|
About
happycreature[at]gmail[dot[com]
[ BLAMBLOG ]
Ed Locke's Grandpa
Happy Creature
Ms. Johnson
PIX
[ PILOTS! ]
Bill Doskoch
72hrchik
BlogTO
Dead Robot
estrojenn
Finn's Space
John Gushue
Rick Mercer
Rocketboom
Simple Splendor
Squiddity
Confessions of a Monkey
[ A-TEAM ]
AllThingsChristie & BWE
Circadian Shift
Daily Dose
Davezilla
Dooce
Jett Superior
Kitty Bukkake
Sugarmama
Tony Pierce
[ TORONTO ROCKS ]
Accordian Guy
Alan Hunt
Andrew Spicer
Angie McKaig
armchair garbageman
Bacon and Eh's
Bored Astronaut
Cellar Dweller
Chip Tijuana
Chromewaves
Clara*
Consolation Champs
Biker Chick
Dave Howard
Day in the Life
Digifox
Easternblog
freckle stof
Help!
Ice Queen
indigoblog
JBWarehouse
Liz Vang
Luminescent
Lunerose
Maria
Marmalade
moot point
Nug
Photojunkie
Pony
Pshaw
Radio Weisblogg
Raymi
Riri's Braindump
RobotJohnny
Rusty Robot
Sally McKay
Sarah Pengelly
Secret Storm
ShanghaiM
Ultrablog
United Bingdom
wainbows
Warren Kinsella
Zoilus
[ ALL IN THE FAMILY ]
Merv!
Dad!
Gillian
Kevin!
[ ORGANIZIZED ]
GTA Bloggers
TorontoComic Jam
[ BEACHCOMBERS ]
Good, Matthew
Good, Jennifer
Ian King
Jeff Merritt
[ GOTHAM CITY ]
Explanada
Lindsayism
My Blog is Poop
Yoon!
[ ST. ELSEWHERE ]
Blogebrity
blogumentary
Brett Lamb: Oz
Bunny McIntosh
Dust My Broom
elanamatic
Go Fug Yourself
Grrrl Meets World
James Bow
Little Lioness
SKSmith
Shelly
Skillzy
Tom Tomorrow
[ 6 O'CLOCK NEWS ]
boing boing
Cursor
Drawn!
Fark
Garlicster
Metafilter
Plastic
The Register
SciFi Daily
Sexblogs
Slashdot
Space.com
The Smoking Gun
Zeropaid
[ CARTOONS ]
Corrigan
Children
of the Atom
Fiona Smyth
Maakies
MacKay
MNFTIU.cc
Secret Lair
Smell of Steve
[ VARIETY HOUR ]
B3TA
Hoogerbrugge
Milk & Cookies
Mumbleboy
Onion
Rathergood
XE
[ RERUNS ]
[ 2005 ]
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
[ 2004 ]
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
[ 2002 ]
[ 2003 ]
|
Monday, May 09, 2005
At the Movies
 Merv tells the story of her hike with the dogs. Rabbits, a turtle and guest appearance by me. And it's a sunny, sunny day.
Tonight I caught The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the Varsity. It's the first non-documentary I've seen in the theatre this year. And it's complete rubbish. It's an awful, awful movie. It's not funny or fun, it's poorly written and the ending is preposterous and offends the spirit of past versions. Avoid at all costs.
I figured it was going to be crap right from the start when they had a "musical number" with the dolphins. Even though the narrator clearly states that the dolphins' goodbye is misinterpreted as a trick that involves whistling The Star Spangled Banner, that song isn't referenced at all in the dolphin song they came up with. And that's the start of a long trend of missing every comic opportunity through the whole flick.
Speaking of movies that miss their opportunities, I rented Garden State on the weekend. Actually, I downloaded it during the week but once I was at my parents', it made sense to just rent it and get it over with. That meant I got to watch the DOWNLOADING IS EVIL ad they stick at the start of rental DVDs. It's an odd message considering how much bad behaviour Hollywood movies tacitly endorse.
Garden State is interesting because it's starts out as a "first film with potential" and slowly but steadily fades to a "complete piece of crap" by its final half hour. Several comic and dramatic possibilities are introduced in the first part of the flick but none of them are milked. And the "finally off the drugs" premise is ludicrous. For the last part of the film we're treated to some hackneyed plot resolution and romantic dialogue so bad, it must have been ghost written by George Lucas.
Some of the scenes also didn't make much sense and were difficult to follow, such as when the knight arrived for breakfast. Why this one was the darling of Sundance is beyond me, must have been a slow year with a lot of Natalie Portman fans in attendance. Given five or ten years, Portman could eclipse Gwenyth Paltrow as the US film industry's most annoying actor if she tries really hard and keeps eating her Wheaties.
Mitigating factor: at least the maturity level and laziness of the script imply that Zach Braff really did write it, unlike Good Will Hunting which was ghost-written by William Goldman (he denies it for obvious reasons but if frik & frak are such Talented Mr. Screenwriters, why didn't they ever write a second flick?).
During the festival, I was hanging out one night with some people including a few filmmakers and one of the young filmmakers (an obvious film geek) said something about how impressive it was that Damon and Affleck wrote Good Will Hunting and I mentioned the William Goldman thing and they were shocked -- shocked -- that I would suggest such a thing. I dunno why they were so defensive, it's Goldman's worst movie.
Here's the final score: avoid both Hitchhiker's Guide and Good Will Hunting, both movies are unredeemable. Garden State survives on Zach Braff's charm, so if you like Scrubs, you might enjoy it.
2:14 PM
, # ,
|
|
|
