Hitchhikers guide & the Chocolate factory

[Kinoko]

The greatest of all - BATMAN! ^_^

[jetxl]

...
...is there anything else?

How about this cinematic masterpiece.


We all got to start somewhere, but this...

[TerranRich]

No wonder that movie (Pee Wee's Big Adventure) scared the living crap out of me. It was directed by Tim Burton.

Also, judging from the second trailer (the one with actual scenes from the movie), it looks like it might actually be good. Very good. I concur that it looks very much like the TV series. The pub looks the same, and the inside of the Heart of Gold looks very similar to that shown in the series as well. I will definitely watch this, and drag everybody I can find along with me. I seem to be the only fan of HGttG within a 50-mile radius, with the exception of one nerdy girl at work who wouldn't give me the time of day.

[Ozwalled]

For the record, I think that the first Pee Wee movie was great.  This new Chocolate Factory thing though, I'm not so sure. I guess I'll just have to wait for the Corpse Bride or whatever.

As far as other movies he's made, I think his stuff is pretty hit and miss.

•    Big Fish (2003): Haven't seen it yet.
•    Planet of the Apes (2001): Crap. What was he thinking?...
•    Sleepy Hollow (1999): Not great, IMO. Some liked it, though.
•    Mars Attacks! (1996): Loved it. Silly and a lot of fun.
•    Ed Wood (1994): Haven't seen it.
•    The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Was he REALLY only the producer and not the director of this? Anyway, it was fantastic.
•    Batman Returns (1992): Didn't like the Penguin so much, but it was okay.
•    Edward Scissorhands (1990): Very interesting, stylish little movie.
•    Batman (1989): Loved it. Keaton was the best Batman ever.
•    Beetlejuice (1988): Loved it. Keaton was AWESOME as Beetlejuice.
•    Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985): As I said, I thought it was great.
•    Vincent: A short piece, but being a fan of Vincent Price, I adored this one.
•    Frankenweenie (1984): Ho hum.

So anyway, I think that at least 2 of his 3 last films weren't great. But he has had some good stuff in there. I'll be giving his Chocolate Factory a try with my fingers crossed, but I don't have very high expectations.

[Kinoko]

•    Batman (1989): Loved it. Keaton was the best Batman ever.
•    Beetlejuice (1988): Loved it. Keaton was AWESOME as Beetlejuice.

I second those!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Thanks for the list, Oz.

[Al_Ninio]

New Hitchhiker's trailer.

[Inkoddi]

New Hitchhiker's trailer.

Same thing, but a bit bigger

[DragonRose]

The new trailer makes me happy. I watched it with a bunch of friends and made a complete fool of myself bouncing around and clapping. I don't think they noticed, though, because they were behaving similarly.

34 days until release!

[Kweepa]

•    Ed Wood (1994): Haven't seen it.

It's awesome.
I went to see it with a couple of friends and one of them didn't know or realise Ed Wood was a real person. That just made it better!

[Peter Thomas]

The new trailer looks awesome. I am so pleased. The previous one had me really worried. It looked so silly. But THIS....well... it just looks fantastic!

April, HERE WE COME!

[Darth Mandarb]

That new trailer rocks so hard!

When I read the book that's just how I pictured it ... perfect!  Now I can't wait to see it!

And Arthur Dent is played by the body double guy in "Love Actually" who was my favorite character in the movie!  And Sam Rockwell plays Zaphod  ... just perfect.  I loved him as Guy Fleegman in 'Galaxy Quest'.

Can't wait for this one ... I've been trying to get Sara (girlfriend) to read it lately, but she just never gets around to it.

[Kinoko]

I'm pretty happy about everything in this one apart from all that Arthur/Trillian crap... but I always hate that shit ^_^ Marvin still... is not right to me, but as long as he acts like Marvin, I'll be okay.

[Redwall]

Yeah, Marvin looks odd, but I think Alan Rickman can save it. Speaking of Galaxy Quest vets...

I'm hoping the Arthur/Trillian stuff is just a joke... Arthur belongs with Fenchurch.

[Kinoko]

I'd personally prefer Arthur have no dealings with romance at all. Romance always ruins good stories, particularly clever, sci-fi themed ones.

[DragonRose]

I've got to agree with Kinoko on that one. When Fenchurch showed up in SLATFATF, it just seemed to throw everything off.

But she wasn't in Mostly Harmless, so it all evens out.

Anyway, Trillian is with Beeblbrox. They change that, there shall be kickings.

[PaulSC]

So did anyone end up catching Hitchhikers? This forum seems to have an odd habit of getting excited about things then not actually talking about them when they finally come out.

I mostly enjoyed watching it and thought it was more-or-less consistently funny all the way through, but I was pretty disappointed on the whole. I have no problems with new additions in theory, but most of the new stuff in the film just didn't achieve much at all, and a lot of the original stuff wasn't handled very well. The whole thing was just choppy and muddled as all hell.

Even though I'd say the visuals and casting (aside from Arthur) were generally weaker in the old TV series, that's still the place to go if you want something that mostly 'gets' the tone and humour of the radio/book versions. You do miss out on the delightful Zooey Something O'Rother if you skip the film, though.

Any thoughts?

[Kweepa]

I don't see what the fuss is with Zooey Whateverhernameis. Ho hum.
The film was good, and I enjoyed it, but I agree with Paul - the tv show was much better.
In the film, Arthur's whining annoyed me, the "relationship" annoyed me, Zaphod annoyed me - he seemed more freaky than froody.
Things I thought were better
- Vogons were better developed
- Stephen Fry as the book was perfect, although only marginally better than Peter Jones
- some of the infinite improbability effects
Is that it?

[TerranRich]

I saw Hitchhiker's. I thought it was great. It's hard to convert HHGttG to a movie format, fitting the 2-hour standard we so often find out there. For what it was -- with a plot forced upon the book to make the movie -- it was awesome. I would defnitely recommend it. It did have the feeling of the series, at first. The series never finished, so beyond that point, I felt like it was a good adaptation.

Just a few things I don't remember fom the book and am too lay to look up:

(o) While Arthur and Ford are talking in the pub about the world ending, does Arthur mention Trillian and how they met? Or did he mention her much later on? In the movie, they stuff that part in the pub scene, establishing Arthur's longing for Trillian.

Actually, that was all I could remember from the movie.

Also, they made Ford seem like a bumbling clutz in the movie, when I remember him as being smooth and knowledgable and sure of himself in the book, as well as the series. Also, as Phil Reed points out in his review on his web site, Zaphod seemed more like a parody of himself in the movie, while in the series and the book he seemed like he was legimately a "cool cat".

[Kinoko]

I'm seeing it on Friday. I've had friends say it was utter shit and others say it was fun. For the moment, I'm feeling positive about it because I've let go of my expectations about the movie. Still, we'll see...