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[holli]

So, I saw Hitchiker's Guide. And it was SO GOOD.

I mean, it was *different,* but that's okay, because it was still *Hitchhiker's*, on like, a fundamental level. Somehow. And the ways that it was different weren't bad ones, at all.

And, I just. Oh, Arthur, you darling, darling man. And Ford. And Zaphod, you FREAK. And. MARVIN. And just. Trillian, you too. And EVERYONE, really.



I think my absolute favorite thing in the whole movie was when Slartibartfast takes Arthur out on the factory floor of Magrathea, and Arthur sees Earth Mark 2 being built, because the look on his face is just... oh. Like, he's trying to cover his eyes at first, but the sheer awe and wonder wins out over the stark staring terror, and he has this look on his face like he might cry or something, because what he was seeing was just so wonderful and huge and beautiful. And I kind of felt that way too.

I just. There's a sweetness to the movie, I think, that I really liked. I mean, the books were cynical as hell in places, and more so as you went on through the series, and I kind of feel like this is Douglas Adams' way of making up for the end of Mostly Harmless, because while it's dry and witty and cynical in places, there's a lot of warmth to it as well. I mean, Arthur Dent gets the girl. Arthur Dent *never* gets the girl, he's too busy trying to not go mad from all the bizarre things that happen to him. It's nice that he gets to get the girl, this once.



Oh! Also! They showed the Serenity trailer before the movie, which was AWESOME. And the audience seemed into it-- everyone laughed at the "oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die" bit, and Mal shooting first got some appreciative noise.

And-- okay, the Star Wars trailer ran immediately before the Serenity trailer, and boy did it not hold up to comparison. I mean, ooh, special effects, whatever, but Lucas? It's called vocal inflection. Your actors are, actually, capable of it-- well, okay, maybe not Hayden, but I have it on good authority that the rest of your cast does not speak exclusively in monotone. You should maybe look into that.

Comments

[tvsadam.livejournal.com]

Why? Why trouble yourself to have your actors...act...when you could shoot your Star Wars film in your bathroom using claymation and you'd still have people lining up outside theaters weeks before it premiered? ...and the WRONG theaters, at that...and then when you tell them they're at the wrong theater they call you a liar.

Movie attendance conspiracy theorists. That's what Star Wars fanatics have become.

Now where was I?

Oh yeah. I love Star Wars, no matter what plank of wood is playing Anakin Skywalker. Am still excited. Also, I saw Hayden Chunkheadristiansen in Shattered Glass, and thought he actually did a decent job.

Though I think part of it might have something to do with people stuttering out the clunky, bizarre, and often flat-out stupid dialogue that Star Wars movies so often contain. "I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating...here everything is smooth. Soft." <----dumb-assingest pickup line ever.

I guess the moral of this story is I have mouth about my own helpless adoration for a lame space opera. I can be mad that Lucas can be rich as Midas and wander the earth like a half-shaved bear with obvious disrespect for his audience, and still like the product, can't I?

Shut up!

-TV's Around The Survivors A Perimeter Create

[holli.livejournal.com]

Oh, Lucas is the real problem here, absolutely. But I'm just... not excited. I have no emotional investment whatsoever in the last Star Wars movie that will probably ever be made. I'm way too much of a geek for that. It feels wrong, somehow.

[tvsadam.livejournal.com]

That was an instantaneous response which creeps me out. And I'm probably within half a mile of you right now, which should creep YOU out.

It should feel wrong. This is Star Wars. It demands respect. It's not like Star Trek. It's interesting.

We got a press kit at work for the film and it went to me because I shouted that it should go to me. There were trivia questions in it. I knew a lot of the answers. My understanding of a totally fictitious universe troubles me. Like when me and my editor talk about video games in front of others. It always makes me uncomfortable, as though people could see my ass through a little, unfixable flap in the back of my pants.

...?

-TV's Unfixable Ass Flap

[holli.livejournal.com]

The instantaneousness is because I'm on IRC in another window, and also waiting for people to post to this RPG I just joined. As you can see, I seem to have outgrown nerd shame.

And, is it sad that I think getting the press kit is cooler than I seem to find the actual *movie* to be? I think the answer here is "good lord, yes. Lucas, you jackass."

[holli.livejournal.com]

And, also, if we're going to talk about helpless adoration for a lame space opera, see above, re: my huge, unreasoning joy at the Serenity trailer. Also, everything I have ever said about Farscape, ever.

[tvsadam.livejournal.com]

What the hell is Serenity? Am I already sorry I asked? Answer: yes.

Farscape is awesome.

Stacking comments because we're both on livejournal at the same time is not, for all people who are not us.

-TV's Embarassed

[holli.livejournal.com]

Serenity is the Firefly movie. Firefly was this really good sci-fi show on Fox that got cancelled in half a season. If it helps, the captain of the ship on Firefly is Han Solo-y in a way, only even more of a badass.

[tvsadam.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and I have a very old friend named Trillian, who I'm pretty sure was named after the Hitchhiker Trillian.

...how many other Trillians are there?

I think Trillian is an awesome name. I would name my daughter Trillian if it didn't make her name alliterative, which would just be mean.

-TV's Clever Name

[holli.livejournal.com]

Trillian *is* an awesome name. Unfortunately, it's now also an IRC client. I feel like if I'm going to give my kids geeky names, they should either be middle names or geeky in a stealthy fashion. There are too many resentful Eowyns in the world.

[ahsavka.livejournal.com]

1) Star Wars. *weeps*. It might be bad, and Jar Jar Binks is ruinous, and Hayden cannnot act (nor could the wee one, whatever his name was), but the fact remains that if you took stills from the movie they would be gorgeous. They are gorgeous. I cannot help but love the series, even still. Plus, I actually don't quite know what will happen, which is sorta exciting.

2) HOLY CRAP in caps, Batman. Your favorite part of the movie is also mine. About-to-cry eyes = win.

[defiantfay.livejournal.com]

1) When I saw it at the Egyptian Muvico at Arundle Mills, there was no Star Wars trailer.

2) When the serenity trailer ran, people applauded it right as it went on, and almost a third of the theater was clapping after it ran. Also, during the trailer there were comments about how it is such a cult it, etc. etc. I guess I'm just trying to say that I was shocked that there were so many people aware of some pop culture phenomenon that I had no idea existed. I'm usually so on top of these things. Is it a TV show? What is the show about? How many years has it been on? Why have I never heard of it?

[holli.livejournal.com]

Oh, dude, you have no idea how happy that makes me.

Serenity is the movie version of a show called Firefly, that ran for half a season during our senior year. Since the Fox network is run by jackasses, they ran it in the Friday Night Timeslot of Doom, aired episodes out of order, and made them reshoot the pilot, among other indignities, and then canceled it after airing eleven episodes.

There was a huge fan campaign to get teh show back on the air and out in a DVD box set. We got the DVDs, at least, and they sold so well that Joss Whedon, the creator, got a movie deal with Universal. That's Serenity, and I am so freaking excited about it you don't even know.

As for what the show was about-- well, okay, short version was that it was sci-fi, and also a western. And it was incredibly well-written, with a fantastic cast, and I adored it. I'd be more than happy to lend you my DVDs, and I'll probably have a viewing party sometimes this summer.

[mib24601.livejournal.com]

I say Hayden Christiansen (sp?) in a West End show called "This is our Youth" (also starring Rogue from X-Men and the guy who was almost the replacement Spiderman in Spiderman 2) and he was really good. I saw it before episode 2 came out and I was really excited for episode two since he was such a great actor. And then the movie came out and it sucked and I wondered what happened to the actors.

Well, if movies like the Star Wars prequels can get Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman to act stiltedly, then I suppose Hayden had no chance of showing his acting chops.

[holli.livejournal.com]

Dude, Ewan McGregor is stilted and wooden in these movie. *Ewan McGregor*. The man with so much charisma that, I'm convinced, his charisma is actually a separate entity with its own agent and publicist. How lousy a director do you have to be to make Ewans' charisma pull up stakes and leave?