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

"Paris, Texas"
A slow moving but well shot / acted film. Not exciting enough to keep herself awake though

Recent adventures in cine-land have been:

Bruno: Pointless.

Black Swan: Now this is a strange film. I went into it with low expectations, and they were met, but not exceeded. There was a lot of concentration on the dancing, which I felt was "too much" dancing( I know other may have a higher threshold for dancing than me!) and some fairly pointless foot injury porn. The basic concept was OK, but I think the film didn't really get over enough of the basis for the paranoia of the main character (sorry, trying to not give too much away here). Parts of it were excellently done, and I'm assured that the actual dancing was dun proper, like...but I didn't really enjoy it. Naturally, it was HI's choice (I'd picked the trite Tron a couple of weeks ago, and regretted it since).

So, what to see next? It's my choice, so something blokey is allowed. Top choices are 127 Hours or True Grit. Are these out in your territory? Has anyone seen them yet?

RF

"Nowhere Boy" is a biography of John Lennon as a teenager, and it's very interesting.

I haven't heard anything bad about 127 hours, but it does need strong nerves - people have been fainting and throwing up at "that bit".

I wonder if the cinemas provide sickbags for screenings?

We went to see Morning Glory on Tuesday Harrison Ford as a grumpy old man with issues, tied to a contract, ends up presenting a daytime breakfast show with a cheerful older woman presenter and chirpy female producer.

I found it passable, but I suspect it will be one of those films I'll forget I ever saw (probably by next month).

I saw The 127 Hours yesterday. It's excellent IMO. I like Danny Boyle's style and James Franco is a wonderful actor.
And all "bits" were watchable...

But then again, I thought Black Swan was very good, too.

The King's Speech

Fascinating story, beautifully told, great casting....but I dont think I'd call it the greatest movie of the year - a bit surprised that it's such a box office success tbh.

Tangled

Wow! Charm personified (filmogrophied?). Disney back to doing what it does best, strong characters, powerful songs, laugh out loud funny bits (Max the horse/dog is outstanding) Go see it in 3D if you can!

Brighton Rock.

I'm an extra in a couple of scenes, so I mainly wanted to see if I could be spotted (yes, very easily) but I'd have enjoyed it anyway.

Very dark, very stylish, but it's hard not to make comparisons with the original film. Although much has been made in the reviews about how the film is Rose's story -and it is- you can't help but look at Sam Riley. Your eye is drawn to him. There's a whole undercurrent of issues with Pinkie's father that is never referred to in the dialogue, but his body language tells it all. And when I filmed, he was such a nice person on set too. He's someone to watch for the future.

Good choice of a slightly different version of Richard Hawley's "There's a Storm a Coming" for the title music too.

The 'Hello Mum' sign gave you away.

Actually it was the hideously unflattering trousers! Usually when I'm background I hide, but this time I wasn't tucked away as part of a large crowd so I had a good couple of seconds screen time.

Independence Day.

(Yes, I know. This is hardly a recent blockbuster; if asked, I'd have guessed it was made a couple of years ago, say 2004 (wow! That's actually SEVEN years ago!), so I was surprised to find it was made in 1996 ie while I was expecting my first child.)

Anyway, I remember there being something of a huge fuss about it at the time. It's not apparent at this late date *why*. I mean, it was an enjoyable enough way to spend a couple of hours, and I don't begrudge the £3 it cost, but Will Smith was everything he wasn't in I, Robot, and the plot was rubbish.

Nod (14) enjoyed it hugely, Sic (12) thought it was a really good film (and was correspondingly disappointed that the rest of us said actually we'd be happy never to see it again), and Osh (8) was very upset that all the aliens got hurt.

Mol

Mol!

How dare you? Independance Day was a great film...Up until the last 10 minutes. Then it went pure pony. But it was a great Alien Invasion film until then.

There are some great lines in Independence Day. Plus I loved "Data" from Star Trek as the mad who got splattered I'd watch it again (lucky I have the DVD).

I watched "Daryl" on C5 yesterday for pure sentimental reasons, I remember watching it when it was released (1985 *gasp*) and the technology then seemed very futuristic. I'd also forgotten the ending so that was a relief

Immediately following it was Disney's "Mulan" which I've never seen, my last 2 children were boys so I never got to buy the video or DVD.

Straight after that was "Space Cowboys" (shock horror, now 10 years old) I was surprised how long that was and how similar the plot was to Armageddon.

I don't recall ever watching 3 films back-to-back before, I'm normally lucky if I can sit through one

Maybe Independence Day *was* a great film (it was great fun to watch) ... but I don't think that now, fifteen years later, it really stands up as a Great Film. If you see what I mean.

I quite liked Mulan, GB, although it's one of the few we've not bought, so possibly we didn't like it *that* much

Mol

Silly question of semantics but are "great fun to watch" and "great film" ever synonymous?

Personally I mean two very different things when I say these things. For example I found "Outlander" (the Caveziel aliens and Vikings) film great fun but I owuldn't by any means decribe it as a great film.

Similarly something like say "Shindlers List" is a great film. I really like it, but I dont think one could ever describe it as "Great Fun!"

FB

Well yes, that was sort of my point. But there must be *one* film that is both great fun and a Great Film.

I just can't remember what it's called

Mol

Some Like It Hot.

RF

I'd say Toy Story 2 satisfies both criteria.

FB

A Little Bit of Heaven. This is a must-see even if you only at casting Whoopie Goldberg as God.

It's a mix of sad and happy, those who relished Love Story and Steel Magnolias will probably enjoy being made to weep. I have to say that Kathy Bates as the about-to-be-bereaved mother moved me to tears in several scenes and my partner was the same. There weren't many dry eyes, so be warned.

The only issue we had was the unresolved getting with the patient thing (he was warned off but nothing else happened)

9/10

"...there must be *one* film that is both great fun and a Great Film."

Well in my opinion The Fifth Element is both of these things. And I know it always seems to be on TV, but I still think it's great.