Douglas Adams packs more wackiness in to his novels than any camera can ever dream of reproducing. The newest offering of his work from Disney reiterates this fact. After watching Disney's new movie today, which had been burning, smoking and broiling in the back burner for years, I'd have to say we have some good news and bad news. The good news is, Disney has done it better than the BBC, the bad news is neither is anywhere near the book. But I understand Disney's has been a good effort, as I said earlier it is hard to reproduce DNA's verbal wackiness on film. Some of the oft-quoted lines from the novel have been included in the movie and I think a lot of definitions and explanations like who Vogons are, what a pan galactic gargle blaster is etc have also been incorporated. What the film lacked(acc.to.me)is the technical finesse you'd expect from a Hollywood film. Although there are some commendable CGI sequences like the view from the Vogon ship as it shoots up from the earth, the movie lack the usual slickness of Hollywood special effects. Maybe they were deliberately cutting down on the CGI because afterall it is a British movie, they might not want it to look like another Matrix Revolution or Rotations. But I thought the opening credits sequence looked like something out of a home movie edited by an amateur.
The fans of THHGTTG will definitely flock to the theaters to check how the story turned out on the big screen, but one thing I am certain is that not many newbies are going to get converted in to DNA fans after watching this movie. It is hard for someone who has not read DNA to comprehend what the fuss is all about. It does not have the almost impossible goal the heroes of the Lord of the Rings(another book series turned in to movie) were striving to reach. What made both readers and non-readers appreciate LOTR is the collective baited breath on which the story rode along the magnanimously impressive landscapes.
THHGTG is not a goal oriented story, although some additional characters(a new villain for instance) and more stress on the personal relationships between the characters seems like an effort from the part of film makers to make it a goal oriented movie. The crazy digressions that pepper THHGTTG-the novel and make it unique, cannot be done effectively in a movie which has to stick to a definite time frame and keep the audience's attention at the same time.
For me, it was good to see my favorite novel on the big screen finally. I was not much impressed by the BBC-TV series, probably because it felt really dated by the time I saw it in the late 90s. My advice would be if you have not read any of DNA, don't waste your money on this movie, you can probably rent it sometime later. And if you have read DNA, you probably would not need my advice.
An earthy film about a rural postman in an Italian island and his meeting with the poet Neruda who was living in the same island in exile. Nominated for a posthumous Oscar, Massimo Troisi(he died of a heart attack a few days after the production ended) plays the title character with such perfection that it is hard to notice he is acting, he lives and breathes the character of the innocent village postman. 
Watched the newest blockbuster from Malayalam movie industry, Udayananu Tharam. It is indeed one of the better films that has come out in Malayalam in the recent past, a respite from the unbearable comedies whose main purpose is to make idiots out of their viewers. It is a tight, technically decent film with Mohanlal in the title role and Sreenivasan in the main supporting role.
Get Shorty is one of those total-script films, one which relies heavily on the smart-alecness of the script and the right choice of actors than anything else. Well, they did make a right choice roping in Travolta for the main role, he is the best mob guy who has come out of Hollywood in the recent past.
Liked it better than the original Meet the Parents. All credit to Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. I also liked DeNiro better in this one. There is not much of a plot, except that this time around we are going to meet Focker(Ben Stiller)'s parents. A jovial entertainer, the success of which solely depends on the entertaining capacity of its actors.
It is unfortunate to start a review by mentioning the remake when the real one is so much better. But so is the ways of the world where everyone is aware of Hollywood movies than an obscure film from Germany or India. 
I have liked Mel Gibson films for their crowd appeal, their gigantically populated landscapes and the raw emotion they can wrench out of the audience. Although I do not rank Passion anywhere near Braveheart, it is clear why Christianity is such an easily marketable religion. Afterall, all human hearts respond to pain and suffering or so I think.
Malayalam comedy is steadily going downhill and it is Harishree Ashokan who is driving it turbo charged down the slope with the aid of superstar Dileep. I like Dileep, but his roles and the movies he produce have now become breeding grounds of sickening pseudo-comedy. It is true that when one is the producer, the main intention is, unless one is a millionaire philathrophist who doesn't mind losing a few millions, to make a profit. But was there no other way to reap profit than to make such a joke of a movie?
A roadtrip in the idyllic Bhutanese style set against the majestic backdrop of Himalayas. A young government officer of the raring to go kind, trapped in a backcountry village gets his passport to freedom when one of his friends mails him about getting a visa to go to United States, his dreamland. To embark on this journey, he has to reach Thimpu first. The film follows his journey to Thimpu, hitching rides, with interesting fellow travellers. A beautiful film, a cultural window to the present day Bhutan and it breathtaking landscapes and simple people.
Watched two Lindsay Lohan teen flicks on two consecutive days - Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Mean Girls. Not exactly of any cinematic value expect to keep your teenage girls off the phone for two hours. My intention was to feel the pulse of the American teenager, especially girls - two cultural education films, lol.
After Hable con ella and Todo Sobre mi Madre, this is my third Almodovar film to date. Gael Garcia shows his wide range, he has done an about-turn from his role in Motorcycle Diaries to this one, as a cross dresser he could give Julia Roberts a run for her money. This is also the first time I've seen a mainstream director(mainstream as I visualize it is not exactly Hollywood) deal with gays and gay relationships in a mature environment and make them the main theme of the movie instead of having them as 'butts for jokes' props. Cinematography is good, wish they had shown more of the director(Enrique in the film)'s house, it looked architecturally interesting. Overall a different film.
A coming of age film for the middle aged. Like all coming of age moments this one also involves alcohol - wine. Two friends embark upon a last week of freedom trip through the wine country of California, before one of them is about to get married at the end of the week.
One of the cool ghost/horror films I've come across in recent times. The Art of Dying is about six friends who are somehow involved in the disappearance and death of a seventh person - their friend and an eccentric genius of a painter. At the beginning of the movie we do not know what had really happened to the painter guy, the story unfolds as the film progresses. It eventually turns in to a nail biting ghost story sans the cheap tricks. I liked the movie, takes place in some city in Spain and one of the better made films about the subject of cheating death.
Ram Gopal Varma is the best director to come out of Bollywood in recent times. If Shekhar Kapoor can get Hollywood films to direct, it is high time Varma got a chance. Bhoot is an excellent cinematic composition, taut, no-nonsesnse, a ghost story with just the right amount ghost in it. No Hindi movie I've watched recently comes anywhere near the technical perfection, acting and overall quality of Bhoot. Urmila Matondkar and Ajay Devgan deliver excellent performances, the rest of the cast is also good. Hats off to Ram Gopal Varma
This is the perfect movie for a saturday/sunday night with friends. In the simplest terms it is the story of three friends who go searching for a treasure in the Cascades National Forest following the clues left behind by a dead fourth member of their childhood gang. They leave their real life jobs behind and embark upon a journey none of them are familiar with. Its a fun trip.
Another one for all the fans of Dave Chappelle. It is a not so new movie(1998) which is an A-Z about weed and weed smokers. If you are offended by the overwhelming onscreen presence of marijuana, you should stay clear of this movie. Dave Chappelle as usual is funny, as he is in all movies he co-writes. It is a stupid, full length funny movie about Dave and his three friends on loose and high.
This must be the only documentary in which the entire hijack(of any kind) has been filmed live and clear anywhere in the world. If CNN's live broadcast(of shooting flares and dim gun totting figures and tanks) of Kuwait War of 1991 was a major event in TV history, Bus 174 is a major milestone in documentary film making.
The travails of immigrants in the New World - this time it is the Chinese immigrants before WW2. An arranged marriage, the bride comes over to the US and the troubles begin. But wait, it is not a serious film as the issues involved may make you believe. Shot in a funny vein, it is a light look at the serious problems faced by immigrants.
Since Matchstick Men didn't make any box office ripples, I didn't expect much from it - but I was in for a surprise. It turned out to be a good one! One doesn't expect this kind of low key movie from Ridley Scott, who is 'prone' to epics. But in my opinion, he did well.
It is a funny, satirical Hollywood entertainers, much in the lines of Stepford Wives. Death Becomes Her stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis(in a very different role)in the three main roles. The movie makes fun of the Hollywood's obsession to stay young forever and its repurcussions if someone happens to succeed in doing that, all of course, with a pinch of humor. An entertainer to the core.
For anyone who is interested in the making of movies, it is fun to watch a movie which is about the movie world. In my knowledge there are not many films about the Bollywood of the sixties and the seventies although a lot of Bollywood's best films came out during this period.
A 15 year old black boy is arrested by the police on charge of a murder of a female, white tourist in Jacksonville, Florida. The only witness, the woman's husband is convinced that the killer is the fifteen year old, police botch up the investigation, they needed a criminal with motive, they pick up the first black guy they spotted in a dark t-shirt. The documentary does not take side, but goes on a slow and methodical analysis of the case following the defense lawyers. Powerful.
Well, if this film didn't ruffle the feathers of the true believers nothing would. And sure as hell, it did when it came out. From the acclaimed novel by Nikos Kazantzakis of the same name, Martin Scorsese weaves out a believable yarn(even the satan's fake angel)story about Jesus of Nazereth.
The story idea is cool - compulsory retirement of all super heroes and making them part of the FBI's relocation program. 
From the director of Cinema Paradiso, another movie pulling at the same emotional chords. But this time, an unlikely story about a man who was found on top of a piano, as a baby. The piano itself was inside a passenger cruise ship and the man becomes a master pianist who refuses to leave the ship for the rest of his life.
This is an HBO movie about the first fully televised war in human history - the 1991 Iraq war and the story of a handful of CNN crew behind it. It is a TV movie, starring Michael Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter and has the trapping of a TV movie. Not much of a great film or anything, it'd be good to know the beginning of 'embedding' television crews in the war began.
A great family entertainer and for a change, Adam Sandler is no more the bumbling awkward guy but a successful award winning cook, married and a father of two - a role which suits him well. 
I saw the whole movie in fast forward with subtitles on. It is almost real time picturization of a painting being made by some modern day artist in Spain, who has this impossible task of painting a quince tree and he takes years at it, half hour at a time(ok I am exaggerating, but it is something like that). And it has one 20+ international awards, yeah I am a dunce.
It is an interesting movie, about two married dentists who have a practise and three daughters together. It is a depiction of a mid-life crisis that happens a li'l earlier than is normal. Campbell Scott and Hope Davis plays the couple in this very believable film directed by Alan Rudolph. Denis Leary has a quirky role, first as an annoying patient of Scott's and then as a representative of his alter ego.
An interesting take on ghosts by 1947 standards. Mrs Muir is a widow who buys a haunted house, befriends the ghost of a sea captain who is bent on driving the tenents away and ends writing his biography for him. The captain's ghost albeit very serious has a dark sense of humor.
Another AA movie in my list. AA means Arrogant American movie, the last one in this category I saw before this was Hidalgo. Although in the Last Samurai, Tom Cruise, the disillusioned Confederate soldier who takes up a contract of training soldiers for the Japanese emperor is all praise for the Samurais and their contributions and joins ranks with them against the Americans and the Japanese soldiers trained by the Americans, I found the movie rather drab. Add to it, the ending was typical Hollywoodsy, with the otherwise silent emperor coming to his senses and shifting to Cruise's side.
French films or the films shot in France makes me a bit wary before watching it, most of them are too intellectual for my taste, I guess after all these years of movie watching, I still like the 'trashy' Hollywood. 
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