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

Due to having been reading the comics I watched Hellboy and Hellboy 2 today.

They were much, much better than I remembered. Perhaps, given the depth of it, they benefit from being more familiar with the lore. But I was suprised at how rich the films were. Wonderfully shot and directed by Del Torro (cannot wait for Pacific Rim).

And I literally cannot think of someone more born to play a role than Perelman is to play Hellboy.

Such a shame that HB:3 wont ever happen, it is so brilliantly set up. I blame the public for spending money watching shite like Transformers 3 and The Hangover 2.

Seriously preferring either of those films to anything made by Del Torro ought to be a capital offence.

FB

>>Such a shame that HB:3 wont ever happen..<<



I really liked both hellboy flics

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Saw 'Safe' recently. Damn good!

Statham is his usual gritty intense self, and Catherine Chan is brilliant. Two thumbs

I'll put both those (Hellboy and Hellboy 2) on my watch list.

Today's TV offerings are Journey to the Centre of the Earth (because I noticed Brendan Fraser is in it) and Sly Stallone's Judge Dredd - I noticed there's a new Judge Dredd film doing the rounds in the cinema foyer last Tuesday.

Hellboy 2 is one of my favourite films of all time. I know I say this a lot, but the visual of the elemental dying and creating a meadow in central New York is so good it literally makes me weep. It's a breathtaking bit of imagery.

I agree entirely FB, being Michael Bay should be a criminal offence. Assisting Michael Bay by giving him money or film-making equipment should make you an accessory to the crime of being Michael Bay.

I have watched Hellboy one and two and won't be watching them again. I didn't like them much. I only watched them because I have seen some other films of Del Toro that I did rate (The Devils Backbone, and Pan's Labyrinth).

I sense that for Hellboy Del Toro had to pander more to the whims of the producers. I also haven't read the comics (?) so assume he must have been required to make the films consistent with the comics (another limit to directorial freedom).

A recent film that I have watched that I did rate was "The Special Relationship" a 2010 film by Richard Loncraine, that I saw on the BBC iplayer recently.

I thought the acting was generally excellent and believable. It paints a far different picture on the gravitas and intelligence and character of Bill Clinton that I didn't get from the newspapers and media. I thought Dennis Quaid as Bill sort of stole the show. Hope Davis as Hilary, and Michael Sheen as Blair also gave what appeared to be "authentic" roles. The supporting acting was also excellent.

Ps from the film The Special Relationship - I got the impression that Bill was the true conviction politician (left of centre) and more consistent in his vision. Tony Blair was the junior partner and seemd to be more of the political chancer. One could see how his Christian belief gave him drive to do something in former Yugoslavia to prevent the ethnic cleansing. Both Bill and Tony seemed to be very aware of the dangers (of making matters worse etc).

At the end of the film there is a telling scene where Bill wonders aloud in the presence of Blair - whether Blair was the left of centre conviction politician Bill had original believed him to be ... inferring that Blair was in fact right of centre ... and rather an "enemy" to Bill's vision.

Watched The Yellow Sea, a South Korean gangster film.
Loser cab driver gets a contract to kill so he can pay off his debts
and try to find his missing wife.
Slow start but soon picked up the pace, very very violent though
and I had to cover my eyes more than once.

Stone Art, if you enjoyed that check out The Clintons documentary on the iPlayer: 2nd (of 3) part was on last night.

Barfi!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZxrao3zou4

An Indian film but not Bollywood as you might expect to see it.

Deaf mute man 'meets' two women, one in an arranged marriage and one autistic. Some great acting. A heart warming story. Some great photography and plenty of 'I want to go there' locations.

6 of us in the cinema. Shame.

PP.

PS. Only about 75 sleeps to The Hobbit.

Recently watched action flick "The Raid" - pretty unique in foregoing the quick-cut shake cam for wide-angle visuals on some truly brutal fights (don't watch if you don't like either guns or knives), but the film was really rather good.

Avenger's Assemble
ridiculous good fun.

Casino Royale.
Still the best of the Bonds until next month, maybe...

Finally, I watched the extraordinarily good Eastwood/Jolie movie "Changeling" - about a mother's attempts to get back her son who has gone missing and the corruption of San Francisco PD and their failure to to properly investigate his disappearence.

Sounds dull as ditchwater, however it's anything but: equal parts period drama and silence of the lambs - this is a very very good and surprising movie.

Watched Looper this afternoon: you have to consciously ignore a major plothole but otherwise it's very good and very thought-provoking.

I was put off by the plothole in the trailer. How does the older him not remember the time when he was the younger him and had to go and kill the older him? I am very picky about my time-travel stories.

Can I just watch the Bruce Willis bits and forget the story, do you think?

Speaking of time travel and Bruce Willis - I am right now watching Twelve Monkeys...

And I just last night watched Sixth Sense for the first time!

So, you saw dead people then?


Geggs

Meh, I know everyone raves about it (and I did know the twist in advance so that maybe colours my thinking)

I'm not a big fan of ghost stories - cant suspend my disbelief enough. But I found myself asking so many questions - why did his ring fall off at that point? Why did the stepmother kill the child? And seriously, who poisons someone in such a cartoon fashion? And how did he get around the place - did he walk, drive, get a train?

The reason she poisoned her like that was because she wasn't trying to kill her, just to make her sick.

The Hot Potato - true story. Two dodgy East End wide boys acquire a large lump of Uranium in the 1960s and try to sell it on the black market. Hilarity ensues.

Ray Winstone - good
Jack Huston - nice to see that was make-up on Boardwalk Empire
Colm Meaney - an East End gangster - really?
Louise Redknapp - no, no and thrice no. Awful.

Quite a good popcorn film.

Looper.

Good fun, interesting sci-fi film .Well worth a watch.

FB