I will never understand movie producers, or the general public opinion on movies. How does some of the stuff that's come out even get green lighted, much less made and released widely in theaters? I'm not even talking about 'John Tucker Must Die' or 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend'-bad, because at least those movies have some appeal. I'm talking about 'Little Man,' 'Garfield 2,' and 'Scary Movie 9823498792'-bad - movies which would only be seen by people no smarter than the popcorn they're munching on.
It's so stupid how if you go to Blockbuster they may not have any copies of 'All About Eve' or 'Sunset Boulevard,' two amazing older pieces of cinema, but they'll have 30 DVDs of 'White Chicks.'
Then there's the people whose thought process goes something like this:
"Oh my God, 'Fantastic Four' was the best movie EVER! Jessica Alba is SO HOT! 'Chinatown?' Who the hell is Roman Polanski? 'A Streetcar Named Desire?' Black and white movies are soooo boring! I can't wait until they make a 'Fast and the Furious 4' because the other 3 were so fucking cool."
Not that I'm some movie guru or anything, but I wish the masses could at realize that they are picking up the trash that's being peddled to them, which leads to more trash being produced, because it's easy money for the studios. I know a lot of movie judgment is based on opinion, and I like my fair share of movies that are barely "decent," but sometimes you have to be a true dunce to like, or even pay to see, some of the crap that comes out. Yes, I'm talking about you, people who saw 'You Got Served.'
7.13.2006
7.10.2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - IMDb
Disney's return to the extremely successful franchise of 'Pirates' will make many people very rich, since everybody and their mother saw this movie opening weekend (setting many new box office records, pulling $132 million over 3 days). But that's fairly obvious and I knew that was going to happen from the moment the sequel was announced, because, again, everybody and their mother saw and liked the original. I have to admit, while I liked the first one, it wasn't particularly my cup of tea, and while enjoyable, I stayed away from most of the hype for part 2.
With all that said, 'Pirates' is an aftermath story of Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and his quest to find the Dead Man's Chest in order to save himself - which coincidentally Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) are after as well, plus numerous other characters that I don't feel like listing.
To start with the bad... apparently Disney didn't hire an editor for this movie, because the 150 minute runtime is ridiciulous. It could've been worse, as there were no parts that I was actually falling asleep, but I could easily pick out a few scenes that needed to be chopped down or eliminated completely, making a more powerful, shorter movie (2 hours would've been perfect). The comedy wasn't as fresh as in the original, and while they tried to tie in a few jokes to the first movie (a few jokes about rum come to mind), usually the punchline was foreseeable much earlier than intended (especially for the new jokes).
Contrariwise, Johnny Depp, yet again, steals the movie with his portrayal of Jack. He had the best lines in the movie and got the most laughs, if only from seeing his way of walking/running like you'd expect a stereotypical gay man to walk/run... but of course, Johnny Depp is dressed like a pirate and priceless in his role, so it's pure comedy.
The concept of filming two movies at once is bittersweet. On one hand, it's nice that there will be definite consistency between the movies because they were filmed together. Also, if you like the franchise, it's good to know you have more ahead; however, it's a total bitch being left on a cliffhanger ending and having to wait another year. I didn't care too much about this cliffhanger though, because like I said before, I'm not a die-hard 'Pirates' fanatic and to me it was just another movie I wanted to see.
The bottom line is that this proves, again, that usually when you stick with the same director for sequels, they turn out better than if you switch - except counting the 'Matrix' movies, because both those sequels sucked - but that's not the point.
Rating: 8/10
Other recent watches that I don't feel like writing reviews for:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 7.5/10
Vertigo - 9.5/10
Rear Window - 9/10
Seven Year Itch - 6.5/10
It's a Wonderful Life - 10/10
7.08.2006
At work earlier today a girl who looked about 25 walked by. She was normally dressed and very ordinary, except she had a small piercing in her left eyebrow. No tattoos or excessive piercings or anything like that, just an everyday girl with a pierced eyebrow.
So the girl walked away, then some old lady behind her came up and started rambling, saying something like, "Can you believe that? Kids these days. If God wanted holes in our body, he would've put them there." That's a direct quote.
I shrugged it off, since I really don't care what people ramble about while I'm at work. Then a second later I looked at her ears, and as expected, she had some enormous earrings on. Well, 'enormous' by my standards. About the size of a quarter.
Some people need to think a little more about how they go around preaching, especially when they're doing the exact same thing they're looking down on.
7.03.2006
Today at about 10:00 in the morning my Dad called, and I was sleeping so I didn't answer, but he left a very serious voicemail about being safe this 4th of July weekend (well, "weekend"). It was a bit odd. My Mom called around 11:30 and told me some tragic news.
Friday night Allison Angerman died in a driving accident to a drunk driver. I'm not very religious anymore, but her father, Ray, was one of the head Pastors at the church I went to. He helped me in lots of ways, both in and out of church. Allison was his daughter, same age as me, and we went to school together.
Apparently Allison was just sitting at a red light at 11:00 at night and some drunk 44 year-old was trying to evade the cops, driving about 70 MPH, and after hitting another car, ran into Allison's stopped vehicle.
She was very intelligent, always caring, and certainly had a great future ahead of her. I can't imagine how her family feels. My heart goes out to them, and I'll be doing everything I can to be at her ceremony.
Obituary
7.01.2006
Today I was eating lunch at Panera with a friend, and we were sitting down at a table in the middle of the place. From the moment we sat down until about 20 minutes later there was this girl, probably twelve years old, with a hideous half jean, half camo skirt, running back and forth, getting refills for what most likely seemed like a 20 person family, fetching napkins, doing all these stupid things that involved repeatedly walking into my line of sight and behind my chair.
So being the jerk I am, I started saying stuff like, "If that girl doesn't sit the fuck down I'm going to knock her over." (something to that extent)
Once we left, my friend said to me, "You know that girl you were checking out sitting behind us?" So I say, "The one in the black shirt?" (Because there was indeed some girl in a black shirt who I was 'checking out' when she walked by, though I didn't know she was sitting behind us [behind me].)
"Yeah, her," she says.
"What about her?"
"When you were talking about knocking over that little girl, she overheard us and was laughing too."
So that's one of my goals in life, to be able to please strangers when they overhear my conversations about being insensitive and knocking down little kids. Well, and also I thought I was being pretty discreet while looking at that girl. Oh well, I'm a guy and I can't help it.
The Devil Wears Prada
It's been a long time since I've been pleased by a movie in theaters, so I don't know where to start. First, one critic, quoted in the previews, says, "Meryl Streep has never been better." That person has obviously never seen 'Sophie's Choice,' but that's not too relevant. This movie shows, yet again, why Meryl Streep is easily the best (still) working actress these days. Hands down. No one else is close. I've been saying it for years, and finally people are catching on.
I'm a big fan of the cynical, sarcastic, sadist humor, and this movie had a steady run of it all the way through, not faltering after the first half hour like a lot of flicks these days. The clashing of Miranda (Streep) and Andrea (Anne Hathaway) is pretty sweet on screen, but Anne Hathaway's was one of the weaker performances in this movie. Emily Blunt, playing the character 'Emily,' was perfect for the 'I would do anything for my job, I'm better than you' role, and the way she would dress and over-do her wardrobe was perfect for the part, making it completely believable. But seriously, Meryl Streep will most likely be looking at yet another Oscar nod.
Pointed out by the person I saw the movie with, there was a definite 'Sex and the City' vibe going on, which makes sense since David Frankel, the director, also directed six SatC episodes. That's not a bad thing by any means.
I'm going to use the "It's 2:22 in the morning and I'm tired" cop-out. I just wanted to rave about Meryl Streep, and also point out that I was glad to see no leaning towards the 'happy ending' and the movie ended how it should've.
Rating: 8.5/10
6.28.2006
6.26.2006
6.23.2006
Good thing I do research, because I was essentially going to make this post again, except that last night I'm positive he was watching 'Cinderella Man.'
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