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

Wimbledon

I'll watch pretty much anything with Eleanor Bron in it And this is far from the first movie of hers I've had from Netflix - Help!, Bedazzled and Women in Love to name but three.

The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0823240/

Well, there's one hour, 49 minutes and six seconds I won't get back.

Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

What can you say that hasn't been said a hundred times before?

I can spoil the next one for you with this:
http://hijinksensue.com/2009/07/06/a-well-reasoned-argument/

Ewoks are Teletubbies on steroids?

Actually, the next one I'm going to watch is episode 1.

No no no... those're Care Bears... even scarier than teletubbies.

Goldfinger

That ought to rate another simple 'Nuff said' comment, but you can't let Goldfinger rest there.

Without any doubt or argument the most iconic James Bond film of all. It's got Sean Connery. It's got Honor Blackman. It's got an evil villain (who isn't Blofeld). It's got Oddjob. It's got Shirley Eaton. It's got the Aston Martin It's got a Shirley Bassey theme song (and easily the best of the three she did). And it's got a few other things you might have not noticed...

Southend Airport
Burt Kwouk
Margaret Nolan

It's hard to believe that Auric Goldfinger and Colonel Manfred von Holstein http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McFj_vq3cwk&feature=PlayList&p=C585D630F388A558&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=6 are the same person And do you know how long I practised and practised and practised that military marching band thing.

And could I do it? Could I loblocks

Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace

So how come Celia Imrie got a bit part as a fighter pilot? And I wonder why they chose Peter Serafinowicz for the voice of Darth Maul?

He was funny as hell in World of Pub

The Quiller Memorandum
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060880/

Generally speaking I love 60s spy thrillers, but this one really didn't hit the spot. George Segal was not a convincing spy. Alec Guinness, on the other hand, was everything you'd expect of Alec Guinness. Even Max von Sydow wasn't his usual self in this one. It just seemed kind of... thin. And it was directed by the same bloke who directed The Dam Busters. What's more, he's still making films! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027183/


Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Good book, good film. But where the bloody hell have I seen that bloke who had the flies? Luther. He was jury foreman. The bloke who was going to poison the water supply. It seems he's done a lot of work with Clint Eastwood... must be one of those films. Detective Boone seems familiar too, and the bloke who was at the defendant's table in the courtroom scenes.

In The Loop

Wow. I have to go and see that again, for two reasons. Firstly because everything moved so fast that I couldn't keep up, and secondly to write down some of those sweary words for future reference

The Hill

I'd forgotten just how very, very good this film is. Harry Andrews was a much underrated actor, and this is one of his most intense roles. There's some superb casting here - Sean Connery, Ian Hendry, Ian Bannen, Roy Kinnear, Ossie Davis and Jack McGrath, not forgetting Micahel Redgrave as the ineffectual MO. You've got to admire Andrews' character in this film. He's supremely self confident and gets things done through sheer will power. He uses the psychology of will to cow an entire army prison camp into submission, best illustrated during the mini-riot. But even he starts to doubt his position when a younger male challenges his authority, just like in a pack of animals. The challenger doesn't have his experience though.

Bloody good film.

Speaking of prison movies, have you seen Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence?
David Bowie and Tom Conti are in a Japanese POW camp. Bowie has a battle of wills with the prison commander, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Brutal. Sakamoto was known as a composer/pop star, not as an actor, but he turns in one heck of a performance. (The soundtrack is, of course, excellent.) Bowie is also quite amazing. Conti's character tries to keep everyone reasonable. Asian Superstar in all media, "Beat" Takeshi Kitano is endearing as one of the few sympathetic Japanese officers. (I'll watch anything with Beat Takeshi in it. He's known in the states as "Vic Romano" on Spike TV's MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, a redubbing of the Japanese game show, Takeshi's Tower. His films are rarely if ever disappointing.)


BTW, I watched Support Your Local Sheriff last night. I couldn't help thinking that it was like watching a bowdlerized, disneyfied, un-Swearingened version of Dead Wood.

I haven't seen Dead Wood nor Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, but I feel a few additions to the queue coming on

OK... So when you watch Dead Wood, it will be like if Tarantino wrote the dialogue for Support Your Local Sheriff.

Let's just say it's "colorful".

Ah, *that* Dead Wood. I think I remember seeing trailers for that one a few years back and how it reminded me of all those awful rural slasher movies I saw in the 70s

Nah... I don't think that's it. It's not a slasher at all. It was a series on HBO. It's set in the mining camp of Dead Wood (which over the course of the series becomes a full fledged city). Ian McShane plays the one main character missing from "Sheriff", the brothel/casino owner who really runs the town. The show is rough and it's definitely bloodier than "Sheriff" (in that they actually show blood), but it doesn't focus on the violence. I was referring to the language when I mentioned Tarantino. Flix the first season and see if you don't get hooked.

We're not talking about this one then? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1043791/

Definitely not.
This one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348914/

Sleepers

I read the book about eight or nine years ago and I don't know why it's taken me this long to get around to seeing the film. Oh wait... it was me that founded the Royal h2g2 Procrastinators Society

Wow. Between this one and The Hill, that's a couple of very intense films I've watched these past two nights. Reckon I need a little light relief.

District 9

Well, another very intense film. It's really well done, this one. I can't recommend it highly enough.