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

Galaxy Quest is an amazing film! It manages to parody all the sci-fi series and films without actually insulting them. Utter brilliance!

Galaxy Quest. Must see if I can find a cheap DVD of it for myself. Come to think of it, I might even have one somewhere. Course, it had to have Sam Rockwell in it!

I didn't recognise him. Or Tim Allen - it was only after a while I realised his voice was familiar and blurted out 'Is that Buzz Lightyear?'.

My absolute favourite line was the one from the nerd's parents after he'd explained what he was going out to do: 'Well, at least he's outside'.

People who like Galaxy Quest might also like Cruise of the Gods, which is an affectionate look at the world of uber fandom (and washed-up actors, but without the aliens)

Mol

Ed Miliband has a small role as one of the nerd aliens in Galaxy Quest.

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows 2

I cry *all the time* at films but I have to say, this one is probably the weepiest. I pretty well start snivelling over the opening credits and keep going all the way to the end. But I do *always* cheer and punch the air when Neville kills the snake. Just like I did when I saw it in the cinema

Mol

Man of Steel

As a child reading the comic books, Superman was always my favourite. Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Hulk and all the other were just circus freaks compared to the ultimate superhero - and this film just emphasised his awesomosity. Loved it. Whilst "Pacific Rim" was just CGI wrapped around a tenuous plot, "Man of Steel" used CGI to enhance the story, to illustrate the pure other-wordliness of Superman.

So the Christ analogies were everywhere again (appearing floating in the air before supplicants, aged 33 when he finds his true role, guided by a father who exists as a conscience) - meh. Superman has always been a Christ analog.

On a sidenote - is Michael Shannon the new Christopher Walken? Great performance.

I plan to see "About Time" tonight.

"Galaxy Quest" remains on the list of my all-time faves. Ian hasn't seen it so I'm looking forward to sharing it with him sometime/next time we watch a film, because last night we watched his choice of old DVD - Popeye - oh dear! Did Robin Williams get any work after making that?

Today we're going to see either Captain Philips or The Fifth Estate, we'll make a decision when we get there as we want to see both, but it depends which rolls over to next week, they don't always. The other choice is Romeo and Juliet which got a resounding "No" from t'other half.

GB

Philomena.

Judy Dench and Steve Coogan (who plays a blinder).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DBPqcp6Hc4

First class film. Highly recommended.

PP.

"About Time" turned out to be charming and funny and thoroughly enjoyable. Bill Nighy was his usual offbeat self.

Tuesday night I saw "Free Birds," in which a coupleof rebel turkeys take a time machine back to the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Their goal is to ensure that turkeys will not become the main food at future Thanksgivings.

I saw About Time a couple of weeks ago. Bill Nighy / Richard Curtis.

Does what it says on the tin.

Recommended.

PP.

We saw The Butler last week. Oscar contender without a doubt.

This week, however, we saw The Counsellor mainly because Brad Pitt was in it, and it was directed by Ridley Scott. It opened with a scene which was a bedroom scene which led us to believe we'd walked into the wrong theatre. But we stuck it out. The film was about a lawyer, although I only saw him actually do one lawyer-type job. He gets mixed up with a drug cartel, and it gets a bit messy from there. Cue various gory deaths - Ridley Scott has obviously been taking lessons from Quentin Tarantino.

I did not know before today that a woman could have sex with a car. And that's all I'm prepared to say about that.

When the sewage truck had changed hands, quite violently, it pulled in somewhere in the desert to be, er, valeted. Bullet holes were soldered, Mexican women hosed out the blood, the one surviving drug runner got the bullethole in his leg fixed while all this was going on and when the sun dipped below the horizon about an hour later, the truck went on its way again, so not your regular pit-stop.

I figured all the graphic descriptions of the worst the drug cartel would do to you if they wished were being told to the lawyer to prime us for what happened to various characters. I was correct.

When I sensed what was going to happen to Brad Pitt's character, I had to hide behind my fingers, and thankfully when I looked at my hands afterwards, they were still intact. I would have liked at least one of them to get away with it, and I was hoping it was going to be Brad Pitt. What a waste of a lovely head.

I can't recommend this to anyone other than fans of Tarantino's art.

GB

I had hoped to see "Counselor," but it left the theaters near me before I got the chance. Saturday night I saw "Nebraska," expecting little but ending up impressed. It's about Woody Grant, an old man [played by Bruce Dern] who frustrates his family by going off on tangents. He gets one of those junk-mail "You may have won a million dollars" cards in the mail, and doesn't notice the "if" part. He doesn't drive any more, and his wife refuses to drive him to Lincoln, Nebraska so he can claim his million dollars. Undeterred, he starts walking to Lincoln. The police bring him into the statioin, and his younger son Dave brings him back to his annoyed wife, who thinks he belongs in a nursing home. Dave has a kind heart [when you meet the others in the family, you'll realize that he may be the only one who does]. Dave takes time off from his job and starts south toward Nebraska with his father. The rest of the movie is concerned with what he finds. Along the way Woody loses his false teeth by the side of some old train tracks, gets a hero's welcome in Hawthorne, Nebraska [where he grew up] for winning the million dollars, and sets off some ugly family dynamics when his brothers and nephews and old friends/enemies try to get some of the money they think he has won. When it dawns on them that the "prize" is a scam, they then ridicule him unmercifully. In the end, Dave is the only one in the family who tries to make things right for his father.

In preparation for the second Hunger Games film tonight, I watched the first one again on DVD last night. I'm sure they cut loads out - I remember the opening scenes being much longer when I saw the first episode in the cinema.

I caught Knights Tale on the telly the other night, I'd forgot how much fun it is, probably because it doesn't take itself seriously.

Last night I saw "Philomena." It stars Dame Judy Dench and Steve Coogan in a story [apparently based on a true story] about an elderly woman who gave up a male baby 50 years earlier, and would like to know what happened to him. The name "Philomena" is based on a Greek name that means "beloved."

TC if you enjoyed the first Hunger Games you will enjoy the second, as I did. It's quite true to the book, if you've read it. I couldn't put the books down. Part three is going to be a two-parter, not sure why, money-spinner probably. Can't wait though!

GB

I did enjoy it, GB. These days it takes a lot to draw in this cynical old into a fantasy world but the actors are so amazing and disbelief is willingly surrendered. I was with my colleagues from work and it was good to be able to talk about it afterwards, e.g. the parallels with real life and other films/books

Hunger Games has parallels in real life?



If there's a real society where young people are forced to kill each other, I want to avoid it. Children should be cherished and allowed to grow up safe and healthy.