Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides

Let's get one thing straight - there is no epic love story here, as there was with the first three "Pirates" films, revolving around the upper-class Elizabeth Swann and her dashing hero slash quick-witted sword smith, Will Turner. Perhaps that's what made the audience become so emotionally involved and partially what drove the entire story of the former trilogy. In this fourth installment, rather, the jokes are funnier, the characters are snappier, and Johnny Depp gets more screen time (which is no problem for me). There is definitely a great ton of new characters which is great as a fresh start from the past films, but after a while you can start to draw parallels between each new character and their former counterpart. Some of them work, some don't, but I'm glad to see that Jack Sparrow's drunken hi-jinks still have me laughing and clapping my hands in appreciation.

So what's he up to this time? If you've seen the end of the last film in the franchise, "At World's End", you see Sparrow (Johnny Depp) adding a new prize to his never ending list of prizes - the Fountain of Youth. So just as planned, Capt. Jack Sparrow and Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) join forces in this film to find this elusive fountain, but on the way find that the pirate Capt. Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his seductive daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz) are also after the same thing, which creates complications. Sparrow and Angelica evidently have a history, and he's not sure whether or not she's the love of his life or if she's a con-artist merely using him to get to the fountain. After getting kidnapped by Angelica and forced onto Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, Sparrow finds himself on his newest adventure filled with zombie pirates (yes, you read right), mermaids, and a new mismatched crew.

I thought that after watching Depp sway and slur and narrowly escape death several times throughout the past films, I would get tired of the same old situations. But it seems that there's still something newly funny in this character he's so brilliantly created. Does he swing around on ropes? Yes. Does he make funny faces? Yes. Does he narrowly miss being shot at and/or stabbed? Yes. Alright, so there is a lot of the same old stuff. Maybe it's because he's been given a new set of characters to play off of, but I still found myself grinning and enjoying each scene. Sometimes you can unfortunately see the joke coming from a mile away because by now, you feel like you know Capt. Jack Sparrow, but he's still got a few new tricks up his sleeve. I commend Johnny Depp for creating such a solid character that can withstand four movies of the same franchise, and not have the audience nodding off to sleep in boredom by the end of it. I won't spoil it, but he gives you quite a good laugh at the end - let's just say that I give props to the music editor.

Angelica is somewhat of a departure from Elizabeth Swann, though Cruz plays her just as hardheaded and outspoken. I'm not a big fan of Cruz, and her character is admittedly none too exciting. Still, she plays the dark-haired seductress Angelica well, who is quick to know how to get what she wants. Perhaps the perfect match for Sparrow? The chemistry is definitely strong between Cruz and Depp - or maybe it's just because they both seem to have the same taste in eye makeup.

Now that there's no straight man Will to balance out Jack, we've got a new dashing young lad to obsess over. Ladies, prepare yourselves. Philip Swift (Sam Claflin), a missionary trapped aboard Blackbeard's ship plays a strong-minded, religious man who falls for one of the mermaids that the crew encounters. I was surprised to see the film include religious references, but it was fortunately subtle. The minute I saw Swift tied up as prisoner on Blackbeard's ship, I heard an odd ringing in my ears that sounds faintly like a thousand screaming fan girls. Hm. His love story is sweet and Claflin does well with the very limited role he's given. He's also very nice to look at.

Mermaids, by the way, are not really The Little Mermaid type in this film - rather, they're more like the Sirens of Greek Mythology, the dangerous seductresses that lure sailors to unfortunate ends. An interesting twist.

Ian McShane does a good job of playing Blackbeard. And actually, this film does depart from the other three in that it is the first to include actual historical figures, like Blackbeard, and also King George II and Ferdinand the VI of Spain. Blackbeard's got a few of his own "mystical" tricks to watch out for. But I feel that no enemy of Sparrow's will ever have as great a presence as Barbossa, or at least when he was still an enemy. I remember getting chills when we first heard of the Black Pearl and it's captain that was "so evil, that Hell itself spat him back out" - Geoffrey Rush's portrayal was downright creepy and the rhythm of his dialogue was like a haunting trance. Instead, McShane's Blackbeard is lighter and a bit more comical, which plays off of Depp's Sparrow just fine.

My one great criticism of this film, however, is the introduction of "zombie pirates". Remember how Barbossa's crew was cursed as the undead, who become skeletons in the moonlight? That CG was amazing. Except in this film, we've got a new cursed crew, Blackbeard's crew, who are...zombies. Hold up, aren't zombies, pirates, ninjas, and werewolves all supposed to be in different categories (at least according to Facebook games)? Can you actually mix together two of them? In any case, the "zombie" aspect threw me off, and was not a necessary addition. That's just asking for mockery, come on.

The cinematography was great as usual, though I unfortunately saw it in 3-D, as "Pirates" has fallenprey to Hollywood's great obsession with three-dimensionalism. Leave the 3-D to animation, please. I wouldn't call this particular installment a family film, though the jokes and witty banter are often enough to save it from becoming too dark and creepy. I can see the directors trying to create a few more "Pirates" films, although the charm would probably start to wear off after the fifth or sixth one. After learning that Eric Whitacre, one of my all-time favorite composers, was collaborating with Hans Zimmer on this soundtrack, I was left a bit disappointed with the music. With past epic scores like "At Wit's End", I was expecting more. But then again, there wasn't much in this film that called for brilliant scoring.

Bottom line: go see it if you've enjoyed the franchise so far, but don't expect to have a changing experience.

Thanks A Lot, NBC.

So I just finished watching what I thought was the season finale of Outsourced one of my new favorite workplace comedies on NBC set in India. I will say that when the show first started, I was afraid it would be teeming with easy stereotypical humor, but it's proven to be a solid comedy with refreshing jokes and the amusing idiosyncrasies of Indian life (and call-center life). Not to mention, some of the actors on the show such as Parvesh Cheena (Gupta) and Sacha Dhawan (Manmeet) are pretty brilliant, and as an Indian-American, it warms my heart to see good Indian actors on TV.

Except what I thought was a season finale, was actually a series finale. Yes, that's right. Outsourced has been officially taken off the air and won't be returning for a second season.

But good news! NBC is adding new pilots to its lineup like Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea and BFFs, the former being a show revolving around Chelsea Handler. Yay!

Did you sense the sarcasm in that last sentence? I hope you did. Because this is just ridiculous. Finally, NBC comes along with a decent, international workplace comedy, and with a heartwarming finale, they swipe it away. First of all, if they were planning to end the show at the end of the first season, they shouldn't have ended it the way they did. I won't give away any spoilers, but it definitely had me wanting a new episode soon to see the progression of a possibly interesting new storyline.

By the way, Two and a Half Men is still going strong with the new addition of Ashton Kutcher. Oh, great. Don't get me wrong, I love Ashton Kutcher. But the show needs to go, it's not funny.

I just feel that the people in the corporate offices need to get their heads on straight, and understand the difference between good, refreshing comedy, and comedy that smells like wet dog. Or at least, don't introduce us to great TV and then play the meanest April Fool's joke ever. I really commended them for moving in the right direction, away from safe, stereotypical humor in Outsourced. You were doing fine, what happened?? I can't imagine that the official ratings reflect the true audience reactions, because I know plenty of people that love the show.

I hope this is a bad dream, I really do. In the meantime, NBC also seems to be picking up another pilot, crossed over from the UK - Free Agents, starring Hank Azaria. Now, I do love me some Hank, even though the movie industry hasn't really been the greatest to him in terms of film roles. Word has it that the network is hoping this show will garner as much success as the hugely popular crossover, The Office. I think that's aiming a bit too high, since The Office is very much its own thing (though now, with the loss of Michael Scott, I might have to eat my words...so sad).

What do you think? Are you happy to see Outsourced go? Comment away!

Sometimes, Addiction Is A Good Thing

Honestly. Because the thing I happen to be addicted to at the moment is basically beating my education at its job.

TEDTalks.

Ever heard of them? No?

WHAT?

Please, just humor me, and watch this:



(Courtesy of TED.com)

First of all, I love the way the he opens up with his personal experience with his baby boy. Hearing his son progress from "gaa" to "water" was probably one of the more flabbergasting things I have seen on the Internet.

But this is a lecture. And in a culture where the word “lecture” automatically conjures up an image of sleepy college students half-listening to a professor, it is strange to see that most people who watch TEDTalks are of this same demographic - college students. What is it about these lectures, or “talks” that have people sitting up in their seats?

Just out of my own curiosity, I talked to some students at NYU to get an idea of why they liked TEDTalks so much, and what made these lectures so fascinating to them. Some people said it was because you could learn so much from these people, but not have to sit down for an hour and suffer through a long, boring speech. I would agree - each talk is about 18-20 minutes long, which is perfect for someone like me who is always on the go. And TEDTalks are set up in such a way that the speakers come with the intention of hooking the audience in from the get-go, and wanting to be popular to contrary opinion.

Other people said it was because they felt that these speakers were a new wave of inspiration, rather than celebrities or the rich and famous that many people look up to nowadays.

...I don't know about that. I mean, I still think Johnny Depp is the man, and he dropped out of high school.

But seriously, everytime I see one of these lectures, I just want to get up and do something revolutionary. Or at least run a mile to work off the adrenaline rush. When I see it in writing, it sounds ridiculous, yes I know. But these people are an inspiration to me. I feel like these talks can define the new generation of education, as a revolutionary way of teaching, practically rather than academically. Unfortunately, while I praise and worship TEDTalks, I feel like not enough people know about them, which is a shame. Though I am not a part of TED, I feel like the next step for them would be to actively seek out educational institutes around the world and implementing these speakers or talks into those school curriculums - or having teachers and professors doing it the other way around . Imagine watching Deb Roy's talk in your boring, high school psychology class, or better yet, have the actual Deb Roy speak to your boring, high school psychology class. Now, doesn't that psychology class sound a little better?

But while the TED people in their cute little Manhattan office work on that, here I am, publicizing these talks to you, those few people out there that read this blog. Go ahead, learn something new.

I dare you.

(PS. If you remember a while ago I posted a music-related article mentioning my choral hero, Eric Whitacre - here is a talk by him on TED.com about his "virtual choir". It's definitely worth a look-see.)



(Courtesy of TED.com)
(Now, asking me to compare between this guy and Johnny Depp, well, that's a whole different ball game.)