as promised

[mamajoan]

The promised/threatened movie post.

I've seen more movies in the past two weeks than I had in the previous, like, year! Or at least since Isaac was born, that's for sure.

I already posted my LOTR:ROTK review. But here is a brief rundown on the movies that my mom and I watched on DVD over the holidays:

* Xmas Day, we watched "Chicago." I liked it a LOT. I thought all the actors were great, though I was particularly impressed with Catherine Zeta-Jones. I felt it was pretty evident that she had musical-theater training and Renee Zellweger didn't. I mean, RZ did a fine job, but she didn't have the, I dunno, flair that CZJ had. Or maybe the word is passion. Whatever. Anyway, the movie was a lotta fun. My only major quibble was the idea of a black woman as the matron of a white women's prison (or any prison, really), given the time period. Don't get me wrong, I thought Queen Latifah did an excellent job with the role, but the race thing seemed anachronistic and really didn't work for me. Similarly with Lucy Liu's little part, much though I'm always happy to look at Lucy Liu. ;) But aside from that, loved it, and had the songs in my head for days. :)

* Boxing Day, we watched "Whale Rider." This is a very moving little New Zealander film about a young girl struggling to (according to the tagline) "fulfill her destiny" or (according to me) "be the grandson her grandfather always wanted." A really interesting and engaging movie, albeit with quite a predictable ending. And the acting, especially the little girl, was *excellent.*

* New Year's Eve, we watched "Bend It Like Beckham." Fabulous movie!! Everyone should see this one, immediately. Get thee to thy video rental place! Go now! True, the story treads much of the same ground covered by "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," but with a much different setting, and it doesn't feel hackneyed or derivative at all. Lots of laughs and a pretty satisfying ending. I may actually have to buy this one. LOVE the subplot with the mom's false assumption, esp. the hilarious bit about George Michael. ROTFL! And I discover that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is still sexy even when he's not all glammed up. Slurp!

* New Year's Day, we watched "Pirates of the Caribbean." I have to say that although it was fun, I definitely didn't think it worth the huge fuss that certain of y'all have been making over it. Okay, yes, Johnny Depp is hot in kohl and leather, and yes, he is in fact the Gayest Pirate Ever(tm), but really, people, it was just not that good. And you know, it wasn't even all THAT slashy, even despite the presence of Orlando Bloom who apparently, in some people's minds, automatically equals slash regardless of context. ;) Plus, let's not even talk about plot holes large enough to drive the Millennium Falcon through. Oh, I lied, let's talk about at least one of them, like the fact that if the pirates were all already cursed when they threw Will's dad into the ocean, then he couldn't drown, now could he? But maybe they'll go somewhere with that in the sequel.

Anyway, that's the quick summary of the movies we saw. And yes, on NYE when we got back from the video store, I did suddenly realize that we had rented two movies starring the same chick (Kiera Knightley(sp?)) all unintentional-like, and that was amusing. But, you know, whatever. ;)

Hey, watching movies is fun. I should do more of it. *thinks sadly about "Firefly" DVDs sitting unopened in her apartment*

Comments

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

I think the idea wasn't that he drowned, but that he was sent to teh bottom of the ocean with a huge weight permanently attached to his feet. presumably he was still alive down there but unable to get anywhere.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but he could have just hacked off his feet. And then gotten himself a peg-leg. These are pirates we're talking about here, after all!

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Probably got eaten by a shark.

[velcroswench.livejournal.com]

Ha! Same quibble I had. And hello, said they were attached to his bootstraps. Take your boots off boy! ;D

[munoz.livejournal.com]

if the pirates were all already cursed when they threw Will's dad into the ocean, then he couldn't drown, now could he?

That's not a plot hole, it's an irrelevant factoid. The end result is the same: he's still at the bottom of the ocean. No one would have seen him drown anyway - it was an assumption by the pirates, who obviously weren't all that bright. The one problem I had with it was that, of course, as soon as the last coin enters the chest, Will's father does drown. Oops. But it seems no one cared, and to have it come up would have complicated the plot (they'd have had to go find him first). Regardless, it's still not a plot hole.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

It's a plot hole in the sense that everyone, including Will when he hears the story, just seems to go "oh, okay, he's dead then." I can believe that of the pirates because they're idiots, but clearly Will, who is smarter and has more emotional investment in his father, should go "Wait a minute! That means he's still down there somewhere..." and etc. Of course it would have complicated the plot, that's why they didn't put it in, and that's why it's a plot hole!

also, see my reply to tiggrrl above.

[munoz.livejournal.com]

I guess we define "plot hole" differently. To me, a plot hole is something that causes problems for the plot - mistakes in the storyline that make it not work, or make parts of it unnecessary (like, for example, the existence of Eagles in LOTR making the whole trek to Mordor pointless, which Tolkien only barely escaped from by saying they don't get involved in the affairs of Men). Whether or not Will's father is "alive" or not doesn't change anything. That he did not hack off his feet and rise to the surface isn't a plot hole, it just means he didn't hack off his feet and rise to the surface. Who knows why? Doesn't matter - we don't know enough about him to know whether or not he could have escaped on his own.

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking sadly of those unopened Firefly DVDs in your apartment too. ;) Imagine how good they'd look in my DVD player!

Just kidding. I'm getting my own for Valentine's Day/my birthday. At least, I think Ken understands what is expected. I may have to go hit him on the head with an anvil a few more times.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

lol, keep your mitts off my DVDs! ;)

Pirates.

[frightened.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree, it wasn't a good film. It was just so much fun, especially the Gayest Pirate Ever.

Regarding Bootstrap Bill, what various people in some community or other (oh, I'm so precise with my referencing) said was that the pressure at the bottom of the ocean was such that even an undead skeleton would have found himself inconveniently in bits and unable to move. So presumably he would've died when the curse got lifted. Of course, the movie-makers may or may not follow this, and it may or may not be true (just going with what quite a lot of other people seemed to think).

Re: Pirates.

[frightened.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me - given the undead pirates walk along the ocean floor at one point, clearly they're not going with that. Unless, of course, the ocean was nowhere near as deep in that bit.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

The subtextplot in Bend it like Beckham was supposed to have been textplot; alas that it wasn't. [Reposted to fix tags.]

[xochiquetzl]

I thought that Bootstrap Bill got to untie himself underwater, which would probably take a really long time, but he couldn't drown so he has all the time he needs...

[simplelyric.livejournal.com]

My thoughts regarding PotC ran very similarly to yours. And I figure either Bootstrap Bill was stuck roaming around at the bottom of -- er, what was that called? Davey Jones' Locker? -- until the curse was broken and he got drowned/crushed by the water pressure; or else in the many years he was stuck down there he managed to free himself, haul himself up, whatever so that he was on a boat or dry land and safe by the time the curse was broken.