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

I've just come back from seeing "Vantage Point" at the SS, talk about blown away (sorry) it's fast, furious, don't blink, keep up, nothing is quite what you think it is and the set up is excellent. That's from my vantage point, I was hanging onto the chair arms, but some of the old biddies were getting up and leaving by the end of the second _rewind, full reverse, let's see it again from another person's vantage point_ ...the people on my row were actually swaying at one point and I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that car chase is the BEST I've seen since Bullett w-a-y back when...never mind

This gets the full 10/10 from me (and the best choice, I reckon, the other film was "The Other Boylen Girl")

Sho, Remains Of The Day is a classic. Thompson and Hopkins simmer together. It's one of those really taut ones that doesn't always need a lot of dialogue to communicate a lot.

" ... gonna stick my neck out and say that car chase is the BEST I've seen since erm Bullett ..."

Interesting choice of words, I recall my neck hurting after watching Bullitt. Those San Francisco hills are NOT the place for a high speed run ...

Say what you like about the film but the best car chase I've seen was in Matrix Reloaded.

Though of course they could cheat a bit in that...

The very best car chase scene was in the Blues Brothers

All lies. Smokey And The Bandit.

Nope, definitely The Blues Brothers. Better soundtrack too!

... and for car chases, only the American guy nominates "The Italian Job".

Charlie Croker: Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road.

Blues Bros. soundtrack - no argument.

3000 BC w00t hellofaflick

kidding jeez

I've been cruising through the HD movie channel and capturing some classics that I should have seen and didn't or saw but forgot or perhaps saw and want to see again. So far I've seen:

Solient Green - you simply must see this if you haven't if for no other reason than to see what the future view of NY was like in 1967

Lawrence of Arabia – I loved it but I’m going to have to see it again just because now I know what is happening

White Fang – ahhhhh – ok I fast forwarded past the dog fighting scenes because I am a wimp and although I can watch people get blown to tiny bits I can’t see animals hurt

Close Encounters – seen it several times but I saw it on the listing and had to see it again

The Killing Fields – saw it in film crit in college. It’s better sans paper due at the end

Full Metal Jacket – shocking every time but a must see

We've just watched The Day After Tomorrow with our daughters (11 and 9).

Entertaining rubbish. We correctly predicted who was going to die, when the wolves would appear, that his mum would stay with the kid with cancer ... although we did sort of miss what happened to Ian Holm and his mates (presumably they froze to death). Anyway, there are worse ways to spend a Saturday evening (especially as we've just bought the PS2 karaoke of High School Musical )

Mol

Actually, the best car chase in thriller is The Bourne Identity. But I agree, in the realm of comedy, Blues Brothers chase takes top honors.

"Ping Pong" (2002), Japanese (with English subtitles in my case).

Based on Japanese graphic novels (comics?) of the same title, a very stylish movie with good acting by young Japanese actors. Pretty realistic, about high school "table tennis" athletes in intense competition, with emphasis on the meaning of competition, friendship, "heroes", etc. Nominated for eight Japanese Academy Awards including best film.

The "Making Of" documentary was very interesting. In particular, the lead actors (who were not pro or even amateur players), played "air table tennis" - there was no ball. It looked very believable, to the point where I was wondering "how did they get the doubles to look so much like the actors?" They WERE the actors, having spent a couple of months with a coach on the MOTIONS. The director said this allowed them to concentrate on the acting rather than hitting the ball. The ball was added with CG, and was amazingly real (this from all the cast and me, who dabbles in animation). Very cool.

The animators were not so happy about the camera motion, a real headache for matching the CG to the action ...

Best car chase in recent movies must surely go to "Tell No-One"?

Not been to the cinema for a couple of weeks so I'm a bit behind on my viewing. Is "The Bank Job" still on? Anyone seen it?

RF

I've not seen the bank job but...it's still showing at... 49 cinemas, at least, nationally. probably about three thimes that number not including independants. So yes.

I've been playing computer games so I haven't seen anything since Bug which I can't remember if I posted about and I've had a big diner so I can't motivate myself to check.

I watched Romero's "Day of the Dead" the other day.

"The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (2007)

Documentary about diehard video game fans competing to break World Records on classic arcade games, like Donkey Kong, Centipede, Missile Command, etc. Interesting documentary about people really committed to a single goal, the focus being on the highest score in Donkey Kong. A long time champ fends off a talented newbie challenger by methods not always admirable.

I was impressed by the complexity of "Donkey Kong", e.g.: "The 22nd level is unofficially known as the kill screen due to an error in the game's programming that kills Jumpman after a few seconds, effectively ending the game." Apparently only a few people have ever gotten to the Kill screen. More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_%28video_game%29

Walter Day: I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be the center of attention. I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame. I wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, "Hi, I see that you're good at Centipede."

I saw "King of Kong" last month. I didn't expect to be so annoyed at what a Billy Mitchell was. Nor did I expect the documentary to be as engaging as it was.

Saw "No Country For Old Men" over the weekend. It's nowhere near as violent as it had been made out to be, nor is it as good. I'm glad I watched it, but picture of the year? It's a decent film, but it's not all *that*.

Also watched "Werckmeister Harmonies" recently. Now *that* was a good one.

Blimey! Cinema-going (or the reporting thereof) has really dropped off over the last two weeks!

I went to see Vantage Point...er...the weekend before last guilty of being late with this report!

Yes. Go see. Before it disappears completely and you have to wait for the DVD.

The premise is fairly simple, you get to see an event through a number of different xxx-gonists (I can never distinguish my protagonist from my antigonist). But it is really very well done, and it tells a good story. A bit of deus ex machina involved but hey, you can't have everything.

So, what's new and worth watching this week?

RF

Has anyone seen Shine A Light yet?

Saw a quite interesting spanish horror movie called REC the other day..quite jumpy in places