Johnny Depp , Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Mans Chest

2006-07-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Who says wacky pirate adventures involving a squid faced villain with slimy tentacles who lives beneath the sea can’t be fun? Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is the second installment of a three-part trilogy that picks up where “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” left off. Co-written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the film pits the incomparable Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), the craziest pirate on the high seas, against the legendary Davy Jones (Bill Nighy in a mesmerizing performance full of mirth and menace), an amazing CG character who sails the ghostly Flying Dutchman and to whom Capt. Jack is seriously in debt. Blood debt, that is.

Indeed, Capt. Jack owes his soul to Davy Jones and his supernatural army of sea phantoms, and time is running out. Desperate to find a way out of making good on his promise and save himself from the eternal damnation and servitude that await him, Capt. Jack inadvertently upsets the wedding plans of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) who are forced to join him on yet another exciting and comic misadventure.

The film is filled with non-stop action and some major set pieces that are sure to please fans including a cannibal barbecue with Capt. Jack as the guest of honor. Kudos to costume designers Liz Dann and Penny Rose for the necklace of severed toes Capt. Jack sports while slowly roasting on the spit. The cinematography (Dariusz Wolski), production design (Rick Heinrichs), visual effects, prosthetics, and makeup are all first rate. The CGI, however, threatens to distract from the fundamentals of storytelling and almost overwhelms the film at the expense of the piracy, fencing, gun battles, drunken singing, and good old fashion skullduggery that lent authenticity to the first installment of the trilogy and made it so entertaining. That said, POTC 2 offers us ingenuous narrow escapes, exciting cliff hangers, a fishy captain who bargains for the souls of those he captures, and a giant sea monster named Kraken who really knows how to suck.

While the film feels long at two hours and thirty minutes and might have benefited from some trimming, its saving grace is the surprising, wildly inventive acting genius of Johnny Depp. Instead of relying on dreads, mascara, and a few strategically placed gold teeth to turn in a repeat performance, Depp builds on his character infusing it with wit, mischievousness, and a deliciously devilish sense of unexpected integrity. Thankfully, Bloom and Knightley are given more to do in this second installment. Will Turner finally meets up with his father, Bootstrap Bill (an impressive performance by Stellan Skarsgard), while Elizabeth Swann masquerades as a young male stowaway who tells Capt. Jack she’s “looking for the man I love.” And Naomi Harris delivers a hot turn as Tia Dalma, the fortune teller everyone wants to know. Indeed, “POTC2” is filled with more kinkiness and subversion than any Disney film in recent memory including a subconscious message in the character Depp portrays. Then again, this is the studio that killed Bambi’s mother, not to mention Nemo’s.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” takes a while to put a wind in its sails but, once it does, it offers a fun, exciting, action packed ride that ends with a major cliff hanger setting us up for the third film of the trilogy. Depp once again lives up to his reputation for being one of the finest and most unpredictable actors of his generation, and he does it in a way that never leaves you feeling that he has sold out.

In the meantime, while I’m waiting for the next chest of gold in this pirate’s life, I’d like to know where that mischievous buccaneer rogue Capt. Jack stashed all the rum? Me thinks I need a drink or two or three to put a little swash in my buckle until the next Pirates adventure.

Source: Pirates of Carribean (see more links)

Superman' flies over box office

2006-07-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

Weekend brings in $52.15 mil; film up to $84.2 mil

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Superman may not be the world's greatest superhero at the box office, but the Man of Steel still flies high.

"Superman Returns" took in $52.15 million over opening weekend, lifting its five-day total since its debut Wednesday to $84.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That puts the Warner Bros. film ahead of the premiere of last year's "Batman Begins," another Warner superhero revival, which took in $48.7 million over its opening weekend and $72.9 million in its first five days. But "Superman Returns" finished far behind Sony's "Spider-Man 2," the record-holder for best five-day openings, with $152.4 million over Fourth of July weekend in 2004.

The weekend's other new wide release, 20th Century Fox's "The Devil Wears Prada," debuted far stronger than expected to come in second with $27 million. Industry analysts had expected the movie, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, to debut at less than $20 million.

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Sony's Adam Sandler comedy "Click," fell to third place with $19.4 million, raising its 10-day total to $77.9 million.

Hollywood's overall revenues rose for the seventh straight weekend. The top 12 movies took in $140.1 million, up 5 percent from Fourth of July weekend last year. If estimates hold, it would be the second-best Fourth of July weekend ever, behind the $158.4 million haul in 2004, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The first big-screen adventure for the Man of Steel in 19 years, "Superman Returns" traces the comic-book hero's homecoming after a mysterious five-year absence. Played by newcomer Brandon Routh, Superman finds lady love Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has a son and a new man in her life, while archenemy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has hatched a plot to control the world.

Directed by Bryan Singer, who made the blockbusters "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United," "Superman Returns" earned favorable reviews. A Superman fan since boyhood, Singer passed on doing a third "X-Men" to make "Superman Returns" after Warner let him throw out previous Man of Steel scripts and start from scratch with his own story.

"Bryan is just such a bright and creative individual. He had his own vision, and he was right and did a great job," said Dan Fellman, Warner head of distribution.

The movie should hit $110 million by Tuesday, Fellman said.

"Superman Returns" had big returns in 76 huge-screen IMAX theaters, most of which ran the movie incorporating 3-D footage in many action sequences. About $5 million of the film's grosses came from IMAX theaters.

"The Devil Wears Prada," adapted from Lauren Weisberger's best-selling novel, stars Hathaway as an aspiring journalist who reluctantly takes a job at a top fashion magazine, where she works for a tyrannical editor (Streep).

The movie's audience was four-fifths women, who turned out in far bigger numbers than 20th Century Fox had predicted.

"I don't know what to say. This is beyond my expectations," said Bruce Snyder, the studio's head of distribution.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures through July 4 will be released Wednesday.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/03/box.office.ap/index.html

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Johnny Depp , Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Mans Chest

Superman' flies over box office