A pirate's life for me... maybe

So, I definitely paid $25 for my ticket to Pirates III, but I guess that is to be expected in London's West End. Even the indie theater there is $20 per ticket. Also, the theater was almost empty, ergo London has officially been given the rating of "lame" as a movie town until further notice (Harry Potter).

Anyway, last night I saw At World's End in Leicester Square in a huge theater that has absolutely nothing on the Warren. It was three hours long. However, so much plot stuff was going on that it was hard to deal with the characters at all. I was happy to see a little bit more time spent with Will and Elizabeth. Elizabeth turns out to be a complete badass and that part I loved.

What I loved the most about this movie, though, was the ending. It was really sad (it could be taken as not that sad, but I thought it was pretty painful), so that was actually a nice surprise. I don't prefer movies to have sad endings, but the way they handled it in Pirates III redeemed them a little bit for Pirates II. Let's just say it took the movie down a couple of notches on the Popcorn-O-Meter, which in the dire situation of this franchise, is a good thing.

For this reason and others, At World's End also pandered a lot less to the section of its fanbase that is easily entertained. Dead Man's Chest was pretty much the Johnny Depp-being-hilarious-but-ultimately-undermining-the-franchise's-value show. This isn't the case in the latest installment. That is not to say that At World's End suffers from a lack of swashbuckling. It was much less dependent on physical comedy and re-used Disnefied jokes.

So, see it because you should finish out the series, but a la the Matrix, this trilogy might have been better off with just the initial film. No pirate movie and few of any genre will ever be as cool as POTC: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

The Namesake = amazing

So, nevermind the timestamp on this entry... it's been worse. Today in a very rare occurance I had the pleasure of seeing a movie with Richie, and what a movie. Kal Penn was all grown up in The Namesake, an absolutely incredible movie. There is no short way to describe what happens in this movie. Suffice it to say that it is fabulous.

I'm still at a loss as to how to describe what happens in this movie without using way too many words. It covers an Indian couple adjusting to life in New York and then their American kids trying to balance their American culture with having an Indian family and dealing with traditions and expectations. It's a beautiful movie and I want to watch it again tomorrow. And read the book.

Spiderman 3

My reaction to this movie was actually pretty neutral. I can't really think of anything negative to say against it nor did I especially enjoy it. Reading online reviews for it, I found I agreed with most of the critics - the good and the bad reviews.

If you liked the first two, you have to see this one, but let me some up with this comment: Spiderman 2 made me cry at parts, it was that good; Spiderman 3 - not even close.

Spiderman!

I realize my lameness in not posting about Spiderman until now, but it's been a busy week and weekend. Good, but busy.
-----------

Spiderman 3 was really good, but far from perfect. I loved that it was much more of a tribute to the cheesy '60s comic strip and then cartoon that it began as. A few things were rushed, but a lot of things were good. It's definitely a satisfactory ending to the series (I was deathly afraid they would mess it up). Spiderman 3 is no Spiderman or Spiderman 2, but it's immensely entertaining and I'd see it again.

I can't think of a title that accurately conveys my anger and frustration at this.

This showed up in the imdb news thingy today:

The Oscar-winning Best Foreign Film is to be remade as a Hollywood movie. German espionage drama The Lives Of Others will be revamped as an English-language film with moviemakers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella coming together for the project. Pollack tells trade paper Daily Variety, "We would just desperately love for that film to be something that reaches more people. We haven't gotten locked into making it yet, but we're working hard at trying to get it going." The film's writer/director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck claimed Oscar gold for the film in February.

NONONONONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Lives of Others is amazing and fantastic just the way it is. Americanizing it will do absolutely nothing to its benefit. In fact, it will be detrimental. It will cheapen it to an unbelievable degree. That is not to say that American films are not good, but the Lives of Others is not an American film and it never will be. No one can make it one. Part of the beauty of The Lives of Others is that it is a window into a different time and a different culture. I can't imagine watching it in English.

I am having trouble finding un-profane words to describe how I feel about the absolute mockery of filmmaking that is this proposal.

And as for trying to reach more people - come on! Making a big-name, English-language version of this movie is like making a coloring book line drawing of Starry Night. The people who see the English-language version because it is in English are not going to a) go to the movie with the intent of taking away what the original filmmakers wanted or b) take that away at all, because it will be painfully absent in the dumbed-down version. Heck, maybe we can make it really fun and cast George Clooney and Angelina Jolie in the lead roles. Please, production companies, why don't you just go ahead and advertise it as a way to rip off one country's art and market it to a popcorn-film-loving audience?

What a horrible upon horrible idea. I hate big business sometimes. Now is one of those times.

Hairspray = hilarity.

This movie promises to be utterly hilarious.

Yes, that is in fact John Travolta. If that doesn't abolish any doubts you may have, I don't know what will. Check out the production stills on imdb.

Children of Men

So, I watched Children of Men Saturday night and even though I started it at 11 p.m. or so I was completely sucked in and amazed.

First of all, this movie has set decoration like no movie I have seen in a long time. The detail was incredible and the variety was ridiculous. Michael Caine (who was ridiculous, and I'll get to that later) had a house in the middle of nowhere that was full of knick-knacks and nature-y things, which contrasted absolutely beautifully with the drab, dirty, monochrome set that was London and the harrowing warzone/refugee camp, where the film's last 20 minutes took place. The difference between all of these gave the movie a very intense, gritty feel. A particularly stirring (read: awesome) scene that comes to mind: Clive Owen is running from gunshot cover to gunshot cover, and there are dead bodies everywhere. He eventually just dives into a pile of bodies behind a barricade. All three of the people in my room watching were startled (audibly) to find out that the bodies were actually alive (they reacted angrily to being dove into). That's how engrossed we were.

Back to Michael Caine. If the man suffers from any career pitfalls, he suffers from being typecast as Alfred Pennyworth (seriously, did anyone else come to mind when you heard they were updating the Batman franchise?). Not anymore. He was hilarious, tragic, and spot on as Jasper Palmer, the old hippie who actually told a guy with a gun in his face to pull his finger.

Also, I have to say that the production crew in this movie is incredible. During one scene in the warzone/refugee camp where Clive Owen is frantically looking for the girl and the baby, he walks through several floors and around several corners. The thing is,, this scene, which was several minutes long,, was done with a single camera - it was one long take full of explosions and gunshots and reactions, which would have required an incredible amount of strict coordination.

Children of Men was gloriously dark, and please don't think I'm crazy/emo. The mood was beautifully conveyed by every aspect of the movie. It was just really good, and very sobering.