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

PC, Love Actually was marketed as a chick flick, but when I finally watched it, I found it much more complex and satisfying.

Couple of dusty academics pulled out of the cupboard to discuss Troy on Radio 4 this morning. Very funny. Both were clearly of the "Film! That's not a proper artform! What rot!" school of art appreciation. Lots of muttering about the earliest piece of great western literature and how it might actually be based on an actual historical battle and how the film was terrible of course. Absolutely hilarious.

I'm still going to see it, even though I do know the story well.

you've got to love dusty academics!!!

What do they know of the visual poetry that is (leather mini-skirted) Eric Bana fighting (leather mini-skirted) Brad Pitt?

heh heh heh

Seriously though, it looks as though it's going to be visually stunning. We already know that the story is a corker - and if it has the bonus of being easy on the eye, well, who are we to complain?

Hello people! Am I actually the first to have seen 'Troy'? Anyways, I went to see it last evening! It's actually an interesting story. I planned to be going out with my parents ... there was a guy singing at a local school, opera music mostly ... we are all music fans and enjoy mostly the same sort of classical music, and my mom especially wanted to see the performance. So we got dressed up and drove to the school at about a quarter to seven the evening ... and there was no sign of any activity! My mom, who bought the tickets, checked them and it turned out that the concert took place the previous night! So we all decided that we shouldn't have done all the preparation for a family outing for nothing, and so instead we went to see the movie Troy. Me and my dad had both read the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' and we both are quite into classical mythology ... my mom too, though she hasn't done as much reading.

Anyways the movie was quite good to see! Even though at times they really butchered the original story line, and in very predictable ways... can't they, for once, dispense with Hollywood stereotype and cheap sentiment? But even despite that ... quite spectacular and gripping ... feels much shorter than its actual length of almost three hours. Compared to the Lord of the Rings there aren't as many long drawn-out scenes and stretches of corny, and mostly superfluous, dialogue. There should have been more fight scenes featuring Hector, though ... in the movie he doesn't really come across as the great warrior he was in the book.

I was rather disappointed that they took the gods out of the story so much! The fall of Troy is *mythology*, not history, and in the originals the gods were involved at every turn of the tale! The main heroes were of divine descent ... Achilles was a son of the sea-nymph Tethis, and Helen was the daughter of Zeus himself, hatched from an egg laid by her mother Leda after Zeus visited her in the form of a swan. The gods aided now one side, now the other, and Athena herself frequently took human shape and appeared to the one and then to the other ... Thetis, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Zeus, Ares, and more, are just as much 'characters' and active participants in the war as the humans are. Anyways, the gods are totally missing, in their directly-present personal form, from the movie, and so too just about all of the 'supernatural' mythological elements. Cassandra, daughter of Priam, isn't in the movie though she has a very important part in the tale. I would have put her in, as well as Laocoon and his sons. That would have put more drama into the whole affair of the wooden horse. But anyways ... if I had made the movie I would have made it very differently. Nevertheless it was a fun movie to watch.

Afterwards me and the folks had a good discussion about it and I treated my mom to some reading from the Afrikaans translation of the Iliad. I'm now rereading the book! For interested people I might write a journal entry on all the places where the movie went 'wrong' ... just for fun! I'm indeed the classical- type.

>I'm indeed the classical type.<

Me, too, although apparently not as well-versed as yourself, Willem!

I think I would very much like to see "Troy", though I might end up waiting for the DVD again. I like epic adventures, rather enjoy long films, and can definitely appreciate just how easy this one would be on the eye in terms of casting as well , so I think I'd really enjoy it! Thanks for the recommendation! Should I also re-read the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" first, or after I've seen the film?

Glad you enjoyed your family outing, as well, Willem!

I don't really think there's any major difference between reading the books before you see the movie, or afterwards ... just enjoy the books, and also enjoy the movie.

Anyways in my own case ... I do enjoy the stories, but I do find, occasionally, the violence to be a bit upsetting. The books are actually much more 'graphically violent' (for someone with as vivid an imagination as mine) than them ovie was. I hafta remind myself we have indeed come a long way since those days and we don't glorify war as did those folks of the olden days (well, not *all* of us). But I find the works very interesting as some of the oldest known ones in the world and with clues as to how people saw and experienced things thousands of years in the past.

Hi all, hi Willem, I saw Troy. The storyline was great - so tragic - I'd heard bits and pieces of it all my life, but have never heard or read the whole thing. However I thought the dialogue was very weak. And I didn't like the score, even though it was by James Horner, my favorite composer. On the plus side, I liked all the shots of seminude Greek warriors! (Can you say Brad Pitt? *drool*)

JEllen

Hi Ellen and all.

I just watched the DVD of "Wit" with Emma Thompson. It was pretty depressing actually but I had a revelation that came with the credits that I wanted to share here.

For one Harold Pinter played a small role. I didn't know he acted in films at all. "Betrayal" is one of my favorite plays that I always forget about.

The movie was directed by Mike Nichols. And in reading the bio I learned that he was the Nichols of "Nichols and May" the commedy team from - I don't know when - the late 50's early 60's I think? and along with Elaine May and others had started Second City! I wouldn't know about Nichols and May if I hadn't seen this PBS special about them a while back. They were so funny it made my cry. Not because I was laughing so hard but because I hadn't been alive when they were doing the stuff they were showing on the show. According to the bio in the "Wit" DVD they did a year long award winning run on Broadway and then decided to end the show so they could persue separate projects. This seems so unfair to me! Like they are obligated to entertain as long as people are willing to go see them... but that was long ago huh.

So according to the bio, he went on to direct other theater pieces, particularly Neal Simon and others. The first movie he directed was "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" first then later "The Graduate" I guess I'm not a huge movie fanatic like you Ellen but I feel I should have known about these things. Especially the Nichols and May thing. I don't think they mentioned it in the PBS special. Ya know, they must have. Maybe I was just too choked up to pay attention. I was recently thinking I should look up "Nichols and May" to see what they are doing now. The bio said they worked together again as writer(May) and director(Nichols) on "The Birdcage" and "Primary Colors" both of which I have to see now.

I get so excited when things like this are spelled out for me!

Hi everybody,

Saw the preview for The Aviator, and as a Leo fan I should be entranced, but it just didn't grab me that much. Maybe it was because the screen was postage stamp size. More likely I am feeling burned from Gangs of New York, and have a wait and see attitude.

JEllen

I want to see the new Shrek, and the new Harry Potter, but dang it all, I am coughing too much! The other patrons would throw me out on my ear.

I saw Troy yesterday aswell - I thought it was superb.

Hello everybody!

I'd like to make my own version of the 'Troy' story someday ... right now I'm reading 'The Iliad' and there's so much stuff they could have put in that would have been really cool! Anyways if I ever make the movie (dream, dream, ha ha!) I'd put in all the gods.

In the book, also, Hector is an amazing hero. He kills shiploads of Greeks and performs miraculous feats of strength. Also in the book Patroclus is a great fighter ... and goes in with Achilles's arms and armour with Achilles' approval ... and before he gets bumped off by Hector, he kills about twenty million Trojans.

Well so much for Troy ... I still enjoyed the movie!

Latest thing I've seen is 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Deals with one of my own topics of greatest concern ... global warming and climate change. In the movie, glaciers start melting as a result of global warming, and because of the massive influx of ice-cold fresh water into the Northern Atlantic (from the melting glaciers of Greenland), the dynamics of the Gulf Stream that warms the northern continents are thrown out of wack, and a new ice age is triggered. The movie then basically zooms in on a few people and their struggles amidst this disaster. Special effects are great, and there are some very cool bits of irony ... for instance millions of Americans crossing the Rio Grande illegally into Mexico!

Interesting movie, a good watch, and may make some people think about the underlying issues of global warming and climate change as a result of our excessive consumption of the resources of the Earth. Anyways if it happened for real, it would probably be spread over a much larger span of time. But within that span of time there will be thousands upon thousands of small, 'local' disasters, gradually becoming bigger and coalescing into a gigantic global catastrophe. A new ice age could destroy civilisation as we know it. Somehow, I do not think that if the Northern Hemisphere *really* freezes over, all the Europeans and Americans will really be received with open arms by the people of the Third-World countries ...

The last theatrical release I saw was an advance screening of Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee & Cigarettes". I really enjoyed it a lot! It was a series of short vignettes, each with two or three cast members, all related by the theme of having coffee and cigarettes.

The film included a stellar cast, including Cate Blanchett, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (in a side-splittingly funny scene), Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan , Joie and Cinque Lee, Bill Murray and a couple of musicians from a band I've never heard of called Wu Tang Clan, and a bunch of others. There was a scene with a Tesla Coil that was like something straight out of a bad sci-fi film... Some bits were hilarius, some poignant, the whole thing was brilliant. I highly recommend it!

Next on the agenda is the new Harry Potter film, which my friend S. and I will see soon. But over the next several weeks, two great film festivals will be opening- the 75th Anniversary of the Music Box Theater (with midnight screenings of Rocky Horror, a bunch of Orson Welles fims, the original Godzilla, and The Life of Brian, to name a few!), and the Chicago Outdoor film festival, which always has lots of great oldies. S. and I will be spending quite a few evenings outdoors, in front of the silver screen, this summer!

That sounds great PC!

I saw Shrek 2 and enjoyed it. Thought the ending was a tad predictable. But I LOVED Puss in Boots! What a great character to add! Hacking up a hairball -- too funny! And those "kitty eyes".

Watching some of the advance publicity for Shrek 2 I was lucky enough to see Mike Myers (is it just me or is he trying to be a sort of Canadian Peter Sellers?) interview about the film.

He said that one of the highlights was doing the publicity tours with Antonio Banderas, who apparently can make anything in the world sound fascinating thanks to his intensity and accent.

Obviously I can't reproduce that here, but Myers impersonating Banderas talking about a sandwich he'd had for lunch was the comedy highlight of an otherwise dull day.

so, finally saw Troy
Loved the fight scenes, although they made way too much of the 'Achilles jumping up and stabbing down at people' trick
not enough nekkid men though....

I thoroughly enjoyed the film - with the exception of Helen I thought the casting was excellent. (Helen was too gooey and blonde for me)

Next film is likely to be HP3 on 7th July (yep, I have to wait for films to come on in English, I only get one a week. next week is Secret Window - anyone got an opinion of that? Then it's The Day After Tomorrow. I don't do disaster movies)

Hello everyone!

We recently saw Shrek 2 too. I did like it, but not as much as the first one. There were plenty of things in there for adults, ummm, maybe more for adults than kids. Luckily, the thong comments went over my daughter's head. And I liked the scene with the dragon at the end.

We also saw Harry Potter last week. Again, I really liked it, but I think my expectations were too high which leaves me feeling a little disappointed. I thought there were a lot of scenes that were lovely to look at. And I kept finding myself thinking, that's definitely NOT the same child actor as the last movie, oh wait, maybe it is ... is it? I think I will really enjoy it when I watch it again (after it comes out on DVD.)

I'm hoping we get to see a lot of movies in the next few weeks while we are around my parents (built in FREE baby sitters!!!!)

I did see Secret Window a couple of weeks ago. I liked it allright. It's not the kind of movie I usually see but it seemed like a funner option than sitting at home sulking which had been my plan before I got the call wanting me to come. It was better than a night home sulking. I did wait till it was at the cheap theaters. There are very few movies I pay full price for and I was just as happy not to have paid full price for Secret Window.

Haven't seen Troy. Don't know if I will. I do like disaster movies so I'll probably see Day After Tomorrow when it's cheap. Same for Harry Potter.

I was thinking I might like to see the King Arthur movie, I love Arthurian legend, and this one appearo have been well done. Not sure, I'll think on it. "Troy" will have to wait for DVD, as will "Shrek 2". (Did I ever admit to you guys that I cried like a big baby at Shrek? I'm appalled at how girly I can be. )

The Music Box Theater here in Chicago is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and there's lots of nights I'd love to go. One night they are running Rocky Horror and "Coffee & Cigarettes" at midnight. All of the other midnight showings involve both one great flick and one porn. I would go for the "quality" flick and stay for the porno, it's no skin off my nose, and might even prove to be somewhat entertaining, but I don't think my friend S. would go for that, and she's my only movie buddy here. I'm working on forming a new one, though...

Still counting down to the Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park.

I am excitedly waiting for The Terminal. I love Tom Hanks!

Totally freaking out tonight because I saw Farenheit 9/11, the new film by Michael Moore about Bush and the Iraq war. I was one of the first Memphians to see it - all the shows were totally sold out, but I had bought one of the last pairs of tickets online the night before. It is a masterful, compelling, and absolutely horrifying film. Disney tried to censor this film, but thank god Moore found a distributer anyway. Go see it! Go see it! I'll admit I didn't like Bush before seeing this film, but now I think he is truly, truly evil. I know I am treading on being modded territory here, but I am feeling very passionate about this. This is one of the most important films of our time. Watch while Bush (in a grade school classroom) is informed of the Sept 11 attacks, and does absolutely nothing for about 15 minutes! It is on film, it is not conjecture, it is there for everyone to see! Michael Moore does some things that make this film incredible. Instead of showing us the Sept 11 crashes again, that we've all seen so many times, he just makes us HEAR it in a pitch black theatre. It was freaky and frightening and powerful. Be warned, he pulls no punches showing us footage of warfare in Iraq. It is intense. And Moore makes it clear by the end of the film that his beef is with the President and his cronies, not the Americans who have to serve on the front. Moore finishes with quotes from George Orwell's 1984, which gave me goosebumps. Please see this film fellow Americans, and vote for Kerry this fall. Please?