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Post by Reens on Jun 26, 2006 21:36:28 GMT -5
Starz: DMC First LookPart I // Part IIDead Man's Chest: World PremiereEntertainment Tonight // Access HollywoodHi guys, I might add one more clip of "Insider" on the POTC vidding group in a bit. I am not sure if I'll be able to update this site anymore due to my hectic schedule but my Pirates of the Caribbean Vidding group is very active. You can find the latest clips of the movie, on set coverage, music videos, interviews (of both Keira and Orlando) there on regular basis by not just me but lots of other talented fans! Our membership is growing as the date of DMC is nearing so do join in, if it catches your fancy.  Ciao
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Post by *Syd* on Jun 27, 2006 3:21:22 GMT -5
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Post by *Syd* on Jun 27, 2006 9:50:01 GMT -5
A review for DMC (canmag) Like Superman Returns, Pirates 2 is too long by about 30 minutes. And the script tends to bog down every time the story gets a bit complex for its own good.
Oh yes… And Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is easily the best studio confection of the year ... kicking ass, taking names, and reminding us all of the joy that going to a big summer movie is supposed to inspire in us.
The sweet gruel is thick here, so I am a little at a loss at where to begin with non-spoiler details. (There are some spoilers out there - not like the Superman Returns spoilers that are pretty obvious from the word "go," so be careful as you read about the film... including perusing IMDb) I guess the place to start is by saying that I was surprised that this is, essentially, a Middle Movie. There were indications of this as the film went along, but I wasn't sure whether it would be a standalone story until pretty close to the end.
(You will also want to stay in your seat until after the credits. Hans Zimmer makes it easier than it often is by keeping the music rousing through pretty much all the credits, much to my amazement. It still isn't as great as Michael Giacchino's The Incredibles credit music, but pretty great.)
Still, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio do a nice job of making this movie stand on its own, reflecting the original and whetting the appetite for the third of the series with a cliffhanger that has none of the suspense of The Empire Strikes Back, but all of the fun that sends you out of the theater smiling, laughing, and applauding.
And if you think POTC: Episode 3 is going to be the end, you would be mistaken. It might be a decade between films, but after these two films - which are quite expensive… almost as expensive as The MEFE - generate more than $1.5 billion worldwide between them, it will be too much for anyone to resist. The original was Jerry Bruckheimer's biggest hit by literally hundreds of millions of dollars. And, unlike Lucas and Spielberg, Jerry has a producer's soul and will not get distracted by alternate aesthetic interests. Depp and Verbinski will surely need a few years distance to re-up after spending the last two years plus on this two-shot-together project. But wait… it will come. (And Disney will give Depp two movies of his absolute choice and taste for every future Pirates film he makes… aesthetic freedom and scores of millions… too tempting.)
The simple version of the story is that Captain Jack owes Davy Jones his soul, but Jack has an idea of how to keep it. Young lovers Will Turner & Elizabeth Swann get involved again because of a fiendish bureaucrat that wants something from Jack as well. And then, we're off to the races.
Davy Jones and his crew spend a lot of time underwater, unlike the pirates from the first film who rode the high seas and showed their true selves in the moonlight. So, accordingly, they have suffered the undying indignities of an underwater life… from things as basic as barnacles to the squid that has overtaken Davy Jones head. This particular effect is as intimate and as unflinchingly real as any effect ever put on screen… literally seamless. This is work on the level of Kong in King Kong last year. Like Kong, the brilliance of the work here is the expressiveness. Even the great moment you've surely seen in advertising of Jones playing the organ with an assist from his most intimate mollusk pales a bit from such "simple" (they make 'em look simple) moments as looking Davy Jones square in the face as he thinks, snorts, and speaks.
No small part of the success of Davy Jones was the choice to hire the inimitable Bill Nighy to play the role. Nighy affects a brogue which took me a while to get used to and will have senior citizens praying for subtitles, but (correction: 6/26, 11:02p) both Nighy's eyes and his facial ticks have been recreated perfectly by the ILM magicians as they might exist if covered in squid, are a movie lover's joy. Really... look in those eyes and I dare you to think they are animated and not real!
And Nighy was not the only terrific hire by Bruckheimer, Verbinski and casting directors Denise Chamian & Priscilla John (who replace Ronna Kress, who fell off the Bruckheimer wagon after King Arthur). They also added Stellan Skarsgard and 28 Days Later's Naomie Harris, who are both terrific here.
But what people will show up for and keep showing up for through August are the massive action set pieces, one after the other after the other. We have undead pirates, living soldiers, cannibals, round cages made of (sorry... it's a spoiler) hanging over 200 feet deep ravines, sword fights on mill wheels, the requisite cannon balls, lots of fire, even more water, breathy chases, narrow escapes, wenches, witches, romance, and of course, The Kraken.
Speaking of The Kraken, one of the lovely things about this movie is how it really harkens back to Classic Disney while moving forward about as far as effects technology has ever taken us. The Kraken is right out of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea… except that it seems completely believable, even in broad daylight. And even then, as with most of the effects, you get the feeling tickling the back of your intellect (which you have put on hold in favor of your heart for most of the film) that they could have made it bigger, louder, more… but chose not to go there. The density of the CG work in this movie is astounding, but probably will be even more so as I return to re-examine it. So much of the work is background or subtle while some major effect takes center stage. Really, the guy with the hammerhead shark head is remarkable all by himself… and yet, he is almost always in a secondary position to Davy Jones or some new crew member that distracts you from this cool creation. Hammerhead is a terrific addition, yet the film doesn't hit you over the head with it (literally or figuratively). And that is one of the reasons why this will be a great repeat-viewing movie.
But as I rave and rave and rave, I will say again… it's too long and it gets too confusing, as the original did. But by the time we roll through the third act, the lull moments are a distant memory. Dead Man's Chest is far from a perfect movie. But it has the key element missing from Mission: Impossible 3 and Poseidon and, yes, Superman Returns. It is relentlessly joyful. No one in this movie takes themselves as seriously as the key characters from those three summer wannabe joyrides. And people will overlook a lot in the name of joy.
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Post by missendicott on Jun 27, 2006 19:07:36 GMT -5
Ohhh... So exciting!! 11 days!
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Ciao
