Archive for May, 2007

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Published
by
Austen
on May 31, 2007
in Movies and Reviews
. 2 Comments

Okay. I’m going to try and be as truthful as possible with this review, and not let any reviews that I’ve read or things that I’ve heard persuade me in my opinion of this movie. Which is hard because on one side I have Rotten Tomatoes telling me it’s a “glazed, inhuman, cluttered piece of work” and then kids at school telling met that the end fight scene was “So awesome!!! That whirlpool was amazing!” Now, I try to mix both of these sides into my review fairly…

After the somewhat dissappointing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 I wasn’t originally planning to see the 3rd film in theaters. But the magic of advertising got me excited about it and, well, I saw it last Monday.

“Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End” is really not a good name for the movie. Sure, they go to the end of the world. But a more aptly named title would be “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, in Singapore, in Antartica, and of course the Caribbean.” The movie is all over the place. They’re in Singapore, then snap they’re on the largest waterfall you’ve ever seen, then snap they’re back in the Caribbean. Much like the second movie, the storyline is confusing because the characters seem to suddenly be on the other side of the world whenever they need to be.

I’m not going to explain any of the storyline, because there’s just too much. And you probably know most of it. But anyway, Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer tried to mix in waay to many stories into this movie. Having so many stories and substories is confusing and just drags the movie on longer.

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News for May 30, 2007

Published
by
Austen
on May 30, 2007
in News
. 1 Comment

Sorry it’s been so long since the last one… Anyway this is both news and other stuff.

Photoshop gallery

Published
by
Austen
on May 29, 2007
in Photos
. 1 Comment

I’ve been working on a bunch of different photoshop pictures recently, both at school and at home so I thought that I’d just take this post to showcase some of my best photoshopped pictures. Note that only the picture with Warren and the train picture’s originals were taken by me.

At left is the Empire State Building - only much, much taller. I extended the building up really high (and also the image this one is twice as high as the original). And yes, that’s King Kong flinging around an airplane on top (tell me that doesn’t look awesome.) I did a couple more pictures like this, which you can see after the jump.

Next is an image that I really wanted for people to just say “Wow” to. Below is the original:

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Pirates!

Published
by
Austen
on May 28, 2007
in Movies
. 0 Comments

Why is this movie series so popular? One word:

Pirates.

Everyone loves pirates. I mean, who doesn’t. I mean - they’re pirates! Don’t you just get giddy when you hear that word? Pirates, stealing treasure, and riding the seas in ships. Wearing eye patches, etc.

Of course, the whole killing, robbing, and burning down villages thing is usually left out of the Playskool toys, but who cares? It’s pirates! That’s why everyone loved the first one: It was a pirates movie with the special effects available to recreate the world of pirates. Awesome!

Unfortunately, the last 2 movies have been just a bit too much. Too many plots and too many special effects. But still, these movies are so fun to watch! I mean, it’s pirates we’re talking about. Mixed with the hilarious Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, sword fights, huge sea monsters, Davy Jones and buried treasure the Pirates of the Caribbean movie have always managed to give me a fun time. I’m seeing the 3rd one today, not as a “work of art” but as a popcorn flick.

I mean, come one - it’s pirates!

The Trip Upstate 2007

Published
by
Austen
on May 27, 2007
in Life and Photos
. 0 Comments

We just got back from our trip upstate to see Elo, Andrew, Vance, and Lulu. I’ve edited down over 100 pictures to less than 40. You can see all of the photos here. Among the activites documented are biking, hiking, and fixing flat tires.

I seriously have never had allergies before, but this weekend they hit me like crazy. That’s why I look like a zombie in this picture, I was about to sneeze.

Going Upstate

Published
by
Austen
on May 26, 2007
in Life
. 0 Comments

We’re going upstate to Elo and Andrew’s this weekend! (Only Saturday and Sunday.)

Yay! I’ll try to do a post tommorow (Sunday) and then on Monday I’m planning to see Pirates 3. Anyway… gotta go now we’re literally leaving right now.

Check out some photos from previous trips here and here.

Lost Season Finale

Published
by
Austen
on May 25, 2007
in Television
. 0 Comments

SPOILERS FOLLOW

Oh. My. God.

They killed Charlie. They actually KILLED CHARLIE!!! They went into the future. Thery actually WENT INTO THE FUTURE!!!!!!!

Did you know that 15 people died this episode? (There were the 10 Others who went to the camp - all killed. Then there was Charlie, the two women in the under water hatch, Mikhali (he couldn’t of survived that mortar blast), and finally Naomi. So, they killed 4 major characters!!!

Anyway, aside from the people that died: THE FLASH FORWARD. I had an inkling when I saw Jack’s phone. It’s the Motorola KRZR, and that wasn’t out before 2004. (Yes, I’m a geek.) Actually, I might have caught a whiff of the word “flash-forward” on TV Squad and on the comments on this blog. (Don’t worry Uncle Bob, it would’ve happened anyway) But I didn’t put 2 and 2 together until we saw Kate.

Who’s funeral was it? I’d like to think that it was Ben’s, but who knows?

THEY KILLED CHARLIE!!! I thought they would get Desmond to trade with Charlie and he would die instead. The scene when we see Penelope on the screen is awesome, and I really hope that she comes to the island sometime next season. And now I wonder, is Mikali REALLY dead this time? He wasn’t the last two times. I swear that he’s my dad’s evil twin brother or something, though - they both have the exact same chin. But he really creeped me out (Mikhali, not my dad.)

Oh, and Naomi is now dead, Locke is alive, Walt is back (and he’s like 20 years old) and Mr. Friendly/Zeke/Tom is dead. Too bad, I liked Tom. Anyway, this episode has re-instated my trust in the show. The season started off horrible, but by the end it became Lost’s best season yet. I haven’t even said half the things that I’ve wanted to say, and this post is really a mess, but here’s an interesting interview with Lost writer Damon Lindelof.

Favorite moments:

  • “Alex, meet your mother”… “Can you help me tie him up?”
  • Hurley comes in with the van!
  • Charlie sings “You All Everybody” to try and cover up Desmond coming into the hatch
  • Sayid breaks the Other’s neck. With his FEET. The look of surprise on everyone’s faces was priceless.

Bad sequels make me mad

Published
by
Austen
on May 24, 2007
in Movies
. 0 Comments

Bad sequels make me mad, and so far this summer is litered with them. Spider-Man 3 could have been a wonderful ending to trilogy, taking it’s place next to it’s previous two films as perhaps the best superhero movies ever. But no, it didn’t. 61% on RT.

Shrek 3 was preceded by two great movies, but no: 42% on RT. And now, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: preceded by a great movie and a mediocre one: 54% on RT, giving it the same score as Pirates 2. So basically, it’s just as good as the last one.

It should be noted that I haven’t seen any of these movies (yet) but from Rotten Tomatoes and other reviews that I’ve read, all 3 of these 3rd installments appear to not live up to their predecesors. But they do good in the box office, so now Spidey 4 is probably going to happen, Shrek 4 is already in production, and Pirates spinoffs are being hinted at. And how often in a movie series has there been a bad one, and then a good one. Like, almost never. One one of the movies isn’t good, the rest of the series is usually ruined.I like sequels - as long as they’re good. Spider-Man 2, Shrek 2, Empire Strikes Back, Harry Potter 2, The Lost World - those are all good sequels, and they make me happy. But that doesn’t happen too often.

So bad sequels make me mad. They take a great movie, and try to do it again, or do it better, or just make money, and it doesn’t work and they completely ruin the other movie because it will be forever associatted with the sequel.

How many of you think that Rush Hour 3 is going to be any good? I can almost guarantee it’s going to be horrible. WHY CAN’T HOLLYWOOD JUST MAKE GOOD SEQUELS, OR NOT MAKE ANY SEQUELS AT ALL????? Because all they care about is the money, basically. But that’s not right.