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

I think he's made more than one good movie: T2, Total Recall, (highly underrated) Predator, The Running Man, Conan The Barbarian etc. If only he had stuck to roles like that.

I laughed til I cried at T2. Honestly. I've *never* understood why anybody thinks it is a good movie.

Total Recall is his worst ever movie, mostly because he was given way too much control over a script he blatantly didn't understand.

The Running Man is ok for abd adapatation of a story that was 'borrowed' in the first place from another author, but I'd still not watch it out of choice.

Conan is appalling. All concerned should be heartily ashamed of what they did to Robert E. Howards seminal figure of 20th century fantasy literature.

Predator would make it two good films. Great basis for a political career and being one of the highest payed box office stars in Hollywood history. I suppose at least no one mentioned the steaming pile of do-do that was True Lies.

"Kung Fu Hustle" was a great film! I'm looking forward to adding more Chow films to the collection, as well.

Watched "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" over the weekend. It wasn't quite what the Netflix blurb described. I'd expected so much better. The characters, especially the female lead, were far too shallow to sympathize with them much. Beautiful cinematography, though!

>Total Recall is his worst ever movie, mostly because he was given way too much control over a script he blatantly didn't understand<

Surely "Kindergarten Cop" or "Twins" must have been worse? I've heard terrible things about them.

I've only ever seen two Arnie films- "Predator", which as so-so, and "Total Recall", which was absolute garbage.

Try Jingle All the Way if you *really* want to see a bad Arnie film

I don't think there's anything particularly bad about either Kindergarted Cop or Twins.

The former is actually quite good fun although neither are anything special.

Conan the Destroyer is also fairly turdworthy in my experience.

I thought T2 was a fantastic film.

Incredible ground breaking special effects, great story, and the wonderful irony of Arnie playing a robot.

"Incredible ground breaking special effects"

With all that ground breaking that has occured in the past, who notices an extra crack?

many years ago i had a major crush on arnie..especially liked the barbarian look .. i didn't rate T2 much at all.. but really liked the 1st terminator.. punchy original film.. a little raw but it wasn't all about arnie in that one.. subsequent ones were...

hes not a very good actor, never has been.. but he fulfilled a certain role for that time...the over muscled hunk role...the era of dolph lundgren, steven seagel.. can't think of any more, but they were there doing their 'terrible acting, but look at our bodies babes'

saw house of wax yesterday on dvd....frightening stuff, had bad dreams all night

Regarding Stephen Chow, bear in mind that many of his previous films are under different names (check IMDB if you don't believe me). Of the films of his I've seen as an actor only, 'Curry and Pepper' is a funny piece of HK action theatre in the Jackie Chan mold.

As a writer/director, 'Shaolin Soccer ' gained a lot of attention, though I managed to miss it somehow. I have however seen 'From Beijing With Love' (aka 'From China With Love') which is a quite funny spoof of 007 movies and 'Forbidden City Cop' is a nice sidelong view of movies such as 'Crouching Tiger...'.

Only seen the American cut of Shaolin Soccer, which I have to say was pretty dire. I hear the original is much better though. Would have to be a lot better though!

Hmm, let's see, it's an American cut of a foreign film about a sport they don't play.

How much chance do you think it had?

Which is precisely why Chow insisted on @Kung Fu Hustle' being untouched by the Americans when it was released.

I've been looking forward to seeing "Shaolin Soccer" for some time. Netflix has the original version and I've got it queued. If it's as enjoyable as you say, I'll probably bump it higher up the queue. Thanks!

That ;ast sentence should have read, "if it's as enjoyable as you say his other films were...". Sheesh.

I haven't seen the others you mentioned, either, but will see if they're available.

If you have problems, let me know. I may be able to help you out with Curry and Pepper and Forbidden City Cop.

Netflix has "Forbidden City Cop", so I've added that to the queue as well. "Curry and Pepper", they didn't have. I'll poke around for a day or two, and if I don't have any luck, I might just take you up on your generous offer to help me out. Thank you!

On the subject of online DVD rentals - I'm getting a little peeved with Amazon UK. Anyone use any of the other companies? Blockbuster? Tesco? Screenselect?

I watched "Primer" last night, the 2004 low budget drama/sci-fi that won the Grand Jury award at Sundance. I enjoyed it and was impressed by how well done it was - for a $7,000 total budget I understand (matching Rodriguez' budget for "El Mariachi" I think).

As a wannabe film maker myself (mostly animation but ...), I really enjoyed how the director used everyday settings to great effect: his parents' garage, a commercial storage business, a library, a metal cutting shop (with the owner becoming an actor). Rather than Hollywood big budget props, lighting, sets, etc., he relied on camera placement, available light, etc., and ended up with similar "production values", IMHO.

Also, as an engineer myself, I got a kick out of the presentation of real world "science" - need some copper? Use the tube to your refrig's icemaker. Need some platinum? Take off your car's catalytic converter.

The plot, OTOH ... well, OK, time travel gets complicated, but still ... I did listen to the director's commentary, but he seemed more interested in explaining the movie making aspects rather than the plot ... pretty interesting in itself.

Well worth the rental cost.

I have not long got back, from seeing Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the Wererabbit it was really funny and entertaining loved little details like reg of the van HOP 21 T.

Just got back from a late night screening of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.

To quote Ron: "Bl**dy H*ll!" (he does a fir bit of swearing in the movie by the way, does our Ron - parents be warned.)

The film was really rather good, if quite disturbing at times.

The Tri-Wizard sequences are all very impressive.

The acting is getting better and better. I reckon Ron wins over Herminone for just being so hapless.

Stand out by Far - Brendon Gleeson as Mad Eye Moody with his revolving eye - had the whole cinema laughing - gurning and winking away like the demented ghost Les Dawson.

You-Know-Who played by a creepy Ralph Fiennes makes a memorable appearence, indeed that whole scene especially the blood letting had me right on edge!

Dr Who, crops up frothing at the mouth too. (bizarre timing -what with *that* christmas special due soon)

The film is definately DARK - it has all the feel of Empire Strikes Back, by the end nothing's been solved, infact things have measureably gone from bad to worse. The Goblet of fire is infected with that same bleakness, I found. Makes a refreshing change to be honest, Azkhabahn was heading down that route but Goblet of Fire ramps it up a few more notches. It feels pivotal as Empire did. Towards the end there is a moment of reflection that things from this point on can't possibly be the same. If Goblet of Fire is anything to judge by then the next few films are going to be fantastic.