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

I think he's quite cute, without worrying too much about him hitting all the bad guys.

This week we have 'American Sweethearts', which sounds like fun; 'Atlantis', which seems a bit run-of-the-mill; and 'Jeepers Creepers' - well, there's no way I'm going to see that!

I haven't even heard of that last one.

Atlantis is nothing special story wise, but I like the WW1 design of the machinery and the look of the Atlantean society. I even downloaded the Atlantean font, just for fun. (Yes, ok, )

Hey Miss K.

I've had a very strange week...

Speaking of which, you haven't had any strange emails from me today, have you?

Er, let me go and check...

... nah, nothing there. I don't check that often. Unless, of course, you sent something and it got filtered automatically into the junk mail!

Define 'strange'.

Well, I had a little, erm, 'viral trouble' today.

I normally delete any unfamiliar emails and attachments but this one slipped by me because it was from someone I knew. (someone who apparently has "adequate protection" -- unlike me )

Anyway it resulted in an old situations vacant document I had stored being sent to the TV station and a couple of friends. Thing is, I wasn't sure if it went through my address book or just my Sent list. Since you're on my Address Book, and I'm sure I haven't sent you an email yet, I suspect that's the latter.

I am assuming since this seems to have occurred more than 10 hours ago, any such email would have gone to you by now. (Our station also uses Hotmail).

And that's just only part of my strange week and no less strange Friday, which involved seeing Legally Blonde...

I'm quite looking forward to 'legally Blonde'. I hope I'm not setting myself up to be disappointed.

Didn't A.I. pass your way yet? I'm dying to discuss it with you!

I missed it!

Too many late nights and not enough people to go with in the weekend!

But it's a long weekend this weekend, and there's a huge backlog to clear:

The chief ones for me being Blow, Fast & Furious, and Enemy at the Gates.

Legally Blonde isn't too bad, its not unpredictable but not entirely unpleasant.

How can you miss 'A.I.'? It's still showing here in the multiplexes. Oh Mustapha, it'll be ages before it comes out on video. I'm bursting to discuss it!

Is 'Blow' still out? I think it's on video here. Definitely worth a viewing. F&F disappointed me, while Enemy at the Gates was good but bleak, and I'm not a fan of bleak.

We saw 'American Sweethearts' at the weekend. I've got to go out for a while, so I'll tell you what I thought later (rant coming, but not about the film).

Blow came out last Thursday, but it's been out in NZ for about a month.

Really impressed with Enemy at the Gates, enjoyed it on so many levels. And bleak is as good a word for it as any, even though 'hope' was an element of the movie. Thankfully EATG is very different from the standard WW2 films being made these days (and Band of Brothers is currently screening on TV here).

When the kid falls victim in EATG, that was a bit too much for me. I know it's realistic, but I just don't like to watch it.

Now, let me get the title right: 'America's Sweethearts'. Typing 'Amercian' takes you somewhere quite diferrent on the IMDb! I enjoyed the film, and I like the idea of taking a dig at aspects of Hollywood. The Spanish guy was great towards the end!

My problem was with the cinema, the audience and my companions. There was a fault with the sound all thru the adverts and trailers. It came and went. Fortunately, a few seconds into the film title it came and seemed to stay, though it wasn't as full and enveloping as usual. But in the early part of the restaurant scene the sound went, for almost two minutes. That's *so* irritating! People were muttering out loud about refunds and complimentary tickets. So, when we filed out at the end of the film, there were staff at the door. Handing out apologies and complimentary tickets? No, handing out candy bars! I just couldn't believe it. And people were taking them without a word of protest. Well, I just had to speak my mind! And people were looking at me as if I was being fussy and ungrateful. Even my friends were trying to pull me away! What is wrong with English people, they just can't bring themselves to complain out loud, only mutter under their breath. Why don't they stick up for themselves? Why do they pay for lousy service, then feel so grateful for it? I just don't get it!

What would you guys in NZ do? Whatever the many shortcomings in the US, I can tell you for sure that the cinema staff, and probably the manager, would have been there apologising, handing out complimentary tickets, and making sure their customers were taken care of. Gee, I don't know! Some things in this country are very hard to get used to.

Kiwis will complain and stamp their feet if service is shockingly bad, but for the most part we just quietly put up with it. If something is really bad (botched building, insurers refuse to pay out, scam-merchants), you write to consumer watch-dog show 'Fair Go'. They'll come round with a camera crew and embarrass the offender on national tv.

Funny, but Brits are generally referred to in Antipodean circles as "Whinging Poms", and according to some surveys Brits do complain the most and complain loudly. But I think they may do this only on holiday.

Saw Blow yesterday (with NZ's Cliff Curtis as Pablo Escobar!) and thought it was good. I did think it dragged a little towards the end and it's certainly not a good movie to see on the money I make . But the rise and fall of Jung's fashion sense made for compelling viewing throughout.

Someone here said it would be interesting if you saw this and Traffic back to back.

I decided to wait for 'Atlantis' to come out on DVD, but fate conspired otherwise, so I ended up seeing it at the cinema.

And I quite enjoyed it. They put it on one of the real big screens, and pumped up the volume so that the seats shook with every explosion. It had some humor, it was visually better than I expected, so I'm quite happy.

I saw 'Exit Wounds' on video, and it wasn't as much fun. It just underlines what a difference a big screen with big sound can make.

I'm glad you liked Atlantis. Storywise it was straightforward, but it was very well-designed visually. I thought James Garner did a particularly good turn as the surprise villain of the piece.

"Attention: tonight's supper will be baked beans. Musical program to follow."

I didn't spot JG. Nor did I spot Leonard Nimoy.

I'm curious: why do you say 'surprise' villain. Surely it wasn't a surprise?

What, are you saying the idea of a hard-bitten military man being villainous *isn't* surprising?

Went and saw a NZ flick last night called Snakeskin starring local (ie NP) girl Melanie Lynskey. Falls into the category of "bizarre road trip". A little below average compared to past NZ effort "Stickmen". There are individual bits that are good but they are few and far between. There is an attempt to have several seemingly random plot threads tied together a la Guy Ritchie. But there's nothing to hold it all together.

And the dialogue is atrocious, which seems to be a problem for homegrown drama.

Going to see Fast & Furious tomorrow, and the wonderful State & Main has returned so I'll probably see that again. (yay!)

I missed 'State & Main', but it is out on DVD.

I've been meaning to have a moan for a while, about the trailer for 'The Score'. I can't recall if you saw that movie yet, or even the trailer.

The subject of misleading trailers has come up before, but usually it's due to bits in trailers ending up on the cutting room floor, or boring films being made to look interesting, or vice versa. However, in the case of 'The Score' I think they have deliberately set out to mislead about the plot in two respects: they mention the four main characters, and make it sound like they're all in it together, but in reality only the three men are, the woman is just a small plot sideline; and they talk about the contents of the safe that "only one of them can keep". That's not the plot at all. How do they get away with this?

Because they get to take our money *before* we sit down in the theatre.

Which is precisely why I make advantage of all free passes I get.

Returning to the subject you raised earlier about service and complaining - I asked a friend who's an ex-pat Ozzie and he also believes Kiwis just accept bad service. However he did say NP's cinema is one of the best in the country in terms of service and price. And it's especially true this week since all the films here have been only $5 NZ, which is probably about two pounds in Britain.

Well, it's £6 here - or £15 if you want to indulge yourself in the gallery, where the seats are big, and there's drink and nibbles at hand. I've never upgraded, mainly because the gallery is at the top/back, and I like to be at the front, where there is no seat in front, and I can 'fall' into the film. I used to avoid the front, as most people do, but in these new multiplexes it's one of the best places.

Well, unless it's larger than life you might as well be watching television.

I always go for the middle rows of the cinema, and preferably in the middle seats, and with no one immediately behind or in front.

Saw "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" with Martin Lawrence and Danny De Vito on autopilot. There were a couple of laughs, maybe because it was Friday night. It did have the most original police detective I've ever seen...

'What's the Worst That Could Happen?' sound like the Dr Pepper ads. I haven't heard of the film, but ML is not much of an incentive.

'Legally Blonde' opens today, and sounds like fun. Also, 'The Man Who Wasn't There', which is getting good reviews, but I'm not sure if it's the sort of film that will leave me looking at my watch every few minutes.