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

Ghandi

A fine film, and thankfully unencumbered by music, mostly.

When Worlds Collide
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044207/

A halfway decent sci-fi movie from the early 50s, before 50s sci-fi movies got just plain stupid and had to have 1) a monster, preferably alien 2) a scientist 3) a woman who is written as being smart yet does nowt but scream hysterically 4) a disbelieving local law enforcement officer.

I like the bit at the beginning where they decide to run the figures through the 'differential analyser' It's a computer made of cogs and cams and pulleys It takes several hours to crunch the numbers - a task that could probably be done in moments by a $5 calculator these days.

All in all though a film that treats its audience with intelligence. And I hear they're doing a remake. Just as long it doesn't have bloody Keanu Reeves in it

Coupling, Series 2

There are few things that can make me laugh out loud as much as Coupling can. I must admit that I find Susan and Steve completely irritating, except when Steve comes out with one of his 'We're blokes, that what we do' speeches. Those are quite incisive. Series two has the one about cushions: "You bring these things into our homes. They sit on our chairs. They watch our televisions. Now, I just need to know, on behalf of all men everywhere, I just need to ask, please... What are they for? I mean, look at them! Look at the chubby little bastards! Just sitting around everywhere! What are they, pets for chairs?".

Then there's the one about pot pourri - "Looks like breakfast, smells like your auntie."

I need to find the episode where he says "When two people go out on a date the woman always knows one thing more than the man... whether or not they're going to have sex".

So true.

My sofa came with cushions and I don't know what they're for either.

Yea, I loved the sofa pillow rant.

I'm so glad the U.S. version died a quick and fairly painless death.

I can only watch the U.S. version of The Office if I try and forget how excellent the original was.

Layer Cake

I do like that film So much so that it's one of the few that I own. I was going to watch Withnail and I (which I also own) again, but then I saw Layer Cake on the shelf and thought 'Ooooohhh, yeah! That's what I'm in the mood for'. Glad I did too.

Digging around last night through stacks of DVDs and tapes stacked in my bedroom, I saw my home recorded video tape of Office Space.

I almost popped it in and then I remembered that I bought the special edition DVD with extra flair.

Channell 4 was showing 'when did you last see your father' last night, so I watched that again.

It was totally ruined by the ad breaks, they just shattered the atmosphere of it.

There ought to be a law against showing films on commercial stations.

However... speaking of Channel Four, I just watched Those Glory Glory Days If it weren't for Channel Four Films we'd never have had that one, or P'Tang Yang Kipperbang, or My Beautiful Laundrette or Rita, Sue and Bob Too or Wish You Were Here or The Last of England or High Hopes or Life Is Sweet or Distant Voices, Still Lives or a ton of others.

So I think we can forgive them for that. And so many of those aren't available to me on Netflix

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

After my dismal attempt to watch all the Sean Connery Bond films before Quantum of Solace came out (I managed two), I've decided to watch all the Harry Potter films before the next one comes out this summer.

Oh Bob, I am so not looking forward to that At least it's a summer release so the butter beer won't have to be hot.

Might even get round to reading the books one day.

Unless you are totally relaxed about plagarism, I'd start on The Half Blood Prince.

My daughters were reading them, and I looked in to see what all the fuss was about - the girls kept laughing at me pointing at the page saying things like "That's just a total rip off of battle chess."

Revolver
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365686/

Bloody hell

I'm glad I sat all the way through the credits though - Right at the very end it says

Thanks
Mr. Hulot

Just added it to my queue.

I've liked most of the things Guy Ritchie has done...


Well, except Madonna.


Why is she and Liza in the featured galleries on the IMDb page?

She has a very good publicist

Yes, Liza does... being juxtaposed with Madonna makes her look younger.

Frost/Nixon

A very powerful film, but it felt to me that, even at two hours, it skipped rather lightly over the subject matter. I felt like I'd had a light snack rather than a full meal. It moved too fast and could have used another 30 minutes-worth of material, at least. Not enough depth.

I liked the shot after the last interview where all Frost's people are popping champagne corks and hugging each other, but Frost is looking out of the window at Nixon going back to his car, realising the impact of what's just happened and that exuberant triumphalism is out of place in those circumstances. He recognises the gravity of the situation.

So, are you going to flix the original interviews?

You can do that?....

So you can

I forgot to mention above that I had no idea John Birt, a man who many at the BBC (and many lovers of the BBC) despise for his management-isation of the corporation and for closing down the Radiophonic Workshop, but who also secretly admire for elbowing the likes of DLT and Simon Bates from Radio 1, even though it led to the ghastly mess that is Radio 1 these days and meant that several veteran Radio 1 presenters (and a few others like Chris Evans and Wossy) moved to Radio 2, meaning that Radio 2 lost its previous 'Mums and Dads' MOR identity and became a bit like the DLT/Bates/Steve Wright 1980s Radio 1 that Birt dismantled (still with me? ) *breaths in* produced the Frost interviews.

I was more interested in the original interviews than the dramatization of them until I heard the glowing reviews of the film.

If the earlier interviews are as rambling and as bland as the film portrays, I'm not sure that I could sit through them, even for their historical value. I honestly can't recall if I watched them at the time.