[Cobra]

good one.

someone doesn't like Star Wars: Ep 1? they must die.

i gotta admit tho, the trailers for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were hilarious.

"I think that-" *WHAM (hit by some kind of shovel)* "What was that?" *WHAM (everyone but Marvin get hit)* "RUN!!!"

"You hit that button and BAM!" *zap, boom, wack, zoom and every sfx you can think of* "Is this gonna happen every time we press that button?"

[StratComm]

I did rather explicityly say one bad review.  If a movie has many (Star Wars ep 1 comes to mind) then it probably is bad.  But most of the rest of the reviews I've seen for HHGTTG are pretty good.  Simple statistics; you throw out the most extreme data to get a closer approximation to the true value.

[Ford Prefect]

I liked Episode I. And Episode II.

[ZylonBane]

Then you're dumb.

The thing about this guy's HHGTTG review is that he doesn't just ask you to take his (occasionally fanatical) word for it, he actually provides a scene-by-scene description of the entire movie. And based on that description, it does indeed seem to have the plot coherence of a Tim Burton movie. If you like that sort of thing... well... more power to ya (and please don't reproduce).

[Ford Prefect]

Tim Burton is a genius. He's made several of my favorite movies.

[aldo_14]

I would have to say 'plot coherence' never struck me as a major point of the books, to be fair.  The other thing that strikes me, is that someone who can give a virtual scene-by-scene recap of a film is a bit like the kind of person who points out the stupid little continuity errors that no-one actually cares about.

I'll wait for a proper review, methinks.

[Rictor]

"fan overexpectation" is just another way of saying "fans are the only ones have anything resembling a standard". I'm sorry, but I simply don't trust the majority of people to have discerning taste. Would you like me to start listing the scores of bull**** movies which were well recieved?

Like I said, if you've never driven a Ferrari, you have no problem believing that a Yugo (being the worst car I can think of at the moment) is as good as it gets.

[StratComm]

No, it's another way of saying that if you're going to disect every scene, line by line, and completely ignore the overall plot arcs or the jokes that aren't lifted line-for-line out of the source to the adaption, then you are holding it up to some unattainable and unreasonable standard.  In all seriousness, you absolutely have to remember that it is an adaption of previous works first and foremost, and will not necessarily align itself to what any one person has built up in their mind.  That reviewer quite plainly went in to the thing knowing he was going to hate it, and he reasoned it out with whatever evidence he could find.

But anyway, by the same reasoning, someone who has only driven a piece of crap car has no problem believing what he has is the worst.  Even when it could get much worse.  Open mind Rictor, don't make assumptions based on someone elses (biased) point of view.

[Goober5000]

Meh.  Maybe it is a bad review; in any case I'm reserving judgement until I hear the reports from opening day.  Though the reviewer's description of the crippled jokes doesn't bode well.

It's just that there's been a disturbing trend in Hollywood to make bad movies out of good source material, LOTR notwithstanding.  I'm afraid this may be yet another instance of that.

[Blitzerland]

I disapear for one hour to install my new Firewall, and what happens? Posts. Lots of them. This'll be interesting.

*enables mass-answering mechanism*

Originally posted by Cobra
good one.

I hope this wasn't in response to Strattcom's post, which made perfect sense in every way. If it was, you've reached a lofty new level of stupidity.

Originally posted by Ford Perfect:
I liked Episode I. And Episode II.

I thought they were alright. Lots of action, and the plot wasn't that bad.

Originally posted by ZylonBane in response to Ford Perfect:
Then you're dumb.

He isn't dumb, he's just got a different opinion. Yeah, that happens sometimes. The whole "not-everyone-thinks-just-like-you" thing. Bloody egotist.

Originally posted by aldo_14
I would have to say 'plot coherence' never struck me as a major point of the books

So right, on so many levels.

Originally posted by Goober the uber naysayer:
the reviewer's description of the crippled jokes doesn't bode well

No, they don't. Is it just me, or is Hollywood catering to the Adam Sandler-type-fans who don't "get" sophisticated humor? Hello, morons, there's more to humor than cussing and body-part jokes!

Also posted by Goober. He's on a role, today, isn't he?
It's just that there's been a disturbing trend in Hollywood to make bad movies out of good source material

Pearl Harbor, about fifty botched book adaptions, you'd need to rent a stadium to hold the list.

LoTR was a pleasant success, but that's it, as far as I can tell. Can they get anything right? Or perhaps Hollywood should attempt something original?

[Flipside]

One question, have the done what they did with Lord of the Rings and given an explanation why parts had to be changed etc?

And since HHGTTG was pretty succesful as a series, it does show that it can be pretty faithfully reproduced in Film format

[Ford Prefect]

Everyone is aware that Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay for the movie, right?

[Flipside]

I thought the movie was based on Douglas Adams screenplay that he wrote whilst still alive, the same screenplay they used for the TV series, with completely different results? I wasn't under the impression it was written specifically for that movie.

[Ford Prefect]

It's still his writing, though. The point is that even the author himself was not entirely faithful to the books when writing a screenplay. A lot of things that work in books just don't work on screen, and they're usually things that we wouldn't think about because we don't work in the film industry.

[Flipside]

Agreed, however, it also shows the massive disparity that can occur when two different people interpret the same screenplay. Maybe the Director was trying not to just make a film of the TV series of the Book, I don't know, but if so, it's becoming a game of Media Chinese Whispers, with the result becoming further and further detached from the original.

That said, I am going to watch the movie before making any definite conclusions about it

[Blitzerland]

That's what the producers of this travesty are hoping you'll do.

[Flipside]

Well, I won't know it's a travesty till I do, and I won't be paying cinema prices, I don't even do that for films I am eagerly waiting for. So it'll have to wait until it's released on Tor....er....DVD

[Blitzerland]

Usually I'd rag on you for hurting the film industry, but this time, not so much.

[Flipside]

to be honest, these days I wait until movies come out to rent, watching 'attack of the blur with warbly soundtrack' is not my idea of a fun evening in

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Flipside
One question, have the done what they did with Lord of the Rings and given an explanation why parts had to be changed etc?

And since HHGTTG was pretty succesful as a series, it does show that it can be pretty faithfully reproduced in Film format

I would suspect / fear they removed the cleverer conversations with big words...... of course, IMO part of the best (if not the best) bit about the books is the narrative anyways, and I'm not sure that could really be reproduced on film.

I'm actually in 2 minds over the movie; on the one hand it's fear of Hollywoods adaptation, on the other hand there is the odd bit of hope; Bill Bailey voicing the sperm whale, for example.