Sunday, July 30, 2006

A bit less of everything...

...is how I would describe the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The acting wasn't as good, the writing wasn't as good, Johnny Depp wasn't as bizarre, Keira Knightley wasn't as pretty, etc. It was okay. I knew it wasn't as good as the first one going in, but that's okay.

When you have a movie with special effects like the first one, it's almost a given that the makers will feel they have a duty to outdo themselves in that regard for the sequel. This is no exception. Undead warriors from the first are replaced by sea creature men in the second. Even when I tried to pay attention to them, I didn't really notice.

Deadwood is on, and it's just so damn good. Last weeks episode had two great speeches. One when Merrick was reading Bullock's letter to the murdered Cornishman's family, and the second when Blazanov raged against Hearst's having his foreign workers murdered. Good stuff.

I recently watched Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, which was the basis for the sitcom Alice, something I hadn't known before. Mostly because I had no idea what the movie was about in the first place. But once I saw Vic Tayback working the kitchen, it flashed into my head. I really liked that TV show.

I also watched A Night at the Opera, a Marx Brothers movie from 1935. Fantastic. The talent that each of those guys possessed is really extraordinary. Chico playing the piano might be my favorite scene.

No comments: