back without a vengeance ~

[lookingland]

i'm back!

(didya miss me?)

i've sorta scrolled through the last day or so of my flist, but i will likely be hopeless at catching up. but i promise to keep all of your personal and creative and spiritual travails in my prayers wherever you are at the moment. if i missed anything really important, i hope you will let me know.

the trip was good, but like all travel, i'm glad to be home and back to work on projects (all of which have been dormant for the last five days ~ which is not good at all). i've done no writing and fallen behind on Jack and Eleison. it'll be june soon, so the deadlines are looming.

the short version of my weekend: drove drove drove. sorta sick of the car at this point. went to milwaukee, went to chicago, went all over the place. saw Pirates of the Caribbean.

no spoilers, here's my review:

"At World's End" looks to be "At Wit's End"

the final installment of the Pirates franchise (you can't even really call them movies ~ they've become more and more like happy meals: all production and no substance whatsoever) is about an hour too long and 43 ideas too many. i think it looks like the end of the line for this one. i thought the second one suffered from these problems and that they would make the third one a stand out to make up for it, but the series just degenerates into convoluted non-sensical plotlessness and endless cgi. they should have just stopped at the first one. i'm going to pretend it does.

bright spot: geoffery rush as barbosa.

biggest disappointment: the infamous keith richards cameo.

overall feeling: meh. even johnny can't save this one (and how could he? he's barely got any screen time).

save your money. watch it on dvd if you absolutely feel you must.

i dinna like kiera knightly's character in the last one.
here she's up front and center for most of the movie.
bleh.
i have a bunch of books to review and other noodly notes, but i'll just carpet bomb lj over the next day or so.

: D

Comments

[gwyn-hwyfar.livejournal.com]

I've heard bad things about it, but I really like Keira Knightley's garb in this one :D and pirates are irresistible so I'm sure I'll have to see it at some point.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

the visual stuff is certainly excellent ~ costumes, the ships, etc.

but it's just not enough to make this one float, sadly.

i really wish they'd done something cool for all the energy and money and talent thrown into this thing.

: o p

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

Hehe. I totally agree about that...it seems my friendslist is divided between people who enjoyed it and people who hated it. I fall into the latter category, myself. For starters, I thought the second one was really lousy, so the third one instantly had to be amazing to make up for the second one. And it wasn't. And there was way too much gratuitous gore for me. Not to mention that I hated the ending, didn't like Bootstrap's character in this one, didn't like the way Calypso just vanished in the end, didn't think the movie held together well, and did think it had way too many plotlines going and was way too long regardless.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

yeah, i completely agree ~ very disappointed, especially since there's so so so much potential here.

: o p

[geckobird.livejournal.com]

I think I shall take your advice and wait until it is out on DVD. Especially since the second one was so terrible... and too many of my friends admitted that the third did not make up for the awfulness of the second one.

Oh! I'm in Iowa for my summer break. It's interesting to be home for a week. ^_^ And I must admit that I was quite surprised by the lush greenery around Houston. But I guess the deserts are further to the west than where I was. Sunday I'll be flying back down there for the start of my new project in Mississippi. Whee?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

houston is certainly closer to the gulf and therefore has a different climate than the rest of texas ~ indeed!

glad you're taking a short break in your crazy travels. i'm sure it's wonderful to be home!

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Glad you're back, safe and sound! I hope you got a little rest time in while you were away....cuz, June's almost here! Eek!

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

yeah, i think there may be an implosion in the near future. weekend classes start on saturday and i'm just not ready for that at all either.

: o p

[maggieolee.livejournal.com]

With our budget, we see everything on DVD.

I was afraid that the Disney part of this train would take over and kid it up for the money... and from all the reviews I've heard (good and bad), that sounds like what's happened. We can't forget that this is a Disney venture that based on their amusement park ride and they've stolen a dozen different pirate legends to make an interesting story.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

interestingly enough, it's so gory and violent and confusing i can't imagine kids enjoying it. in fact, my little nephews were mostly nonplussed by it.

i almost with they had kidded it up ~ it might have been much better.

hahahahaha ~

Pirates

[imaseeker.livejournal.com]

I am getting more and more disgusted at going to the theater these days, it costs 2 people about 40 dollars for movie tickets and popcorn/soda combos and a package of Twizzlers. That's lunacy.

About Pirates the 3rd installment. It was boring, not much of Jack, who was not really as funny as in the 1st one. I was disappointed. It is always neat how they have good images and stuff, like in prior installment when the dead Pirates would turn to skeletons in the moonlight. That was COOL! Nothing cool in 3.

Re: Pirates

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i completely agree ~ about the expense as well as what you get for your money. lot of flash, no substance. nothing wildly inventive here.

a week hasn't even past and frankly, i barely remember most of it.

: o p

[sparowe]

Preferred this one over the last, though.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

not i (said the cow).

the second one wasn't good, but i thought there were a few good scenes and some interesting character interactions.

this one i'm struggling to find anything worth remembering.

: o p