Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl Movie Review

Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl

Director; Gore Verbinski (Mouse Hunt) Producer;Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbor) Actors; Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Geoffry Rush, Keira Knightly. Released; 2002/2003.

Without a doubt Johnny Depp's performance as 'Captain Jack Sparrows' is the highlight of the movie for most people, some of the awards that Depp was nominated for in his role in Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Curse Of The Black Pearl include;

*MTV Movie Awards (2004), nominated Best On-Screen Team; Shared with Orlando Bloom. *Academy Awards (USA 2004), nominated Oscar; Best Actor in a Leading Role. *Empire Awards (UK 2004), won Empire Award; Best Actor. *Golden Globes (USA 2004), nominated Golden Globe; Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

Trivia;

Pirates Of The Caribbean is inspired and themed from the Disneyland ride established in the 1950's. It is revealed that Captain Barbossa's (Geoffry Rush) first name is Hector in the DVD commentary with director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp. Keep watching The Curse Of The Black Pearl after the credits for an additional scene.

Johnny Depp plays a roguish Pirate, Captain Jack Sparrows, the outlandish character with a drunken slur who's determined to recover his stolen ship, the Black Pearl. Some years beforehand a mutiny instigated by Jack's sagacious 'first mate', Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), left Jack stranded on a deserted Island as the mutineers sailed away. Onboard the Black Pearl was Jack's knowledge, mapping the location of a cursed treasure which led the mutineers and their surrogate Captain to a fate worse than death. Jack managed to escape the island and is eventually imprisoned at the town of Port Royal, coincidently during this time the town was raided by the crew of the Black Pearl who kidnapped the Governor's Daughter, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly), as the evil pirates found her with the last Aztec Medallion that they needed to help lift the curse that is upon them. The town's Blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), who secretly loves Elizabeth, breaks Jack out of prison and the unlikely pair commandeer the Bitish Empire's most prized ship 'The Interceptor' to save Elizabeth from Captain Barbossa.

"The Black Pearl is a ship with black sails, crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that even Hell itself spat him back out". This quote in Pirates Of The Caribbean brings Scene 8 to my attention, "Aztec Gold", set on the deck of the Black Pearl. Elizabeth makes the unearthly discovery that moonlight exposes the cursed Pirates for what they really are, undead skeletons and slaves for eternity to the Aztec treasure that they took and then squandered away. This is where the movie's special effects are prominent in 'The Curse Of The Black Pearl', the animators had to use footage of the real actors filmed on the set and replace them with computer generated 'ghost Pirates'. The sequence required to create the astonishing 'Moonlight Serenade' is called Scene Progression, which involves a multi level process of shooting the entire physical scene then modeling it into the computer. The animators then use this model of lighting and background as a template and the computer generated Pirates (modeled from the footage of the actor's performance), are added in 3D layers to the set's platform. Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) has loads of special features such as a DVD registration program, Disney Web Links, on-line support and a "Moonlight Becomes Ye" effects studio that you can use on your computer. As you can see we've tried the effects studio and posted the portrait of myself. You'll find the effects studio on disc 2 and it only takes a couple of minutes to set up and 'De-face' the portrait that you upload.

Pirates Of The Caribbean is a suspense-filled, sword-clashing adventure with never-seen-before special effects, mysterious characters and humorous rum-guzzling sailors, making it a film that everyone must include in their collection. The Curse Of The Black Pearl is the first of three 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' movies and probably one of the most enigmatic Pirate films of all time with extraordinary non-stop action and surprise.

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Walk The Line

A real legend is...well, the stuff of legends. But much harder to reproduce on film, because of the depths of human expression that tend to get lost in the business of making it on time, on budget, and on a subject the public will "buy". Which means 2005's "Walk The Line" is that rarest of movies, one that dug deep into the story, put it up as it really unfolded, and managed to bag actors that could carry it off.

"Walk The Line" is the hard fighting/drinking/loving story of country icon, Johnny Cash and his love affair with wife June Carter. It lays the foundation for the movie's focus, and Cash's real life, by detailing his boyhood in Arkansas, the early death of a brother, and impulsive first marriage that ended in disaster. All of that contributes to the way Cash's life was already drifting when he sang for Sam Phillips of Sun Records, where he brushed shoulders with another newcomer, Elvis Presley. Chastised for offering a hymn, Joaquin Phoenix rips off a version of Folsom Prison Blues that snags him the prized contract, and sets his foot on a path that will lead him to depths he never dreamed of, and the woman who would pull him out of then, June Carter.

Both Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon who plays June Carter, did their own vocals, which added immeasurably to the reality of their performances. Witherspoon at times was perhaps a tad too ebullient, but also managed to reach inside herself to pull out both the feminine side of Carter, and her fury at Cash's moral and physical deterioration as their relationship progressed from an initial backstage meeting to the final, enduring chapter written at the Folsom Prison concert.

Not strictly a love story, "Walk the Line" is nonetheless a sometimes moving, infuriating, and emotionally charged tale of two people both struggling towards the same goal- to be with each other.

Director: James Mangold
Producers: Alan C. Blomquist, James Keach, Cathy Konrad
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick, Ginnifer Goodwina

Just a Click Away Is Hollywood

Tagline: Nothing says goodbye like a bullet.

When I hear the name Elliott Gould, the word tough-guy doesn't immediately spring to mind. No, I tend to think of his roles in films like MASH, Ocean's Eleven and Capricorn One. So imagine my surprise when I learned that he had played the quintessential detective, Philip Marlowe, in the 1973 film entitled The Long Goodbye. Visions of Bogey started dancing in my head, and I just had to give it a look.

But before we get into the gory details, let's get the obligatory plot synopsis out of the way. The movie takes place in 1970's California, as Philip Marlowe (Gould) scrapes together a living by being the best private dick that money can buy. As the opening credits finish rolling, he runs into his old friend, Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton), and ends up giving him a lift down into Mexico. But as the next day dawns, Philip finds himself harassed by the cops (seems Terry's wife turned up dead) and a local mobster, Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell), who Terry stole a considerable amount of money from. And since Terry's no longer around, everyone seems happy to take out their frustrations on Marlowe. Things get even more complicated when a body presumed to be Terry's turns up in Mexico, and Marlowe takes on a missing persons case involving an alcoholic novelist (Sterling Hayden), his beautiful young wife (Nina Van Pallandt), and a greedy psychiatrist (Henry Gibson).

First off, let me give due credit to director Robert Altman. The idea of taking Philip Marlowe, a thoroughly black-and-white detective, and surrounding him with beach bunnies and sun-worshipping nudists in California is certainly a bold one. But, then again, that's always been Altman's style--working just enough outside of mainstream Hollywood to keep things interesting.

So does it work? Well, the answer's more complicated than you might think. While Goodbye has moments of brilliance, it's often just a middle-of-the-road detective movie. For every well-crafted scene, there seem to be a couple of mediocre ones, and the plot seems to wander a bit from the mid-point on. No doubt, the opening scene with Marlowe and his cat is a thing of brilliance and the standout moment in the film. It establishes what Marlowe is all about and quickly lets the audience know that Goodbye will not be the usual crime movie.

From his bedroom wall, scarred by having matches lazily struck on it, to his mumbling running commentary and unbelievable chain-smoking (he may possibly smoke more cigarettes than any character in cinematic history), I instantly knew that this was going to be a character I would care about. Too bad that it was mostly downhill from there, as the rest of the film fails to live up to the expectations established by the strong opener.

But don't blame it on Elliott Gould. He's a blast from start to finish, playing Marlowe with an unexpected bend-don't-break philosophy. I was expecting a hard-boiled detective with a solid right cross and an itchy trigger-finger. Instead, we get a much more realistic character. He feels pain. He gets scared. Under all his smartass bravado, Gould's Marlowe is just like the rest of us.

Another plus is that he plays Marlowe's thoughts and feelings close to the vest. Noticeably gone are the trite Hollywood moments where the protagonist sits down and spells out his plan for the audience. We don't know what Marlowe is going to do because he doesn't really seem to know either.

And much of the credit for that should go to screenwriter Leigh Brackett, who adapted the Raymond Chandler novel and enabled the script to crackle with crisp dialogue and eccentric characters. Brackett is a veteran of the Chandler mythos, having also co-wrote the script for the 1946 production of The Big Sleep.

The soundtrack also goes a long way towards selling viewers on the fact that Goodbye takes place in its own self-contained universe. And in that universe, only one song exists... The Long Goodbye. Whether characters are listening to the radio, practicing the piano, or simply whistling, that one song keeps coming back to haunt us (albeit with varied arrangements). It's a clever device which I don't ever remember seeing before, so a well-deserved pat on the back to whoever thought it up.

There are also many other reasons to like Goodbye: a solid performance from Sterling Hayden as a Hemingway-like author, the slight-of-stature Henry Gibson playing against type with memorable results, Mark Rydell's Marty Augustine demonstrating to Marlowe what he does to those he doesn't like (and to those he does), an uncredited cameo from a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many more. With all the preceding compliments, it might be easy to mistake Goodbye for a top-flight movie. But just as Marlowe meanders about, so, too, does the bulk of the film.

The subplot with the author and his wife never really seems to entirely come together and often feels forced, and the scenes with Henry Gibson, while well-acted, never really make a whole lot of sense. Maybe the original novel fleshed things out in more detail, but I felt as though something critical was left out of the film version. Some viewers, especially those expecting lots of brawls and gunplay, may be disappointed by the lack of action in the film. Marlowe talks to people, and that's really all he does. Like I said before, this is a different type of detective movie--one where the protagonist reacts instead of acts.

And then there's the ending. I won't go into detail and ruin it for you, but you'll either come away thinking: (a.) It was a brilliant ending which added a new dimension to Marlowe, or (b.) Marlowe's actions were totally out of character and ended the film on a sour note. To be honest, I continue to flip-flop between the two. But for what it's worth, Altman liked the script's ending (which was different from the novel) so much that he had it written into his contract that it could not be changed during the production or editing phases.

A masterpiece of filmmaking or a good idea which was never fully realized? I lean towards the latter, but you need to watch it and decide for yourself. Whatever your conclusions, chances are that you'll find something positive to say about Goodbye. And if you're unfamiliar with the work of Elliott Gould, you might just find that you've discovered a new favorite actor.

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