Four More Film Reviews

Here are a few more film reviews, originally published on Entertainment In Review.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 04, 2007 at 11:43 AM

Who would have thought that a series of films based on an amusement park attraction would have developed into such a lucrative franchise? In the 21st century, pirates are more popular than ever, and a lot of the credit for that must to go to the Pirates of the Caribbean films and the incredible performance of their star, Johnny Depp. In the 20th century, the romantic and stereotypical image of the pirate primarily came from three sources: the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, the play Peter Pan by James M. Barrie, and the Gilbert & Sullivan musical The Pirates of Penzance. Well, now I think it is safe to say that the Pirates of the Caribbean films can be added to that list. What modern day child will be able to hear the word pirate without conjuring up images of the eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow as portrayed by Depp? Now that the first trilogy of Pirate films is done, I am left to ponder, was it worth the wait?

The story

At the end of the last film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Captain Jack had been betrayed by the beautiful Elizabeth Swann and left chained to his ship, the Black Pearl as a gargantuan Kraken bore down on him. Not only that, but James Norrington had delivered the heart of squid faced Davy Jones to Lord Cutler Beckett, giving Beckett control of Davy Jones and his haunted ship, the Flying Dutchman. With the Dutchman and its enchanted crew of damned sailors at this command, it seemed as if Beckett could destroy the last vestiges of piracy on the seven seas. In the meanwhile, witch woman Tia Dulma has spirited Captain Barbossa back from the dead to help Will Turner and what was left of Captain Sparrow's crew find Jack, who was imprisoned in Davy Jones' Locker.

Confused? If you went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, but hadn't seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, you would be -- there is no re-cap at the beginning of the film to let the audience know what they missed. But then again, there were probably only half a dozen folks who missed the last film. And those people were raised by wolves and lived secluded lives separated from all popular culture.

As Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End begins, Captain Barbossa has led his ragtag crew to Singapore to meet Captain Sao Feng and obtain a ship from him. Barbossa wants to call a meeting of the Brethren Court of nine pirate lords, and to do this he needs to find Jack Sparrow, who is one of the nine. To find Sparrow, he needs a ship from Sao Feng, but since Sao Feng has a grudge against Captain Jack this will not be an easy task. The last time that the Brethren Court was held, the pirates managed to trap Calypso, goddess of the sea, in human form, and for reasons of his own, Barbossa wants to free her. For her part, Elizabeth is racked with guilt for betraying Jack in the first place. Will Turner, who last saw his true love Elizabeth kissing the roguish Sparrow, is confused about her true motivations, and also wants to find a way to free his father, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner from his servitude on Davy Jones crew. Are you still with me?

If you feel lost, you are not alone. Trying to write a simple synopsis of this film is like trying to untangle the Gordian Knot. Suffice it to say that Captain Jack is rescued in short order. What kind of Pirates of the Caribbean film would it be without Captain Jack? Every character in this movie has their own secret agenda, and every character has made side deals with other characters to accomplish their own ends. There is so much double-dealing, double crossing and four-flushing going on that it is easy to get lost -- and frankly, I got lost several times.

This script is an overly-complicated mess. Sure, there are some amazing action set pieces and some wonderful character moments and interactions, but the story itself is so muddled and confused that it just becomes a headache to try and follow.

The cast

The cast of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is top notch. Leading the ensemble is Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, perhaps the most endearing and memorable character of his career -- and that is saying something, considering Depp's vast and impressive resume. The wobbling, effete and seemingly mad Sparrow steals every scene he's in and makes the other actors have to work twice as hard to keep up. This is a cinematic creation on par with Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones or Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, and Depp should be acknowledged for his impressive work, even if Captain Jack doesn't appear in the strongest film this time around.

One actor who can keep up with Depp is Geoffrey Rush, whose character Captain Barbossa is a scene-stealer in his own right. He plays Barbossa almost as a tarnished gentleman -- an exciting character choice. It's an awful lot of fun to see Rush and Depp share the screen together again -- two great actors at the top of their game. Barbossa may not be as showy as Sparrow, but he is no less interesting.

Keira Knightley gets to do a lot of swashbuckling in this film, and she is quite good at it. Although there were moments where I found her character Elizabeth Swann a little shrill, for the most part I enjoyed her work in this one. Poor Orlando Bloom's character Will Turner spends most of the film brooding and just doesn't measure up the other performers around him. It's not that his performance is bad. It's just that the actors in the film are so much better, he can't help but to seem lacking.

Bill Nighy gives a wonderful performance behind computer-generated effects as Davy Jones, a character who looks like he came out of H.P. Lovecraft's imagination. I would say this is one of the more successful computer generated character's I've seen. Perhaps because they didn't animate Nighy's eyes, so we can see him express a full rage of emotions. The great Chow Yun-Fat does a nice turn as Captain Sao Feng, one of the nine pirate lords. And there is a fun cameo by Keith Richards as Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow's father. It's a nice bit of stunt casting, as it is common knowledge that Depp based Jack Sparrow's wobbling gait on Richards' own walk.

Overall the performances in this film are great. It's too bad these interesting characters weren't given a better script to work with.

Production quality

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End does an amazing job of blending live action with computer-generated effects. More of the action takes place at sea, correcting a mistake from the last film where the pirates spent way too much time on dry land. The monstrous crew of the Flying Dutchman are especially well rendered as twisted fusions of fish and man.

The original music by Hans Zimmer is rousing and memorable. Gore Verbinski is an able director who does a find job mixing the fantasy elements of the story with the gritty feel of life at sea. The fight sequences are well done and original. Production-wise, I have nothing to complain about.

Overall

This film is a feast of great sights and sounds lost in a hopelessly confusing script. Although it is a lot of fun to watch these eccentric characters interact with each other, they get lost in a terribly convoluted story. Some judicious editing and a tighter script would have improved this film greatly. Fans of the first two films should definitely check it out, but don't expect it to be as charming as the first one.

Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Script quality: 5/10
Acting quality: 8/10
Production quality: 9/10
Format and length: Action/Adventure, 168 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Stellan Skarsgard, Naomie Harris, Chow Yun-Fat, and Keith Richards
Director: Gore Verbinski
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and a freelance writer. He once played a pirate for an event at the Turning Stone Casino, but people were too busy gambling to enjoy his piratey antics.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

Bug (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 07, 2007 at 12:38 PM

The idea of bugs are revolting to most people. There is just something so alien about them. Perhaps it's the way they can hold completely still like a statue and then suddenly skitter toward you at inhuman speeds. I think that everybody has some kind of bug that they fear. In the brief times I lived in Brooklyn and Orlando I developed an abhorrence for cockroaches. When I went to see Bug at the Crossgates Mall last week, I expected it to be a horror movie about an infestation of insects. I was wrong -- it's not a movie about bugs themselves, so much as it's about the idea of bugs. Or, to put it more properly, bugs as a metaphor for paranoia.

The story

Ashley Judd plays a doleful waitress named Agnes, who works at a honky tonk in Oklahoma. She lives alone in a dilapidated motel room, where she has been receiving a number of prank phone calls. She suspects her dangerous ex-husband, Goss, who has just been released from prison. One night her best friend and fellow waitress, R.C., convinces the lonely Agnes to take a stranger home after work. A man with haunted eyes named Peter. At first Peter seems harmless enough, so Agnes invites him to spend the night. She fears her ex-husband and thinks that having Peter around will grant her some measure of security. Gradually, it becomes apparent that Peter is anything but harmless. He is a gulf war veteran who claims that he was the victim of a number of experiments. Worse still, he sees bugs everywhere, and it turns out that Peter's paranoia is infectious.

This is a very tight script by actor and playwright Tracy Letts based on his play of the same name. Perhaps because of that, Bug almost feels more like a play than a movie. The vast majority of the story takes place in the cramped motel room, which progressively feels more claustrophobic and creepy as the film progresses. As the room gets messier and more disorganized, the sanity of the characters inhabiting it also degenerates.

This is the story of a descent into madness, and it is not pretty. It is not glamorized or sanitized the way Hollywood films often treat mental illness and often it is not easy to watch. When this movie was over, I was in shock. I literally had to walk around the mall for a half hour to decompress before I could get into my car and head home. This picture is an effective physiological thriller, but perhaps it is too effective. I think that the experience of seeing this film might just be too intense for most moviegoers. This isn't the fun thrill ride one might get from a good zombie picture; it is a really harrowing experience.

If there were a weakness in the script, it would be that it is unclear how much time passes during the course of the story; Agnes' deterioration seems to happen a little too quickly. Otherwise the script is quite believable.

The cast

One reason this film is so effective is the daring and raw performances of Ashley Judd as Agnes and Michael Shannon as Peter. Ashley Judd's Agnes begins the movie as a broken woman haunted by the mistakes of her past, and her downward spiral is heartbreaking to behold. Michael Shannon's Peter is more of a tragic figure than a menacing one; his is a self-destructive character whose rampant paranoia keeps him from getting the help he so desperately needs. The relationship between Agnes and Peter is like a Greek tragedy, as the two characters' personalities combine in such a way that they bring out the worst in each other. Watching their descent is like driving past a bloody auto accident. You want to look away, but you can't. These are Oscar-caliber performances, but I doubt they will be acknowledged -- horror films rarely get their due.

Bug has a very small cast, which contributes to the feeling that this is a play and not a film. The supporting players are all excellent. Harry Connick Jr. is wonderful as Goss, Agnes' ex-con ex-husband. He walks around like a coiled spring, creating real tension every time he's on screen. One never knows when he will explode into violence. Lynn Collins is also quite good as R.C., Agnes' best friend who tries to help her, but is far too late. And Brian F. O'Byrne does a creepy turn as Dr. Sweet, who claims he wants to "help" Peter but seems to have a more sinister agenda.

Production quality

Bug was directed by William Friedkin, who also directed The Exorcist, one of my favorite horror pictures. Friedkin always seems to get intense and realistic performances out of his casts, and this movie is no exception. This is a low budget picture, but Friedkin manages to do a lot with a little. Most of the film consists of two people alone in a motel room talking, but he manages to make it riveting.

The pacing of the film is very good and the the story moves along at a nice clip. In a summer of bloated over-long movies, this was very refreshing.

Overall

Ultimately I enjoyed Bug on a purely artistic level, but I would not recommend it to general audiences as it is far too intense. But if you are feeling brave, and want to see some top notch acting, then you might want to give it a try.

Title: Bug
Script quality: 8/10
Acting quality: 10/10
Production quality: 7/10
Format and length: Horror/thriller, 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R
Cast: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins, Brian F. O'Byrne, and Harry Connick Jr.
Director: William Friedkin
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor. Occasionally he plays the part of a freelance writer. John would like to see a film about a haunted veteran who is paranoid about fluffy bunnies.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 13, 2007 at 11:37 AM

To me, Las Vegas has always been about appearance. It has a glitzy facade designed to distract visitors away from its seedy underbelly. Perhaps because of this aura of misdirection, Vegas has always been a great city to stage stories about heists. Now while I don't particularly like Las Vegas, I enjoy films that take place in the city. It's part of the weird dichotomy of the place. The latest heist movie to take advantage of Las Vegas is the Steven Soderbergh-directed Ocean's Thirteen. I liked Ocean's Eleven, the 2001 re-make of the 1960 film of the same name starring the Rat Pack. I wasn't crazy about the 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve, though. Ocean's Thirteen falls somewhere in the middle. While I thought It was better than Ocean's Twelve, it was not as good as Ocean's Eleven.

The story

As Ocean's Thirteen begins, Ruben Tishkoff (Eliott Gould) is swindled out of a real estate deal by oily billionaire Willie Bank (Al Pacino). Ruben is so upset by this that he has a heart attack. But Bank doesn't realize that when you screw with one of Danny Ocean's gang, you screw with them all. So Danny (George Clooney) rounds up the old gang, including Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), to pull a job that will totally ruin the grand opening of Bank's new casino. They intend to fix all the games at once so Willie will lose his shirt at his gala opening. Of course, there are the usual twists and turns that one expects in a heist film of this kind, including the necessity of pulling in Danny's old adversary, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) into the plot to help.

As with all the Soderbergh-directed Ocean films, the details of the heist come second to the personalities of the characters. Unfortunately, because there are so many people in this film, we never get that deep beyond the surface "coolness" of the characters. Sure, there are one or two personality quirks which are amusing, but none of these people get particularly well fleshed out.

The story moves along at a quick pace and there is some fine dialog, but I found myself getting bored and wishing something really interesting and surprising would happen. It never did. Perhaps I've seen too many of these heist pictures and become somewhat jaded, but there were no real surprises for me in this movie. You can only watch cool people being cool for so long before you start to get antsy. Not that the story was flat out bad. It was diverting in moments, but there was nothing really memorable. If someone asked me to recall story elements of Ocean's Thirteen in a month, I doubt that there would be much that I would remember.

The cast

This movie is really more about its famous cast than it is about the story. And this is an incredibly talented cast. The main three protagonists in the film, played by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, are all terrific performers with tons of charisma. However, I've seen them all do better work in other films. It was obvious that this cast really enjoys working together, but I couldn't shake the feeling that they were making this movie more so that they could hang around together off camera, than for any other reason.

There were tons of talented supporting actors who didn't get that much screen time because the story had to service so many elements. So the characters played by Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Eddie Izzard, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, Eliott Gould and others were really just glorified cameos.

Al Pachino was appropriately arrogant as Willie Bank, but ultimately a two-dimensional bad guy. The best new performance in this film came from Ellen Barkin as Bank's uptight, right-hand woman. But, as with the rest of the film, they never delved that deeply into her motivations.

Putting together a cast of incredibly charismatic actors is all well and good, but because that was all this movie really had going for it, I was left wanting for more.

The production

Steven Soderbergh is a really fine director and there was nothing about this production to complain about. Nothing to really sing about either. Everything about Ocean's Thirteen felt like they were just going through the motions. It was a slick, good-looking film, but nothing sticks out in my memory as being particularly fantastic.

Overall

Ocean's Thirteen was very much like Las Vegas itself. A shiny exterior that, while was pretty to look at, ultimately left me feeling empty and used.

Title: Ocean's Thirteen
Script quality: 5/10
Acting quality: 6/10
Production quality: 6/10
Format and length: Comedy/Crime Drama, 122 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13
Cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Ellen Barkin, Eliott Gould, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Shaobo Qin, Eddie Izzard
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and freelance writer. While John is not a gambling man by nature, he would bet good money that if they ever make another "Oceans" film, he will not be there to see it.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

Knocked Up (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 25, 2007 at 03:38 PM

Looking over my last several reviews it occurred to me that I've been writing a lot about horror, action and comic book related films. It's time for a change of pace. To that end I've decided to review a romantic comedy. This is the type of movie I usually wouldn't go to see unless I were on a date. To me, going to see a romantic comedy is like ordering a pizza. You know what you're going to get even before you place the order. You know there'll be sauce and cheese and crust, and yet the quality of the pizza varies wildly depending on where you order it. Some pizzas are fantastic and some are pretty lousy. I am happy to report that Knocked Up, the new romantic comedy written and directed by Judd Apatow, was pretty darn great.

The story

This movie is about two people who are completely and totally mismatched. Alison Scott is a correspondent for E! television. She has just been promoted to an on-air position, and she is on the fast track to success. Ben Stone is a jobless slacker -- a pot-head who lives with a posse of stoners and dabbles in Internet porn. Alison is beautiful, blonde, and statuesque. She could be a supermodel. Ben is short and doughy. His prospects are bleak. He lives life one day at a time and never makes plans. While Alison is refined, Ben is crude. Where Alison is uptight, Ben is relaxed. The only thing they really do have in common is the fact that neither of them is ready to start a family.

One fateful night when Alison goes out to celebrate her promotion, she meets Ben at a bar and they end up having a drunken hook-up. Eight weeks later Alison learns that she is pregnant with Ben's child. Ben may be a loser, but he has a good heart, and agrees to support Alison in any way that she needs him, even though he has no clue as to how to proceed.

The rest of the film tracks the nine-month pregnancy and the journey of two people who really don't know each other at all who are trying their best to make a bad situation work, even though by all rights they should never be together.

This is such a simple idea, but it is executed very well and mined for every drop of comedy that it has. Though the humor is pretty crude, it is grounded in reality and often hilarious. And even though many of the laughs are raunchy, there is a lot of heart to this story. It reminded me a little bit of a Kevin Smith film, because he is also very good at mixing rude humor with pathos, but whereas Kevin Smith's dialogue is very stylized, the script here by Judd Apatow is much more natural and real.

The cast

Many viewers will recognize Katherine Heigl, who plays Alison, from the television show, "Grey's Anatomy." While I confess that I'm not a big fan of "Grey's Anatomy," I thought that Heigl was terrific in this role. She played the hormonal ups and downs of a pregnant woman, as well as the genuine fear for her future, with grace and aplomb. Likewise, Seth Rogen was excellent as Ben, the clueless slacker with a good heart. Through the film, both characters have to evolve and change in order to make their ill-conceived relationship work, and their journeys are engaging and entertaining.

Another thing that is wonderful about Knocked Up is the great number of standout supporting performances. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are very funny as Debbie and Pete, Alison's sister and brother-in-law. Years earlier, Pete had married Debbie because she was pregnant, and through them Alison and Ben see a window into their own possible future. Also hilarious are Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and Martin Starr as Ben's gang of hapless friends. They supply some of the best lines and funniest moments in the film as they try to be supportive of Ben in their own, unique, clueless manners.

The production

Judd Apatow wrote and directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005, and uses a lot of the same actors for this film. Apatow was also a writer on the short-lived but critically acclaimed television series, "Freaks and Geeks," which I liked a lot. He has proven himself to be an able director with an ear for dialogue and a deft touch at getting strong comedic performances out of his cast.

Overall

There are no real surprises in this film, but it still works on a lot of levels. It's a good date film because it can be appreciated for both the raunchy humor and the sweetness of the relationship that develops between two likable characters.

Title: Knocked Up
Script quality: 8/10
Acting quality: 8/10
Production quality: 7/10
Format and length: Romantic Comedy, 129 minutes
MPAA rating: R
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Johah Hill, Martin Starr, Joanna Kerns, Harold Ramis
Director: Judd Apatow
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is an actor and freelance writer. He has never had a first date go as wrong as Ben and Alison's did.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.