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

A brand of alien, it may be!

Hmmm, not entirely convinced - even with Jeff Bridges and one of the detectives from Homicide: Life on the Street.

Just seems like a typical Hollywood rehash to me.

Kevin Spacey looks like fun! JB I can give a miss, no probs.

I saw JP3 and was praying for an extinction event by the end of it.

Knight's Tale was so enjoyable I had to see it again.

Still can't believe Ledger fell for the dreary princess instead of the gorgeous armourer though...

Whatcha been up to?

(Yes, I am up kind of late, I'm typing up some stories to get a headstart on tomorrow's bulletin)

Hi, Mustapha! Nice to hear from you.

At the cinema:

JP3: I think I warned about his one!

Knight's Tale: I was not enticed by the trailers, particularly the first one. But went to see it, and must agree with you; v. enjoyable. I didn't realise it was going to be a real comedy. And so 'in your face' with the anachronictic music and characters. And so, so English in places, which caught me completely by surprise.

Heartbreakers: neither here nor there, really.

Angel Eyes: disappointing. Reasonable performances by Jennifer Lopez and James Caviezel, but weak story, not much to get your teeth into.

What's Cooking?: low budget film that's taken its time to reach these shores. Probably because it didn't get anywhere in the US. Which is a shame, because after a slow start it's quite watchable, especially for anyone who has gone thru trauma on Thanksgiving Day. It follows 4 'ethnic' families as they prepare for Thanksgiving in their different ways, with all the little intrigues, and some cross-connections. Definitiely worth a trip to the video store if it comes your way.

On DVD:

American Pie: missed this in the cinema. Should have left it at that, because it's a pile of ****.

Sexy Beast: don't Brits just love making films about hardened criminals! This one has more vile swear words than you can point a stick at. Stylish in places, and an unexpectedly convincing performance as a ruthless hard man by Ben Kingsley of all people.


I've decided to give the latest Crocodile Dundee a miss. Opening tomorrow: Moulin Rouge. Not sure whether I'm ready for that. We get A.I. in two weeks, which I'm looking forward to.

BTW, during 'A Knight's Tale' there was one bit of music that I knew I'd beard before, and it bugged me for at least 5 distracted minutes before I made the connection with 'Gone in Sixty Seconds'. I've checked the IMDb, and it must be 'Low Rider' by War.

AKT reminded me of Disney's Hercules with the sporting analogy. But Hercules was very much an American style of sport, while AKT conformed to English stereotypes.

When Count Addomar was going through the tournament listings, it was as if he was going through the sports pages of the newspaper. For "Ulrich... Ulrich... Ulrich!!!", read "Beckham... Beckham... Beckham!!!"

Is Beckham known in NZ too?

I haven't seen Hercules. I'm not sure if it's available for rent on DVD.

David Bowie's music seems to enjoying a lot of exposure in recent movies: AKT, Lucky Break and Moulin Rouge, to name just three.

Beckham is known in NZ, soccer coverage is fairly limited on mainstream tv news, but Beckham has oddspot news item value. And he is of course married to an anorexic Spice Girl.

Mr Beckham take a lot of stick in some sections of the media and amongst comedians, because he's supposed to be not very bright.

But he's: 1) captain of the England soccer team, 2) a player for the biggest and most famous soccer club in the world, 3) financially very well off, 4) young and good looking, 5) an icon, 6) married to a Spice Girl, and 7) father of a cute little kid.

In the US his success would be much more celebrated, but in the UK they can only like him if the England soccer team wins (which, until recently, was nmot very often).

And I think the guy who directed 'What's Cooking?' is making a movie named after him!

Tall Poppy Syndrome seems to be a very English past time, one that found root in NZ.

Our All Blacks (National Rugby Team and embodiment of the Nation's Pride) are currently going through the same experience of being famous but not winning often enough to be rewarded with such fame.

And BTW Dreamworks has apparently acquired the rights to the remake of Forbidden Planet.

Ooh, I wonder if they're casting yet? I think there was only one female part in the original, that of Morbius's daughter who had an improbable name like Altirah, or something like that.

I'll have to practice pouting and screaming. Not simultaneously, of course!