Pirates of the Caribbean (with poll)
Now that my thesis is printed and I hold the printed copies in my hands, I decided to treat myself to my first ever movie marathon. And as you may have guessed by the title of this entry, I chose the Pirates of the Caribbean series. And after I saw all the movies, I wondered how I would rank them. Here's what I've got:
#1: The first movie. Film Brain complained that it was too long, but I disagree. I love pretty much everything about that movie - the music, the characters, the plot, the works. It surely has been said a million times before, but Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is simply awesome :3
#2: A rather close second is the second movie. Not entirely sure what the majority of people think of it, compared to the first movie, but I don't have too many complaints. It gets big props from me for the Kraken and its most intriguing theme song (♥) by Hans Zimmer (that man is a genius), but I also liked the plot and the fact that many familiar characters were still in this movie, along with new ones like Davy Jones. However, this is the point where Keira Knightley in particular starts to annoy me - throughout the whole series, I never bought it when she was passed off as a pirate. She was and always will be a damsel, the Governor's daughter, to me. NOT a pirate. Which leads me to...
Okay, to be honest, I cannot decide which movie gets the third place (and fourth place, respectively) in my ranking - the third or fourth movie. Here's the thing:
The third movie, like the second, featured quite a few familiar characters, mostly characters I like, so that's a plus for the third movie. Shame that Davy Jones had to kill the Kraken, I thought that thing was awesome. I'll agree with Film Brain that it was kinda lame that that happened off-screen... The first half of the movie was pretty much okay, but in the second half, it loses me. It can all be broken down to one reason: Keira Knightley. Come on, she is supposedly the Pirate King? BULLSHIT! Either Film Brain or Welshy said it best: She has neither the voice nor the presence to live up to such a role. No way. I am so annoyed by those scenes (at the Brethren Court, her stupid "heroic" speech) that I am literally babbling and muttering to myself during them just so I don't have to sit through them in silence. And don't even get me started on the ludicrous marriage of Elizabeth and Will IN THE MIDST OF A FRIGGIN' BATTLE - it's so stupid and contrived, there are no words for it! >.< I saw this movie with my family (or was it just my parents?) in the cinema, and that was the scene where we all damn near yelled "AW, COME ON!", and it practically ruined the movie for us. Then again, the scene where the ship around Lord Beckett explodes while he walks down the steps... that is very well-done, I'll admit that. But again: Keira Knightley is what bugs me the most about the entire franchise >:(
That's the big bonus point of the fourth movie: Neither she nor Will are in it (Orlando Bloom doesn't annoy me nearly as much as Keira Knightley, for the record) - or their kid (because let's face it, I tend not to care about the kids of main characters, especially if those kids weren't present from the beginning of the series). However, there is Penelope Cruz. She is the kind of actress like Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz and Renee Zellweger - the fact that they annoy me so much that I avoid their movies whenever I can is something all of them have in common. I just can't stand them. I'm just glad that Jack didn't end up staying with Angelica at the end of the movie... -.- Blackbeard was interesting enough, imagine being able to - essentially - steer your ship with your sword :D
However, when I watched this movie during the marathon (first time since the cinema), I remembered virtually nothing about it. And it didn't really leave much of an impact on me, which makes it difficult for me to decide if the third or fourth movie is better.
I've heard there are plans for a fifth movie, but I'd only watch it if Captain Jack Sparrow and Gibbs are in it. I love those two characters :) However, I'd certainly be in favor of no more Penelope Cruz... it's not as if her performance was bad, but I just don't like her. *shrugs*
At this point, I'd like to throw this question into the open (a maximum of 255 characters is allowed for text answers):
Poll Pirates of the Caribbean poll
It'd be interesting to hear a couple of opinions, so do feel free to participate in the poll :) Or comment. Or both. Whichever you prefer ;)
#1: The first movie. Film Brain complained that it was too long, but I disagree. I love pretty much everything about that movie - the music, the characters, the plot, the works. It surely has been said a million times before, but Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is simply awesome :3
#2: A rather close second is the second movie. Not entirely sure what the majority of people think of it, compared to the first movie, but I don't have too many complaints. It gets big props from me for the Kraken and its most intriguing theme song (♥) by Hans Zimmer (that man is a genius), but I also liked the plot and the fact that many familiar characters were still in this movie, along with new ones like Davy Jones. However, this is the point where Keira Knightley in particular starts to annoy me - throughout the whole series, I never bought it when she was passed off as a pirate. She was and always will be a damsel, the Governor's daughter, to me. NOT a pirate. Which leads me to...
Okay, to be honest, I cannot decide which movie gets the third place (and fourth place, respectively) in my ranking - the third or fourth movie. Here's the thing:
The third movie, like the second, featured quite a few familiar characters, mostly characters I like, so that's a plus for the third movie. Shame that Davy Jones had to kill the Kraken, I thought that thing was awesome. I'll agree with Film Brain that it was kinda lame that that happened off-screen... The first half of the movie was pretty much okay, but in the second half, it loses me. It can all be broken down to one reason: Keira Knightley. Come on, she is supposedly the Pirate King? BULLSHIT! Either Film Brain or Welshy said it best: She has neither the voice nor the presence to live up to such a role. No way. I am so annoyed by those scenes (at the Brethren Court, her stupid "heroic" speech) that I am literally babbling and muttering to myself during them just so I don't have to sit through them in silence. And don't even get me started on the ludicrous marriage of Elizabeth and Will IN THE MIDST OF A FRIGGIN' BATTLE - it's so stupid and contrived, there are no words for it! >.< I saw this movie with my family (or was it just my parents?) in the cinema, and that was the scene where we all damn near yelled "AW, COME ON!", and it practically ruined the movie for us. Then again, the scene where the ship around Lord Beckett explodes while he walks down the steps... that is very well-done, I'll admit that. But again: Keira Knightley is what bugs me the most about the entire franchise >:(
That's the big bonus point of the fourth movie: Neither she nor Will are in it (Orlando Bloom doesn't annoy me nearly as much as Keira Knightley, for the record) - or their kid (because let's face it, I tend not to care about the kids of main characters, especially if those kids weren't present from the beginning of the series). However, there is Penelope Cruz. She is the kind of actress like Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz and Renee Zellweger - the fact that they annoy me so much that I avoid their movies whenever I can is something all of them have in common. I just can't stand them. I'm just glad that Jack didn't end up staying with Angelica at the end of the movie... -.- Blackbeard was interesting enough, imagine being able to - essentially - steer your ship with your sword :D
However, when I watched this movie during the marathon (first time since the cinema), I remembered virtually nothing about it. And it didn't really leave much of an impact on me, which makes it difficult for me to decide if the third or fourth movie is better.
I've heard there are plans for a fifth movie, but I'd only watch it if Captain Jack Sparrow and Gibbs are in it. I love those two characters :) However, I'd certainly be in favor of no more Penelope Cruz... it's not as if her performance was bad, but I just don't like her. *shrugs*
At this point, I'd like to throw this question into the open (a maximum of 255 characters is allowed for text answers):
Poll Pirates of the Caribbean poll
It'd be interesting to hear a couple of opinions, so do feel free to participate in the poll :) Or comment. Or both. Whichever you prefer ;)