Ska-doosh mateys!

Sorry I didn’t post anything last week. It was a crazy week.  To make up for it, I’m posting a twofer.

WARNING: May or may not contain spoilers!  You have been warned!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Gonna be totally honest here: I did not like Pirates of the Caribbean (PotC) Dead Man’s Chest or At World’s End.  Ok, let me correct that. I did like those two movie, until I saw them a second time.  I realized then that it wasn’t all that I thought it was the first time around… Kinda like watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but that’s a rant for another day.

I went in to see PotC: OST expecting a lot of Jack Sparrow (there’s a captain in there somewhere) shenanigans and silliness.  Well, it does have that and a fun and somewhat engaging plot.  Absolutely loved Jack Sparrow, although a little more silliness would have been nice.  Penelope Cruz is beautiful, and she does a nice job of playing a pirate.  Ian McShane as Blackbeard… I would have loved to see more of him.  Loved him in “Kings” and “Deadwood” and he seems like such a refined actor… Anyway.

The movie is fun to watch.  The pacing does get a bit off a couple of time but it continues to move forward.  They did leave a gaping plot hole (Where’s Phillip?), or maybe an opening for a 5^th film?  There is the obligatory post-credits scene.  Doesn’t really add anything to the movie, but it is cute.  There are no major SFX scenes like in previous movies (the massive Kraken) so there really is no need to see this on the big screen.  It is fun to watch (did I say that already?).

Overall rating:  DVD rental. If you can’t wait, catch a matinee.

Kung Fu Panda 2

When I saw Kung Fu Panda (KFP) for the first time, it was on DVD and not in the theater.  At the end of the movie I was so upset. Why did I wait so long to see such a funny movie?  When I heard there was a sequel I vowed not to wait to see it.  Not only did I see it opening night, I saw it again on Monday for good measure.  When you go see this movie, make sure you are sitting next to a little person under the age of 13.  I could not stop laughing at this movie and hearing the laughter of the little person next to me made that much more enjoyable. 

The quality of animation is equal to or superior to that of KFP. The voices… what an All-Star cast and some surprises (JCVD anyone?).  What I loved the most was the character of Shen.  Not only was he the most amazing animated creature in the entire film, he is voiced by Gary Oldman.  Gary Oldman!  That dude is the coolest bad guy this side of the Galactic Empire.  The only odd thing about the voices is that I kept see the State Farm logo every time a certain character would speak (bonus points if you can name the character and voice actor).  It’s kinda like watching The Lion King and trying not to say “Simba, I am your father” after Mufasa’s lines.

They did a great job explaining how a goose became the father of a panda. They also left open for a sequel.  The only thing I wish is that other of the Furious Five, aside from Tigress, had a bit more to say or do.

Overall rating: Matinee movie.  Make sure you go with a bunch of kids.

Well, that’s it for today.  I got a lot more to say, but I’ll leave that for another day.

Ska-doosh!

JV

 

Danny, this review's for you...

 (Warning: May contain spoilers)

So I saw two movies this weekend.  That is kinda rare.  I usually try to limit myself to 1 movie a weekend.  However, I did miss the premiere weekend of Fast Five last week so I had to make up for it.

Fast Five

Let’s be honest, The Fast and the Furious (F&F) was about cars, women, and music.  There was very little plot involved. As new F&F movies appeared, a serious attempt was made to develop an actual plot.  I’d say they succeeded quite admirably.  F&F5 does a real good job on character development, compared to the last films.  It really isn’t about the cars this time around, especially when the ‘star’ car is a Dodge Charger.

All the actors/characters are just like you expect.  Tego and Don really steal the scenes they are in.  It helps if you know Spanish.  I’m still trying to understand how Han got back in this movie.  I thought he died in F&F3.  I know F&F4 took place around the same time as F&F3 but you can’t tell me F&F5 takes place around the same time.  The only I can think of is that he pulls a “Letty” (Stay after the credits to get my meaning).

Overall rating: Matinee Movie. Decent movie. However, you can wait for $1 theater or DVD rental.

Thor                                           

I was a little worried when I went to see Thor. I was worried that there was going to be a lot of Norse talk with the “thine”, “thou”, “whilst”, and other crazy word being thrown about by the Asgardians. Thankfully we are spared all that crazy talk.  What we do have is a really good comic book movie.  The Asgardians look like they were pulled from the comic book, yet they don’t look ridiculous.  My only beefs are Heimdall should have been… I don’t know… bigger? More imposing? And Volstagg definitely should have been bigger. But in a way I’m glad they didn’t do that ‘cause it would have required a lot of CGI and I do think that CGI is WAY over done nowadays.

The entire movie is a setup for The Avengers movie. S.H.I.E.L.D. is all over this movie, Barton makes an appearance, the Bruce Banner/Hulk reference…  If I didn’t know there was going to be an Avengers movie, there would be no doubt about it now.  Chris Hemsworth is awesome as Thor, but I absolutely loved Tom Hiddleston as Loki.  I really hope they use him in more movies.*

Anyway, I could go on and on about this movie but rather than that let me give you my…

Overall rating:  Full-Price Movie. It doesn’t disappoint and you have to see it on the big screen to really appreciate Asgard.

That’s all for…

That’s it?

Umm, yeah. I don’t have time for anything else right now.

You know, they could’ve gone anywhere for a movie review.

I know. I want to write more, but I don’t have time “write” now.  Get it? “Write” now?

Yeah, I got it, Not that funny.  I’m telling you, let me write something. I can…

No.

Lame.

Whatever.

*Well, if you stay for after the credits, I guess they will be using Loki in upcoming movies. Awesome.