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

The Adjustment Bureau.

Really enjoyed it, as did others around us, well recommended.

GB

Hi GB

I liked their take on the idea of god as chairman. It's not that we're evil sinners but that we're just not ready to handle free will.
And Love Triumphs!

But the predestination thing,

Hi Tumsup, yes, it definitely made you think, that film. My brain is still whirling, and I no longer regard it as coincidence when strange things happen

Unknown.

Very good indeed; I had no idea what was going on until the end and it's not a film you could see twice... better shut up before I give the game away

OK, a bit out of date now but I saw Kick Ass on the telly at the weekend.

What an absolute cracker. One of the most fun films I've seen for a long time - watched it twice in fact as the missus was away for the night so I made her watch it the next day. Aside from all the high comedy and cracking action, it also had a pretty dark side too which made it all the better.

Gotta agree about Kick Ass. It...um...oh, what's that phrase?

RF

I saw Paul the other day. Very, very funny. I knew Simon Pegg was in it but I didn't know that he'd written it.

My favourite scene was when the lads encounter the local sheriff in a western town. he says "So you're from England. I hear you don't have guns there"
"That's right"
The sheriff looks puzzled and then says"Then how can the police shoot people?"

We'll be seeing Paul on Tuesday, can't wait

Just got in and there's a Bruce Willis film on, which I've never seen before, Mercury Rising, so report later

I should warn you if you don't like crude language, it features very prominently.

It also has one of the sweetest twists at the end.

I watched Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs on BD last night.

Not the best of recent animated films...OK but predictable plot, not as engaging as How To Train Your Dragon or Up or Coraline. I'm sure the 3D effects were good when it got its cinema release, but in 2D it was rather flat. Lack of decent script and clichéd characterisation.

RF

Kick Ass - Nicholas Cage playing a superb part, erally showing he can act when he wants to just like in 'Bad Lieutenant - New Orleans' - yes he's OTT in it in parts but it fits the film.

Paul - don't expect or compare to Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz...not the same films not the audience. Very funny, enjoyable film.

JCVD - excellent performance from Jean Claude Van Damme in a film that stretched him in his acting and it all worked very well.

Saw "The Eagle" a good week ago now. I think the fact that I forgot to mention it till now indicates that it's not a film you have to rush to see.

It took me four days to realise that the British slave that went with the Roman to Scotland was played by the chap who was Billie Elliot.

It's years since I read the book, so I had forgotten most of it, but the story was very predictable, and full of cliches. It was interestingly filmed, though, all tinged blue and foggy, and I suppose if you don't know a lot about what things were like in the 2nd century, you could learn a lot from it. But I went with my husband, the Latin teacher, so he was extremely critical, which sort of spoiled any enjoyment that might have been gleaned from it.

I watched Zombieland tonight..

It's a film that contains Woody Harrelson, and he's fast becoming someone who follows the Clint Eastwood rule: if a film contains Woody Harrelson (or is directed by Clint Eastwood) it's going to be in the top 25% of films made. Harrelson has made a career of not making a "Hollywood" career - he plays difficult, unsympathetic characters like Larry Flynt, whch no-one else would touch.

Zombieland is a fairly straightforward zom/rom/com*. The "com" part is largely black humour, with very few laugh-out-loud moments (unlike Sean Of The Dead), but it is well made, even if the storyline is somewhat predictable. It's interesting to compare this with another post-apocalyptic film I saw recently, The Book Of Eli. One of these films seems like a realistic portrayal...and it ain't TBOE. Harrelson brings reality to what he does, as does nerdy Jesse Eisenberg, now best known for that Facebook film.

The cinematography makes a lot of use of the new 1000 frames/second technology, so there's lots of slo-mo bloodletting special effects.

Anyway, it gets the thumbs up from me. (HI enjoyed it less, but still watched it all the way through) It's actually quite a good film, and the zombie stuff is really just a McGuffin.

RF

* isn't it that this is now a genre?

Proper!

And also how good is *that* cameo (not wanting to spoil it for anyone who has not seen the movie )!

FB

Yes! That cameo was cool bananas!

RF

Ooh yes, we saw that a couple of weeks back, cool bananas indeed and everything else said in the last two posts

I reallt want to go and see "Submarine" but it isnt showing at the multiplex. I mean really what is the point in having 19 screens if you dont cater for different tastes.

FB

I just finished watching Equilibrium. It´s a shame this movie is rather overlooked, it deserves better. Most people seem to think it´s a Matrix ripoff, even if they only share a few similarities.

Firstly, Equilibrium, superb film not Mtrixy at all..OK there is a 'lobbyish' shoot-out but it is very different from the Matrix one.



FILM HELP:

A work colleague mentioned a film where a robbery/heist took place partly in a lift shaft in silence. It was a French film but he can;t remember the name of it.

It's not Rififi which has a slightly similar scene.

Oh yes, I remember the scene The title eludes me just now. Unless it was it the one from Rififi