Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

I realized that I never bothered to write a review of the original Pirates. Figured I'd toss one up.

The Good:
There was actually a lot about this film that was very good - which surprised me I will admit.

Johnny Depp was amazing. If you are a Depp fan, and if not I say shame on you, then this is a must see. He is fantastic.

Geoffrey Rush, also fantastic.

The effects were actually stunning at times, which is a lot for someone like me who isn't big on effects most of the time.

The Bad:
Disney Movie.

Disney Movie based on a theme park ride.

Over All:
This movie was a lot of fun. Being that as above noted it was based on a theme park ride in Disney World, that came as a huge surprise with me. I was actually invited to see this in the theatre several times and always passed. I finally saw it on DVD and was blown away. I went into it expecting nothing and was surprised to have a lot of fun instead. I am rarely surprised when I expect nothing from a film so this one gets bonus points for actually proving me wrong - for the most part.

V for Vendetta

The Good:
Wow... where to start.

The cinematography was fantastic.

The lighting was dead on.

The villains were truly evil and the heroes were complex just the way I like them.

The story was great from opening to ending - if there ever is truly an ending to this story.

V was wonderful both to watch and to listen to. Do yourself a favor. Don't read the back of the movie or try to figure out who he is before you watch it. Try to guess. I assure you both that you should be able to figure it out and that you will be well rewarded whether you do or not.

The Bad:
I find Natalie Portman to be flat, one dimensional and ultimately forgettable in almost everything she does save The Professional. Though she was better than average in this film, I felt the character would have been better served by a more multidimensional or personality possessing actress. It was far to important a role to have been wasted as it was.

All in all:
Easily one of the best political statements I have had the pleasure of watching in a very long time. I adore seeing corrupt governments overthrown by the very people they try to enslave and destroy. There is nothing more rewarding. As V himself says "people should not fear their governments, governments should fear their people". Just good on so many levels - particularly when you see that it is a future not to far removed from the direction in which our current leadership would have us move as quickly as possible. A great thing to watch with an election looming on the horizon. If this won't motivate you to dethrone the dictators, nothing will.

The Private Eyes

The Good:
I always enjoy Tim Conway and Don Knotts together.

It was a fun film - there are so few of those now that it makes these even better.

The Bad:
I wished that the sound had been done a little better. There were times where it was almost too quiet to hear, and times when it was unbelievably loud - but this could be because it is an older film.

All in all:
I really had a great time watching this movie. It made me feel like a kid again and that is hard to do. It was a little bit of The Pink Panther mixed with a little bit of Scooby-Doo and overall a great movie for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Bridge to Terabithia

The Good:
Both Anna-Sophia Robb and Josh Hutcherson were excellent, which was refreshing since some child actors can just be over the top.

The contrast between real elementary/middle school life and the battles of the fantasy world of Terabithia were executed perfectly.

The Bad:
The effects were kind of "meh" - not terrible, but nothing exciting either. In the realm of the first installment of Harry Potter which was also unimpressive.

I would like for the contrast between the two families to have been more clearly illustrated. I think you were given the impression that the girl's family was better even though they almost completely ignored her when they were writing.

All in all:
A fun ride if nothing else. I did think the story was a little too intensely sad at parts for young children which was part of the crowd toward which the film was marketed.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

The Good:
As with all previous editions the casting of 90% of the characters was dead on. The addition of Chow Yun-Fat was excellent, as was the additional cameo of Keith Richards as Captain Jack's father.

Again - very good effects throughout.

Johnny Depp - excellent as with all three - same as Geoffrey Rush.

There was an excellent character foil between the two pirate goof-ups and the two East India Trading Company goof-ups which was carried to its fruition here.

The Bad:
The "love story" - which seemed to consume most of the movie - was a bit hokey and over the top and took away from the legend of Davy Jones instead of adding to it.

I wanted to see Calypso be far more badass than she turned out to be.

All in all:
Out of the three this was definitely last on my list, with the first being well... first. It seemed to lose steam and story with every incarnation. The villains became less evil, less complex while the heroes became wishy-washy and un-heroic. Worth seeing to complete the set but no where near as good as the first or even second film.

The Sixth Sense

The Good:
Some of the effects weren't half bad.

There were a couple of things that definitely made me jump.

Toni Collette is always good.

Haley Joel Osment is a decent child actor.

The Bad:
I know, I know - I'm biased - but Bruce Willis failed to impress. I didn't believe he was a psychologist. I didn't believe he was a human.

The surprise ending was not a surprise. If you're paying any attention at all you can figure it out in the opening minutes of the film.

All in all:
Mediocre at best. I remember being dragged to the theatre by a friend to see this movie. I was told "there is no way you will see this ending coming - this guy (meaning Shyamalan) is great". When I figured out what the ending was a few minutes later - I leaned over to my friend and said "if this is the way it ends, then I want my money back." The reply I got was "how do you do that?". Sometimes it's a lucky guess. Sometimes it's puzzle solving. In the case of this film - it was neither - it is spelled out for you in the opening minutes of the movie and simply reinforced the rest of the way through. Not really surprising.

What the Bleep Do We Know?

The Good:
I like Marlee Matlin.

The Bad:
Though the topic of quantum physics is undoubtedly an interesting one - this film manages to turn the topic into one that is confusing, threatening, depressing and then ultimately hokey. It just mismanages things on a large scale.

The "illustrative skit portions" involving actors took away from the seriousness of the film. Instead of showing you what the scientists speaking meant, it made the scientists look silly and created a fake aura about the whole film.

Some of the scientists, skits aside, were just hard to find credible. Out of all of them I think there was only one I didn't believe was totally full of crap. Particularly the woman - she seemed more like a gypsy card reader than any kind of believable source of information.

All in all:
I'm not going to lie - we did not even finish this film. It just wasn't good.

Microcosmos

The Good:
Beautifully filmed. The camera work in this film is just brilliant. For such tiny tiny things - you really feel like you are a part of the world which must seem infinitely vast to them. I'm not sure if some of these shots were set up in a closed environment or if it all really was filmed in "a meadow somewhere on earth" - but if it was filmed in an actual meadow, then it's even MORE impressive.

The soundtrack is minimal and also perfect. The music becomes a part of the story, without taking over.

The Bad:
I really don't have very much that's negative to say. Spiders freak me out so I wasn't too keen on the spider scenes but that's more my issue than a problem with the film itself.

All in all:
An excellent nature documentary about seldom thought about creatures and the intricacies of their world. Not your typical documentary - very different than most I've seen - but very good. If you don't like creepy crawlies, this is not the film for you - as aside from the brief appearances of a bird and a frog - that's pretty much all there is.