have been hoarding for decades.
As she's arriving at work, she meets the new young art director in a crowded elevator, and feels an attraction for him. If you see no more of the movie, you can guess that she will fall for him, while he will send misunderstood signals to her.

Wednesday I saw "My big fat Greek wedding II" for the second time. I love movies that are full of great character actors, and this is one of the best ever. I especially liked the great-grandmother who keeps turning up in unexpected places doing unexpected things -- like under the table, behind the tablecloth in a college applications fair. Then someone lifts up the tablecloth and there she is with a big platter of Greek wraps in pita bread. Sometimes you'll think a street scene is over, but then into the edge of it she comes doing a little dance like something out of "I dream of Jeannie."

I've just read about "The man who knew Infinity" - do let us know if any of you have seen it. It's out in the UK now but doesn't come out here in Germany till May. Who isn't a fan of Dev Patel - he's such fun! (Although this role is not a fun character, of course)

The UK release date is April 9. The USA release date is April 29

We saw "Trumbo" this week. Based on real-life events, which I knew the history of. There were some brave people then, and plenty of cowards. Great acting, we were really drawn in. The only thing I would have changed was the actor who was supposed to be portraying John Wayne. He didn't have us quaking in our boots, which he should have done. About as menacing as a

8/10

Well................

I saw the movie, and I felt there was enough menace without a scarier version of Wayne. Helen Mirren had a nice edge on her. She could be a good movie villainness like Cruella Deville or the mother in "Manchurian candidate."

We saw Dad's Army last week. I enjoyed it, it was fun watching how the new actors copied the original actors' habits. I saw all the original episodes and endless reruns thanks to my Dad's love of it. My partner didn't enjoy it so much as me although he said it was ok and he probably would have enjoyed it more if there had never been a series.

I thought the film gained from having Mrs Mainwaring on board - she was marvellous and proper stiff-upper-lip complete with well-hidden soft centre.

GB

I saw "Demoliton" and "I saw the light" last week.

The first made no sense to me -- I mean, why is this guy trashing his own house?

The second seemed to follow the well-worn show-biz bio pattern: talented guy makes it big, then struggles with demons and alienated wife. Tom Hiddleston sings agreeably, and the Hank Williams songs are enjoyable, but why stick around for the inevitable downfall?

"Hail, Caesar". Billed as a comedy, we plumped for that instead of "The Finest Hours" and about 10 minutes in we realised we had made a big mistake. No-one was laughing. Before it was half over, half the audience had walked out. I wish we'd followed suit. Ian said it was the worst film he'd ever seen and wished he'd fallen asleep.

Hopefully "The Finest Hours" will be available next week.

GB

"The finest hours" is wonderful!

I enjoyed "Hail, Caesar." That doesn't mean it was a great film, only that I liked it.

Last night I saw "Hardcore Henry," which grew tiresome once the novelty of its premise wore off. On Thursday I will see "Jungle Book."

Is Hail Caesar the new Cohen brothers film? They are always an acquired taste - about half their films are fantastic for me and about half I can barely watch.

Films about golden-age Hollywood behind the scenes have always appealed to me. "My favorite year" and "Hollywoodland" were about television, but I count it anyway. "The Artist," "A star is born," "Sunset Boulevard," "Singin' in the Rain," etc.

I'm hoping to see Hail Caesar next month - our local community cinema is a little behind the big chain cinemas.
Lat night we saw 'Youth' - 2015 movie starring Michael Caine. Absolutely sumptuous setting - Wiesen Spa in Switzerland. By turns funny, surreal & moving. Excellent music too.

The song at the end of the film was sublime! It elevated what seemed a pedestrian movie, though Michael Caine is incapable of a bad acting job. He had a rather script to work from here, though I'd rather see Caine with a bad script than countless others with good scripts.

"The Finest Hours" was indeed wonderful. I particularly liked the end where they showed the original crew alongside the actors, in the same way as had been done with "The 33".

Last week was my birthday so I got to choose, we saw "London Has Fallen" - much the same vein as "Olympus Has Fallen" except I was emotionally detached from that film, with the London one I found the destruction of the London landmarks really hard to stomach even though I knew it was Hollywood fantasy, it could so easily be real one day.

This week we saw "Grimsby". For a kick off I am no fan of Sasha Baron Cohen. I also live on Grimsby's doorstep and there's been a lot of bad stuff locally about the portrayal of my neck of the woods. The cinema staff member who gives out the two seat prizes even asked the audience if we knew what we were letting ourselves in for. So I wasn't expecting to enjoy the film! Well, I have to say this is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. The "Grimsby" of the title bore no actual resemblance to the town I know but I recognised all of the characters. All around us was laughter and so much laughing that some people were actually choking. The scene with the elephant is beyond description, I was laughing so hard I feared the loss of my bladder. I can recommend this for the belly laughs. Do stay to the end, for the post-script scenes. I wonder if FIFA, Daniel Radcliffe, Donald Trump, Noel Gallagher and Vin Diesel are going to sue.

GB

I liked "Grimsby's" willingness to feature characters who weren't Hollywood slim. In other words, ordinary people with their quirks. I'm glad to know that people near Grimsby were able to enjoy the film.

Monday night I saw "Sing Street," a coming-of-age story about a new boy in a parochial school. He tries to chat up a beautiful model across the street from the school, and asks her to be in the video for his band. The problem: he doesn't actually have a band, so he has to rustle one up in a hurry.

Last night I saw "The Avengers: Civil War." Kind of a bad premise, namely that a vindictive dirtbag manages to set the Avengers against one another.

We thought it was hilarious that there was only one Hollywood slim, good-looking female in it and Nobby didn't notice her at all, going instead for the obese cleaning woman

The cleaning woman was played by an Oscar-winning actress.

Saw Deadpool, not as rude and crude as I was led to believe, but definitely funny!

I loved the irreverence in "Deadpool."

Yeah, that kept me laughing!