#249689 - 10/04/2005 15:43
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: ninti]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3995
Loc: Manchester UK
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I skimmed it, to be honest, I've not seen/heard/read any of the stuff that's come before. Maybe I'll be able to approach it without any preconceptions.
Now when the League of Gentlemen film comes out, I'll probably be hyper critical given my love of the TV series.
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Andy M
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#249690 - 10/04/2005 15:54
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: ninti]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Ouch!  This not a good thing.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#249691 - 10/04/2005 16:45
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: JeffS]
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enthusiast
Registered: 08/09/1999
Posts: 364
Loc: Brooklyn
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I think this film is going to be quite cultish, and doesn't really translate readily into a feature film. Its sci-fi, its british, its british sci-fi, its thinking man's humor as well. Not exactly the right combination for a blockbuster or friendly to reviews.
I have the DVD of the original televised series and I went to school and still know Mos Def, and I don't know if this can work as a feature film.
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#249692 - 10/04/2005 17:35
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: JeepBastard]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
I think this film is going to be quite cultish, and doesn't really translate readily into a feature film. Its sci-fi, its british, its british sci-fi, its thinking man's humor as well. Not exactly the right combination for a blockbuster or friendly to reviews.
But the review above isn't expecting it to be a "feature film". Above all else, for the movie to work it has to be funny, and he said it wasn't. And this is someone who clearly appreciated the humor of the books. Of course, it's just one review, but it's a pretty disheartening one.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#249693 - 10/04/2005 21:32
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Gah! One for watching on the telly via normal free broadcast then 
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#249694 - 11/04/2005 11:49
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: ninti]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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Did this review get Slashdotted? The site is blocking traffic due to bandwidth limits... Anyone manage to mirror the content?
Bruno
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#249695 - 11/04/2005 12:55
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31566
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Did this review get Slashdotted? The site is blocking traffic due to bandwidth limits... Anyone manage to mirror the content?
Darn, and the Movie Review Query Engine doesn't have it listed yet either.
I skimmed the article and its author basically had the following problems with the film:
- It wasn't funny.
- It removed many of the original clever jokes and replaced them with unfunny sophomoric gags.
- It dumbed-down Douglas's original dialogue, making it less sharp and witty.
- Guide segments were too few, and too changed. Example: Babelfish guide segment explains what a babelfish is, but leaves out the "non-existence of god" joke at the end.
- Many of the plot elements got left on the cutting room floor, meaning at times characters would appear in the right place with the right stuff, but without a good reason for it.
I hope he's wrong and overreacting. So far he's just one reviewer. I'm still gonna go see it, I really have no choice. The article was conveniently divided up so that the spoilers were on a separately linked set of pages. I was grateful for that, I didn't look at the spoilers.
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#249696 - 11/04/2005 13:09
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
I don't really see the difference between renting it and seeing it at the cinema.
Well, renting it, you pay $5 for everyone to see it. Seeing it at the cinema, you pay $8 for each person. So for a group of four people, that's a difference of $31.
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Bitt Faulk
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#249698 - 11/04/2005 14:35
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 510
Loc: NY
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Quote:
Well, renting it, you pay $5 for everyone to see it. Seeing it at the cinema, you pay $8 for each person.
Movies are only $8 in NC?
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Heather
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." -Susan B Anthony
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#249699 - 11/04/2005 14:53
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: Heather]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3582
Loc: Columbus, OH
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Less than that in SC. I think it's $7.50. My wife is in the military, so we get in for $5.50. Nice!
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~ John
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#249700 - 11/04/2005 17:03
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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The review is back up at the moment but if it's down later then try the Coral cached version.
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#249701 - 11/04/2005 17:08
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: JBjorgen]
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addict
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 510
Loc: NY
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Quote:
Less than that in SC. I think it's $7.50. My wife is in the military, so we get in for $5.50. Nice!
I was more surprised because the cost of living in Raleigh isn't exactly cheap. South Carolina I'd expect it, because other than the tourist traps, the place seems like a non stop fire sale to me as far as prices go. Even the tourist trap prices don't seem to bad to me in SC.
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Heather
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." -Susan B Anthony
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#249702 - 11/04/2005 17:36
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: Heather]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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$7.75 or $8, depending on which one of the two theater chains I still agree to go to I go to.
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Bitt Faulk
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#249703 - 11/04/2005 18:34
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 24/08/1999
Posts: 564
Loc: TX
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I just read the full -with spoilers- review. I really hope it is not as bad as the review paints it.
But he seems to have a point with his examples. Once funny two way dialogs are replaced with stupid one-liners.
It looks like that in typical hollywood fashion, all the best bits are in the trailler.
They seem to have missed the whole point of the series.
I had such high hopes.
Not much chance of the rest of the story ever making it.
Oh well......
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the chewtoy for the dog of Life
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#249704 - 11/04/2005 20:31
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: ashmoore]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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I saw a TV ad, and it was clearly all about eye candy rather than witty banter. Still, I'll go see the film. Maybe, just maybe, they came up with something worthwhile.
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#249705 - 12/04/2005 00:18
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: JeffS]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 19/09/2002
Posts: 2494
Loc: East Coast, USA
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Here's another review, even though I didn't read it, or the other one. I'd rather make my own opinion and know nothing going in (since I still haven't read the books yet, but will after seeing the movie). The above review may be a little old... written during HHGTG production? I'm not sure I'd agree with the review based on the one sentence that I did read, calling Star Wars Episode 3 "the bulldozer of box office cash that is Star Wars". Didn't everyone give up on that prequel nonsense? But that's for another thread. I'll go see HHGTG.
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#249706 - 12/04/2005 01:21
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
since I still haven't read the books yet, but will after seeing the movie
It's your business, but I'd read the books first if I were you. If the movie really is as bad as it seems, you'll want to read the books untainted. They are really worth it.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#249708 - 17/04/2005 07:05
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: FireFox31]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 02/06/2000
Posts: 1996
Loc: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Quote:
Here's another review
Ang her's a third review - actually favorable... no real spoilers.
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/Michael
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#249709 - 17/04/2005 13:50
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: mtempsch]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31566
Loc: Seattle, WA
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If only it were actually a review, rather than a sight-unseen PR piece. Sigh.
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#249710 - 17/04/2005 16:55
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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I'm torn. On one hand, HHGG is coming out next weekend, and I even just picked up all five books in one volume, so I could bury myself in intergallactic pandemonium. On the other hand, the new Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is also coming out next weekend and will be showing locally, mere spitting distance from where many of the Enron executives lived.
So, should I go watch a comedy about the destruction of the earth, or should I watch the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
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#249711 - 17/04/2005 16:57
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31566
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I saw that coming a mile off.
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#249713 - 21/04/2005 18:52
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: Robotic]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I'd read somewhere that the reason that it was in "development hell" for ages is that Douglas Adams realized that he didn't want a Hollywood studio working on it and wrote what he considered substandard scripts for it so that he could reject them, which was a right he had gotten in the optioning. Apparently, the rights were due to revert to him at some point, but he died before that happened. Of course, I could be wrong about that, or it might have been a big ole fib.
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Bitt Faulk
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#249714 - 22/04/2005 01:44
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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I can't imagine the movie being worse than the commercials for it. They're some of the worst movie commercials I've seen in years.
They're the most un-funny promos you could imagine. The story is a comedy. Supposed to be an all-out, thinking, but out-loud laughing comedy. Anyone not familiar with the subject matter is not going to get that at all from the TV spots. What they'll get is something that looks like a worthless sci-fi flick, a month before Star Wars opens.
The trailer with the Stephen Fry (Guide) voice-over was good though. Very good.
I'm going to stop reading reviews. Read the first three. I thought the second and third were less than useless and the authors just didn't know anything about the story or what made it what it is. The first really critical one was a very interesting read. I could live with the Heart of Gold's spherical shape, Marvin's goofy appearance, and even an American Ford... But everything else just seems like a huge let-down.
Bruno
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#249715 - 26/04/2005 22:50
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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One more... HHG2G Exec. Producer Robbie Stamp Answers http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/26/1952248&tid=97&tid=133&tid=214 Quote:
Earlier this month, you asked questions of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy executive producer Robbie Stamp. Robbie's been kind enough to answer more than the usual number of questions, and has provided much interesting information about the casting, Douglas Adams' influence, and more -- read on below for his answers.
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#249716 - 28/04/2005 23:29
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: Robotic]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31566
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Well, reviews a' plenty, they seem pretty mixed. Sounds like the filmmakers forgot to Bring The Funny. Ah well. Gonna see it tomorrow anyway. I have to, you know?
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#249717 - 29/04/2005 12:18
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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59% over at Rotten Tomatoes -- right on the borderline.
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Bitt Faulk
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#249718 - 29/04/2005 18:30
Re: Do you know where your towel is?
[Re: wfaulk]
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old hand
Registered: 28/12/2001
Posts: 868
Loc: Los Angeles
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My favorite review line is "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the books".
Yeah, I'll probably see it too, despite the poor reviews (and 59% is pretty poor in my mind). But what can you do?
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Ninti - MK IIa 60GB Smoke, 30GB, 10GB
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