Movie Reviews

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest : We were a little worried when Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 60% - but we went! It was entertaining - considering we had already watched our Netflix movies for the weekend.

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My review: It's a sequel - lacking the heart of the first one, and trying to cram way too much into an actually long movie, but not getting much of it done right.

First thing, they should NOT end a movie like that, even when you know there is a third one coming. I won't spoil it here - in case you do go to see it.

Secondly, not a movie for little kids - PG-13 all the way... just because of the undeadiness... *eww* There were LOTS of little kids in the theatre though, and that was weird considering the first five minutes had an eye being plucked out (that stuff grosses me out badly!)

Thirdly - Johnny Depp does lots of slapstick and funny walking, but somehow loses the reality of character he had in the first one. Most of this is because the movie takes on a LooneyTunes cartoon feeling about twelve minutes in - 'what are they going to do now that defies physics, attempts to be funny and quickly goes on to the next bit?' Way too many plot strings are started and very few (maybe one) are tied up at the end.

We probably will see the third one - but not in the theatre. My advice would be to wait for DVD unless you really want to see a movie and don't have other plans.

Personal bit: I hate it in a movie when there are accents so thick you can't understand them. During certain scenes there were lots of different accents being used for effect - with the actual effect being I heard lots of 'Did you catch that? What did he say? Was that English or something else?' - and not just from Mr.J, but further down in our row as well. I had no problem with the 'foreign' tribal language or the Italian? being spoken - but there were other minor characters that were almost impossible to translate their lines quickly in your head. Meanwhile, the movie just kept rolling along at 95 mph.

Two good reviews:

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Theatre:

We saw Superman Returns last weekend - and can reccommend that highly. I'd even take a kid to it - probably 6 or 7 years old and up. Very good story and adaptation, loved the actors. There was a neat link to interviews with the actors in my email that was interesting - especially the director's thoughts about why Kevin Spacey made a great Lex Luthor.

DVD Netflix:

Empire of the Sun (1987), directed by Steven Spielberg, based on a true story. Surreal movie about an English schoolboy lost from his parents during the Japanese takeover of Shanghai during WWII -- just.. surreal. It is well worth a detailed watch, just for the human condition of it all, beautiful scenery and strange tugging emotions. You just don't know what to feel for the kid - or anybody at certain times in the movie. And at the end - it is sort of a hollow, confused relief...almost a surrender - hard to explain. Not for kids - but not too much gore here either.