Tag Archives: Orlando Bloom

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – The World Premiere and The Midnight Showing

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Pictures. So last Saturday I went to Disneyland at 6 in the morning. Why? Not to sit and wait all day to see celebrities – to take advantage of an empty Disneyland at 6:30 in the morning. I got several great shots of New Orleans completely empty and had an entire Splash Mountain log to myself (probably the only time I’ve ever walked onto that attraction and had the offer of staying on for a 2nd ride). After that I went to Swing Team Rehearsal with the intention of joining some friends later that day in Disneyland for the Red Carpet walk-by’s. But not before going into Jamba Juice and watching Orlando Bloom walk through Downtown Disney incognitos with a little girl (not his daughter…maybe his niece? No idea).
I came back around 5 pm and I’m on the hub right across from Tomorrowland. Unfortunately, by the time the celebrities get to us, most of them were hurrying past because Main Street was a real chore (as can be seen from this excellent review on MiceAge.com by Sue Kruse, or at Mouseplanet…or at Visions Fantastic).

In the category of rushed past waving
Geoffrey Rush w/ Monkey Jack and trainer
Kevin McNally – Joshamee Gibbs
Johnny Depp
Orlando Bloom
John Voight
Jonathon Pryce – Governor Weatherby Swan
Arnold Schwarzenegger – not on red carpet – walked out of Tomorrowland and across the carpet
Bill Nighy
Keith Richards
David Baillie – Cotton

In the category of walked by waving or sacrificed even more time to sign even more autographs
Lee Arenberg – Pintel (not the wooden eye guy, the other one)
Gore Verbinski
Martin Landau
Chow Yun Fat
Terry Rosio (he threw me 2 hacky sacks!)
Joey Fatone
Christy Carlson Romano
Wilmer Valderrama (aside from Johnny and Orlando, he was the biggest thing on the red carpet…I think it was because he kept signing autographs…half an hour after he passed, he was still working the crowd on the other side of the hub…people would be screaming and you could say, “Oh it’s just Wilmer”)

So after Johnny walked slowly past, I hurried over the DCA for swing dancing and that was my Saturday.

Last night I went to the midnight showing at Big Newport. I got there around 5 to stake my place in line (I was roughly the 5th group in line) but had to leave at 8 for rehearsal…saved my place with an umbrella…and by letting the people around me know. Got back around 11:15 and the line had not only grown length wise, but breadth wise. The best way to describe it like this: every person in line was already saving a place for 10 people, but each of those 10 people showed up with 10 friends. It was ridiculously crowded. And when they opened the doors to the theatre, the line just disappeared in the mad rush for the door. It was ridiculous. Then when we got into the theatre, there were people throwing tortillas…disgusting. Someone dressed up as Jack Sparrow made an announcement about checking under your seat for a medallion for a prize. I didn’t get anything, he didn’t project very well, but it was a very nice costume.

Finally the movie started. I was actually a little disappointed in this midnight crowd. They were rowdier during the trailers than they were during the movie (Transformers, Christian Bale and Steve Zahn as Vietnam POW’s, Live Free or Die Hard, Evan Almighty). But maybe that can happen with a less complex movie like Spiderman 3 and not with Pirates. The movie was absolutely phenomenal. Everything that was promised to us in Dead Man’s Chest was delivered one-hundred-fold. Learn Barbossa’s first name. Meet the 9 pirate lords. See the pirate code (and it’s guitar-pickin’ keeper). Discover Davy Jones’ true love.
The music was really good. The Davy Jones theme (the locket song) was weaved in and out of just about every theme because it plays so heavily into one of the core stories of the movie (the other core stories being Elizabeth, Will and Jack). That core story really ties a heavy element of mythology into the movie which I just love (I’m a HUGE fan of mythology, always have been, though I don’t know why…maybe I really am a fantasy fan). But what a lot of reviews are suggesting is that this makes the 3-hour epic into two movies: Elizabeth, Will, Jack, Barbossa and all the pirate-y fun in one movie and the mythological back story in the other. While this makes sense, I can’t really find a reason to disagree with the decision to make the film 3 hours long and have both stories in there. Although maybe it takes away from what people claimed to enjoy so much about the first film (the piratical banter between the major characters).
Regardless of all of that, the true glory for the movie goes to it’s truly epic final battle. This battle will be remembered long after the pirate phenomenon has faded from memory. I mean you get a small tease of the sheer scale from the trailer, but when you see the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl charging into the maelstrom at each other and hear Barbossa laughing maniacally as he turns the Black Pearl deeper into the deadly whirlpool…I was utterly speechless. It was just gorgeous.
All in all this was a really great film that I can’t wait to see again.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

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Where is the line between Bill Nighy’s live performance and the CGI effects? That was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen…reminded me of the whole debate that went into the foam suit for Ben Grimm (The Thing) in Fantastic Four…live versus animated. Those had to be his eyes and I think maybe his cheeks (with makeup)…but those tentacles…maybe half were animatronics (the ones that flop about or puff steam) and half CG…absolutely incredible.

As the credits roll (9 minutes total…seems kind of tame for a film with such gorgeous CG), I scream at the screen when they say “Soundtrack available on Walt Disney Records”…the soundtrack doesn’t come out until July 27th…bastards! I mean…that’s what everyone told me Leave it to me to never do independent research…it’s available now…damn it!

I love the new Walt Disney Pictures logo…but why now? Celebrating the 50th? That was the only logic people could suggest to me. The logo is all about the castle, and the first castle is celebrating it’s 50th…and of course with that I do a little business query and go: what does John Lasseter (as the new creative king of Disney) have to say about all this? Did he have anything to do with it at all as this was all set up by the previous regime?

God bless Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot…they have a masterful story here and they weave so many mythological concepts together while keeping it plausible and well explained. Although Tia Dalma’s (Naomi Harris) incredible accent was a little difficult to follow at times and they gave her a lot of the exposition…if ever there was a time for subtitles.

How do the changes to the ride affect what is going on with the story? Jerry Bruckheimer denied Disney the right to change the Wicked Wench to the Black Pearl…clue or non-sequitur? Barbossa is the captain of the Wicked Wench and he is searching for Jack Sparrow…is he searching for Jack in the context of the first film or in the context of the second and third? Why search in the context of the first film AND weave Davy Jones into the introduction of the ride?

Dead Man’s Chest

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UPDATE: Apple Trailers now has the trailer available for download.

While exploring around the web, I found a teaser trailer for the sequel (due out July 9, 2006). Holy cow does it look like fun. But it also gives us some answers as to how Bootstrap Bill (Will Turner’s father) and Captain Barbossa show up again. It’s all about Davy Jones (who looks freaking awesome!) and the supernatural, so a dead guy can easily make a deal with Davey and end up on his damned crew (Barbossa). But Bootstrap Bill requires some review of what happened to him. He starts out on the Black Pearl under Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow is marooned. Dead Man’s Cove is discovered and the cursed Aztec treasure is plundered. With the curse revealed and Bootstrap still feeling bad about marooning Jack, he sends off his piece of the treasure to his son (who is later orphaned on the crossing to England when the Black Pearl attacks (opening scene of the first movie)). Due to Bootstrap’s sympathy for Jack, Barbossa straps a cannon to Bootstrap’s bootstraps and sends him off…to Davey Jones maybe? Now that doesn’t kill him (the pirates walk underwater to get to the final battle scene), but it’s really difficult to find land underwater in the middle of the Atlantic. So he either made a deal with Davey Jones at that point or he had bargained with him before and when the curse was broken at the end of the first movie, Davey came to collect “his soul.” Check out the trailer, listen to Bootstrap’s line (“You won’t be able to talk your way out of this one”) and tell me what you think. And hey, I just figured out where I’ve seen Stellan Skarsgård (Bootstrap Bill) before…he was the Saxon leader in King Arthur. You know, the one who sounded like he was from this century instead of the 1200′s?

Kingdom Of Heaven

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This movie was incredible. I found out about it strictly as Orlando Bloom’s next project after Pirates and the more I found out about it, the more excited I got. I especially hope it gets the kind of adoration that Ridley Scott’s last epic got (Gladiator was a well loved “sword and sandal epic” that inspired many knock-offs including Troy and Alexander). What’s interesting is that 20th Century Fox played up the “directed by Ridley Scott” aspect in hopes that the Gladiator-fans would come back to theatres in great numbers. But what’s also great is that this is not just a warrior epic (can’t call it a sword and sandal epic because it’s more about knights than Romans), but a religious epic…(gee, hence the title Kingdom of Heaven). The movie details the defense of Jerusalem by Christians from Muslims. There was also a bit of a pre-release news story where some people were worried that this movie would cause anger between Muslims and Christians because it unfairly casts Muslims as evil…but if anything, I’d say it casts Muslims and Christians in a bad light. What I mean to say, is that the movie has two kinds of people: the religious folk who accuse everyone who doesn’t believe in their faith a blasphemer and the good folk who follow this oath:
“Be without fear in the face of you enemies
Be brave and upright that God may love thee
Speak the truth, always, even if it leads to your death
Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong.”
There are people of both types on both sides of the major conflict that runs throughout the movie (i.e. Christians and Muslims). Of course, I call the good folk good because they have the right idea about religion and belief. But that distinction and where it can lead is a story for another time.
Besides that incredible aspect of the story, the movie has many wonderful points including the cast, the music and the battle effects. The battles look absolutely incredible (whether digital or real life) and shows in gory detail the medieval brutality that classified that period of time (the movie takes place in the early 1100′s) from trebuchets and siege towers to liquid flame (burning pitch) and fiery missiles. The music was inspiring and fit right in with all the onscreen action. It accentuated the point of the story, which wasn’t the battle, but the human motivation behind the battle. I especially appreciated the cultural music and chanting. The cast was phenomenal. Bloom plays another blacksmith turned adventurer, but he does it with just a smidgeon more drama this time (to a wonderful result). Eva Green is nice as the (I can’t say much more because I haven’t seen her in much else). Liam Neeson does a nice turn as the tutor who dies (Qui-Gon Jinn: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace), but mixes in a little regret and sorrow for abandoning his son (the tutee). Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and Marton Csokas play the leaders of the two sides (that I mentioned above) and just add even more to the human drama that is this movie. I especially enjoyed seeing Csokas play another evil guy in a beard (Timeline and XXX) because he has being evil down to an art…especially when he is led out on a donkey half-naked. I also liked David Thewlis…he’s the feel good friend of both Neeson and Bloom and you really enjoy his interactions with them.
All in all, this movie was incredibly exciting and dramatically and philosophically potent.
“What God desires is here (in your mind) and here (in your heart)…”

Sequined Sequels

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UPDATED AGAIN…LAST TIME, I PROMISE

After watching “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” for the umpteenth time, it again occurred to me how structurally similar Pirates is to “The Mummy” (starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz). In Mummy, you have a girl who, with her brother, goes to the middle of the desert with a muscular tough guy, unleashes this cursed mummy upon the world and have to defeat it. In Pirates, you have a blacksmith who wants to marry a high society chick, a half-crazed pirate seeking revenge, and a Caribbean-threatening cursed pirate who wants to take over the world.

Type Of Character

POTC

THE MUMMY

Adventurous Hero

Orlando Bloom

Brendan Fraser

Comely, Intelligent Heroine

Kiera Knightly

Rachel Weisz

Drunken/Lucky Sidekick

Johnny Depp

John Hannah
World Protecting Agency British Navy Elite Egyptian Guard

World Threatening Evil

Geoffrey Rush

Arnold Vosloo

A heroine, a hero, an amusing side kick, and a world-threatening evil; where could I possibly be going with this? In “The Mummy Returns”, they brought back the hero and heroine as a married couple and gave them a kid, then put them in a race against the mummy to get to the ultimate power. Maybe Pirates 2 would be similarly scripted? As in Elizabeth and Will marry and have a little one and they join Jack on the Black Pearl in a race to a mystical power that Barbossa could use to conquer the Caribbean and then . . . THE WORLD!! HAHAHAHA! Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. But how could Barbossa be alive? Wasn’t he shot and the curse was broken and he felt cold? Could the monkey be the one calling the shots now? Wouldn’t that make for an interesting climax. Jack Sparrow and Jack the monkey battling it out for this legendary treasure and Will and Elizabeth and little Johnny Turner fighting pirates and such? Keira Knightly said she would get to do more fighting if there was a sequel. Who knows? I certainly don’t. But Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, the two guys who got screen credit for the final script, have done lots of scripts and couldn’t possibly be influenced by a Stephen Sommers film. Could they? I mean, isn’t it true that once a movie is released to the public that the scenarios presented are the intellectual property of the public? Why, the only reason not to do it like this is that people will say that it was a complete rip-off of “The Mummy Returns”. Maybe I’m reading too far into this. I think that Ted and Terry understand this phenomenon and will write a brand-spankin’ new story for Pirates 2. I mean Pirates 2 and 3. Eisner is a Matrix convert…ugh…that’s almost as scary as all those photos and Larry and Andy and their dominatrix buddies.

Dead Zone

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Here I am, sitting at my computer, eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s (mind your P’s and Q’s damn it) and I just realized (I think for the second time) that I can’t tell the difference. Between Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring’s widescreen edition and extended edition, that is. I can’t tell how they inserted an additional 45 minutes and I don’t notice it, which is strange for me. I’m such an anal-retentive bastard that details should matter. Even so, I’m able to ignore these thoughts and enjoy one hell of a good movie which gives name recognition to some of the coolest action heroes now in existence (who else do you think I’m talking about but Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen). It makes a hell of a good story, these novels that I read in junior high and can’t read ever again. Yeah I’ve always got beef that the story is edited from book to movie, but it’s a phenomenal epic that I still enjoy.

Why did people get all pissed off when they found out Liv Tyler was in this movie? I mean maybe they figured someone with better acting skills could portray Arwen, and at times I agree. But she is pretty hot.

Now to the heart of the matter, or article as some would say, which is: Season One of the USA Networks Series THE DEAD ZONE, based on characters from the book by Stephen King. I received it as a gift sometime ago (whether for birthday or graduation, I know not and it doesn’t matter since they were so close together) from Susan, a friend and business associate of my father’s who has a phenomenally large collection of VHS and a growing collection of DVD. What’s great about the series is it’s like The Sixth Sense but with a much more scientific thesis.

In the first episode, we meet Johnny Smith and his lifetime girlfriend Sarah who plan to marry and have enough kids to make their own family hockey team. But Johnny is torn from his girlfriends side in a tragic accident that puts him in a coma for six years. Awakening suddenly, he discovers that he is now psychic. The doctor cannot believe that he’s even coherent, because there is extensive brain damage from a childhood injury. But none the less, he is coherent because his brain has rerouted basic senses through a normally dormant area of his brain. A dead zone that alters the way Johnny uses his senses. With a single touch, he experiences visions that show him the future or the past or whatever. I’m almost finished watching the first season, but by far, the funniest one is the 11th episode, titled Dinner with Dana.

The series takes place in Maine, (just like every Stephen King novel, although I just realized that he is probably most familiar with this area, just as the South-Eastern states are John Grisham’s area of expertise) in a town called Bangor. Dana is a reporter for the Bangor Daily News, and is on a date with Johnny for a newspaper exclusive. Well, one thing leads to another, and soon their clothes are coming off. But Johnny’s psychic visions are screwing with his head, and he ends up with six different people commenting on the sex he has with Dana, including his mother (GASP! The Horror!). It was very funny. I’m gonna finish watching Lord of the Rings now, so you go on and have a good night. Or day. Or whatever. I’m sorry, I can’t get that speech pattern out of my head, it’s from the Disney Animated Film Robin Hood. I’m leaving now. I’m serious. Stop following me damn it!

Sequined Sequels

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THIS WAS UPDATED, I MADE IT BETTER!

After watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl for the umpteenth time (I downloaded an illegal, bootlegged copy of the movie, so sue me (please don’t!)), it finally occurred to me how structurally similar Pirates is to The Mummy (starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz). In The Mummy, you have a girl who, with her brother, goes to the middle of the desert with a muscular tough guy, unleashes this cursed mummy upon the world and have to defeat it. In Pirates, you have a blacksmith who wants to marry a high society chick, a half-crazed pirate seeking revenge, and a Caribbean-threatening cursed pirate who wants to take over the world. A heroine, a hero, an amusing side kick, and a world-threatening evil; where could I possibly be going with this? In Return of the Mummy, they brought back the hero and heroine as a married couple and gave them a kid, then put them in a race against the mummy to get to the ultimate power. Maybe Pirates 2 would be similarly themed? As in Elizabeth and Will marry and have a little one and they join Jack on the Black Pearl in a race to a mystical power that Barbossa could use to conquer the Caribbean and then . . . THE WORLD!! HAHAHAHA! Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. But how could Barbossa be alive? Wasn’t he shot and the curse was broken and he felt cold? Could the monkey be the one calling the shots now? Wouldn’t that make for an interesting climax. Jack Sparrow and Jack the monkey battling it out for this legendary treasure and Will and Elizabeth and little Johnny Turner fighting pirates (Keira Knightly said she would get to do more fighting if there was a sequel) and such? Who knows? I certainly don’t. But those two guys who got screen credit for the final script have done lots of scripts and couldn’t possibly be influenced by a Stephen Sommers film. Could they? I mean, after all, once a movie is made, doesn’t it’s thematic underpinnings stay with us until the film-makers are all dead? I have no idea what I’m saying anymore, so this is the end.