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

HA!


I watched Mon Oncle for the first time this weekend.

What did you think of it?

I enjoyed it. The disc also included L'Ecole Des Facteurs. That was fun as well.

Most of this little black and white short features Tati as a postman on his bicycle. I may have to dig out my DVD of Les Triplets de Belleville and see if there were any direct references. There's no doubt that his influence is there.

In his earlier film Jour de Fete he plays a country postman on a bicycle, and there's an extra short film on the 'Holiday' DVD (Criterion Collection) that also features a cycling postman (facteur), which I swear had scenes and music from Jour de Fete, although Tati wasn't playing the facteur in this one - he played a country bumpkin.

No Way Out
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093640/

This both benefits and loses from the fact that it was made in the 80s. It loses because of that awful synthesiser incidental music, but it benefits because of the rudimentary computing of the time, compared to today. If it was made today it would all be too flash and high-tech, like those touch-screens in the latest James Bond film. Perhaps it came across that way at the time, but it's always funny to see films from ten or twenty years ago which have a strong computer element. It's also very noticeably pre-9/11. The makers would have to jump through so many hoops to get that helicopter flyover of Washington at the beginning and end that they'd probably just go with stock footage. It is a very, very good film. Second best thing Kevin Costner's done after Bull Durham

Oh, yea... I love that one. And I don't care how bat crazy she became later, Sean Young was delicious in that roll.

Yes she was And she was hardly a bag-over-the-head job in Blade Runner either

She was hot in a still-suit in Dune as well.

Watched the new BBC version of 39 Steps last night.

I've seen it 3 times this year now, The Times was giving away a DVD of the original in September, with Robert Donat, and I got that, and the local theatre - The Belgrade - did a stage version of it back in March.

All in all I probably enjoyed the stage play the most.

What's your opinion of the BBC version?

I think it was - average. I don't see the value in some of the plot changes they made ~ and the ending was weak.

I particularly disliked the change they made to the lead female role.

(avoiding spoilers for those who haven't seen it.)

I've never actually read the book. Did the Robert Donat film stay faithful to the story? And wasn't there a version with... whatsisface... married to a Pan's People... one half of The Detectives with Jasper Carrott. Can't recall his name.

Any road up. Since I'm here...

The Cotton Club
I haven't seen this film since I went to see it at the flicks when it first came out. It holds up well. Coppola has a knack of making musicals that aren't cheesy (see One From the Heart too) by giving them a heavily stylised and semi-fantasy (or wholly fantasy in the case of One From the Heart) treatment. I want to see it on the big screen again - I think it should be one of the Drafthouse's 'Cinema Cocktails' films. Bartender, I'd like a Manhattan.

That's a fair question - it's a long time since I read the book, and I don't remember the female part being so important when they were in Scotland, but I don't know.

Hmm - I wonder if my Buchan is still in the loft...

Robert Powell - that's the bloke I was thinking of.

Kenneth Moore did a version as well. Which was even more memorable for co-star Tania Elg.

Deke

Yeah, I could see him as Richard Hannay.

Any road up...

Topkapi.

This one's been sitting at the top of my Netflix queue for several months with the legend 'Very long wait' next to it. About a week ago it became 'Long wait', but before it had a chance to become 'Short wait' I found it in my mailbox.

It goes back to a time when 'The Jet Set' really meant something because airline travel wasn't for the likes of you and me. Only people like Simon Templar and John Drake went to exotic places like Istanbul, and they only went there on matters of high importance to national security and bashing up Johnny Foreigner.

Peter Ustinov did 'seedy and cowardly' very well. And it's always a joy to see Robert Morley.

This is based on Graham Greene book isn't it - the book has a different title....

I've got this image of Peter Ustinov sitting on a little stool wiping his face with a handkerchief....

Good film.

Eric Ambler, not Graham Greene.

No, that was a different film, but I know that image too. Peter Ustinov must have done it more than once.

This is England

I couldn't watch all of the film - I found it too uncomfortable and brought back too many unpleasant memories. I got as far as the bit where Combo and his mates show up at the birthday party with the stuff they just half-inched from the shop.

The Spirit
I'm a big fan of Will Eisner but I've never read this one. I go more for his Dropsie Avenue stories such as A Life Force. I really enjoyed this film though. There's a very strong Sin City feel about it, but there would be wouldn't there, being directed by Frank Miller. It really did feel like a Will Eisner comic come to life. And it's bloody weird seeing Samuel Jackson in a Nazi uniform

The Two Towers extended version
Nuff said.