Balidorf
Joined Jan 2003
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Balidorf's rating
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a film that was made to be seen in a theater. Big sound big images, big action, and larger than life characters.
This film picks up where Dead Man's Chest left off, with the Crew of the Black Pearl looking to find Captain Jack Sparrow(Depp), and return him to the land of the living, from Davey Jones Locker. The story is convoluted, and a bit confusing. Some of the performances are wooden (Bloom), but this film is much more than just the sum of its parts. It features some of the most stunning visual effects I have ever seen. It blends comedy with action, and it succeeds in bringing to a close the events of all three films.
This movie is purely about entertainment, outside of perhaps costume and effects, it is not going to be a "darling of the Academy". Outside of Depp and Rush, few of the performances are that memorable, but the overall effectiveness of this movie lies in its ability to keep you transfixed on the screen even when you are not entirely sure what is going on. The film makers drew the story to a conclusion that left me satisfied despite the fact that it was not the ending I had hopped for, or expected, perhaps this added to the film for me in the end, as it is always nice to be surprised.
This film picks up where Dead Man's Chest left off, with the Crew of the Black Pearl looking to find Captain Jack Sparrow(Depp), and return him to the land of the living, from Davey Jones Locker. The story is convoluted, and a bit confusing. Some of the performances are wooden (Bloom), but this film is much more than just the sum of its parts. It features some of the most stunning visual effects I have ever seen. It blends comedy with action, and it succeeds in bringing to a close the events of all three films.
This movie is purely about entertainment, outside of perhaps costume and effects, it is not going to be a "darling of the Academy". Outside of Depp and Rush, few of the performances are that memorable, but the overall effectiveness of this movie lies in its ability to keep you transfixed on the screen even when you are not entirely sure what is going on. The film makers drew the story to a conclusion that left me satisfied despite the fact that it was not the ending I had hopped for, or expected, perhaps this added to the film for me in the end, as it is always nice to be surprised.
The Romantic angle of Spiderman throughout its existence in comics, TV and Film has been an intricate part of its story lines. However it is a secondary part. In the third installment of the franchise Raimi fails to live up to the expectations set by his previous 2 forays into the Marvel Universe of Spiderman. In this third installment he spends too much time focusing on the romantic trials and tribulations of Peter and MJ, and too little time developing meaningful characters or entertaining story lines.
In Spiderman he broke new ground, and set the franchise up to be the go-to summer blockbuster for fans of both the super hero and action genre. In Spiderman 2 he raised the bar, combining incredible action with story lines that were sure to please discerning film aficionados, and comic book fans alike. Balancing perfectly The Romantic story lines, with the dramatic ones, and interweaving them brilliantly with the action sequences that we expected.
In the third installment perhaps he became a victim of the success of the first two. In this film he tries to do too much, too many characters, too many villains, getting too little screen time, and far too much teenage "romantic angst" combined with far too little Spiderman for a film bearing the title Spiderman. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, far too many song and dance numbers for a film not titled Chicago!
In addition, in a move that, much like the first 2 films, I am certain was spurred by the egos of the films stars, Spiderman takes every chance he gets to remove his mask, or at least half of it. How everyone in New York does not know that Peter Parker is Spiderman I do not know. (I guess if they can not figure out that Clarke Kent is Superman it is feasible that they would not figure this out either). Two weeks ago I would have said that Tobey Maguire was Spiderman, and losing him would hurt the franchise, however after this installment, losing all of the big three (calling Dunst one of the big three gives me a bit of a pain, but...) would probably not hurt my feelings at all.
Of course as with most films, not everything is bad, even though there is not nearly enough Spiderman for my liking, the action sequences that this film does contain are spectacular, if somewhat disconnected from the film, and if the film were under 100 min the amount of action in this "action film" would probably have been adequate, however for a film with a running time pushing two and a half hours Spiderman 3 was seriously lacking in action for stretches that seemed to drag on for an eternity while we suffer through the twist scene.
The Good News is, this movie will make a fortune, so this very bad installment will not sink the Franchise, however the bad news is, this movie will make a fortune, and therefore the mistakes that were made may go unnoticed by the film maker.
In Spiderman he broke new ground, and set the franchise up to be the go-to summer blockbuster for fans of both the super hero and action genre. In Spiderman 2 he raised the bar, combining incredible action with story lines that were sure to please discerning film aficionados, and comic book fans alike. Balancing perfectly The Romantic story lines, with the dramatic ones, and interweaving them brilliantly with the action sequences that we expected.
In the third installment perhaps he became a victim of the success of the first two. In this film he tries to do too much, too many characters, too many villains, getting too little screen time, and far too much teenage "romantic angst" combined with far too little Spiderman for a film bearing the title Spiderman. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, far too many song and dance numbers for a film not titled Chicago!
In addition, in a move that, much like the first 2 films, I am certain was spurred by the egos of the films stars, Spiderman takes every chance he gets to remove his mask, or at least half of it. How everyone in New York does not know that Peter Parker is Spiderman I do not know. (I guess if they can not figure out that Clarke Kent is Superman it is feasible that they would not figure this out either). Two weeks ago I would have said that Tobey Maguire was Spiderman, and losing him would hurt the franchise, however after this installment, losing all of the big three (calling Dunst one of the big three gives me a bit of a pain, but...) would probably not hurt my feelings at all.
Of course as with most films, not everything is bad, even though there is not nearly enough Spiderman for my liking, the action sequences that this film does contain are spectacular, if somewhat disconnected from the film, and if the film were under 100 min the amount of action in this "action film" would probably have been adequate, however for a film with a running time pushing two and a half hours Spiderman 3 was seriously lacking in action for stretches that seemed to drag on for an eternity while we suffer through the twist scene.
The Good News is, this movie will make a fortune, so this very bad installment will not sink the Franchise, however the bad news is, this movie will make a fortune, and therefore the mistakes that were made may go unnoticed by the film maker.
The Departed
The screenplay: Top Notch
The performances: all-star cast delivering all-star performances
The music: perfect
The Directing: Martin Scorsese at his finest and that is saying something.
Once again Scorsese delivers a film that meets or exceeds the expectations of its audience in nearly every way. There are moments of incredible tension, violence, and drama, moments where characters reveal their vulnerabilities and weakness. Comedic moments and moments of sadness and through it all a multi layered and brilliant story is told by an American film maker who once again proves Harvey Keitel correct when he said, "Maybe he (Scorsese) got what he deserves--exclusion from the mediocre."
This film is Scorsese's finest work since Raging Bull, but it is not simply about Martin Scorsese or the amazing screen play by William Monahan, it is more than an amazing score, and great cinematography. While many of the accolades for this film belong to those behind the scenes people who envisioned and directed this film. One would be remiss to not point out the great performances of an all-star cast, many of whom deliver the finest performances of long and storied careers. Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon deliver incredible performances.
However the performance that stood out for me was Wahlberg, Mark Wahlberg's Sgt. Dignam stole every scene he was in, and he shared screen time with each of the afore mentioned actors. He gets to deliver some of the best lines, and with every scene he leaves the audience wanting more, and anticipating his next scene.
Since The Academy has had its collective heads stuck for so long, mentioning a Scorsese picture and Oscar in the same sentence seems to be a waste of time. That being said I can not say if he will finally win the Oscar that he has deserved for so long, as his major competition (Flags of our Fathers) has yet to be released, I will say that I expect to see Wahlberg nominated for best supporting, and Leo and Damon will be pitted against one another once more, this time for best actor, Monahan will be nominated for writing, and of course Scorsese will be nominated for director. Also, it goes without saying a best picture nomination will be in order for The Departed.
That was the long version; the short version is if you like a movie with incredible performances, direction, music and visuals. If you like a layered story that is not formulaic, in short if you appreciate film making and story telling at its finest then see this film. Even with the glowing reviews of myself and others, and the high expectations they will undoubtedly bring I assure you that you will not be disappointed.
The screenplay: Top Notch
The performances: all-star cast delivering all-star performances
The music: perfect
The Directing: Martin Scorsese at his finest and that is saying something.
Once again Scorsese delivers a film that meets or exceeds the expectations of its audience in nearly every way. There are moments of incredible tension, violence, and drama, moments where characters reveal their vulnerabilities and weakness. Comedic moments and moments of sadness and through it all a multi layered and brilliant story is told by an American film maker who once again proves Harvey Keitel correct when he said, "Maybe he (Scorsese) got what he deserves--exclusion from the mediocre."
This film is Scorsese's finest work since Raging Bull, but it is not simply about Martin Scorsese or the amazing screen play by William Monahan, it is more than an amazing score, and great cinematography. While many of the accolades for this film belong to those behind the scenes people who envisioned and directed this film. One would be remiss to not point out the great performances of an all-star cast, many of whom deliver the finest performances of long and storied careers. Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon deliver incredible performances.
However the performance that stood out for me was Wahlberg, Mark Wahlberg's Sgt. Dignam stole every scene he was in, and he shared screen time with each of the afore mentioned actors. He gets to deliver some of the best lines, and with every scene he leaves the audience wanting more, and anticipating his next scene.
Since The Academy has had its collective heads stuck for so long, mentioning a Scorsese picture and Oscar in the same sentence seems to be a waste of time. That being said I can not say if he will finally win the Oscar that he has deserved for so long, as his major competition (Flags of our Fathers) has yet to be released, I will say that I expect to see Wahlberg nominated for best supporting, and Leo and Damon will be pitted against one another once more, this time for best actor, Monahan will be nominated for writing, and of course Scorsese will be nominated for director. Also, it goes without saying a best picture nomination will be in order for The Departed.
That was the long version; the short version is if you like a movie with incredible performances, direction, music and visuals. If you like a layered story that is not formulaic, in short if you appreciate film making and story telling at its finest then see this film. Even with the glowing reviews of myself and others, and the high expectations they will undoubtedly bring I assure you that you will not be disappointed.