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BrianBradley
Reviews
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Disney is Back!
I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
I went into Pirates of the Carribean as a longtime fan of the ride, having been to disney world about 17 times all throughout my life. Many fond memories of the classic ride.
I used to love Disney, before they stopped making quality musicals like the Little Mermaid and focused their attention on ruining their theme parks with stupid deletions/changes of rides, ludicrous closing times (6 pm!?), over emphasis on being 100% P.C. and not p***ing anyone off (rather than putting out quality material), and of course exploiting every single movie they ever made with a cheesy ham handed sub par "sequel" (SNL went as far as mocking them with a bit called "Bambi 2000". You figure it out.)
Overall, I hate Disney's movies. Anyone see "Snowdogs"? Didn't think so. I went into "Pirates of the Carribean" thinking it was going to be another dumb "strictly-for-little-kids" fart-joke fest, with poor dialouge, a trite plot, crappy acting and general badness.
I'm also a film major, and I know my stuff when it comes to movies.
You could say I was probably the toughest audience member they could have had. ....and I was completely and utterly blown away. Blown. Away.
Disney, somehow, released something that was devoid of all fart jokes, with no lame jokes or bad acting, or exploitation, something that wasn't watered down or cut or anything. In fact, it was completely AWESOME.
They've managed to create a film that has all the wonderful fun, adventurous spirit of the old disney movies that everyone loved as a kid. It's as though Walt himself was watching over this project in some way. All the emotions I experienced riding the ride as a kid came back to me...the forboding & sense of death lurking about, adventure, danger, and even humor...yes, that's right - they managed to NOT screw up the jokes at all - with a sense of flair and style that you could only expect from disney. Depp gives a smashing performance, his best since Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and the rest of the cast is positively top notch. The plot is creative enough to leave you guessing, but it still fits within the confines of a classic Romantic Narrative...and it was such a blast to watch.
That was the most important thing - I'm 20, and I was sitting in a theatre watching a new disney movie.....and I was ENJOYING every MINUTE of it.
GO SEE THIS. NOW.
The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000)
excellent portrayal of the beach boys...
Being an avid Brian Wilson enthusiast, I bought an emmy judge's copy of this movie from someone on Ebay, and it was a real treat, to say the least.
Of course, you may think that because I'm somewhat partial to the founding member of the beach boys, I'd like this movie whether it was a dog or not. Not true; I happen to be more into film than I am into music.
The most notable aspect of The Beach Boys: An American Family is it's quality being made for TV. I originally saw this in 2000, and I didn't expect much, but I remember being impressed even back then. The performances are top notch. The guy who played Mike Love is a dead ringer for the real life guy and SPEAKS with the exact same inflections and -isms as the REAL Mike Love from the 60s. Fred Weller did an extraordinary job playing Brian; he got the character nailed right down to the funny way the Real Brian Wilson speaks and sings out of the corner of his mouth. In terms of performances, however, Kevin Dunn (who played the Boys' abusive father, murry) stands out as easily the best. It would have been easy to make Murry over-the-top, but Kevin makes sure that the audience sees the conflict in Murry's character and that, deep down, he really does love his sons. The movie is quite long, and even so some parts did feel a little clipped, but the only person who'd notice the difference between the pace of the movie and how things occurred in real life are the beach boys/ Brian Wilson fans who already know the story by heart. This is, after all, a movie, and some events are dramatized and others downplayed to make it more "hollywood", which sounds quite evil but actually works quite nicely on-screen.
All in all, I have but two complaints. The first is the singing, and I know that I'm perhaps asking for too much, but it would've been nice to hear some actual music recreation rather than lip synching (although how could you recreate something so magical, accurately?) This problem gets exceptionally bad during certain scenes where Fred Weller "sings" and it's obviously 56-year-old Brian Wilson doing the vocals. Secondly, the movie simply ends too soon. It ceases during the mid 70s when Brian was sort of doing better, but soon after the end of the movie's timeline, he slips back even worse and almost dies. He's rescued again, however, in a highly dramatic effort by his doctor, Gene Landy, and lives to tour again. Dennis drowns, and Carl eventually succumbs to cancer. But then again, the movie is 2 hours long already. At any rate, it's a great movie to watch. Perhaps one day they'll make a sequel that highlights the latest events in the Beach Boys' tumultuous career. God only knows if that'll ever happen, but then, Wouldn't it be nice?