My friend Mark Jeftovic, in his Under the Radar blog, reviewed the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie recently. A line from his review reads: "First movie I've ever walked out on in my life." Actually, that is the only line in the review. For a nanosecond or two, I thought that there might be a hyperlink to another page or site with a lengthier review, but that is all there was. It was enough. Message taken.
I haven't seen Hitchhiker's Guide and probably won't now. The book was good and we'll simply leave it at that. Movies don't often measure up to the book they were based on.
The only movie I ever walked out on was some Dirk Bogarde film in the 1960's. I can't even remember what it was. It must have been pretty bad. I will generally sit through any movie, even if I'm not terribly impressed, just to see how bad it can get. Besides, once I have paid my money, dammit, I want something in return, even if it is only a seat rental in an air-conditioned theatre.
I didn't walk out on Star Wars -Revenge of the Sith. I did find it a bit disappointing. One-dimensional characters and wooden actors were my main complaint. Jimmy Smits had one perpetually stunned look on his face, throughout the movie, as if to express the sentiment, "They're paying me how much, to mumble through several lines of dialogue, in one of the biggest movie franchises of all time?" And where did they get this Hayden Christensen guy? His acting was marginally better than in the last Star Wars episode but I found it mostly painful to watch him 'act.'
I have always been an unabashed lover of the female form and of a pretty face, but even Natalie Portman couldn't keep my attention this time. It wasn't her, just the poor quality of the dialogue she was given and the complete lack of any sort of spark, romantic or otherwise, between her and Christensen as they stumbled through their roles.
Still, the movie wasn't all bad. My son loved it and told me that it was 'awesome,' the best movie he had ever seen, that he would see it two or three more times in the theatre and then purchase it on DVD when it becomes available. When he asked me what I liked best about the film, I told him that mostly I marveled at was going on in the background, behind the characters and their stilted dialogue. The special effects were truly amazing and I enjoyed them very much.
The best part of the experience? A night out with my family. What could be better than that?
Hi
ReplyDeleteI agree, the movie version of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy was truely awful. A much better version is the BBC TV series, I don't know if you can get this in Canada, but it is the closest to the book.
As to the new Stars Wars movies, I have found them all to be truely awful.
Since you watched Robots I very surprised that you did not comment on the anti - capitalist message that it contained
Good point about the anti-capitalist message. The reality is that capitalists are increasingly the villains of choice in Hollywood movies and television shows. Remember 'Pave Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot?' Who sang that, Joni Mitchell? That about expresses the Hollywood sentiment. How about portrayals of loggers destroying some pristine wilderness or the Amazon rain forst? Or real estate developers wanting to raze a housing development for the poor to build a luxury hotel or whatever? I'm sure you've seen it all. I would be more surprised to see a Hollywood project where capitalists weren't evil and where they contributed something positive. It will be a long wait.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
BTW, we do get the new Doctor Who series here, which I enjoy very much. I haven't seen the Hitchhiker's televsion series here.
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