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

hope you enjoyed silent hill clive.. i loved it, but wished for a different ending cos i'm soppy like that...

we watched JACKASS 2... managed to watch entire film.. glad to say they cut down on the vomiting scenes from the 1st... those boys love getting their balls out on show though... some truly disgusting things like leeches on their balls AND eye ball... but for me some of the best scenes are not of daredevil death defying things but the simple ones with the old man in shorts and fake old man balls hanging well down for all to see and the best prank with the bomb toting arab with a unique beard... can't say more...

i picked up KRONOS at HMV on offer so watching it tonight... and can't wait to see 28 weeks later...

Silent Hill was a lot better than I was expecting.

Still B-movie territory falling somewhere between Resident Evil, The Wicker Man and Hellraiser.

Never having played the game on which it is based I followed the plot easily enough and felt that it masked it's origins pretty well (although the find clue > go somewhere > meet revelatory exposition got a bit tiresome) the flashback to the real world redeemed it as you felt the disconnect between the different worlds and the ending suggests a ghost story but was it?

The 'Making of...' on the rental dvd was also pretty in depth which was a pleasant surprise.

3.5 stars / 5

I recorded Final Destination 3 last night - oh god - talk about wasted opportunities with this idea.

When I first heard the original Final Destination was being made I thought 'great!' what a fantastic idea for a horror movie - but the end result was nothing of the sort, two was only marginally worse, still the elaborate set ups, convoluted plot and no 'horror' just gore and three promises to be no better - but I'm a glutton for punishment so here goes nothin' ....

I watched Hidden (Caché) last night. What a load of old tosh. Why the French make this stuff, then award it prizes, is beyond me.

RF

Blades of Glory.

Several long dry spells where the jokes were not hitting, but when it hits it is side splitting. Still this type of Ferrell vehicle is getting a bit formulaic now.

I saw Blades Of Glory today. Much of it seems too familiar but, yeah, bits of it are splendid.

I also watched the mediocre Flushed Away, the splendid new Casino Royal and SAW, SAW 2 & SAW 3, which a grizzly and a half, but entertaining. Mucho flinching in the House of Roymondo.

Spiderman 3.

Took my son yesterday and we both enjoyed it very much. 10/10

Next.

That was so enjoyable I wish I could see it again!

i know that spidey 3 is looming on me too.. hubby loves the films but i'm not so keen.. hes just not a hero i like...

watched KRONOS i think del toro has always had an interest in vampires... clever twist on the usual vampire theme as they are 'created' by an insectile type gold antique.. reminded me of hellraiser [the puzzle box] this 'box' contains an insect that bites/stings.. and is sought after for the immortality connection.

spanish subtitles but a lot of english spoken too... not as superior as his latest work pans labyrinth but worth a look at if a tel toro fan...
easy to follow film but wished for more explanation about the mysterious box...

I sadly haven´t been able to find a dvd of Cronos anywhere, it sounds really interesting.
I watched Dead Or Alive yesterday, without sounds on. I probably wouldn´t recommend it, it didn´t even live up to my hope of entertaining mindless action.

"The Assignment", 1997. A thriller in which a look-alike of terrorist Carlos "The Jackal" is recruited by the CIA and Mossad to bring him down. Aidan Quinn plays Carlos and the look-alike, with Donald Sutherland as the CIA guy and Ben Kingsley as the Mossad guy. Lots of good reviews (4.5/5 stars at Amazon), and I agree a well crafted work. I only saw it because it showed up on a UHF channel on Saturday afternoon and I was lazy, but it was worth the watch.

28 Weeks Later.

Hmmm... it is good, but not as good, I think, as 28 days later. The movie, I realised, reminded me of the Half-Life franchise. A disaster that can have multiple permutations and re-tellings from different sides of the same series of events. This movie takes place *after* the original infection so is a true sequel and not a strict re-telling, but seen over-all as a two-part disaster of the resurgent infection, it had that feel to it.

So the film - the phrase that sprung to mind very early on was "an apocalypse for the criminally stupid" - that may sound overly critical - but whilst it was entirely necessary in some respects to get the plot moving forward, when there is a strict quarantine zone, what is the one thing you don't do? Break it while whispering: "they'll never notice that we're gone".

Pretty soon the virus is back on the streets of London and all hell is breaking loose with merry abandon - does it give anything away to say that Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx looks *really* scary with blazing red eyes? - However, for all that , I did enjoy the idea of the pull of the emotions being so strong that people would seek out their old homes and conscientiously try to break quarantine so they could 'pack up their old clothes' etc. but while this is mentioned, the impulse (and the security measures designed to deter it) are not really fully explored instead we are whisked with very little preamble into catastrophe.

There are some nice modern-references to the modern-day era: The Quarantine area, "Zone One" having picked up the title of 'the Green zone' for the heavily fortified bunker wherein life is maintained under an edifice of normalcy, that is anything but.

Now the plot is conceived as a sort of 'on the run' tale of a band of survivors from both sides of the civilian/military divide where members of the group are picked off and replaced as events conspire and threats gather in. It reminded me quite a lot of Hitchcock's psycho, in the sole respect that we the audience are carried through the picture with characters who one, reasonably assumes, will survive for the length of the movie. Well, don't be fooled. No-one is immune or safe.

There is also a series of set-piece skirmishes (the sniper, the helicopter, the helicopter part II, night-scope.) which sometimes sit a little awkwardly in the run of things as we seem to lurch from one disaster to the next.

I've always wanted to see a movie that did bleak with utter conviction and made the 'on the run' really desperate and matters spiral from bad to worse. And this comes close, so I am, I guess, predisposed to enjoy it. However lacking as it does, the three-part structure of the original movie, (Christopher Eccleston's marines memorably defending the mansions outside the blockade at Manchester - and quite mad to boot), this *feels* inferior to the original movie.

The ending - hmmm - not totally satisfied with this - the original had a happy ending (after which this movie takes place) but, for those who've seen the dvd, it also had a more emotional alternative, that gave us back the bleakness in which or characters had to survive.

The sequel has an ending that recalls the Yeats poem about 'the Second Coming (ironic since this would be the time when The Virus came back) that makes use of the idea that 'that the centre cannot hold...the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere' and holds out the promise that the rage virus has not been eradicated from our cinemas quite yet.

3 out of 5.

I watched the 13th warrior yesterday, which I think is a rather good movie. It also manages to portray vikings in a fair manner, rather than just as stupid brutes. Although some might not like the idea of mixing history and fiction together in such a way as they did with Ibn Fadlan and Beowulf.

Ghostbusters I & I I

13th Warrior fits into that small band of 'B' Movies that were made as A movies but are none the worse for it - other examples include Deep Blue Sea, Pitch Black Aliens and a raft of others.

Ah, the original Ghostbusters was so much fun!

"I've been slimed!"

I saw Zodiac on Tuesday. W-a-y too long and utterly confusing.
5/10

I took my daughter, son and grandson to see 3 this afternoon, what a romp, perfect escapist fun. All those Johnny Depps, he's so wonderfully mad. We all enjoyed it, enough thrilling moments and s a-plenty. It's a pirates life for me...!!
And I doubt there was a dry eye in the house when we were introduced to Captain Jack's mother

10/10

two of my girlfriends went to see today.gave it 9/10.
personally i think JD should have gone after the 1st (in which he was ace) and not done the 2nd (in which he was at the end of the row of tents in campnosity (sic) ). however the lure of the dirty dollar and the prospect of acting with two fine pieces of furniture like KK and OB obviously swayed him.

i saw the worst film of my life yesterday.cost me 50p at a car boot and it was still too much....77 mins of my life when i could have been chatting to Deborah Harry was wasted watching The Highwaymen. made the mistake of reading the blurb on the front which compared it to Mad Max.....for this they should be shot!!!!

The Gruesomes and I all gave 3 10/10. How can you not like so many of the Deppster?

and camper than a row of tents? I should cocoa. And his dad! his mum!! and Chow Yun Fat!!!

A bit convoluted, a bit long and a lot over the top. Brilliant.

-boy was looking pretty scorchio too.

And I also, finally, got to see Casino Royale. Hmmmmmmmmm. It's more than 25 years since I devoured the novels but this film Bond is only about 80% of what I think Bond should be. Urban running, yes. Playing softie in the shower with an eejit of a girly, no. But still, 10/10.

Why?

Two words: swimming trunks.

i thought it started gud but tailed off after the torture scene.tho i would imagine that scene remains vivid for both sexes for differing reasons!!!