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

Are there any films that you enjoy, but find something in them annoying?

For example, you may be watching a film and enjoying it when all of a sudden one of the main characters does something inexplicable, like decide to run back into the house where the murderer is. Or marry the person who has been cheating on them. Or include a pointless scene/character that's not in the book. Or a scene that's purely gratuitous – unnecessary nudity or special effects.

I'm not the only one, am I?

Please tell me below!

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For example, last weekend I watched the 1982 film 'Annie' at a friends' house with my kids and their kids. Annie is an orphan who grows up in an orphanage run by Miss Hannigan, who tells the children they'll make their backsides shine if they don't scrub the floors and make them shine, locks them in the closet, steal their money and Christmas gifts and generally mentally and physically abuse them. She is also cruel to animals. She then masterminds a scheme to kidnap Annie for money, falsifying documents etc in order to get money. Admittedly she disapproves of actual murder, but at the end of the film she gets off scot free and gets to enjoy having an elephant ride

So I asked the kids whether they thought she was a goody or a baddy, and guess what? They all thought she was a baddy. So I followed up by asking whether she should have gone to gaol or had an elephant ride, and the votes were:
Elephant Ride: 0
Go Straight to Gaol: 7

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I find plenty of films annoying, but to limit my choices to films I enjoy...


Ah!


The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.


I really do enjoy it. There is a lot to like about it. But some of the choices made in making the film I find rather annoying or disappointing. I don't like the design of the Heart of Gold; it looks nothing like a sleek running shoe. Some of the great jokes from the previous versions are a bit truncated and don't quite work. I really wish they'd handled Zaphod's second head differently. (I'd like to have seen a second actor play the other head. With CGI like it is today there's no real problem putting two heads on his shoulders.) Then there's the whole Arthur/Trillian love story, not sure about that at all.


But I still enjoy it.

My wife always says I'm overly critical, and she's probably right. I just like things to be right.

Another film I saw recently was 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' (2005). There is an ungated level crossing in front of the station and since 1839, all road level crossings in Britain have had to have mandatory gates within sight of a signal box. Similarly, in the UK since the mid-19th Century all railway lines must have lineside fencing. It is a scene that is clearly filmed in New Zealand (hence Mrs MacCready's terrible/bizarre accent attempt).

I'm perfectly happy with magical lands entered through wardrobes, witches, spells, phoenixes, talking animals, lions coming back from the dead and a little bottle of medicine that can cure any known illness or injury. What ruins the suspension of disbelief for me is the little railway station because it doesn't have a gate or fence.

Sometimes I worry about whether or not I should worry about myself.

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Um, I see the point about letting Miss Hannigan ride the elephant in "Annie." That is *not* the ending that was in the original stage version. but, c'mon, this is Carol Burnett we're talking about. Even when she's as annoying as possible as Eunice Higgins, there's still a part of her that you can't dislike. Same with Carol as Miss Hannigan. I even found her sympathetic in her "Little Girls" song. In any event, this version of "Annie" is still far better than the recent remake .

I'm afraid the only thing Carol Burnett's been in I'm familiar with is an episode of The Muppet Show and she was the voice of the kangaroo in 'Horton Hears a Who'.

Unlike her co-star Tim Curry - I know lots of films Tim Curry's been in.

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Admittedly, her choice of films is somewhat erratic.

"Secret world of Arrietty" is kind of obscure, plus she only dubbed the voice for the English language version.

"Chu Chu and the philly Flash" is so bad, they probably show it in Hell.

"Four Seasons" is so-so at beat.

Over the Easter weekend I wanted to watch 'Easter Parade', but it wasn't on (which annoyed me) so I watched 'On the Town' (1949) instead. It's a fun film that if you enjoy musicals I recommend – but I spent the whole film wondering whether they were using the same dinosaur prop that was in 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938)...

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Her sketch comedy show, The Carol Burnett Show was hilarious. Especially when Tim Conway would send it off the rails by going off script.

http://youtu.be/3qqE_WmagjY


"Snork" still makes me laugh.

Aiming for the easy marks on this question I would suggest:
- Groundhog Day - Andie MacDowell
- Four Weddings.. - Go on, guess

I recently saw a "listicle" on the Cracked website of bad casting choices. Most of the films I hadn't seen so I had no opinion, some I agreed with, but one was completely wrong. They described Johnny Depp's performance as Hunter Thompson in _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_ as "little more than a garbled, incoherent mess."

BUT THAT'S HUNTER S. THOMPSON!

I actually saw Hunter Thompson speak at The Tower Theater in Houston, Texas about 25 years ago. He was over 45 minutes late because he noticed the kink and head shop (Bizarre Bazaar) across the street. He picked up a riding crop. Once he did arrive, the first thing he did was stumble on stage, bumping into the table they provided him to sit at, knocking over the pitcher of beer on it spilling the beer over the table cloth. He repeatedly slapped the riding crop across the table leaving black streaks. The Tower Theater was a small theater with a balcony section. Whoever set up the PA placed the large speakers at the corners of the stage pointing under the balconies creating some baffled and echoing noise. He was even more of a "garbled and incoherent mess" because of this. Literally more than half the audience left within 30 minutes of him speaking as most couldn't understand a word he was saying. My friend and I used that as an opportunity to upgrade our seats to the front of the balcony so we could hear him directly. Even when we could hear his words he was still quite incoherent. The only thing I remember was him talking about his run for Sheriff in Boulder, CO and something about using Vise-Grips™ on a stripper's nipples.

I was skeptical of Johnny Depp in the role as I thought Bill Murray nailed it in "Where the Buffalo Roam" but I was wrong. Depp was CHANNELLING Thompson. He lived with him for over a year in prep for the role. I can see how some might find him rather annoying in the role, but you can't fault him for getting it wrong.


http://www.cracked.com/pictofacts-921-19-movies-that-are-ruined-by-actor-playing-lead/


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I've been reading "In good company" by Carol Burnet, and she mentions that sketch where Tim Conway ad libs the elephant story. She later got her revenge in a dentist sketch where Tim is supposed to be on novocain so he can't stop her from a wacky elephant story of her own.

She also mentions the time when the cast of her show is invited to do their show at the Sydney opera House. Over time, the cast starts pairing off, except for Tim, or so Carol thinks. Then one night Carol visits Tim's hotel room, where he is in bed with a sheep. Turns out to be a very lifelike stuffed sheep.

"The Greatest Showman" was very enjoyable, but it irked me that the scenes with jenny Lind had her singing a second-rate pop song in a mediocre voice. Worse, she spoke perfect English with a British accent in the film, but in real life she had trouble with English. The stage version of "Barnum" has a scene where Barnum can't understand her at all because doesn't speak Swedish.

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

I just remembered a great, funny film with Carol Burnett... Noises Off!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105017/

Someone will inevitably mention this, but there's a 1977 film called 'Star Wars' and originally there's a scene in which Han Solo shoots Greedo as Greedo is about to shoot him. Then George Lucas changed it to make Greedo shoot first – and miss despite being mere inches away…

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Was Greedo as illogical as Jar Jar Binks?

Worse than that, George Loco also changed the dialogue between Darth Vader and the Emperor during Empire Strikes Back, AND inserted a ridiculous "NNNOOOO!" into Return of the Jedi, both of which were PERFECT BEFORE!!!


Finding copies without these is quite difficult nowadays. Fortunately I have VHS copies of the Special Edition, which I consider the best version of Star Wars. Unfortunately I no longer have a VCR, and I haven't gotten around to digitizing them yet. Not entirely sure it'll even work.

Not long enough ago, in a galaxy not far enough away....

Yep, Jar Jar Binks definitely counts as something annoying...

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So annoying, and yet so necessary.

It's no harder to imagine Binks in charge of the federation of planets (or whatever it was called) than it is to imagine Donald Trump running the U.S. At least Jar Jar Binks doesn't seem to have a mean streak. He was probably the basic model; meanness would have been an aftermarket accessory.

I really, really enjoy 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' – but get annoyed when I watch it now. I grew up with the home video version of the film which contains the song 'When Love is Gone'. This is the emotional keystone of the film – Scrooge's journey just doesn't work without the moment in which we see how he lost his heart. But every release on DVD of 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' is missing the scene.

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