Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

This movie is quite entertaining and actually well scripted for a Disney-pirate-movie.
The plot is simple; a young blacksmith, Will Turner, (Bloom) is forced to join forces with the pirate Jack Sparrow (Depp) after his love interest, Elizabeth Swann, (Knightley) is abducted by a band of ruthless, ghostly pirates, commanded by Captain Barbossa (Rush).
In addition we have miss Swann's father; Governor Weatherby Swann (Pryce), and the man that wants to marry her; Commodore Norrington (Davenport).

I actually thought the movie was a bit too long, there were times under some of the fighting scenes where I just wanted them to finish. (And this is coming from a girl that loves action movies). The action scenes are engaging non the less, the set design is elaborate, visual effects are great, the performances are great, except for one or two. I also enjoyed the humor in this film, it didn't make me laugh hysterically, but kept me amused and interested, but most of the credit goes to Johnny Depp for that one.

Now that I've had two days to think about it, I think the things that bugged me most was that I felt the movie was a bit too long, they kept going back and forth, maybe one time too many.

Now over to the performance ratings.
Johnny Depp is brilliant as always in the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't even have to try when he's acting. I wasn't watching this movie comparing him to previous roles, because he WAS Captain Jack Sparrow.

Orlando Bloom... wait.. *builds a fortress with the highest and most elaborate security available, to keep out Bloomettes*. I'm sorry to say that I don't even think Bloom tried to get into his part in this movie. Granted, he's supposed to be a careful young man, but... ah... I didn't really care about his character. There's one scene in this movie where he's angry and hits the table with his fist. All I have to say to that is that even I could have hit that table harder. My friend, who is a rabid Bloom fan, even had to admit that he could have done better.

I think Keira Knightley did a wonderful job, and I liked her character. I'm so sick of the hysterical whimpering women in this kind of movies, so it was so nice to see a woman with brains and courage. Though after the movie a couple of people said they thought she was too smart for a woman of that time, I don't.

Geoffrey Rush is another one on the main cast list I know could have done a better job. Now don't get me wrong, he did a good job, but I know he could do better. I mean he's a big bad ghost pirate, but I didn't find him intimidating, at all.

Jack Davenport, who some might know from the BBC-show "Coupling", plays Commodore Norrington. I have to admit that when he first showed up on screen I started laughing, but I don't think he deserved that. He did a really good job with the little screen time he had. There was only one time he had that semi-desperate-Steve-face and I half expected him to shout "Susan!", or in this case "Elisabeth!". The fact is that I really liked his character toward the end and had sympathy for him.

In closing I will admit that I'll probably buy this movie when it's released on DVD, but I wont be attacking the sales clerk if they're sold out the day I'm there. I might even be waiting until the price drops a bit. I'll recommend the movie to the people that like these kinds of movies, and the rabid fan girls out there, because it is worth the trip to the cinema. Enjoy me 'arties!

"And really bad eggs. Drink up me 'arties Yo ho!"

The Hulk (2003)

It wasn't as crappy as I had expected, but it wasn't good either. I liked the casting and characthers. This is the first movie I've seen with Jennifer Connelly where I haven't had flashbacks to "Requiem for a dream".
I pretty much could tell from the start that this would be a long movie. My biggest complaints are that Ang Lee is trying waaay to hard to be artistic with this movie. The cartoon boxes work in a couple of scenes, but he overdid it. We did not need to see a bloody helicopter from 5 different angles at the same time.
This movie has way to much talking and very little action, now I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, but so much of the talk is unnecessary... it just got so damn boring in the long run. Also the rivalry between Talbot and Bruce made no sense to me, yes, they were both a little hung up on the same girl, and had different sides on the whole who should control the lab thing but that isn't enough for the hate we see on screen.
The scene where Bruce first turns into the Hulk was very silly, and I have to admit I didn't completely get what the trigger was.
Finally, the Hulk cgi is NOT as good as the people behind this movie claim, he looks like one of Shrek's buddies. Comparing this to Gollum is a F*** insult to Weta, Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson.
Now to the stuff I actually liked in this movie: You can to some extent relate to the characther, but I guess that might not be obvious to everybody, but just to make it clear I'm focusing on the human element here. Now, Bruce Banner is a sulky characther, but you understand why he's sad and he makes an effort not to be too much of a downer, he's serious without being whiny.