In which Sky talks about movies.
May. 29th, 2011 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cerulean_skyThis is going to be a post about various of the movies I've seen in the past... two weeks. Those being: Fast Five, Priest, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Hangover: Part 2, and Thor.
• First, Fast Five. I don't think you guys fully understand the depth of my love for the whole The Fast and The Furious franchise. (Ok, not the second one, because it didn't have Vin Diesel in it, but all the rest.) I'm convinced you can't go wrong with a movie about hot men and fast cars. And hot women. I even loved Tokyo Drift because it's hilarious and awesome. But. Fast Five was kind of awesome. I mean, there was no point at which I was bored, and the little twists were things that I didn't see coming. It's fun, it's funny, and it's kind of stupidly sexy.
• Now, Priest had to be seen because it was Paul Bettany, Karl Urban and vampires. I went with a friend, and even though we spent all of it making fun of it—"That's not how physics works!" "Really? Of all the things in the movie to get upset about, you pick the physics?" "Yes, well, I can forgive the bad vampire lore, but physics just doesn't work like that."—it was actually pretty good. I mean, I have pretty low standards for what makes a movie "good" (I pretty much just have to be entertained), but I liked it. I think there should be lots of slash written about Paul Bettany and Karl Urban's characters, and that there should be a sequel, since the movie was really just the set up for another potentially good movie. It was fun and I liked it, end of story.
• Let me tell you why PotC: At World's End was the best of the first three movies and why PotC: On Stranger Tides is the best of all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Ok, so me theory is: Jack Sparrow is incredibly intelligent, and always precisely aware of what he's doing. In The Curse of the Black Pearl, it looked like a lot of his actions were sort of bumbling, and then just happened to work out for him (mostly). But I'm not convinced. I actually think he's sort of a genius.
In Prison Break (just go with me here) the main character is diagnosed with low latent inhibition. The wikipedia article on the character says this: "Michael has been clinically diagnosed with low latent inhibition, a condition in which his brain is more open to incoming stimuli in the surrounding environment. As a result of this condition, he is unable to block out periphery information and instead processes every aspect and detail of any given stimulus. This, combined with a high IQ (as a psychiatrist explains) theoretically makes him a creative genius." He just absorbs everything around him, and is able to process it quickly and accurately in order to figure out what the consequences of any given action will be.
This is how I think Jack Sparrow is. In the first movie, he spends most of his time drunk off his ass, and given that his crew mutinied against him shortly before the movie starts and he doesn't have a ship and then gets captured, I think this is totally understandable. I also think that Jack Sparrow would be the type of character who would purposefully use alcohol to tone down the latent inhibition part of his brain, and allow him to be a little more on everyone else's level. In the second movie, he's drunk towards the beginning, but towards the end, he's stopped drinking and we see him being a little more on it, as it were. He's just a little bit more keen, he's just a bit more calculating. But in At World's End, he spends most of it sober, and he's calculating and he's manipulative, and he's fantastic. Sure, things don't go his way always in the movie, but it's easier to see that now that he's all there, he knows what he's doing.
Now, in On Stranger Tides, he's at his best. I think the best scene that exemplified what I'm talking about is when he and Barbossa get caught by the Spanish and Barbossa says, "We need a plan." Jack's response? "No, we'll improvise." Except that his improvisation miraculously works brilliantly and looks like it might've been planned out anyway. But that's just how Jack processes information. Instantaneously, and he's smart enough to know how to use it.
In conclusion: PotC: On Stranger Tides might be a new favorite movie of mine. With the addition of Penelope Cruz and Thomas Claflin and the mermaid (I am too lazy to look up the actress's name, but I think it's Agnes something?), something finally clicked. Plus, I think that the mermaid and the young man are going to show up in the next movie. That was just too good of a set up for a sequel. :)
• The Hangover: Part 2 was bad. It was the same movie as the first one, just in a different city. And I had forgotten just how much I hate Zack Galifinakis (and I dislike him enough that I don't even care enough to look up how to spell his name, so that might be wrong) and how much I hate his character in these movies. Ugh. I should not have inflicted that upon myself. Luckily, it was a matinée, so I didn't pay too much to see it.
• I actually just got home (ok, like an hour ago at this point) from seeing Thor with my dad. I liked it! Lots, actually! I even liked that it ended with him trapped in Asgard and her working to find a way to bring him back to earth. It underscored just how much she isn't a Damsel In Distress. Which was nice. I like that Marvel is working to not do that. I'm actually having trouble remembering a woman who ends up being a Damsel In Distress in any of the Marvel's new Avengers prequel movies. Because Mary-Jane in Spider-Man got captured by the Green Goblin like... twice in all of the movies. It was annoying and boring.
Also, Chris Hemsworth is hot. Like... I had a hard time looking anywhere but his chest when he was shirtless, kind of hot. He's also giantly tall, which is sort of hilarious. (But also hot, since I like tall men. Oof.)
Oh, and I know I'm probably not the only one to notice it, but. The S.H.I.E.L.D. guy who grabs a bow and arrow when Agent Colson tells him to get eyes in the sky or whatever? Yeah, ok, my dad and I both went, "Wait, a bow and arrow? Really? Why??" But guys! GUYS! Jeremy Renner played that guy (didn't he win an Oscar for The Hurt Locker?) and he's kind of a heavy to bring in for 3 minutes of screen time that doesn't get credited. So. I looked it up on IMDb. He's credited there as HAWKEYE. As in, the Avenger Hawkeye, the marksmen with a bow and arrow. Which means? HE'S SO GOING TO BE BACK IN THE AVENGERS MOVIE! HEE! I made a stupidly embarrassing noise during the credits when I looked that up on my BlackBerry.
In conclusion: I am stupidly excited for Avengers, which apparently has a date set for 2012, so yay. :)
• Oh god. Post so long. Grammar failing. Sleepy.
• Crap, I want to revamp my icons again. With new things. Like Narnia icons, some PotC: On Stranger Tides icons, and maybe a Thor icon or two. (/sigh)
Tomorrow: Fic! (And shopping with mom. Excitement!) Tuesday: Fic!
• First, Fast Five. I don't think you guys fully understand the depth of my love for the whole The Fast and The Furious franchise. (Ok, not the second one, because it didn't have Vin Diesel in it, but all the rest.) I'm convinced you can't go wrong with a movie about hot men and fast cars. And hot women. I even loved Tokyo Drift because it's hilarious and awesome. But. Fast Five was kind of awesome. I mean, there was no point at which I was bored, and the little twists were things that I didn't see coming. It's fun, it's funny, and it's kind of stupidly sexy.
• Now, Priest had to be seen because it was Paul Bettany, Karl Urban and vampires. I went with a friend, and even though we spent all of it making fun of it—"That's not how physics works!" "Really? Of all the things in the movie to get upset about, you pick the physics?" "Yes, well, I can forgive the bad vampire lore, but physics just doesn't work like that."—it was actually pretty good. I mean, I have pretty low standards for what makes a movie "good" (I pretty much just have to be entertained), but I liked it. I think there should be lots of slash written about Paul Bettany and Karl Urban's characters, and that there should be a sequel, since the movie was really just the set up for another potentially good movie. It was fun and I liked it, end of story.
• Let me tell you why PotC: At World's End was the best of the first three movies and why PotC: On Stranger Tides is the best of all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Ok, so me theory is: Jack Sparrow is incredibly intelligent, and always precisely aware of what he's doing. In The Curse of the Black Pearl, it looked like a lot of his actions were sort of bumbling, and then just happened to work out for him (mostly). But I'm not convinced. I actually think he's sort of a genius.
In Prison Break (just go with me here) the main character is diagnosed with low latent inhibition. The wikipedia article on the character says this: "Michael has been clinically diagnosed with low latent inhibition, a condition in which his brain is more open to incoming stimuli in the surrounding environment. As a result of this condition, he is unable to block out periphery information and instead processes every aspect and detail of any given stimulus. This, combined with a high IQ (as a psychiatrist explains) theoretically makes him a creative genius." He just absorbs everything around him, and is able to process it quickly and accurately in order to figure out what the consequences of any given action will be.
This is how I think Jack Sparrow is. In the first movie, he spends most of his time drunk off his ass, and given that his crew mutinied against him shortly before the movie starts and he doesn't have a ship and then gets captured, I think this is totally understandable. I also think that Jack Sparrow would be the type of character who would purposefully use alcohol to tone down the latent inhibition part of his brain, and allow him to be a little more on everyone else's level. In the second movie, he's drunk towards the beginning, but towards the end, he's stopped drinking and we see him being a little more on it, as it were. He's just a little bit more keen, he's just a bit more calculating. But in At World's End, he spends most of it sober, and he's calculating and he's manipulative, and he's fantastic. Sure, things don't go his way always in the movie, but it's easier to see that now that he's all there, he knows what he's doing.
Now, in On Stranger Tides, he's at his best. I think the best scene that exemplified what I'm talking about is when he and Barbossa get caught by the Spanish and Barbossa says, "We need a plan." Jack's response? "No, we'll improvise." Except that his improvisation miraculously works brilliantly and looks like it might've been planned out anyway. But that's just how Jack processes information. Instantaneously, and he's smart enough to know how to use it.
In conclusion: PotC: On Stranger Tides might be a new favorite movie of mine. With the addition of Penelope Cruz and Thomas Claflin and the mermaid (I am too lazy to look up the actress's name, but I think it's Agnes something?), something finally clicked. Plus, I think that the mermaid and the young man are going to show up in the next movie. That was just too good of a set up for a sequel. :)
• The Hangover: Part 2 was bad. It was the same movie as the first one, just in a different city. And I had forgotten just how much I hate Zack Galifinakis (and I dislike him enough that I don't even care enough to look up how to spell his name, so that might be wrong) and how much I hate his character in these movies. Ugh. I should not have inflicted that upon myself. Luckily, it was a matinée, so I didn't pay too much to see it.
• I actually just got home (ok, like an hour ago at this point) from seeing Thor with my dad. I liked it! Lots, actually! I even liked that it ended with him trapped in Asgard and her working to find a way to bring him back to earth. It underscored just how much she isn't a Damsel In Distress. Which was nice. I like that Marvel is working to not do that. I'm actually having trouble remembering a woman who ends up being a Damsel In Distress in any of the Marvel's new Avengers prequel movies. Because Mary-Jane in Spider-Man got captured by the Green Goblin like... twice in all of the movies. It was annoying and boring.
Also, Chris Hemsworth is hot. Like... I had a hard time looking anywhere but his chest when he was shirtless, kind of hot. He's also giantly tall, which is sort of hilarious. (But also hot, since I like tall men. Oof.)
Oh, and I know I'm probably not the only one to notice it, but. The S.H.I.E.L.D. guy who grabs a bow and arrow when Agent Colson tells him to get eyes in the sky or whatever? Yeah, ok, my dad and I both went, "Wait, a bow and arrow? Really? Why??" But guys! GUYS! Jeremy Renner played that guy (didn't he win an Oscar for The Hurt Locker?) and he's kind of a heavy to bring in for 3 minutes of screen time that doesn't get credited. So. I looked it up on IMDb. He's credited there as HAWKEYE. As in, the Avenger Hawkeye, the marksmen with a bow and arrow. Which means? HE'S SO GOING TO BE BACK IN THE AVENGERS MOVIE! HEE! I made a stupidly embarrassing noise during the credits when I looked that up on my BlackBerry.
In conclusion: I am stupidly excited for Avengers, which apparently has a date set for 2012, so yay. :)
• Oh god. Post so long. Grammar failing. Sleepy.
• Crap, I want to revamp my icons again. With new things. Like Narnia icons, some PotC: On Stranger Tides icons, and maybe a Thor icon or two. (/sigh)
Tomorrow: Fic! (And shopping with mom. Excitement!) Tuesday: Fic!
no subject
on 2011-05-30 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
on 2011-05-30 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
on 2011-05-30 11:53 am (UTC)And I'm with you on movies, as long as I'm entertained, it's good. The only part about Priest that kept throwing me was the crappy dialogue. Oh god, that was painful.
And Thor! OMG Thor! Speaking of which, you should totally look up Chris' dances from when he was on Dancing with the Stars. There's one where he's got this hip action going on that probably needs to be registered.
no subject
on 2011-05-30 06:04 pm (UTC)I didn't notice the bad dialogue in Priest. I did notice that I could predict what lines came next, but I'm not sure that's bad. I did that in Thor too.
(/flees to youtube)
no subject
on 2011-05-30 10:06 pm (UTC)Thor had a certain amount of predictability, yes, but the dialogue in Priest was not only predictable, but bad. Which was a shame because it was the only thing that really through me out of my happy movie seeing groove.
no subject
on 2011-05-30 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-05-30 06:06 pm (UTC)(Prison Break is actually pretty good, if that's your sort of thing. I marathoned S1 and S2 with my roommate a few years back, and we liked it.)
no subject
on 2011-05-30 02:10 pm (UTC)Oh, yes. I went to see Priest. I think my reaction to it can best be summed up by what I said as the credits began to roll:
"There wasn't a single solitary nanosecond of that film, not the dialogue, not the cinematography, not anything, that wasn't lifted wholesale from another movie."
Not that I didn't have a good time! But really. It was a paean to plagiarism.
no subject
on 2011-05-30 06:07 pm (UTC)What movies do you think it lifted from?
no subject
on 2011-05-31 02:50 am (UTC)Also! I just saw On Stranger Tides, and I loved it! I think the first movie was snappier - the flow was tighter. But this was grand, and I hope they make more. And I really want to see the cute missionary man as a mermaid.
Annnd Fast Five was great. Also Thor. It's been a good summer for movies so far.