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

Stolen from Twitter on Marley and Me, made me laugh mind so reproduced here:-

"Dad: Are you watching Marley & Me? You'll need tissues.
Me: Why? Is it a porno?" @Donna_Galloway

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I bought a handful of cheap DVD's to do the ironing to, while hubbie was away the other week. I rather like James MacAvoy in A Russian Summer (or something like that) where Christopher Plummer (aged 82) plays Leo Tolstoy.

Another one was the Piers Brosnan/Ewan McGregor film that is not about Tony Blair. Have forgotten the name. Quite a good twist.

I watched "Kidulthood" last night, still as good as the first time but now seen from a different perspective it has a whole new level of horror I never appreciated the first time I watched it.

Maybe its because I knew what was coming or maybe it was me worrying about my own kids' futures or possibly both.

Anyway I didnt write about it the first time so I will now.

The style of the filming does jar on the eye sometimes and on occassions I thought some of the low budget tricks just didnt work but most of the time its lack of polish made me feel like the characters were alive and I wasnt just actors blurting out someone elses words. This effect was helped by the script being realistic and although the characters could be smart there were no clever for clevers sake bits of dialogue that I sometimes feel directors of writers put in just so that people will quote the film.

The story itself has all the best elements of many other films and stories. "Hansel and Grettle" are in there so is "Shane" what makes the film special is that it gives a depth to the headlines of the times about gun and knife gangs in inner cities.

If you havent seen it you really, really should.

You seen "Attack the Block" dude? In a similar sort of vein, though it is a John Carpenter horros style films rather than a "lifetime in a day" style film like Kidulthood.

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I have two children under 2, man. If it aint on the the telly after their (variable) bed times then I dont see it.

Except for the Hangover 2 which doesnt even credit a mention beyond being slightly funny but not worth the ticket price (and they were half price) or the hassel of getting baby sitters. We actually spent longer explaining to people how thye should look after the kids than I did laughing during the film, well it felt that way.

Still the fim wasnt as depressing as looking at the coming attractions posters. Rehashes and sequels everywhere I looked. I must admit to feeling a little excited about the new (rehashed) planet of the apes film, but Ive got a nagging worry Im going to be disappointed again.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Absolutely brilliant.

Mol

I know one shouldn't speak ill of the departed but it's a shame Bluesshark isn't still around to read that Film snob article linked to above. He ticked a lot of boxes in that

Is Blueshark dead?

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I hope not - just gone from the site I meant.

Oh right..... actually looking back at your post now that is obvious. I thought for a moment I must have missed the annoucement or something.

It is a shame Blues moved on from hootoo, he was always interesting in debates and that about all sorts of topics.

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I watched The Reader yesterday. A story about an SS-guard who worked in Auswitzch, stood by as 300 people burned to death and had an affair with a 15 year old. It´s okay though, as she doesn´t know how to read. I guess it´s a good movie, if you like that sort of thing.

The Reader covers certain moral issues. I suppose it is similar to
those working in munitions manufacturering bullets and bombs and
then selling them.

Saw Harry Potter 7.2 on Friday night. Can't bring myself to say I enjoyed it: I felt they got a lot of the characters wrong (Neville isn't the butt of jokes by the end of the books, he's a proper hero), changed things for no reason and then struggled to get the story back on track (Harry and Voldy's convoluted chase around Hogwarts) and got the pacing completely wring, with slower thoughtful scenes being sped up and quick scenes drawn out.

There were a lot of nice moments - Harry, Ron and Hermione running around Hogwarts during the battle really drove home how they were little kids in a war - and they absolutely nailed the two crucial scenes (Harry's walk to his death and Snape's story) so I get as misty-eyed as I wanted to, but it just felt a little disappointing.

HI>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/17/harry-potter-is-a-badass

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I actually quite agree with that as a critique of Harry and Hermione, it's on the other characters that it goes a bit wonky.

I' ve just come back from watching it. On arrival, I was annoyed to find that I had gone to see a 3D showing, and those glasses made it seem as though I was watching through a black veil. Never again! When I peered over the top of the glasses, the screen was much brighter than what I was watching.

I have a feeling they deviated much more from the book than any of the other films have, but I was pleased that they showed the final scene of the book, which made me cry on reading it.

However much changed, the story was well told, but the chemistry between Ron and Hermione and between Harry and Ginny isn't there - but they couldn't know that when they first cast the characters as small kids. Quite honestly, it doesn't convince me in the books either, comes across as rather contrived.

Maggie Smith was magnificent. Julie Walters was wasted, needn't have been in the film at all, really. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I hadn't gone.

On a general note, I am finding more and more on DVD's that the deleted scenes always seem to contain a significant part of the story. When I watch them, as I invariably do, I find that they make sense of parts of the story that my subconscious had questioned at the time, but I had told it to shut up and let me carry on watching the film. An example from the above mentioned film (which I've now found out is called "The Last Station"). Tolstoy is suddenly ill, with no explanation, which seems rather odd. One of the deleted scenes shows the beginnings of his illness which puts things much better into context. Why on earth cut out that scene?

'Peeping Tom' an OK film. Amazed it destroyed Michael Powell's career...different times I suppose.

Skyline...don't, just don't.

Avoid it like the plague...

Horrible Bosses. Jennifer Aniston has come a long way since Friends

I'd describe it as a sex comedy (with murderous undertones) as there were some laugh-out-loud moments, but they were few, and there was a lot of swearing, and quite a bit of sexual shenanigans. We ended up a little perplexed as to whether it was worthwhile sitting through (some of the jokes were childish, with toilet humour and awful puns)but as they treated us to some silly out-takes, we forgave them. And I failed to recognise Colin Farrell.

Did my back in so watched a fair few films of late.

Boyz N The Hood> Strangely not quite a visceral as I remembered. Mostly very good but god damn Cuba Gooding Jnr is annoying.

Limitless> What i'd describe as a good, bad film. Solidly 3/5 but enjoyable crud none the less.

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