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

They do it all the time.

Off the top of my head:-

The Terminal. Moved from France to New York.
High Fidelity. Moved from London to Detroit.
War of the worlds. Moved from Surrey (?) to USA.

But that's where the big money is.

Actually - High Fidelity was absolutely ruined as a result, at least for me. I know Nick Hornby's old stamping grounds and had the locations vivid in my imagination.

PP.

Wreck It Ralph.

Was AMAZING!

Honestly pitch perfect. A great film, seems like some of the Pixar magic has crossed over into Disney proper. I actually punched the air in triumph at the end and have got an ear to ear grin on my face. I absolutely loved it!

I could happily watch it again right away.

10/10

FB

Does it help if you are an old fart who can remember 'the old video games'?

Just watched Waterworld again. Yes it got slated, but I kinda like it.

I think there's a lot that goes on that you don't quite notice the first time around.

I think it works in its own terms as a great family type film.

But for gamers of a certain vintage the in jokes become the icing on the cake. You could enjoy this film if you had never played the games I reckon.

FB

A new Trek film's coming?

Watch Pitch Perfect with #2 last night. A perfect girly giggle with a poke a Glee. Watch out for a couple moments.

I've seen the new Trek trailer and it looked like a horror film

I've seen "Flight" this morning, this is good if you're a Denzel Washington fan (he's in every scene).

I'm glad I don't fly much. I wouldn't recommend it for frequent fliers.

Watched my first ever Bollywood film today, Special 26. Wasn't sure what to expect but I absolutely loved it. Made me realise that, as much as I love cinema, I only really understand Western cinema: there were things (like the songs, even in quite a gritty heist film) that I just wasn't getting because Indian films have a different style to what I'm used to. I'm pretty sure I was laughing inappropriately at times.

There were some lovely touches to the film, it was almost Tarantino-esque at times, it was set in the 80s so there were some great retro effects (though again, I think there were a number that eluded me). Even the songs worked for me. It was nice to see how much of it I understood too: maybe one in six words, which is pretty good for my Hindi.

True; But the Tomb Raider films where fun. Angelina Jolie was a dead ringer for the pixelated heroine. I have an issue with computer games, your imagination is only allowed to expand as far as the programmers ability.

The Red Riding trilogy, a miniseries about the Yorkshire Ripper. I saw one episode late at night on TV and immediately ordered the DVDs. An exploration of corruption and Sean Bean with a potbelly.

The Life of Pi in 3D. Loved it. I'd watch it again next week but Bruce Willis is on...

Bruce Willis is the Clint Eastwood of our generation

Watched Cloud Atlas this evening and I'm currently buzzing from it. I absolutely loved it. It's going to be written off by some as spectacle over substance, or too much pop-philosophy, and some people are going to claim it was confusing (I did have to endure a couple of halfwits sat behind me who couldn't keep their ignorance to themselves) but for me it worked.

To me it felt like a really emotive symphony: all these disparate notes coming together to create something wonderful. It was incredibly ambitious in scope and grand in scale and for that I'll accept the occasional discordant note. I love how cleverly it was crafted, how well all the different stories and timelines were linked, I loved how beautiful it looked and I loved how it was deep without being too heavy and funny without being insubstantial.

My friend and I have just talked for nearly two straight hours about things we'd picked up on, stuff we'd noticed, connections and coincidences we'd picked up and it felt so good to be so animated by a film so long after we'd seen it.

I'm a very giddy Iago.

Half the pleasure of a film for me is discussing it afterwards with someone. You've reminded me how much I miss that. I really must find a new partner

Les Mis.

I enjoyed it, albeit it wasn't a patch on the stage musical.

I found Russell Crowe's singing much better than I had expected from what I heard about it, and Hugh Jackman's much worse. (I thought he was good on the long sustained notes but the warblyness of it annoyed me).

I thought Anne Hathaway was wonderful and was very impressed by Samantha Barks as Eponine. Eddie Redmayne and Amande Siegfried (?) were good too. I thought the big numbers with chorus singing worked the best (Look Down, the finale etc) and there were a few bits with just a few lines of singing which I really didn't like.

Pastey: In Bacchus We Trust


I enjoyed it. I think here was a lot of easy digging at Costner with that film - big budget, major problems with the set being blown away etc - he was big in film at that point so just right for journos to enjoy knocking him down.

Hitchcock's 'Dial M For Murder' and 'Stage Fright' tonight. Both very good...Dial M for Murder a very 'small' film based on a play and felt very taut.

Stage Fright more 'spread out', felt slower but was about the same length which I found interesting.

Saw Wreck-it Ralph last week, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't recognise many of the old game characters, so I don't think that's essential to appreciating it.

And watched Argo last night - wow, I cant remember when a film last made my heart race so much. Strong cast, and the recreation of the feel of the time was spot on.

We had intended to go to the breakfast showing of Argo this morning - including breakfast. But we got up slightly too late and it's such a beautiful sunny morning it would be silly to waste it in the cinema. We haven't seen the sun since September (well, that's what it feels like). February was certainly the darkest February since records have been kept, they recently said on the news.

I watched Looper the other day, a nice time travel movie. It feels like Rian Johnson is someone to keep an eye on, even if Brick did not not live up to my expectations. They did a decent job of making Levitt seems like a young Bruce Willis, but the story worked either way I think.