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

'The Road' (2009)

Adapted from Cormac McCarthys novel, this is the story of a man and a boy, trekking the roads of post apocalyptic America in search of food and shelter whilst avoiding cannibalistic gangs. The book is fantastic, you can almost read it in one sitting and the film does an amazing job of getting the look of the film right. It looks near exactly as I pictured it would. Aside the smallest of heart warming moments it's grim stuff. The trek itself is hard, mainly pushing a shopping cart of possessions in the freezing cold with makeshift shoes on and there are no animals and all plant life is dead so there's not much to smile about but that's what life after the apocalypse would be like I guess. The man tries to balance his protective instincts over the boy with preparing the boy for when the man dies and the boy has to go it alone and it's acted well. It adds nothing new to the book and takes little away from it so it's a job well done.

8/10

'Laura' (1944)

I was impressed with this. Gene Tierney plays Laura who is part of a murder mystery and we have the detective investigating mainly the fiance and the good friend, both of whom dislike each other. We get occassional flashbacks to fill us in on how they came to have their relationships with Laura as the investigation continues and keeps you guessing right to the end in true noir style. The whole cast in this are really impressive but it is really hard not to just stare at Gene Tierney and marvel at how remarkably beautiful she is. It really is quite unbelievable.

So all in all, it's definately worth watching.

8/10

I've been wanting to watch 'The Road' Boss

Aye it's good Reba. Have you read the book?

'The A-Team' (2010)

Well would you believe it, the've only went and made a great A-Team movie. I was sceptical going into it but it turns out that that they got the casting just right and the characters were just spot on and I was really rooting for them. The film takes us through how they got together as a group, the story of why they were imprisoned and also them trying to clear their names. The action sequences are first class and plentiful and it moves along with a great pace. They are supported by a suitable cast of bad guys and in particular a character called 'Pike' played by Brian Bloom who we could have done with seeing a bit more of. The holding off of displaying the classic A-Team imagery until the end was a great move and it also keeps it set up for a sequel which I'll be looking forward too.

9/10

'(500) Days of Summer' (2009)

This film is a different twist on a romantic comedy. Tom is the chap involved and he meets Summer who starts to work in his office where he writes the messages in greeting cards. He's a bit of a romantic and thinks she's 'the one' and sets about trying to date her. He succeeds but there are a few twists and turns along the way, a good few in fact. It's set over 500 days and the story jumps back and forward to seemingly random days they are together and a picture forms of what is actually going on in their relationship. Scenes are short and there are a few quirky off-beat scenes thrown in there too. Some of them work, some of them don't but the director Marc Webb had no big screen experience prior to this and had made music videos before so you can see where that's came from and the overall style works well with the content.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I enjoyed in the movie 'Brick' is really good in this but Zooey Deschanel is completely captivating. This is the first film I've saw with her in it and she was amazing. The film is not perfect but it's different enough to be enjoyable and well worth watching!

7/10

'Broken' (2006)

This film was completely dull and boring. Some nutcase tries to go all Jigsaw from Saw for about ten minutes after abducting a woman and her daughter then not only ties her to a tree and gets her to grow veg!! but he also gives a satisfying smirk when she grows a good potato. Obviously she seduces him and after presumed sex he turns from mr tough guy to rolling around oversleeping presenting her with an escape chance, It all seemed pointless. Some sort of plot would have made it a bit better but it had absolutely nothing and I didn't like it.

1/10

'Nine Queens' (2002)

This is an Argentinian con-man movie, and it's a good one, right up there with the best of them. The two con man meet after the more amateurish one Juan (Gaston Pauls) fails in a con at a service station and is bailed out of the situation by the quick thinking and vastly more experienced con artist Marcos (Ricardo Darin). Their relationship begins and they impress each other with different small cons. They are put on to a potential massive score by selling a fake set of rare stamps (The Nine Queens) to a soon to be deported stamp collector staying at a hotel in town. And there you go, that’s the set up, and it kicks on beautifully from there. It twists and turns and keeps you on the edge of you seat right until the end. Very well done indeed.

8/10

"Land of the Lost"

Stars Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel.

Will plays a clapt out scientist who is convinced that paralell universes exist, and belives he can invent a time machine that doesnt go backwards or forwards, but travels sideways instead, no one belives him apart from Anna's character, who has been a fan of Will's work for years, she convinces him to create the time machine and they go to test it in the dessert, where they pick up danny, a hill billy theme park owner, the machine works and they are taken to land where dinosaurs and giant crabs rule, the film focus's on the trio working out how to get back to the present and they get them selves into all sorts of trouble, from having a monkey man tag along with them to saving the human race from aliens, the film is mainly aimed at children, but will and dannys performance made it worth watching, its is a very random film, but id deffinatly recommend it
8/10

"Death Race"

stars that Jason guy who went out with kelly brooke and Tyrese Gibson.
The film is set in the near future, and a death row prison has created a way of making money for the prison, by telivising a death race where inmates of the prison must race for thier lives in all types of vehicles, they have weapons and deffence which is activated when they drive over certain lights in the ground and if a inmate makes it to 8 races they are allowed to walk free from jail!
Lots of fast cars, explosions, guns, fights and DEATH! but not much can be said for the acting, i was expecting much more from this, i'll give it a 4/10

"A Perfect Getaway"
"6 Strangers, 2 Killers, 1 Paradise Island"

Stars Milla Jovovich
Loved this film, full of twists so i need to be carefull not to spoil any, the basis of the story is about a newly wed couple who decide to go to Hawaii for thier honeymoon, whilst there they hear about another newly wed couple who were murdered a few days before by a unkown man and woman, it spooks them out a bit but they decide to carry on with the holiday, along the way they meet 2 other couples and thats when the suspisions start to arise, everything each person says is taken out of context and no one knows who to trust, i thought i worked out who the killers were within minutes but turned out i was wrong, its very well acted and i found it very tense in places. would like to say more about it but i dont want to spoil it, deffinatly worth a watch
9/10

Nice one kotch! I have the Prefect Getaway one on my rental list.

Land of The Lost though? I watched some of that and switched it off mate but I've now made a mental note to beware of some of your recommendations in future

'Julia' (2008)

Julia is an alchoholic. She gets fired after a particularly wild night and gets caught in a cycle of getting out of her mind on drink and waking up in mens beds with no memory of what went on, she is supported by her friend Mitch who takes oon the thankless task of helping her. At an AA meeting, she meets a neighbour of hers who pleads for Julias help in getting her daughter back from her husbands father who has custody of him with the promise of a hefty chunk of cash when they take him to Mexico. Julia thinks she can make more money with a scheme of her own which she carries through and leads her on a rollercoaster ride of emotion and drama.
Tilda Swinton plays Julia and yet again she shows how amazing she is, she does all that edgy emotional stuff so well and she's a joy to watch. The plot itself reminded me slightly of the film 'A Perfect World' as the kidnapper and kidnapped develop a bond although in this, the law and the would be extorted party are faceless as it's all about Julia. The runtime is a bit long for my preference and they maybe could have cut out one or two of the bonding scenes and still got the point across but overall, this was a pretty strong film.

7/10

they were talking about The Road on the radio this morning its aparenlty brilliant will have to get that from Lidl next

Aye do it man, it's class. The book though, it's one of the best.

Can't believe they sell DVD's in Lidl actually!

Sell them? No its like a DVD film hire - you pay a monthly charge and they send the films out to you with a prepaid envelope.

You watch and then send back!

Always forget to go back to Extrvision/Chartbusters so this is a lot handier!

So far watched Avatar which was cwap brilliant effects but kept expecting Arnie to turn up - or at least an iceberg

Sherlock Holmes - really good - very witty script

And this one tonight the George Clooney one!

Also have - if mememory serves Ashes to Ashes series, 24 Hour Party People and the Boat - film about Radio Caroline on a boat. I think.

Got ya PSD.

'The Boat That Rocked' that one is called I'm sure. I don't fancy Avatar now that I missed it at the cinema. 24 Hour Party People is tip top though. I loved that!

The Boat that Rocked - thats it

"Mirrors"

Staring Kiefer Sutherland, he plays a disgraced cop, who has been place on leave, he gets a part time job as a night guard for a burnt down shopping mall, he also is going through a hard time with his wife and they are currently on a break, during his shifts at the mall he notices that the only thing that hasnt been damaged in the fire is the large ornate mirrors throughout the mall, he finds out that when he looks into the mirrors he can see horrible images of burn victims and nasty deaths, on some occasions he can feel the pain of the people in the reflections, the mirrors soon take over his life and he is convinced there is something sinister going on and he is determined to find out what is going on before it cathes up with him and his family, i found the film to be very chilling in parts and will have you shouting "no dont do that!!" it does turn out to be a very good horror, and keeps the viewer enticed throughout

8/10

Sounds good Kotch

What is the zombie film that came out last year or the year before made in Spanish?

Its set in a house, made in Spain and its supposed to be brilliant. I would love to see it