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

I think both - silly deep gully, and he'd have to have a helmet of course

... with a lamp on the front.

JTG

and maybe a little pick axe so he could catch the ball on it, a kind of go-gadget-arm

I hope Sir Alec is enjoying this.

"Howzat!" cries a voice from a hole; "Howz Wot?" cries everybody else.

JTG

Looky looky, the apple landed on my pick-axe. It's William Tell in reverse.

I'm sure he is - it's not about Star Wars

Llet Mailliw, that legendary Welsh archer... and dab hand, don't you know, with a pick-axe, if less so a cricket bat, boyo. Never youu miiiind shooting off apples from a Swiss boys head!

[The preceeding was a rant in Welsh about cricket]

JTG

Are you practising your Robert Croft impression?

Actually, I had Ian Holm in mind. His Fluellen in Henry V was brilliant, you seee.

JTG

That I have not seen - is it the Branagh one?
Actually, I think I still have Ian Holm's King Lear on tape, which I have to watch.

Yes, the Branagh one. Do have a look, if the chance presents itself; it's brilliant, a stirling cast, of course, and the tempo of the thing is perfect. In the 'Branagh Does Shakespeare' catagory, this one definitely takes first prize, in my opinion; Hamlet seemed to me to be little more than an excuse for another cast party.

I haven't seen Ian Holm's King Lear, but I imagine him being very good in the role. He's a chap who seems to pop up in all sorts of strange places.

JTG

It's the Lear he did at the National, and then they televised it, and I think he won every award available for it
I liked Branagh's Hamlet, although it is very much spot the star. And I really like 'Much Ado About Nothing' apart from the fact that Keanu Reeves can't act.

In a Hamlet race, the Branagh entry would definitely lead the 'definitive' Gibson version home.

I liked Much Ado... too; it gave Emma Thomson an opportunity to strut her stuff; and of the stuff of talent, she has a sack full. I thought she was wonderful in Sense and so on... as was everyone, particularly Kate Winslet (I had to look her name up); apparently, Emma Thomson wrote the screenplay too. Clever!

JTG

Yes, Sense and Sensibility I really liked - apart from being disturbed by my mother's liking for Alan Rickman (not something I care to dwell on ) and definetly more oscar worthy than Braveheart which I think on the other screenplay awards that year
And Much Ado.. did allow us to be reintroduced to the one who killed himself in Dead Poets Society, which was interesting...

I watched Braveheart in a hotel room with a friend who kept finding excuses to go out; and I found myself actually willing Mel to die at the end just so the picture would and and I could go to sleep.

What's wrong with Alan Rickman, anyway? If the swimming stars of the current Olympics do anything for fashion, men with rudder noses will soon be all the rage.

JTG

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Alan Rickman - he MADE Die Hard - forget Bruce Willis. I just get a little concerned with my mother's minor obsessions, and the fact that she will always remember him as Obadiah Slope. Whereas my first introduction to him was in 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves'. I've still only watched the first half of Braveheart - didn't Ian Bannen's character die in it? I think that's when I fell asleep.

The good guys one in the end.

The only reason to sit through 'Robin Hood...' was Alan Rickman's devilishly funny lines:

"You!... My room, 10 o'clock!... You! My room, 10:15!... Bring a friend!"

...or something along those lines; and:

"I'm going to carve his heart out with a spoon!!!"

... followed by the exhaustive explanation of why a *spoon*. Hilarious.

The most unintentionally funny bit, I thought, was when Costner and Freeman land at Dover, and Costner says that they can walk to Nottingham by nightfall.

JTG

Oops... that should be 'won'... my brains going soft in my old age.

JTG

I got it

My favourite line in Robin Hood is the infamous 'And cancel Christmas' I am suddenly surrounded by people who love the movie, but I will admit, it's a good Christmas film.
But wasn't that Hadrian's Wall they were walking along? or something similar

It's been a while; you may be right. It was definitely a film that relied heavily on suspension of disbelief... so much so, in fact, that they ought to have handed out medication at the cinemas to help out.

But you're right; it's good for a giggle. At least it didn't take itself too seriously... like, mmm... Braveheart.

JTG

While I would not class either as the amoung the greatest films ever, I actually do enjoy watching Robin Hood, for the comedy element.

And there are some things that were just made for watching on a full stomach ike ET, Indiana Jones, Ealing comedies etc....