Showing posts with label Johnny Depp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johnny Depp. Show all posts

23 May 2011

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Spanks - 4

Director - Rob Marshall

Writers - Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio

Starring - Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane & Kevin McNally

Release Date - 29 April 2011

MPAA Rating - PG-13

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the fourth chapter of the series and is loosely based on Tim Powers novel On Stranger Tides. In the film, Jack Sparrow is now searching for the Fountain of Youth. Captain Barbossa who is under orders from King George II, the Spanish, and Edward "Blackbeard" Teach are on the hunt for the fountain as well.

After the previous two sequels, I did not have my hopes that high that it would get better. On Stranger Tides, is better then both Dead Man's Chest and At Worlds End. They didn't milk all the jokes from Curse of the Black Pearl like they did in the first two sequels either. The only mentions of those other movies in the plot is Barbossa, The Black Pearl and Jack the Monkey, if you did not see any of the other films you can jump into the fun of this one and not be lost. There are a few Easter eggs for the long time fans.

The film goes back to what made the original so good. It is funny, full of swashbuckling action, complex characters you can love, hate or both and (best of all) pirates!


25 July 2009

Public Enemies

Spanks - 3

Director - Michael Mann

Writer - Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann & Ann Biderman

Starring - Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Stephen Lang & Billy Crudup

Release Date - 1 July 09

MPAA Rating - R

Public Enemies is the latest film about John Dillinger. It takes place over a year of his life from when he broke his gang out of the Indiana State Prison right after he himself was paroled from prison until he is shot and killed by the FBI outside the Biograph Theater on July 23, 1934. Along with telling Dillinger's story, the film follows Melvin Purvis who was the FBI agent in charge of finding and arresting Dillinger and his gang.

The film is accurate in showing the downfall of each member of Dillinger's gang, but the time line of the deaths is out of order to make for a better screen story. The robbery scenes and the shootouts were shot well, but it could have used more of them. The rest of the film was very slow in the pacing, and I was bored at some parts. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are great actors and portrayed their characters magnificently.

The filmmakers did a wonderful job recreating the 1930's with the cars, architecture, clothing, and props. In that way it was incorporated into the film. The picture was too clear and looked to me that it was shot with home video cameras. That took away the feeling of being in Dillinger's time. Period films should look more gritty and old, not perfect and crystal clear. That doesn't represent The Great Depression. It might look better on an HDTV than the huge movie screen, which is where you should watch this film anyway.