Movies Archives
Dead Man's Chest
July 08, 2006 | 
6 Comments
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Pirates of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest.
It was just about everything a summer blockbuster should be. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first Pirates movie (which is in my all time top 5) It’s comes pretty close to capturing the feel and magic. Dead Man’s Chest biggest problems lie in a few minor consistency and plot issues and a scene or two that tends to drag. Aside from that it’s amazingly fun the whole way through.
I went into the theatre last night having avoided as much of the hype (or lack thereof in some cases) surrounding the film. I didn’t read any reviews and I avoided news bits that would give anything away. For example, I had no clue it was a cliffhanger, so you can imagine my thrill as I began to realize that Pirates 2 was just the beginning of a larger story.
Dead Man’s Chest does a great job of taking the lore and characters of the first film and weaving them into a brand new tale, while at the same time tying it closely to the first movie. This is done mostly through the characters themselves, however certain booty, such as Jack Sparrow’s compass, play a large role as well. Sorry, make that Captain Jack Sparrow. The film carries through quite a few…less tangible themes in addition to said booty.
It’s a bit darker than the first, but not without loads of hilarity, and Gore Verbinski does an amazing job directing and balancing the light with the dark. It’s mostly fast paced, although the second half of the movie moves at a much faster clip. There are a few parts where you’ll have to use your imagination as to how and why someone is where they are doing what they’re doing, but those are few and fairly painless. He’s also been able to work a few more nods to the Disney ride in here and this one feels a bit more like the ride itself: suspenseful, dark and dimly lit yet at the same time funny, whimsical and magical.
The acting is as you’d expect. Depp is great and gets better as the film goes on. Bloom and Knightly are good if nothing special and most of the secondary characters are terrific. I really enjoyed Jack Davenport as Mr. Norrington and was thrilled to see he was still a large part of the movie. Naomie Harris as the Gypsy Queen is great as well. But my favorite performance, hands down, goes to Bill Nighy as Davy Jones. Oooh, it’s a good one.
Speaking of Davy Jones, the character development in Dead Man’s Chest was what really made the film for me. I really enjoyed the evolution of the “love square” between Sparrow, Will, Norrington and Elizabeth. Each goes through quite a few changes as the film goes on and not a one comes out the other side the same. Almost all the secondary parts are interesting and entertaining as well. It’ll be very interesting to see how it all turns out in Pirates 3.
While the movie is in large part character driven, it’d be a crime to skip over the special effects. They’re amazing. Davy Jones and the crew of The Flying Dutchman could very well be part of the best special effects I’ve ever seen. What made it so great was their ability to blend the effects with the performances of the actors. Davy Jones was especially convincing in a very creepy, slimy, slippery way.
Ahh, yeah, it was great. I can’t wait for the third installment.
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Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
November 20, 2005 | 18 Comments
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wasn’t quite as good as Prisoner of Azkaban but it was pretty close and a great movie in its own right.
It’s fun, exciting, visually stunning and pretty darn scary as well. It does a great job of sticking to the story while keeping it moving along fairly well. It’s got a few minor problems, but they’re far outweighed by what makes it an almost perfect trip to the movies.
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The Corpse Bride
September 23, 2005 | 7 Comments
Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride was fantastic. It was everything I had hoped for. It’s funny, whimsical, engaging, visually stunning and more. Burton and his team have put together another classic that I’m quite sure will stand up to the test of time.
Fans of Burton’s work are sure to love it. Those who are simply looking for a fun time, well, you’re going to get that and more.
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The Brothers Grimm
September 18, 2005 | 2 Comments
I don’t see too many movies so when I do I like to make it count. I was really wary of seeing The Brother’s Grimm as I’d heard it might not be all that good. Still, I’m a big fan of Terry Gilliam, and while I expected it to be less like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and more like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen I figured it’d be worth a shot.
I was very pleasantly surprised.
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Doom Trailer
July 28, 2005 | 12 Comments
The new Doom trailer looks pretty good. I’m sure it’ll be pretty standard sci-fi action film fare, but hey, at least we’ve got The Rock now. Sorry Arnold.
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The Brothers Grimm HD Trailer
July 22, 2005 | 0 Comments
Wow. The new High Definition trailer for the upcoming movie The Brothers Grimm is pretty impressive. It uses Quicktime 7’s new High Def capabilities to great effect, even on the smallest version. It’s a slow load but it’s worth it.
The movie looks pretty cool too. Here’s the description:
The film follows Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm on an enchanted adventure set in a world of heroes and villains, witches and trolls, undying evil and true love — a realm they thought was just make believe — until it came into their world. Now the brothers must confront all that their imaginations brought to life, in a battle between fantasy and reality.
Fun stuff.
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The Brothers Grimm HD Trailer
July 22, 2005 | 0 Comments
Wow. The new High Definition trailer for the upcoming movie The Brothers Grimm is pretty impressive. It uses Quicktime 7’s new High Def capabilities to great effect, even on the smallest version. It’s a slow load but it’s worth it.
The movie looks pretty cool too. Here’s the description:
The film follows Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm on an enchanted adventure set in a world of heroes and villains, witches and trolls, undying evil and true love — a realm they thought was just make believe — until it came into their world. Now the brothers must confront all that their imaginations brought to life, in a battle between fantasy and reality.
Fun stuff.
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Futurama Movie
July 19, 2005 | 2 Comments
Billy West, voice actor extraordinaire, recently mentioned in a recent video blog entry that there is a straight to DVD Futurama movie in the works:
There’s gonna be a Futurama movie, coming out on DVD, I think we’re gonna start doing it soon. There were talks and I guess they’re really happy about moving forward with it ‘cause the DVDs of Futurama sold really well.
Futurama is great, I’m very glad to hear this.
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Futurama Movie
July 19, 2005 | 2 Comments
Billy West, voice actor extraordinaire, recently mentioned in a recent video blog entry that there is a straight to DVD Futurama movie in the works:
There’s gonna be a Futurama movie, coming out on DVD, I think we’re gonna start doing it soon. There were talks and I guess they’re really happy about moving forward with it ‘cause the DVDs of Futurama sold really well.
Futurama is great, I’m very glad to hear this.
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