#2 is *totally* in the spirit of DNA's brilliant heart-wrenching pants-wetting sci-fi laughfest. Watch it first, before #3. You'll know why after you've followed all my instructions. This is not even Mission: Difficult, so don't worry about this message self-destructing. My instructions are simple.
#2
http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/trailers/Ok, so AFTER you have watched the above - and you *are* following these directions, right? I really mean it, first watch #2. Then *after* watching it, check out #3 - a VERY Americanized trailer.
And as you watch #3, especially reflect on how the above #2 had described exactly what encompasses a typical (Hollywoodesque) trailer.
And laugh/cry/phone a friend at how #3 totally exactly follows that formula.
#3
http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/main.htmlCan't wait - and we don't even have to wait until May - woot! Gonna watch #2 again, now. :)
I thought it was supposed to be out in May!?
End of April, close enough...
PS: some advance screening audiences have said many positive things about the effects, and the "Internet Only" trailer (#2) definitely gets my hopes up that it will not dirty the memory of DNA's Brit humour by using sitcomesque dialogue etc. What did ya think of the trailers? (did you watch them yet?)
This movie was made for Simon Pegg.
QuoteThe Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy movie is bad. Really bad. You just won't believe how vastly, staggeringly, jaw-droppingly bad it is. I mean, you might think that The Phantom Menace was a hopelessly misguided attempt to reinvent a much-loved franchise by people who, though well-intentioned, completely failed to understand what made the original popular - but that's just peanuts to the Hitchhiker's movie.
http://www.planetmagrathea.com/shortreview.html
...suddenly i feel that maybe i dont want to see it anymore. Granted this review comes from a website dedicated to the franchise, but still, i dunno.
Dear God no!!
Quote
As well as being staggeringly unfunny - and Hitchhiker’s Guide really is one of the least funny comedy films ever made - the film also suffers by having an entirely nonsensical plot.
Yikes.
This from a DNA-loving slanted PlanetMag?
Okay, um, CONSIDERING this comes from the DNA-loving slanted PlanetMag, you'd think either ...
a. they are sparing True Fans from wasting their money on Hollywood Tripe
b. they are *joking*, in the spirit and style of (and in homage to) DNA
So... which is it... save a copy of trailer #2 (with the Guide entry for "Movie Trailers") as a memory of "what might have been" and don't take the chance? Or go see it even if it causes you to repeatedly/incessantly shout out to the screen "BELGIUM!" to the horror of those around you. Hmmm...
- - -
PS: Followed one of the links on that short-review page, and all I can say is...
sacrilege!
They could be undermining it, so the film seems a hell of alot better than it actually is.
example. Hostage , really good movie, not so good trailer. really good movie
Im putting my eggs in to the "Its gonna suck if you read the book" basket.
With that link to what they left out of the movie, I'm moved to go see it just so I can find out what they left in. Like so much English humor and Duckula cartoons, the really good bits are built up to subtly.
I could certainly see removing some of the important asides in the movie making the plot utterly nonsensical. There are a couple gag and chuckle bits (God vanishing in a puff of logic, Zaphod's glasses suddenly going black and him looking very worried about it) that could be cut for time, but there's also quite a few bits in that list that become important to the overall story. Not explaining about Magrethea before they arrive? That's just bound to get some blank stares.
Suffice to say the only people this movie will really draw are H2G2 fans, and sadly they will piss us off by changing things around that are canon for us fans.
There is no emoticon that embodies what I'm feeling right now.
The PlanetMag page said it best (summarizing from my memory from an hour ago) --> Douglas Adams was a *dialogue* writer.
So from what I now see today (thankfully I was wearing my Peril Sensitive Sunglasses at the time) they seemed to trim so much important dialogue (and by Zarquon I hope I am wrong!) - presumably to make room for action, Hollywoodesque cliches, etc. well I am certainly expecting to feel a bit ripped off by the end of the film, and therefore will respond by going to the Local Book Shoope to buy a sparkling new all-5-of-the-trilogy book set, and thus, to retire to bed and enjoy the genius in its intended form.
If I do go see the film in the theatres, I will be sure to bring along in the pocket of my gown The Thing That My Aunt Gave Me That I Don't Know What It Is. That always seems to keep me calm...
Hey then again, it could have been done by Jerry Bruckheimer...
The action would centre around planetary explosions, Arthur would be played by Sean Connery, Ford would be played by John Travolta and together they would fight the Vogons using the help of battledroid Marvin played by Sly Stalone...
And so the IMDB post-war begins (thanks to Mr. PlanetMag's review release)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/board/nest/17701572http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/board/nest/17718483Quote
Wait till the 28th. If Mr Simpson is right, we still have the books. If he is wrong, then we be happy fans.
We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!
Hmm.. not so sure I can be as optimistic. I'm not so sure I've still got my hopes up. Nor can I, considering what has been excluded. Poor Marvin, why you even there? Grr...
I think I need to take lunch now, for my spirit has been crushed. Sorry, Douglas! But I guess you knew what Hollywood was all about when you got into bed with her! :(
You hear that? Thats the sound of Douglas spinning in his grave.
Though you really cant be suprised. I watched Blade 3 on the weekend and i wanted to gouge my eyes out. Sure its not a deep franchise, but they really turned Blade into a walking clich? and made VanWilder act like an idiot.
I expect "War of the Worlds" to be the next movie i cry myself to sleep because of. Speilberg has an eye for the dramatic, but thats just it...
I agree wholeheartedly; if a piece of literature is good why change it on the screen? If you have a vision or a story you really want to tell write the suspiciously-close-to-the-book screenplay and make the damn standalone movie. Why descecrate a perfectly good literary icon by sullying it with dumbed-down Hollywood dribble?
I guess that's why I had high expectations about H2G2 'cause I thought that the only way to do this film was by presenting it at face value, maybe a few cuts here or there but mostly keeping it togehter with the original radio / book versions.
Quote from: "Mr. Analog"I agree wholeheartedly; if a piece of literature is good why change it on the screen?
Actually.
On that note.
The source literature is good. No argument from anyone with the remotest sense of humour. But does that make it inherently good for the screen?
There is an excellent point raised in one of the many brilliant vignettes in "
Waking Life" where 2 guys are discussing film called "The Holy Moment". I don't remember exactly the words exchanged, but the gist of it was this:
A screenwriter is writing for the screen, which is an inherently visual medium, while the novelist is writing for the written page, which allows for a focus on many other things that just wouldn't work in a film (even an artsy-fartsy one!) therefore what "works" in one might not (and in fact almost always *should* not) work in the other medium, without modifications to stress the strength of that medium.
In other words, I and others assert that the brilliance of H2G2 was primarily in its dialogue (especially that which was a perfect representation of the character delivering it, in an absurb situation of course) but there is no way that a film would be watchable if it was nothing but witty banter between interesting characters. Then again, that same structure got Joss Wheden a half-dozen years of Buffy and Angel... :rolleyes: ;)
a "wholly remarkable" new addition to the official movie webpage:
http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/guide/hh_guide.htmlA sorta-working "guide" with a few important entries (prolly the ones omitted from the film ;))
I am planning on going Friday night, not sure where or what time... who's with me? Ignore the well-intentioned preview-critiques, at the very least the film will remind you of the genius that was in the books :)
Sorry never go to the movies on opening night. Might do Mon/Tues night after the weekend.
wow, apparently this never happens: the excellent and irreverent "Internet-only" trailer got promoted to "in-
theatres-as-well" status
Quote from: "Melbosa"Sorry never go to the movies on opening night. Might do Mon/Tues night after the weekend.
Like you got anything better to do! :P
Quote from: "Bryan"Quote from: "Melbosa"Sorry never go to the movies on opening night. Might do Mon/Tues night after the weekend.
Like you got anything better to do! :P
If he's worried about the theatre being full, don't. The last couple of flicks I saw were ghost towns.
Quote from: "Mr. Analog"Quote from: "Bryan"Quote from: "Melbosa"Sorry never go to the movies on opening night. Might do Mon/Tues night after the weekend.
Like you got anything better to do! :P
If he's worried about the theatre being full, don't. The last couple of flicks I saw were ghost towns.
I dont he goes out into the light very often. :ph34r:
Quote from: "Bryan"Quote from: "Mr. Analog"Quote from: "Bryan"Quote from: "Melbosa"Sorry never go to the movies on opening night. Might do Mon/Tues night after the weekend.
Like you got anything better to do! :P
If he's worried about the theatre being full, don't. The last couple of flicks I saw were ghost towns.
I dont he goes out into the light very often. :ph34r:
Indeed, your day star, it burns ussssss.
It's Wednesday. Friday is in less than 48 hours.
As said in Ocean's Eleven: "Are you in, or are you out?"
I'm not sure if anyone else has seen it but Slashdot presented some user-posted questions to executive producer Robbie Stamp. Article can be seen
here. Yet more pondering abounds!
My question was actually picked (on Slashdot I'm Pengunea) and I proved that an idea presented in Dinosaur Comics was actually right.
Controversy is a shortcut to being talked about [www.Qwantz.com] (though what kind of talking can vary!).
Okay so if I wanted to hear/read other people's opinions about a movie that they have not yet seen, then I would return back to wasting my time perusing IMDB discussion threads.
Now I'm wondering if I am going to the WEM premier night with my brother and his son only, or will anyone else join us... There, look, I took action and sorta made plans, now it's up to anybody else Zaphod-enough to join us :D
Not to resurrect or anything but...
Metacritic: 62/100 based on 32 reviews
Rottentomatoes: 61/100 based on 82 reviews
...given that, im thinking its worth my $8. I havent read H2G2 in over 10 years, so im sure it will still entertain me as im sure ive forgotten most of it :)
AGREED. I told myself "60% or higher, I'm there" :D <--honest, I did, yesterday!
I think I'll go on Sunday, garr! how bad could it be?
Just got back from The Film. And what do I have to say?
In uncharacteristically brief terms, I've got a word for you:
Belgium.
...is not what I have to say.
Faithful. That's the word.*
By Zarquon, the filmmakers were froods and not Traal-beasts! Yee haw!
Homage to Douglas Adams a-plenty. Within a medium so hostile-to-uniqueness, this was a a very respectful handling of DNA's genius.
Dialogue that is (infamously) missing was actually not all that crucial (although I am looking forward to a re-read of the books, The Best Treatment Of The H2G2 Universe!)... and even the arthtrilzaph "love triangle" was not Starwarsesque painful but it was - shock! - actually interesting and totally helped (helped!) with character development so there is actually something to look forward to in the quite-likely sequel. But the film also stands on its own, so in that respect it even one-ups LOTR#1.
So IMHO I boldly declare that the post-DNA-death edits were "mostly harmless". Phew.
Ford was well played by Mos Def, although strangely I found him the most lacking in lines of significance... Trillian's increase in importance perhaps overshadowed Mr. Archetypal Party Animal, although his scenes with his sorta-cousin Zaphod were charming. The Vogons, as The Guide says, are "bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous" - and in the film, the focus is definitely on "bureaucratic"; it stirred up a desire to rent "
Brazil" again. :) :D
Oh, and of course MARVIN ROCKED - BUT THAT SHOULD BE NO SHOCK TO ANYONE. Windows startup sounds, meet your new daddy. :) :) :) Warwick Davis was also excellent producing perfect "body language" to harmonize with Alan Rickman's deadpan delivery.
I think I will see it again, possibly, but due to money and time I'm not sure when (i.e. not this weekend)... and if I could pre-order the DVD I would do that right after hitting SUBMIT on this post.
So in a nutshell, just like with Sin City, some would give this 10/10, and some would just "not get it", or be all like "it's not as good as it could be" or "what they really should have done is..." but I personally think, as this Guide Fan is, Douglas would be pleased... and seeing as he was always such a procrastinator, he would also be astonished it actually got finished and released before the Vogon Constructor Fleet arrives... which is in 12 minutes, by the way.
PS: watch for the flawlessly-played cameo from the Original Arthur Dent (hint: think petunias and whales), and also right at the end we are even treated with the smiling visage of Mr. Adams himself! B)
Groovy, man!
-Dirt.
- - -
* The only down side is in all this is that I am actually agreeing with something
this AICN review said:
Quote...while I didn't think [the test screening he saw] was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I thought the spirit of Douglas Adams was captured well.
And since, overall, I detest AICN's lack of objectivity... Well, I'm gonna say it.
Belgium. ;)
Augh! What! Augh! Arrgh!
Please, stop now and re-listen to the radio drama! Hugs book collection...
If Zaphod isn't the party animal...
If Ford doesn't have something poigniant yet dry to day...
If Trillian isn't the ancilliary character...
Well, I just don't want to live in that universe, drinks Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.
Has anyone *not* seen this movie yet? I want to go this week.
Just saw it..
Never having read the books I am not sure what to think. It was entertaining but yet well not exactly I something I would add to my home collection.
After letting Sin City sink in I really enjoyed it much more. Totally different types of movies but if I was going to rate them I would give Sin City 8/10 and Hitchhiker a 6/10.
Saw it with
raeofsunshine and she really enjoyed the movie. So maybe its just me.
Crap! I better go this week :(
Reflecting back, it wasn't as great as what it COULD have been, but it was not nearly as bad as some reviewers claimed it to be.
And it was more than 10 years ago! And DNA is gone now, so no future sequel could ever be co-written by him anyway, so enjoy his last big-screen work!
Or, instead of re-watching it, just watch THIS quite funny, amusingly edited, and slightly silly** review of the the HHGG film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P50hOigJGis
**e.g. "mos ridiculous" ha ha
It has actually become one of my favorite versions of the telling over time
Spoiler
Don't
That HHGG review I linked, just finishing it up and smiling non-stop!
The style with which this guy talks like... idk, it's like he's a brother or cousin of Cracked's Dan O'Brien or something. Which is of course GREAT.
...with the occasional and quite subtle intentional mis-speaking (For example, "Jem Hinson's Creature Shops" instead of "Jim Henson's Creature Shop" ... which is somehow really really funny stuff to me. But then I also enjoy pausing Archer to look up online all those esoteric references to persons or events that nobody watching animated comedies should know!)
I guess it's a rare thing that on the internet you can find a "reviewer" that is so unabashedly full of JOY. ("Be happy, not right" indeed!)
Good news, but wait there's more! https://www.youtube.com/user/chainsawsuitoriginal/search?query=movies+with+mikey
8) 8) 8)
Spoiler
Panic.
Spoiler
(mkay?)