Fairly Symmetrical

Yesterday Jen and I and several of Jen's compatriots from UT went to see Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was one of those movies where you enjoy it while you're watching, but the minute you get out and start actually thinking about it, it becomes a disappointment (at least for me). There were huge subplots that never got resolved and seemed entirely pointless, whole facets of characters (e.g. Trillian) that got removed for no apparent reason, and a lot of slapstick humor that really missed the point of DA's writing (ironic, since DA helped write the screenplay). I didn't mind that some of the jokes were removed, but I definitely minded that some of the jokes were bizarrely truncated. Either do it or don't, but don't tease me.

Some of the movie was really good (Allen Rickman was genius as Marvin, and the Magrathean planet factory was brilliantly beautiful), and the rest of it was fine for a light afternoon movie. I did like the cameo by the original (from the BBC series) Marvin.

In other movie news, my company is taking all of us to see Episode III later this month. It's sad, at this point I'm violently cynical about it, but the trailer (which they showed before HHGTTG) still perceptibly raised my heart rate. Ah well; I'll watch it for the pretty fight choreography and the starships. At least I'm not footing the bill for this one. ;)