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

The Second Best Marigold etc etc has come out in Germany as

The Best Marigold Hotel II.

Which rather misses the point.

Tom Wilkinson joining a group of people who have been laid off to follow a crazy scheme to make money? That was the Full Monty!

Well, he's at it again, then!

Last night I saw the new Disney live-action "Cinderella," full of cute CGI mice and lizards. A charming movie, though probably not aimed at a grumpy codger like me . On her deathbed, Cinderella's mother urges Cinderella to always have courage and be kind. This becomes the film's mantra, and the philosophy spreads to the Prince and even the King.

With Cate Blanchett as the smoothly cruel stepmother, Lily James as Cinderella, Helena Bonham-Carter as the godmother, Richard Madden as the pri8nce, and Derek Jacobi as the old King. There are some nice comic touches as the stepsisters mince around in ridiculously ornate dresses and sing off-key. The coachman looks and acts like the goose he really is. The lizard footmen still have lizard tails poking out form under their coats. It's really a lot of fun, if not exactly adult fare.

'Tom Wilkinson joining a group of people who have been laid off to follow a crazy scheme to make money? That was the Full Monty!'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWZBdTCsRCY

PP.

Mockingjay part 1. On DVD because my children wouldn't let me go to see it in the cinema.

I know the penultimate film in a series usually gets some flack (mainly for not being the final one, as far as I can make out) and I did get that Deathly Hallows 1 feeling at the end (ie, I'm not sure I can bear to watch the final film) but that's probably inevitable under the circs.

I thought it was a good adaptation of the first half of the final Hunger Games book, and the break came in the right place. It didn't convey particularly well how carefully-regulated life was in District 13 (there were hints, and it was beautifully reflected by the Capitol's instructions to workers in District 8, but I didn't see any daily schedule printed on people's wrists). And President Coin was a tiny bit too ... nice ...

... But the film captured brilliantly how Katniss struggled against becoming a revolutionary figurehead (which is basically what the first half of the story is about). It was also good to see the rebellions in the other districts, which we only hear about second-hand in the books.

Not a film for the emotionally fragile, though, and part 2 is going to be even worse in that respect

Mol

Just watch the three Toy Story films again, and boy are they good!

Every time I watch them I keep picking up on new small, side jokes, and the end is still a tear jerker!

I don't see anything I really want to watch in the theaters this week. I might borrow a DVD from the Library and watch that instead.

Home:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLGDJkhYnVc

It looked sort of minionesque in the trailers.

But it wasn't. Not recommended.

PP.

It won't be shown in my area until seven o'clock tonight. How did you get a chance to see it in advance? But apart from that, even if it's a kiddie flick, I'd prefer that to the "Fast and Furious 7 Millionth sequel" and "Run all Night" kind of violence-fests that seem to infest the theaters after the previous year's award-winners have left and the summer blockbusters aren't yet ready .

But comic violence I can enjoy sometimes. Will Ferrell is set to star in a movie about a white collar criminal who is to go to San Quentin [it's a prison], and he feels a need to be educated about getting tough enough to survive prison.

It was on release since last week at our local cinema. Letchworth Broadway - it's a lovely cinema.

It is fairly normal for kiddie flicks to have stuff going on at an adult sort of level nowadays - or at least so that adults 'get' it.

The last cartoon I saw was Book of Life - which worked very well for an adult (even if it was mostly down to the Day of the Dead imagery).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_jjeqzJtgI

PP.

"Book of life" had so much color and pageantry going on that it was hard to resist it.

Anyway, this time of year isn't the greatest for new movies. The movie industry makes its big bucks in the Summer, and garners its awards in the Fall/Winter. The worst stuff, if it gets released at all, comes out in February and March. That way the studios can craft an upward curve, so things seem to be getting better as the year goes along.

I went to see "A little Chaos" yesterday. At the box office, the lady in front of me asked for a ticket to "A spot of bother"

The reviews weren't brilliant, but I try and make a point of going when they show films in the original English version. The German title is simply "The gardener of Versailles", which rather gives too much away. Nevertheless it was a very atmospheric film. Alan Rickman was definitely totally wrong as the French King, but who knows, perhaps he was like that. You usually imagine him more camp than that.

The king's brother, played by Stanley Tucci, was very famously gay and Stanley Tucci's first appearance was so brilliant, I nearly applauded in the middle of the film - like an instrumental solo at a concert.

He was married to Liselotte von der Pfalz who was very sweet - I think she should actually have been far cheekier than she was played. I really must write that entry on her. I have a copy of her letters by my bed which I haven't got round to reading yet. (Let alone replying to - boom tish)

Anyway, the whole thing was a fabrication, and the story totally predictable, and the people extremely un-French, but it was a nice way to spend an hour and a half.

We Yanks won't get to see that movie until after June 26, if we get to see it at all.

The other night I saw "Tomorrowland," which was visually astonishing . i8 might have to see it a few more times in order to figure out the plot, though

Wow, a while since I caught up here. Chappie and Jupiter Ascending were very good. We enjoyed the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel but couldn't work out what was going on with the Maggie Smith character. Was she supposed to be living out her final days? She gave us the best laughs in a film that had a LOT of running about - we were exhausted by the end

Kingsman: The Secret Service - this was so gory in parts I started to heave but it was action-packed and unexpectedly swerving here and there, worth watching.

While We're Young - only go see this if you're a Ben Stiller mega-fan.

We're trying to find time to go see San Andreas in 3D and the new Jurassic Park, can't wait for those

GB

San Andreas has only just opened here. Last night I saw Brad Cooper and Emma Stone in "Aloha," where the scenery often upstaged the actors. The plot seemed to be tacked on as an afterthought, something to be thinking about when Brad and Emma weren't agonizing about whether to be lovers...

I watched The Constant Gardener yesterday, which as a revenge movie is quite a failure. Fiennes plays a rather spineless guy working for the High Commision in Kenya. His wife dies and he discovers she was murdered, due to what she knew. He then investigates and basically let's the murderers get away with it.

I missed "Constant Gardener" when in was in the theaters. I kicked myself for not seeing it when it got an Oscar [or Oscar nomination]. I haven't had a chance to see it on DVD -- been too busy planting seeds, weeding, mulching, watering, and other seasonal activities.

I got the DVD of the Constant Gardener ages ago and remember being totally enchanted by the film.

I watched Skyfall again at the weekend and am in awe at Ralf Fiennes' acting - when he's playing M, you don't even have in the back of your mind that he was once Voldemort.

If he had you convinced that he was Judy Dench, then he's a consummate actor.

But, yes, I can't see him without imagining him as Voldemort, though much better looking. Voldemort was supposed to look as ugly outside as he was inside.

At the end of Skyfall, he has been appointed the new "M".