Pirates

[stoutfellow]

To smooth my ruffled feathers, I decided to rewatch Pirates of the Caribbean. I have to say, I don't understand how anyone could dislike that movie; yet there are two members of my own family who do. The fight in the smithy is hilarious, and there are plenty of fun riffs on tradition. If only Johnny Depp could rid himself of that distressing tendency to mumble...

I feel somewhat better now. Here's hoping the Bosox can knock off the Dodgers tonight.

I note in passing that Jerry Pournelle repeated someone's negative comments about Firefly in his blog and was apparently bombarded by indignant fans. He caved, and has ordered the DVDs. Ha!

Comments

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

pirates of the caribbean is *always* good for whatever ails! alec and i watched it again yesterday morning.

will turner is, of course, our favorite character - orlando bloom in this movie looks much like errol flynn to me.

as for the mumbling, did you read johnny depp's admission that he went to lunch a few times with keith richards, so that he could better copy richards' mannerisms for his own pirate's character. i almost wish i hadn't read it before i saw the movie; it made it hard to see anybody but the geriatric monkey cavorting and mumbling! someone mentioned recently that richards had been cast in the next one as sparrow's dad. i don't know if that's true.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Hm. No, I hadn't heard that. My only objection to the mumbling is that there are at least two points where, despite backtracking and replaying, I could not make out what he said.

I'm not sure I know what Keith Richards looks like. Mick Jagger, yes... Wait. Oh. Him. Yes. Can he actually act? (I mean, as anything other than his professional persona?)

geriatric monkey pirate

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

i think it is his real persona, actually. when listening to him talk, as i did once when he was being interviewed for some reason, i was struck by how impressively inarticulate he is. one can *almost* understand the words. it was so amazing that i continued to watch it. he's like an imminent train wreck; it's so awful, but you can't bear *not* to look! he sat in the interviewee's chair, twitching, mumbling, suddenly flailing about, and yet responding to the interviewer's cues...if you watch johnny depp's jack sparrow, it's all there.

[ase.livejournal.com]

I don't understand how anyone could dislike that movie

It's like anything else: YMMV. Johnny Depp isn't everyone's Dream Hunk (though you couldn't tell by the fan fiction), and neither is Orlando Bloom. There's also a number of issues with authenticity and anachronistic attitudes which might jolt some people out of their suspension of disbelief.

It's not a bad movie, but it's not my thing. Possibly because my concept of "fun summer flick" is way more serious than the rest of the world's, or because I'm not familiar with the disney ride.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Of course mileage varies; I was not being serious. (I note, however, that the concept of "dream hunk" doesn't exactly apply, in my case...)

I doubt that knowledge of the Disney ride (especially its current bowdlerized form) would make much difference.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Of course mileage varies; I was not being serious.

Ah. I jumped a bit fast; I'm sorry about that. The PotC love bypassed me, and it's baffling to be out of the loop when so many people found it really fun.

[rikkios.livejournal.com]

I think it's a great film. Johnny Depp is our favorite, but the kids like Orlando Bloom too. I've seen it 2 or 3 times in English and twice in German. The good (or bad, depends on point of view) about the German version, is that "mumbling" isn't easy to translate, so everything is understandable - assuming you understand German. BTW, Germans are very proud of their dub-over translations with correct lip syncing. I think it leads to some very "interesting" translations - savvy?