I went to see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film last night, which I enjoyed as a pleasant enough way to pass the time on a Thursday evening. I even laughed a few times.

If I’d never read the books (which I’ve read some of), heard the radio series (which I’ve heard some of) or seen the TV series (which I’ve seen all of), I would probably have enjoyed it more. I may well have thought "Gosh, this is an exciting and amusing new world I’m discovering." As it was, I didn’t.

Instead, I couldn’t help thinking "If only that was like it was in the TV series". I wanted Simon Jones instead of Martin Freeman, Valentine Dyall instead of Zoe Wanamaker and Richard Vernon instead of Bill Nighy. (I realise in two of those three cases that was somewhat unlikely.) I wanted more made of Deep Thought’s creation as a calculating machine and less of Zooey Deschanel.

There were plenty of things to applaud. The special effects were marvellous and were the one thing with which a big screen adaptation would always trump any other version. Bill Bailey and the League of Gentlemen were in it. The designs were terrific. There were cameos by theo original Arthur and the original Marvin. Joby Talbot’s music and the So Long and… song were good. The animations for The Book, and Stephen Fry’s voiceover, where great – so why did they virtually disappear from about halfway through?

I’m not sure what the point was, in the end. It felt like the film had been made because it was the only major medium left un-Hitchhikered. It takes the basic story to a new audience, I suppose, and enabled the said special effects. But despite not being one of those perverse Who fans who longs for wobbly sets, I felt myself hankering for the HHGTTG TV series.

On the way out of the cinema, we made up for the film by getting advanced tickets for Episode III.

For an alternative view: Gavin’s review.

I’ve started watching the classic 1980s BBC adaptation of The Day of the Triffids.

Halfway in and despite the dodgy monster plants – and no realisation of a walking plant is ever going to seem true to life – it’s really rather good. John Duttine is a good lead and Maurice Colbourne and Stephen Yardley off of Howards’ Way and Davd Swift off of Drop the Dead Donkey have cropped up too.

There are clear similarities with 28 Days Later: Duttine’s character wakes in hospital to find the world changed and streets deserted. In this instance, most of the population have turned blind. The consequences shown are convincing and believable.

I’ll try to post a fuller review once I’ve watched the final three episodes.

Simon Pegg’s Stalker is hoping to have seen all of the IMDb‘s Top 100 films by the end of the year. With 25% to go, that’s a reasonable but achievable task. I’m shocked to discover that I’ve not seen 56 of these films.

Looking through the list, though, there are a number which I’ve taken a conscious decision in the past not to watch. The Shawshank Redemption has never appealed to me. Nor have Casablanca or The Matrix (does the latter make me a faux geek?). Still, there are a handful I’d like to watch so I’ll aim to have seen more than half of the list by the end of the year.

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
4. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
5. Shichinin no samurai (1954) (The Seven Samurai)
6. Casablanca (1942)
7. Schindler’s List (1993)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
9. Citizen Kane (1941)
10. Star Wars (1977)
11. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
12. Pulp Fiction (1994)
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
14. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
15. Rear Window (1954)
16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
17. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) (The Good, The Bad, The Ugly)
18. The Usual Suspects (1995)
19. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
20. Cidade de Deus (2002)
21. 12 Angry Men (1957)
22. Memento (2000)
23. Psycho (1960)
24. C’era una volta il West (1968)
25. North by Northwest (1959)
26. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
27. Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
28. Goodfellas (1990)
29. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
30. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
31. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
32. American Beauty (1999)
33. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
34. Apocalypse Now (1979)
35. The Matrix (1999)
36. Paths of Glory (1957)
37. Fight Club (1999)
38. Vertigo (1958)
39. The Third Man (1949)
40. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
41. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
42. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
43. Double Indemnity (1944)
44. Boot, Das (1981)
45. Taxi Driver (1976)
46. M (1931)
47. The Pianist (2002)
48. Rashômon (1950)
49. Se7en (1995)
50. All About Eve (1950)
51. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
52. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
53. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
54. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
55. Chinatown (1974)
56. Some Like It Hot (1959)
57. L.A. Confidential (1997)
58. Léon (1994)
59. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
60. Alien (1979)
61. American History X (1998)
62. Modern Times (1936)
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
65. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
66. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
67. The Sting (1973)
68. On the Waterfront (1954)
69. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
70. Raging Bull (1980)
71. Ran (1985)
72. Amadeus (1984)
73. Vita è bella, La (1997)
74. Touch of Evil (1958)
75. The Great Escape (1963)
76. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
77. City Lights (1931)
78. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
79. The Apartment (1960)
80. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
81. Metropolis (1927)
82. The Shining (1980)
83. High Noon (1952)
84. Jaws (1975)
85. Aliens (1986)
86. Finding Nemo (2003)
87. Annie Hall (1977)
88. Braveheart (1995)
89. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
90. Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
91. Fargo (1996)
92. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
93. Oldboy (2003)
94. Yojimbo (1961)
95. The Incredibles (2004)
96. Blade Runner (1982)
97. Strangers on a Train (1951)
98. Donnie Darko (2001)
99. The Sixth Sense (1999)
100. The Princess Bride (1987)

Nicole Kidman appears to have gone into remake overdrive. Interested in finding out more about The Stepford Wives (out this summer – I’ve still not seen the original), I visited her entry on the Internet Movie Database only to stumble upon another project in which she’s starring: Bewitched. That’s right: a film remake of the series in which Samantha, a witch, gets married and starts a family. With hilarious consequences.

I’m somewhat bemused at this particular choice of role (and, indeed, that anyone would want to make a Bewitched movie). I’m sure she’ll say she was attracted by the top-notch script.

Coming soon, no doubt: I Dream of Jeannie: The Movie. Although that would be more amusing if, erm, they hadn’t already done it…