After much anticipation and trepidation, I watched the “Hitchhiker's” trailer last night…

Here are my very mixed impressions. For anyone who cares. Which is probably just me.

Good: Straight off the bat, it was thrilling to see Arthur in his bathrobe.

Bad: It hurt to hear Ford's American accent although he says “What if I told you I was from another planet?” instead of “What if I told you I wasn't from Guilford”. So maybe this Arthur thinks his friend Ford is from Detroit. Regardless, it's changing a major characteristic of Ford and I don't like it.

Good: I still think Mos Def is a good actor and he JUST MIGHT be able to pull it off.

Good: The Vogons!

Bad: There's some slapstick jokes in there. They might be great in context but I worry that they might have stuck too many of these in just to appeal to the sub-intellectual American audience.

Good Trillian's cute little pajama-space outfit. I think she will be a charming Trillian and much more interesting than the one in the book and (especially the BBC series).

Bad: The obvious push for the Arthur/Trillian “love story” which is evident even in the split second that Trillian is being attacked by something or other and shouts “Arthur!”. Trillian was never in love with Arthur! She had the classic “Bad Boy” syndrome and that's why she chose Zaphod.

Good: The few lines I heard from Sam Rockwell were delivered very well. I still think he was a great choice for Zaphod.

Bad: I STILL hate the situation with Zaphod's head. When his first head “flips back” to reveal his second, he looks like this He-Man action figure I used to have. VERY cheesy. And it's not at all the way it was described very clearly by Douglas Adams. I just don't understand why they couldn't have done what they did in Men In Black 2. I can understand being on a budget but it would have been SOO worth it. That is something that I, as a director (or producer or anyone in an position of power) would NOT have been flexible on. And after waiting for 10 years to make this film, you'd think they'd want to get it right.

Good: Arthur! Arthur! Arthur! Martin Freeman is the PERFECT choice. And he even gives a little “Tim” look to the camera when Zaphod says that he and Ford shared 3 of the same mothers. Hopefully Martin Freeman's acting will overshadow all of the other little problems that I forsee.

I'm still pretty excited about the film. I realise I'm being hard on it. But that's what fanboys and girls do.

But seriously, guys…is having TWO PROPER HEADS too much to ask?! Apparently, yes.

February 17, 2005
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

So I just saw this link with some prototypes of action figures for the upcoming Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie (for which I'm equal parts deliriously excited and pants-pooping terrified). And I noticed (even before I read the text) that Zaphod Beeblebrox is suspiciously one-headed and two-armed. That is 100% unacceptable. I read a rumor a while back that they were saying his second head was in his ear. Here they are saying something about his face flipping up to reveal a second head. Either way, they are wrong wrong wrong!!! Now, I know that it's a book and therefore open to interpretation, to be sure. But Douglas Adams SPECIFICALLY described in extensive detail about how Zaphod has two VERY VISIBLE heads and four arms. Otherwise, why would Zaphod have to wear that elaborate Halloween costume in London where he meets Trillian?! There are countless other gags that will be ruined by this retarded “interpretation” of the character's look. Not to mention the fact that it would be EASY for them to give him a CG head. Just look at what they did in Men In Black II:

Maybe there were budgetary issues, but this seems to me like something that they should be uncompromising on. It's one of the worst things they could have changed. I am not happy. And neither will the millions of rabid Adam's fans be.

The rest of the action figures look great though. Especially the Vogons. But that little Trillian plush thing makes her look like a Bee Gee.

Still no word on whether or not Ford will have an English accent.

PS: Someone give Lara Flynn Boyle a sandwich i.v. stat.

January 28, 2005
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

I just watched the first trailer for the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie (which can be seen here at Aint We Cool News) and all I have to say is: WHAT IS THE POINT, TIM BURTON?! Did you POSSIBLY think you could improve on the original? Maybe if it were 1990 and you'd just finished Edward Scissorhands, I MIGHT have some confidence. But one Sleepy Hollow, one Planet of the Apes and one Big Fish later, I realise you are all out of ideas and so you have to make a movie that, from what I can tell, is a terrible “update” to the beautifully surreal look of the original.

Bite me, Burton. Bite me.

December 9, 2004
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

Last night, a group of us went to see National Treasure as presented for free by The Warren Report. I shan't spoil the delicious badness because Faye is going to write it up as a special Bad Movie Monday review. Check back for that because I'm sure it will be well worth your time (much more so than seeing the actual film). But that's not important now. What I wanted to talk about it was the preview that came before the movie. We don't usually get previews with Warren Report films. Therefore, I was very surprised when I realised I was in the midst of the teaser for the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. I've blogged about this film before and how excited I am because I really think there's a good chance it's going to be pretty damned good. I've also seen the teaser before on the very very small screen that is a Quicktime window on my computer. In that capacity, it seemed “cute”. On the big screen, however, when the Earth explodes in a great big ball of blue and bits of planet come flying toward you, it is a-effing-mazing! Seriously. I got chills and everything. So that made me pretty happy. Waiting till May will be tough.
This morning, I was reading The Salmon of Doubt which is a posthumously published collection of essays by and interviews with Douglas Adams. In it, there is an interview he did with the Onion in 1998. He was talking about how the rights to the film had just been purchased by Disney and how glad he was that it was finally being made. At that time, various parties had been trying to make this film for 15 years (by now it's 21 years). Adams said that the whole process had been rather frustrating for him because the project was something that meant a lot to him. I won't go into all the details. I'll just mention who has tried to make the film: Ivan Reitman, Michael Nesmith(!) and Jay Roach with Disney (I'm glad that last one didn't pan out. The guy who did Meet the Parents has no business directing this film). I don't know the whole story about what happened to the film after this interview and why Jay Roach isn't directing. (Instead it's Hammer and Tongs, who are best known, by me, as the guys who made Blur's “Coffee and TV” video). I do know that when Douglas Adams died in 2001, the only visual realization of his story that he witnessed was the fairly silly BBC version, which he admits was disappointing. In the interview, he sounded so excited that he would FINALLY see his work on film. He said that he was confident it would be something he could be proud of because special effects have come a long way since the film was first pitched. I'm sure that when he died, he was happy about a lot of things besides movies. But he never will get to see bits of Earth hurling toward him in a dark theatre. I'm sad that he didn't have the opportunity to get chills. Sure, many authors never get a chance to see their characters on film. (And for many of them, that's a good thing). Adams, however, was always “close” to seeing it get made and it just didn't happen in time.

November 11, 2004
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

Last night I finally saw Team America. (I know it's been out for less than a week, but there was a time when I would have insisted on seeing it on opening night. That was impossible this time).

The review in The Stranger had this criticism of the film:
“It's far too one-sided for its own good. The film is so busy skewering the pomposity of liberals that it almost lets conservatives off the hook, as though the filmmakers took a dare to try to make the most outrageous political satire possible without mentioning a certain name. It's telling that the right's biggest puppet, dear old Dubya, is basically given a pass.”

Reading that before seeing Team America, I was a little worried. I've seen less than perfect South Park episodes. Then again, I've also seen sheer genius. (The Great Expectations episode and the Radiohead episode come to mind).

Well, the movie started and I was laughing from the get-go, whatwith the exploding opening credits followed by another explosion. The songs are, as usual, a strong point (I especially like the ballad “Pearl Harbor Sucks (And I Miss You)”). And then there is the “criticism” of liberal Hollywood. It was then that I realised that some liberals just can't take a goddamned joke. And that's all it was. It IS silly that these celebrities take themselves so seriously. They're fucking actors for christsake! They have the same ideas as any other liberal, yet somehow they feel that just because they are famous, it is up to them to “save the world”. It's true that money talks. But it often feels like it's more of a publicity thing for them than it is social work. Bono is a good example of this.

As for Bushy's absence in the film, I didn't miss him. For one thing, the man practically makes fun of himself. If I need it pointed out to me, Jon Stewart already has that market cornered. It seems to me that Trey and Matt set out to have a good time. They've mentioned before that they only want to make each other laugh. It is clear in interviews that most of the motivation for the jokes are just that “it's funny to see puppets do stuff”. And it is. Especially when puppets fight and explode and die horrible, gruesome deaths. That IS funny. And it's just as funny to see Susan Sarandon splat on the sidewalk as it would be to see Bushy die in a similar fashion.

In short, Team America is a comedy. These are heavy times, so it's nice to see smart that's also light on the social. For the most part, they just wanted to make fun of actors and the silliness of action movies. And I don't mind. I think people expected too much because Bigger, Longer and Uncut was so political. But I honestly don't think they were going for that so much this time. If I want to laugh about politics, I will watch The Daily Show. If I want to laugh about Ben Afleck, I will watch South Park (“You almost make me forget about tacos!”) or Team America. And I'm fine with that order of things.

October 21, 2004
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

A word of warning. I'm going to geek out here today.

A while ago, I caught wind that they were making a Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie. This prompted me to re-read the books so that I could enjoy the story once more before it was visually tainted by Hollywood. However, the more I read about this production, the more I think it might actually be pretty good! I've seen small bits of the set and it looks pretty cool. Then there's the issue of casting. All the characters are so great that one bad casting decision could ruin the whole thing. So far, I'm pretty happy with who they've chosen. Especially the choice of Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office) as Arthur Dent. He already displayed his “everyman” qualities in The Office and did so very well. Put him in a bathrobe and he already IS Arthur Dent. I'm also very excited about Sam Rockwell as Zaphod. I was extremely impressed at his charisma in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (and Stella! :P) and I think he could pull off Zaphod pretty well. Of course, there is the question of how they are going to give him 2 heads without it looking ridiculous. Well, as horrid as Men In Black 2 was, I remember being fairly impressed with the realism of Johnny Knoxville's second head. So it might work out just fine. Then there's the question of Mos Def as Ford Prefect. I don't doubt Mos Def's acting ability. My only concern with this decision is that it is unclear whether or not they are going to make him do an English accent. If they don't, the whole joke about Ford pretending to be from Guilford will be lost. If they DO and it's terrible, the whole character will be lost. I have yet to hear a decision on the accent.

The script doesn't worry me either as MOST of it is actually from Douglas Adam's original adaptation. (Well, it doesn't worry me unless I think about Nick Hornby's original screenplay for Fever Pitch. But let's not revisit that one…ever.)

One thing that DOES annoy me already (just in the sense that it's a rude thing to do) is their decision to use Warwick Davis as the BODY for Marvin, the Paranoid Android, but not the voice. What the shit is that? You hire a professional and well known actor to, essentially, act as a double? Why not just save money and hire Mr. Cheapo Small Person to do the body? What's wrong with Warwick Davis's voice? If he can be a scary Leprechaun, he can bloody well play a manic depressive robot.

I began watching the BBC series of the books last night. It was made in 1981 and it is pretty dated. I don't know whether or not I want to keep watching because it's pretty embarrassing at times. Especially the part where Zaphod has a mullet and Trillian, who's supposed to be brilliant, talks like Chrissy Snow from Three's Company.

So that's what I have to say about the matter so far. I'm excited to see what's going to happen and I'm feeling fairly optimistic about it at this point. It helps assuage my fears (and horrors) about the film of Confederacy of Dunces that they're making. Thanks for bearing with me through my little Aint It Cool News moment.

September 17, 2004
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment