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

Romero and Raimi still knock them all into a cocked hat, but on the whole, no, I think The Blair Witch stays...

And kevin 'smart-a**e' Williamson can go into the flames instead.,ok>

Don't dare try and burn Darkman!

"Take the f***ing elephant!"

Frogbit, you're wrong about David Lynch although I do have some sympathy with your disliking his version of Dune. At least it's not as bad as the absolutely appalling TV version that was on the Sci-Fi channel. Actually, I quite enjoy watching Lynch's Dune, but he did a lot of things wrong with it I think. Like the whole business about those sound things, oh dear...

Saturnine:

"Is that another black and white? I don't like black and white films much. Something about the imagery...can't read it as well as colour..."

Were you asking about Touch of Evil? If so, yes it is B&W but I think you should probably give it a go (especially if you can see it at a cinema where they've got one of the fancy new prints of it).

Have you seen the Seven Samurai (by Akira Kurosawa)? It's also a B&W film, but it's so perfectly shot that it almosts looks as though it is in colour. There's one bit in particular that struck me, a battle scene in muddy ditches and fields - the whole thing "feels" brown and muddy even though it's in B&W. Incredible stuff.

DoctorGonzo - that's one of the all time greatest film moments. The only better one that I can think of right now is in "Saturn 3" (a dire sci-fi with Harvey Keitel). Fans of the film will hopefully know what I mean when I say "Hydroponics, hydroponics, whuuuurr!!!"

We went to a Midnight screening of Blair Witch, and while the ending was genuinely frightening, for the rest (because we were all drunk students) we actually sat there screaming "following the fxxking river!" at the screen. I have a personal dislike for it because the hand-held camera and dodgy colour levels made me feel violently ill.

I did come out trembling though, so on balance, there's been worse.

Male<

We went to a Midnight screening of Blair Witch, and while the ending was genuinely frightening, for the rest (because we were all drunk students) we actually sat there screaming "following the fxxking river!" at the screen. I have a personal dislike for it because the hand-held camera and dodgy colour levels made me feel violently ill.

I did come out trembling though, so on balance, there's been worse.

I quite like the BWP, but that's not what i wanted to say...

terrific ad for 'The Seven Samurai', Dogster, and a great film, i agree. It's a long film that you don't regret a minute of!

er, burn a film... nah, tah

If I may weigh-in pendantic for a moment...

Once upon a time, people didn't get to pick and choose what they watched, unless they had their own projector and a 16mm catalog.
You watched what showed up in the cinema or what popped up on the telly.
Today's film watcher gets to go on the web, browse the video store, careen through the cable or satelite (how do you spell this stupid word?)channels, or wander down to the cineplex.

"Color" can be dreadfully overwhelming and is very much at the command of the director or the cinematographer. One point for David Lynch was his use of "color" in "Blue Velvet". I would actually pay for the opportunity not to watch it again, but I really liked what he did with the coloring.
"Black and White" is not really colorless. The palette of greys and browns that can be found in some well-shot and printed films is absolutely amazing. Hitchcock, for one, made great use of that palette and when he flounced into "color", it took him years to get it right.

While some of the "classics" may be a trifle boring, some, like Fairbank's "Thief of Bagdad" (which is also "silent", but we won't get into that), are positively entrancing.

Like books, 90% of everything is crap, and you have to watch a lot of crap before you understand what a gem is.

End of pendantry.
Granpa will now crawl back in his grave.

herby that c**t car

Back in the misty prehistoric days of the early 70's, before the saviour of cinema arrived (George Lucas/Steven Speilberg -delete where applicable) there were a glut of british films made which were based on popular t.v. sitcoms. Man about the House, Father Dear Father, Are You Being Served, Rising Damp, etc. All were pretty naff, but none were as crap as this travesty of celluloid. Ladies and gentlemen I give you-



On The Buses.

Herbie the what????

oh wow. i can swear, how ground up, sorry everyone just tried and how was i supposed to know they would not print c***. sorry.

wow people are awake well f**k me, no please f**k me. sorry not ground up as before but grown up. ( spelling is not my thing)

Its not big, or clever, wash your mouth out, etc.

Which version of the "Love Bug" were you referring to?
The first one is almost bearable, because of Buddy Hackett, but the second...

Destroy all remakes!

But it's got Bruce Campbell in it. And anything with Bruce in it, is, by definition, ace.

As I recall, John Hannah plays the bad guy in it I thoroughly enjoyed it

Bob - Do you mean *cyber-goth*? Nothing wrong with that; better than nu-metal, and I like the music/scene. Don't be a poo.

I wasn't slagging off black and white movies...it's not a conscious thing. My eyes won't adjust to it. I even have problems with *Lost Highway*...which is one of my favorite films...not to mention *Clerks*...

My ex was like that, but he wouldn't even make the effort, which is a great shame cos you miss out on a lot of great films if you don't watch any B&W.

And as for burning one film, I think A View to A Kill probably has to be up there. Tarnishes the otherwise good reputation of Bond films in my opinion. Not helped by the fact it stars a geriatric Roger Moore, who was never that much of a sex symbol to start with but looks positively decaying in this one.

I agree.
Among the Bonds, David Niven and George Lazenby rule!

With regard to B&W on the tube, you can fiddle with the color adjustments and get a slightly different tonal palette.

On the other hand, I find it positively amusing to tune out all the color when I watch anything made by David Lean..., particularly that thing with Omar Sharif in it...co-starring the finest actor who ever drew breath...

tonsil revenge - interesting stuff about colour. Actually, one of the things I like about Lynch is the way he deals with colour and sound. It seems to me that he is one of the very few directors / cinematographers who know how to use colour in the way that the masters of black and white film knew how to use black and white.

Similarly with sound - in most films the music seems incidental to the film. It's playing, and it may even be necessary, but it somehow doesn't mesh with the images so perfectly as in a Lynch film. I don't believe that this is only because he chooses a good soundtrack because a lot of the music in his films I probably wouldn't listen to on its own.

In particular, there's a scene in Lost Highway where the guy walks into the house and there is this gigantic screen projecting a porno film, and suddenly this remarkable music starts playing and the seems to convulse with pain and stumble up the stairs. I don't think I can even describe the experience, although it's certainly unsettling and I'm sure anyone who's seen the film will remember it.

In fact, I don't know anyone who uses sound or colour as well as Lynch does, except maybe in Bladerunner (which in this respect is not as good as a Lynch film, but is very good).