Weekend Fluff

Pirates of the Caribbean
Okay, I don't usually go out to movies cuz it gets to be too expensive when you pay for three all the time. We usually go to movies that require less thinking so my stepson can understand it without running commentary from me--he's still learning English. So most movies have been limited to things such as Finding Nemo, X-Men, Spiderman, Shrek, etc. Of course, I wanted to see these movies as well.... Anyway, yesterday we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not much on raving; most movies to me are just "okay." This is what happens when you teach a film class....

But this was a really fun movie, and it was mostly because of Johnny Depp. He can really act, he is so off the wall, and he just screams attention without screaming. I would love to learn his technique, but I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the way he looks and there's no way Onigiriman can change his, well, onigiri shape and texture...

A number of critics have panned Pirates, but I don't see why. It was just plain fun. It didn't convey the cynicism of the patriotic American as in Casablanca, or of the modern American in Americna Beauty. It didn't reflect the postmodern thought of Tampopo, and it wasn't emotionally draining like Pay It Forward. It didn't have the scale of a Titanic, the CG wizardry of AI, or the bleached-out cool of Minority Report. But it was fun to watch. I laughed out loud a couple of times, but mostly I giggled--I know, sounds stupid--my way through the film, and mostly at the character of Capt. Jack Sparrow. Depp is kinda mesmerizing... not that I'm gay or anything; he simply demands attention, he was like that in Sleepy Hollow and Scissorhands, too. Now I gotta rent To Hell.

4.5 stars on my movielens scale.

Speaking of which, if any of you have even more time than me to waste, check out movielens. I think it started out as somebodies research at the University of Minnesota or something. You rate your movies 1 to 5 stars and it stores the information in a database. After a number of movies, it will predict the number of stars for movies you have yet to see. Obviously, the more you input, the more accurate it becomes, and it is pretty accurate for me. But then, I've rated 826 films so far--In case you're wondering, I have been rating films over a two and a half year period. I haven't seen 826 in 2 1/2 years; they've slowly added old films and I rate the ones I've seen before as they become available.

Later (much later tonight)... My All-time Top 10 Movies
Gotta go grocery shopping... and cook... tonight grilled sea bass... with Tofu pomodoro