Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean - At World’s End

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Jonathan Pryce, Stellan Skarsgård

Genre: adventure

Plot: quest to get Jack Sparrow and Will’s dad back

Acting: As always Johnny Deep stole the show. The movie is not so much character based but more action based so they worked with what they had

Drama: plenty but all is well when it ends well… sort of

Action: lots of fighting between pirates

Funny: it’s definitely funny, Jack is priceless, but it doesn’t have as many gags as the second movie, which is a good thing

Visuals: nothing to complain about, great pleasure for the eye

Soundtrack: it’s Hans Zimmer so of course it’s spot on

Comments: I would say this movie is better than the second one though that was entertaining too. The first one is still my favorite and I consider it to be better as a whole. It’s normal since it’s more character based, but once they have solid characters defined they can only focus on the action and then you can’t help feeling that something is lacking. It’s either that or change the characters so much that they’re not the ones you fell in love with in the first place. That’s the sad part about sequels and why they’re never as good as the originals. But even if the relationship between Will and Elisabeth is not working now that they have they’re own agenda, we do get our unexpected bitter sweet happy ending which leaves us with a tinny little hope for more. As a side observation it’s funny how Elizabeth has a different hair color in each movie and the way Will proposes to her. Happy many returns!

Rating: 4/5

Movie Review: Shrek The Third

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: green ogre, cat, donkey and spoiled brat aka Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Justin Timberlake

Genre: animation, comedy

Plot: Shrek goes look for another heir to the throne to replace him while fighting fatherhood thoughts.

Acting: Murphy and Banderas kinda steal the show

Drama: the way they included Princesses from other stories… I hate it when they mix up stories

Action: Prince Charming is taking over the world

Funny: Shrek and Fiona taking care of the babies

Visuals: humans still look ugly, everything else looks much better

Soundtrack: the first one was better

Comments: For some reason I enjoyed it less than the other two. I hope there won’t be fourth one.

Rating: 3/5

Hugh Jackman in Sunset Boulevard

I've been looking for this for a while now since Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard has become one of my favorite musicals.

Hugh Jackman singing Sunset Boulevard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELEtTFK-_DQ

Documentary about the production of the musical in Australia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44HiPwv3kCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvPbDRv-59E

He looked so young!

Movie Review: Grindhouse

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Freddy Rodríguez, Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Naveen Andrews, Jeff Fahey,
Bruce Willis, Quentin Tarantino

Genre: horror, road movie

Plot: two cheap movies played head to head with commercials in between

Acting: err… did I say it’s a horror movie? Who needs acting? I felt kinda bad for Kurt Russell, what did he do so wrong his life to deserve to be put in such movie?

Drama: too much of a cliché not to find at least a dozen

Action: shootings, explosions, zombie killings, car crashes, etc.

Funny: hmm, not exactly… such a deadbrainer I almost felt ashamed when I chuckled a couple of times

Visuals: not much… but Rose McGowan looked hot as a brunette with or without the missing leg

Soundtrack: don’t remember

Comments: A worse version of From Dusk Till Dawn followed by an even worse version of Pulp Fiction. Of course those who are only after plenty of gore will be happy with it. I’ll never understand why people like Quentin Tarantino.

Rating: 2/5

I'd Wait For Life - Screenshots

Screenshots from Take That's video I'd Wait For Life sang by Gary Barlow can be found at:

Gary Barlow ~ 10 Years Later

Beautifully shot video!

Australia opens with a bar fight scene?

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21738823-5006002,00.html

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? :P

Movie Review: Next

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel

Genre: action, sci fi slightly

Plot: slowed down by alternate future versions, not too complicated

Acting: it’s Cage and Biel so we shouldn’t ask much in that department, but Moore was okay

Drama: he waits for his soul mate, he gets her, then he has to keep her aliveAction: a cool chain reaction disaster scene

Funny: little girl tells Biel the Cage’s character must like her because he looks at her the way her brother looks at his girlfriend. Camera pans at Cage. He looks like he’s having a toothache.

Visuals: a bit of a nice scenery at the tribe location

Soundtrack: "A Little Less Entertainment" is used to show the story starts in Las Vegas, that was tacky

Comments: A little while ago I was mentioning that we get to see Nicholas Cage with hair in Ghost Rider, well now we see him with even more hair and it doesn’t do him any favor. The fact that his character hooked up with the girl in less than 24 hours is not quite believable given all the possible future rejections upon their first meeting. Sex with her must be a big incentive though since he managed to see ahead in a future for several hours while sleeping.

Rating: 2/5

Movie Review: Spiderman 3

*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***

Featuring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace

Genre: action, sci fi

Plot: what usually happen in a second sequel, the hero goes bad… hope it won’t happen the same thing to Batman in a few years

Acting: Kisten Dunst is totally lost in this picture, I don’t know why she kept playing this character who isn’t good enough even for a supporting part… and she didn’t just play it once or twice… but three times!!! The money must be great.

Drama: good turns bad and good again, bad turns temporarily good, etc. old plot gets an uncalled for twist, and they left the wedding for the fourth part

Action: lots of it and not so bad

Funny: Peter Parker dancing as he walks down the street and in the club… not much else

Visuals: the CGIs are great, I particularly liked Sandman

Soundtrack: appropriate I guess

Comments: Peter acts like a totally clueless idiot most of the time, Mary Jane is a hot redhead but if they had switched her with a doll with a red wig no one would have noticed, Venom is just annoying, Sandman is kinda cool and almost too human, Goblin Jr. is a pale shadow of his father, he can’t do even evil right, there’s so much going on but nothing important enough to justify the importance of the film except for maybe the superhero’s puberty identity crisis.

Rating: 3/5 with indulgence

Alexei Yagudin Stars on Ice Photos

Photos from the Baltimore Stars on Ice show have been added to the site:

The Unofficial Alexei Yagudin Website

More photos from Australia movie set

Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman dancing on Australia movie set:

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2007/05/02/nicole-kidman-hugh-jackman-dancing

Gary Barlow ~ 10 Years Later

Website dedicated to Take That lead singer and songwriter Gary Barlow.

Gary Barlow ~ 10 Years Later

http://garybarlow10yearslater.x10.mx