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

(Hello everyone, this is just a continuation of the highly successful Movie of the Moment thread. Welcome back to all)

I've decided to set aside this place just to talk about movies I've seen lately, and how much I do or don't like them. I'll be writing about both the latest stuff in theatres, and my favorites on DVD. I'm not aspiring to write all out reviews, just my impressions of films, and whether I think they are worth seeing. I welcome feedback from moviegoers out there. (Especially from Purple Dragon and Psychocandy - you two know your movies!) Popcorn anyone? *House lights go down*

PS I don't want to spoil plots for anyone. If I do write something that gives away plot points, I will write SPOILER and the name of the film at the top of my post. I ask that anyone posting to this thread do the same please, when giving away key details. (If this doesn't work well, I'll try doing a seperate thread just for spoilers, but I'm hoping to keep everything on one thread for now)

Ok, to catch up on films I've seen lately.

The Dreamers. A fascinating love triangle between a French brother and sister (twins) and their male American lover. Very psychological. Kept me guessing all the way through. The film is very sexually explicit, it had an NC-17 rating. Several of my friends hated it, and thought it was pornographic. I did not agree, I actually liked it. Unlike your typical porn film, it had intriging characters, a real plot, and good lighting/cinematography.

The Ladykillers. Apparently it is a remake of an Alec Guiness film. The new one is directed by the Coen brothers, and is set in the American south. It's about some criminals trying to tunnel their way to a casino. I found it funny, but not as hilarious as Raising Arizona. It is worth seeing though just for Tom Hanks role - he hams it up with gusto.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Funny! Great! Romantic in a strange way! I shall not discuss this much till you guys have seen it.

JEllen

Ah! Yes, The Ladykillers was an olde British classic starring many stalwarts of the olde worlde movie industry. It's still a good film; if you can find it in DVD you should rent it or buy it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Hanks does with the Guiness role. I know it will have been re-written for the US setting but I do trust the Coen brothers implicitly.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind looks like another awful Jim Carey film, and Fox 10 news panned it. Therefore I must see it, because a lot of folks said that about 'The Truman Show' and we all know how that turned out. Eternal Sunshine has an almost Phillip K Dick plot, which is a big plus for me, and a couple of my favourite people (Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood and Kirtsen Dunst, I think) all of which should mean some solid, fun acting. If the screenplay gives them something to play with, that cast should produce something special.

I've been catching up on a few films recently. What did folks think to the following:

Donnie Darko.
Dreamcatchers.
The Missing.
Cold Creek Manor.
Pi.
?

Looking forward to: Van Helsing and Hellboy.

Donnie Darko...I loved that movie, and the remake of the song, Mad World

Dreamcatcher/s...do you mean dreamcatcher, the Stephen King one? If so, it were okay...I enjoyed it, but have seen better. Some gross out stuff in the movie...*chuckles*

The Missing - I like Kate Blanchett, period. Movie was okay, the spiritual thing got on my nervies a bit!

Cold Creek Manor and Pi I haven't seen.

Watched Gothika and 21 grams weekend gone..two very different movies...I enjoyed Gothika , but the very end was a bit wishy washy was expecting a better twist, was predictable. The plot was very good. Musta brought back some vivid memories for Hale Berry..

21 grams makes you count your own blessings, a depressing movie, but still, it was good. The format was confusing at first being as the characters didn't stand out much in the beginning and it changed scenes and sequences without warning. You get used to this tho as the movie goes on and unravels.

Also watched Agent Cody Banks, the G-force loved that, good family movie to watch together...had some funny highlights. Funkay gadgets are always cool

Hi all you movielovers - newsflash. Just found out that there is a H2g2 Movie Club at A2177778. They plan to watch one movie a month and discuss it. Sounds like fun, I'll be joining in. But I will still be posting to Movies of the Moment, and I hope y'all will too!

I can only dream of one (new) movie a month... I just saw Along Came Polly (beggars can't be choosers) which gave me a very good laugh.

Hi everyone

I'm new to Ellen's movies thread but she knows I'm a serious fan of the movies too, so I hope I'm in familiar company

I saw Hellboy myself the other night, thought it about the best comic adap I've seen, Ron Perlman was excellent. My neighbour has loaned me the original comic so I'm going to check that out and see how it compares.

I'm definitely looking forward to Eternal Sunshine, it looks great - I think Jim Carrey when he's not being a goof, can put out a decent dramatic performance. The Truman Show was a good example, and though I haven't seen it yet I have it on good authority that Man In The Moon is too - hopefully this will be one of his best, the reviews certainly suggest it. I've often felt like I could do with a memoryectomy and I suspect others might know what I mean

One magazine asked the cast what memories they'd like to get rid of, Kate Winslet said 'the 108 times I've been asked that question.'

Hello people! I actually went to see 'The Passion of the Christ' along with my mother and father. We were all rather disappointed and infuriated by it, but for various different reasons - my parents are fairly conservative Christians but I'm a more new-age kinda guy. Anyways, I might write a review of the movie, as I experienced it, if anybody's interested...

Hi JEllen and everyone!

I don't think it would be prudent for me to join a movie club just now, as I haven't much spare time. JEllen, you'll share here some of the points of your discussions, I hope!

"The Passion of the Christ" doesn't look or sound, from what I've heard even just on h2, in the least interesting to me, neither from a historical perspective nor a cinemetographical one. And the religious aspect I'm completely indifferent to, as I'm not Christian and while I find some of its members to be wonderful people (some equally not so), I'm not especially interested in the religion or its dogma as a whole.

I've been on kind of a documentary kick of late (which probably has a lot to do with my recent reading materials), and have been so busy trying to balance work with sleep and housekeeping and such that I haven't watched too many movies in the past few weeks. No new theatrical releases, I'm afraid, just a few old but good ones, and this morning I saw a good but kinda weird one with Vincent D'Onofrio and Marisa Tomei called "Happy Accidents". I've been thinking of renting "The Ring" soon, everyone says it's creepy as hell. Is it?

PS- Willem, I'd still be interested in reading your review. Same goes for Krispy. Reviews are always interesting!

ooh, some good films are going to be on this week- hope I'll be able to catch them- "My Left Foot", and "The Pianist". Woo hoo!

Movies Now Seen - Some Reviews.

Pi:
You NEED to see this film, if only to witness what can be done with no budget and no requirement to please the box office. It's a complex film that doesn't feel the need to answer too many questions. Like all such movies, I would recommend that you grab the DVD and make sure you watch the Commentaries too. It's a strange, unsettling film about obsessions and migraine headaches, angry Hassidic Jews, stock markets, spirals and mathmatics. Watch carefully.

Gothika:
Halle Berry acting herself into a frenzy. Gothika is one of those movies where the plot is sometimes secondary to watching what the cast do. Berry and Penelope Cruz ditch the glamour and are allowed to act, so Halle takes the ball and runs with it. The story itself is pretty feeble but engaging enough.
It doesn't deserve the title, there isn't really a twist and none of that really matters because the direction is good.

Phone Booth:
The butt-obsessed loony who singlehandedly ruined the Batman franchise did this...
...Colin Farrell is great. Keifer Sutherland's voice is great. The movie is great. It's a great film. See it.

Brother Bear:
Good kid flick, as you'd expect from Disney. Also as you'd expect from Disney it has little or nothing to do with how things really are, but who cares?
The Canadian Mooses are a neat comedy turn. The main characters are likeable enough, the animation is up to Disney's usual high standard and there's a nice little moral at the end.

Cheaper By the Dozen:
Steve Martin driven family movie.
It's...not great. Good moments include Ashton Kutchner admitting he can't act, Tom Welling showing he can, and a large cast of children teaching Steve Martin all about being a Dad.
Kids enjoyed it. I wish I'd slept through it.

Lost In Translation:
Awful.
There was a Copola sprog involved in the Direction so that's slick and pretty but it's SUCH a DULL movie.

If you aren't in the mood for a film that you have to sort of settle into, or if you are in any way tired or wired, forget it. You won't make it through the film. Everything you've heard about Bill Murray's performance is probably true, but I didn't really give it a chance because it put me to sleep.

Matchstick Men:
Nicholas Cage playing an obsessive/compulsive conman.

Cage does Barking Mad very well. This is a rather cool movie, with Sam Rockwell playing Cage's long suffering partner. It's one of those films you can't talk about too much without giving something away, so I would advise you to watch for Mr. Cage's performance and enjoy the ride.

The Missing:
Ron Howard mixes kidnapping, Native American mysticism and a tale of the Western Frontier.
Cate Blanchett is fab. Just fab. Her character is suspicious, unforgiving, hard and just possibly a bit of a bigot. When you find out why, you might decide to forgive her. And maybe not.
Tommy Lee Jones plays...well, he plays himself. And not. It's an interesting performance.
It's also a good film, as long as you're expecting a Western. Ron Howard does a great job and, being as I'm from Arizona these days, i recognised some of the locations!

Oh, now see I thought Lost in Translation was quite good. Very subtle, but touching, especially at the end. Nice change of pace from car chases and gun fights.

JEllen

Ever notice how Cate Blanchett is good in everything? She is a d*mn fine actress! My favorite of hers is still "Elizabeth."

Here's my review of the Passion

F19585?thread=387401?thread=&post=5137793#p5136656

I just saw "Pi". It was interesting but I'd have to say I didn't get it. I rented the dvd. Maybe I'll try to watch it again with commentary.

I saw Eternal Sunshine. I liked it. But I was in sort of a funk when I saw it so I may not have appreciated it as much as I could.

I saw "Something's Gotta Give" a couple weeks ago. Didn't care too much for it. I don't get why Nicholson is supposed to be a sex symbol. Eww. Diane Keaton doesn't do much for me either. I'd forgotten about that when I agreed to see it.

I saw "The Missing". It held my attention. I didn't have any idea what it was going to be when I went to see it. I'm not sure I would have gone if I had cause I really don't care about westerns. I guess it was OK.

I saw "Lost In Translation". I really liked it. It really got me in touch with alienation 'n stuff. I could really relate to it.

I rented "Men in Black". I'd not seen it before. I liked it. But I was surprised when it ended cause the whole thing seemed to be exposition.

I rented a documentary about the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

I have rented "Fearless". I've wanted to see it since it came out. I will watch it tomorrow night ,I think.

Hi Hellbound! *waves* That's funny that Men in Black ended on you without you expecting it to! Glad you liked Lost in Translation. I'm looking foward to the Spiderman sequel. And Troy, really want to see Troy -- I wish they would show more previews of that. Have you guys noticed how they advertise most heavily for the movies that are mediocre? The worst movies don't get advertised at all, and the best aren't advertised much, but the lukewarm ones they advertise a ton. (Thinks "Daddy Day Care" Ugh.)

Fearless was a very interesting, unusual, and thoughtful film. As a trauma survivor, I appreciated it.

JEllen

I hadn't thought of that but yes, it does seem like mediocre movies get the most exposure. I don't see much tv though so i don't see too much. I see trailers at movies I'm at and the trailers tend to be things they think will be of interest to people seeing the movie. Some of the trailers I saw at Sunshine looked really good. I wanted to see several of them but can only remember the title of one. Well part of the title - something about someone "Wants to Kill Himself" I almost always wait for movies to get to cheap theaters. So it will be a while.

I also say Starsky and Hutch. It was funny. I didn't watch the original show too often but I genarally get off on these remakes of 70's tv schlock.