(no subject)

[rivendellrose]

Woo. I'm so tired.

Saw "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" tonight, and it was fabulous. There was only one other guy in the whole theater who'd thought to bring his towel - silly people! - but the crowd was large and enthusiastic, and seemed to be good fans, so I'll forgive them. I looooooooove the cast - literally, the whole cast. Martin Freeman was so perfect as Arthur Dent - he really captures the "ohmigod I cannot even begin to understand what's going on so I'll just go along with it and make do as I go" quality that I think the character ought to have. Mos Def was amazing as Ford Prefect - so earnest, so adorable, so random. And Zaphod? I always hated Zaphod in the book, but Sam Rockwell was absolutely fabulous and really made me adore the crazy bastard. And Bill Nighy... gods, he's so cracked out and awesome.

It goes without saying that I adored Alan Rickman as Marvin. But I'll say it anyway: He was so very perfect for this part!!!!!

Also, guys? They weren't just trying to look good when they listed Douglas Adams as a producer. According to this, he was deeply involved in its early pre-production. Also, the previews to this movie sucked ass, and they clearly had no idea what their demographic was. Children's trailers? No, you idiots - NERDS!!!!

Also went out with Toby again. Nice guy, having fun, good stuff. That's all I want to say about that. ;)

I have so much work to do this weekend, it's really obscene. Which probably means I'll end up panicking, feeling stressed, and doing significantly less than what I ought to, which is the usual case when I feel pressed and panicked. Ah well. I'm going to go take my contacts out before they crawl out of my eyes, and get ready for bed.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Mixed feelings on the movie... mixed feelings. And I haven't quite figured out why. There were parts of the movie that I absolutely adored, but I was still left in my seat going "huh." It would be interesting to see what got left on the cutting room floor--there were scenes where I could tell things had been removed, not because I remember them from the novel or radio series, but because the film physically jumped or cut off a bit of sound. Maybe I'd fell more whole if those bits were restored.

I think I need to see it again to decide... but I'm not the type to go and see movies twice in the theater... but it'll take eons for it to go out on dvd...

Agreement with the beauty of the cast, but you left out the wonderful Henson work. The Vogons were spectacular, much better than they would have done with CG.

I wonder how far they'll go with the series... cause they're going to have a little difficulty if they get to book four, eh?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Have to admit, I completely missed the editing issues - that's something I usually only notice on second or third run through a movie. I'd be interested to hear if you can figure out what else it was about the movie that left you untouched.

The Vogons really were fabulous - some of the best work the Henson group have done in a long time, and they're always good.

Honestly? I kind of hope they stop here. The first book was the only one that I have really strong memories of, and I'd hate to see them fall into sequel syndrome and get worse as they go on...

Also, as embarrassing as it is to ask this.... who am I speaking to? :)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm gonna put anything that might be a major spoiler in white text... course, I'm not terribly good at guessing what constitutes a major spoiler... hopefully I can get this to work...

They're at least thinking about another movie. They'll probably wait to see how much money they make off of this one--although I understand it was relatively low budget--before they decide, but they gave themselves openings. Mentioning the Restaurant at the end, the lack of resolution concerning points towards potential serieshood. I'm guessing they'll at least go to book three.

I think I figured out another thing that bothered me. The cuts. And I'm not fanboying here. They cut some important stuff, stuff that helps hold the plot together. Stuff that just makes things make sense, especially to somebody not familiar with the series.

How they got off the Earth, for example. The Vogons are, as the guide shows us, horrible, nasty beings. Yet Arthur and Ford hitch a ride with them. How? The book gave us their cooks as the reason, but none of the people I watched the movie with recall them being mentioned in the movie.

Same problem with leaving out the towel Guide entry. We long-time fans can fill in all that stuff on our own, but Ford must have seemed absolutely friggin NUTS to anybody unfamiliar with it.

So that was part of it... moments of lack of information...

And, while I liked the acting in general, some of the scenes could have used one or two more takes. One of the first scenes between Trillian and Zaphod on the Heart of Gold really stands out in my mind. The pacing of the conversation is completely off. At one point there's, like, a two second pause... I don't think it serves any purpose as far as establishing character, or anything. That bit of interaction just struck me as somewhat amateur and improvish...

Eh. I'm probably just too picky.

Have you seen anything about Mirrormask? Another project Henson's working on, but I don't think it has any actually puppetry. He must have a CG division, too. Gaiman. Very trippy looking.

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/mirrormask/

And, just cause the trailer's blowing my mind right now, Night Watch:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/night_watch/large.html

Far as who I am, we've gone over this before, probably will again. I'm feeling cryptic, so for now let's say I'm a karmic well-wisher who likes to check in on people I respect every now and then to see how they are. And I figured you'd have seen/would be soon seeing Hitchhiker's Guide, and I'm a review junkie. If you REALLY want a better answer than that, I can give you one later. For now, I've only gotten four hours of sleep, damn insomnia, and I should get more.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

You're right, they did definitely leave themselves very very open for doing the rest of the series. If they do well with it, I'll be pleased. If not... well, it'd be a shame to see it degenerate, that's all I'm worried about.

Some of the cuts were definitely important, I agree - although it seemed that they'd decided to play the hitch-hiking as being more the ship's choice, than anything else - Heart of Gold picks them up, rather than Trillian and Zaphod, and one could interpret the same thing out of the Vogon ship, if one hadn't read the book. It'd been so long since I'd read it that I couldn't remember the actual reason, so it didn't strike me too badly. The towel thing was a definite loss, although I didn't notice until you mentioned it that they'd left it out.

The first scene between Trillian and Zaphod on Heart of Gold really did lag - I felt like it was a problem with Trillian's actress, although that might not be true. Possibly it was just bad directing, a weird take, some strange acting on either actor's part... lots of possibilities. I felt like the woman who played Trillian was the weak link in the cast, though, if I had to pick someone who didn't level up to the others. Very pretty, but not a stunning actress. Honestly, I had issues with her accent at the very beginning, too - her scene at the party with Arthur jarred me horribly, because I wasn't expecting to hear an American accent.

My computer's being spazzy right now, but I'll definitely check those trailers out later - I hadn't heard of Mirrormask, but anything with Gaiman might be good.

No problem, I had a few guesses, but I like to keep track so as not to seem rude if I completely neglect to say hi to someone new or something. Good luck at getting some more sleep.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Squee! I can't wait to see it. I'm glad you are having fun seeing Toby too. YAY!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Wheeeee. It's a very very fun movie, I think you'll really like it.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Hope the homework isn't eating your brain, and that you're not

"panicking, feeling stressed, and doing significantly less than what I ought to, which is the usual case when I feel pressed and panicked"

we both know that you work pretty damned well under pressure, and that you put out wonderful papers...I just hate the physical and emotional strain that they take on you, so don't forget to take an occasional break.
P.S. Ask Methos, he'll tell you that it's a fact that beer helps when you have important papers to write, so start sucking down those beers! *g*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Meh. I'm doing okay. Spent a fair amount of time trying to get Claire feeling better - between AdAware (for taking out nasty spying programs and stuff) and a new personal firewall, I'm hoping she'll start behaving again.

Ah yes - the benefits of having a slightly amoral and entirely cynical 5,000 year old immortal who's decided to 'take up residence' in one's brain. Honestly, I really start missing the characters who just hung out up there and didn't really offer their opinions on every third thing in my life. ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Was there a trailer for Serenity before this film? I've heard the preview is out, and I am dying to see it. Especially since Joss' movie *should* have already been released. Grrr and Argh. I'm interested in seeing Hitchiker on general principles alone, but I am not above paying to see a movie just for a few snipets of Whedonesque goodness.

And Alan Rickman, in any form, is always a plus.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

No, no Serenity trailer. No good trailers at all, in fact, except for Miyazaki's latest film.

Hell yes. *g*