Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) - Jennings' odd Brit adaptation space romcom adventure

3/10/2022

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) - Jennings' odd Brit adaptation space romcom adventure

♥♥

A man and a robot have their thumbs out on a spaceship runway on this poster for Garth Jennings' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

A Brit (Martin Freeman (Carnage (2017))) named Arthur Dent flies around space looking for the meaning of life (it seems?), as he falls in love (with a very blue-eyed Zooey Deschanel (Eulogy (2004))) and gets planet-builder Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy (Stormbreaker (2006))) to recreate earth, which he accidentally destroyed.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is written by Douglas Adams (Doctor Who (1979-83)) and Karey Kilpatrick (Chicken Run (2000)), based on Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise, which began in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy, and directed by debuting music video artist Garth Jennings (Sing (2016)).

It starts fantastically with a sequence about the superior, planetary knowledge of dolphins and a warning to us about the impending end of the earth. Freeman is fun as the cautious über-Brit protagonist, who for some reason flies around in space.

There are good-looking Vogon suits (the alien villains of the piece) and an impressive but mostly wasted cast. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is enormously strange; an impressive, big bowl of twaddle.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 104.4 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.08 times its cost)

[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy premiered 20 April (London) and runs 109 minutes. A theatrical adaptation had been in the works since the franchise's beginning in the 1970s and continued after Adams' death in 2001, with the script taking its basis in his already created ideas and characters. Shooting took place from April - August 2004 in Spain and the UK, including London and Wales. The film opened #1 to a 21.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 51 mil. $ (48.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 20.3 mil. $ (19.4 %) and Germany with 8.1 mil. $ (7.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, corresponding with this one. Jennings returned with Supergrass: Low C (2005, music video), Beck: Hell Yes (2005, music video) and theatrically with Son of Rambow (2007). Freeman returned in The Robinsons (2005, TV-series), Round About Five (2005, short) and theatrically in Confetti (2006). The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is fresh at 60 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

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Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

3/10/2022

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) - Jennings' odd Brit adaptation space romcom adventure

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