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

This is all wonderfully executed stuff, the acting, the choreography, the cinematography...

There are flashes of brilliance in the composition of shots, especially the police presence. BE is not just set against a backdrop of miners strikes and riot squads, they form an integral part of the scenery. The Elliots' neighbourhood has the look of a prison or a gulag (with the pit being the forced labour), and the boys from the Met reminiscent of prison guards. But the inmates seem very pleasant, and the cell doors are never locked.

The one minor niggle I have is that there's a tangible degree of hope, an expectation of a happy ending throughout the movie and for me, it tends to undermine the sense of desperation - which in turn lessens the impact of Billy's success at the end. In other words, it's always darkest before the dawn - and the darker the night, the more brilliant the dawn. (eg that other great mining film Brassed Off)

But that's just a personal preference and I'm just nitpicking. There's plenty more that's likeable about BE and films this good don't come along often enough.

An interesting mixture of things going on:

failing miners' strike
family coping without mother
'working-class' boy pursuing ballet
'middle-class' teacher
precocious girl attracted to boy
boyhood homosexuality
80s music in 70s setting

and more besides. All the characters seemed very 'real', and were given depth. Jamie Bell was a revelation.

The 'R' rating in the US seems a bit harsh. What certification did it get in NZ?

An 'M' for Mature audiences which is fairly tame. By comparison (ie going by current listings in the paper), Proof of Life got an R13, Exorcist an R16. (Restricted 13 yrs or over, etc) Other Ms include Miss Congeniality, Dude Where's My Car, Crouching Tiger...

Also cross-class relationships.

Middle-class dad's contempt for lower class striking miners
"What does yer dad do?"
"He's just been made redundant."

On that theme, "Good luck with the strike" from the interviewer at the Ballet school was a great line.

I saw Thirteen Days over the weekend. Nice to see a movie after over a month! Despite the fact that everyone will know how the story goes, it was a good drama, well acted, though perhaps pandering a bit too much to idealized characterizations of the main players.

Miss Congeniality has been panned here by the critics. Do you intend to see it?

Intend to? Saw it a month ago.

It's not highbrow stuff, never meant to be. It's mostly good fun, has a few good moments - some of the pageant scenes are quite funny - but it doesn't really compare with 28 Days.

What's good to see is that Bullock is quite capable of pulling off the physical comedy.

Ah, I think we missed out on some film reviews while h2g2 was 'off air'.

Creative hiatus.

But fare not, all my creative and critical juices have been fully replenished. So as soon as I've seen it, you'll know about it.

And it's great to have your contribution to the British English Sequel (the original thread, lost in censorship somewhere, ran to over 4000 postings).

Now, I see a Castaway entry, so I'll just pop over there...