My OperaPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Friday, June 10, 2011 9:29:52 AM
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and I have mixed feelings.
Blackbeard was sufficiently present, but rather under-utilized. Barbossa was awesome, but the coolest story point he had happened off-screen before the film began. Jack had no real chance to double-cross, lie and cheat his way through the plot, which removed the main entertainment factor of previous films. (I suspect this might be because the main plot is based on a novel not about Sparrow, and so had no easily built-in twists of the kind so typical for his character). Mermaids worked a lot better than feared, though - their scenes might in fact have been the best thing about the movie. I also loved how for once we see Sparrow elegantly and subtly plan his seemingly improvised ridiculous stunts - shows that there is a lot more going on in his head than just plain crazy.
Plot as a whole was a smart return to the beginnings of the franchise - small scale swashbuckle quest wherein various opposing parties race to some mythical treasure - but due to the lack of, well, Jack Sparrow-style twists, it just came off as a filler story in the same vein as Curse of the Black Pearl, but without the personality and force of the original.
All in all, I am rather happy they made this movie because it is a movie in the vein of number 1 much more than 2 and 3 ever were, and thus gives me hopes for the continuation of the franchise in this same direction. But where 2 was stupid and 3 was overblown, 4 is mostly just bland. It is not an awful crime, but still, a bit disappointing.
Blackbeard was sufficiently present, but rather under-utilized. Barbossa was awesome, but the coolest story point he had happened off-screen before the film began. Jack had no real chance to double-cross, lie and cheat his way through the plot, which removed the main entertainment factor of previous films. (I suspect this might be because the main plot is based on a novel not about Sparrow, and so had no easily built-in twists of the kind so typical for his character). Mermaids worked a lot better than feared, though - their scenes might in fact have been the best thing about the movie. I also loved how for once we see Sparrow elegantly and subtly plan his seemingly improvised ridiculous stunts - shows that there is a lot more going on in his head than just plain crazy.
Plot as a whole was a smart return to the beginnings of the franchise - small scale swashbuckle quest wherein various opposing parties race to some mythical treasure - but due to the lack of, well, Jack Sparrow-style twists, it just came off as a filler story in the same vein as Curse of the Black Pearl, but without the personality and force of the original.
All in all, I am rather happy they made this movie because it is a movie in the vein of number 1 much more than 2 and 3 ever were, and thus gives me hopes for the continuation of the franchise in this same direction. But where 2 was stupid and 3 was overblown, 4 is mostly just bland. It is not an awful crime, but still, a bit disappointing.
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Georgius the PeasantLoki Aesir # Sunday, June 26, 2011 9:07:23 AM
Game of Thrones - I assume you mean the HBO series and not the book? I shall look through my Twitter and Facebook updates and copy paste somewhat. In more or less reversed chronological order:
In response to a listing of characters whose actors did a particularly great job in the final few episodes:
Tywin in particular is fantastic - I get chills when he's on screen, just like in the book.
In response to statement that GoT is HBO's best current drama:
I agree, but outside of Boardwalk Empire, it does not really have much competition... Still, great fun.
On the casting of Natalie Dormer as Margary Tyrell for season 2:
I wonder how her book 3 scenes will play with an actress this grown up, but she's clearly a great choice in every other sense, so... yay!
Loki liker Arrested Westeros (http://www.facebook.com/arrestedwesteros)
Statement after show ended:
I am really worried about next year's adaptation of Clash of Kings. It should be two seasons of 13 eps each, not one of 10.
[This was followed by a general discussion where the upshot is, I feel season 1's main weakness is cramming in so much plot it hurts the impact of less prominent characters by giving the viewer much less of a chance to bond with characters who are not Arya, Ned or Tyrion]
Awesomeness. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxc0EQiwngE&feature=player_embedded)
Before episode 9 came out:
Even though I have read the book thrice, I am still ridiculously excited and tense about this week's episode of "Game of Thrones".
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The discussion which followed from that statement:
Loki Aesir Winter is coming.
13. juni kl. 14:44 · Lik dette
Kristoffer Gressli Indeed it is. "most shocking twist in tv history"
13. juni kl. 14:57 · Lik dette
Loki Aesir Yeah, and public knowledge since 1996 to boot...
13. juni kl. 14:58 · Lik dette · 2 personar
Terje Breigutu Moseng I've kinda decided not to watch the series; reading the books twice or thrice will have to do with me. Is that dumb?
13. juni kl. 19:44 · Lik dette
Loki Aesir Well, you enjoyed Rome despite knowing everything that would happen, didn't you? If you didn't, you should not watch it. If you like great actors on great sets in great costumes performing great stories even when you knew the story before, you should watch it. Either way, no skin off of my nose.
But, I mean, Sean Bean is Ned Stark and Charles Dance is Tywin Lannister. Those two little pieces of information alone sold me well and good, long before I saw the pilot.
13. juni kl. 19:59 · Lik dette
Loki Aesir I figured I would go on a bit more, as I am a blabbermouth of rank:
Jaime, Tyrion, Drago, Dany and Robert are way awesomely cast too. Cersei is a bit... different from the books, but not in a bad way.
But basically, I would say this, maybe even more so than the Rome parallell - it is an adaptation quality-wise about on the level of the LotR-movies, albeit with a TV budget having scaled it down from the sheer epicness of those. So a number of differences, a lot of cuts, and some minor additions. You usually understand the cuts, and you usually approve of the additions, but like with those movies, you obviously won't do so ALWAYS.
Still, eight episodes in, my only complaint is that the episodes are too crammed with plot. By which I mean I wish they had one or two quiet scenes to let the characters sink in and make as much of an impression on the viewer as they easily could if given the chance. But they're prioritising getting as much as possible of the complex plotting in and promoting just a handful (notably Tyrion, Ned, Dany, Jon and Arya) of characters as the "relate-to"-cast you're supposed to care extra much about. And if you have to pick one or the other, I think that's the better call. Even the book does not give everyone a POV.
13. juni kl. 20:04 · Lik dette
Loki Aesir I lost my conclusion somewhere in there - if you regret watching LotR, don't watch it. If you don't regret watching LotR, watch it. Heck, total the season is basically the same running length as the three exended editions, so the investment is basically the same too.
13. juni kl. 20:05 · Lik dette
Terje Breigutu Moseng Thanks for taking the time, man. I'm not too sure about whether or not I regret having watched LotR. I am glad I did because I lived those books way back then, and also it would have been weird not being able to get any of the references to the movies. On the other hand, I haven't been able to read thr books again since 2002 because I always picture Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen instead of Frodo and Gandalf while I'm reading. But then again, maybe that's not a bad thing, although it's kind of a moot point in comparison to GoT, as I'd finished LotR, but probably won't see the end of ASoIaF in at least six, seven years, if ever.
But anyway, thanks for your five cents, they're always appreciated 'round my neck o' the woods. Also, I'll think I'll wait for the DVD.
13. juni kl. 23:46 · Lik dette
Loki Aesir I suppose that is an issue, the unfinished status of ASoIaF, but... I don't know. The characters who are very similar, well, I sort of pictured them like their actors already (Gandalf, Ned Stark), and the ones who are completely different from how I pictured them (Frodo, Jon Snow) - I am rereading Storm of Swords right now, and having no trouble picturing people like I did before I saw the show.
Btw, I don't know if you know this, but Martin wrote episode 8 (The Pointy End) himself this season, and will write the battle of Blackwater next season. In case you didn't and that piece of information could tip the scale. (Jane Espenson of BSG and Buffy fame also wrote an episode this season, the one with Tyrion's trial in the Vale).
14. juni kl. 09:03
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A question once posted, never satisfyingly responded to:
Game of Thrones-fans with better brains, eyes or memories (or all of the above) than I can lay claim to, help me out with this: Varys is pro-Targaryen, aye? So why does he willingly follow-through with sending assassins after Dany? Or is Mormont's pardon to be read as the Spider bribing him to stop the OTHER assassin? So he's not acting by conscience after all...?
After seeing episode 6:
Very good episode of "Game of Thrones" this week. More physical things actually happening in the last couple of episodes, and that helps with the book->TV transposition as the missing internal monologues are less damaging.
But by the Seven, why was the Wall included in the opening credits when the only locations shown in the actual episode were King's Landing, the Vale, Winterfell and the Holy City?
After seeing the pilot, in response to a friend asking "is it good":
Aaaand I have seen it. I thought it was very good - as good as I had any right to hope for - but of course it wasn't the End All Be All of TV, either. So if your expectations are reasonable, I don't see how you could be disappointed. I love king Robert and Arya, and I also think Ned and all three Lannister-siblings will do very well. Nobody disappointed, but those were the ones that stood out.