Johnny on the Spot

Chris Lemler | June 9, 2011
I went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger and I think that I like this one better than the last 2 that were made. Johnny Depp is the best actor who could of played Jack Sparrow. Depp played in other movies but in my perspective Rob Marshall did a good job filming this movie.....

Jon Berry | June 10, 2011
I'm sorry, what?

Scott Hardie | June 11, 2011
Glad you liked it, Chris. I don't think Steven Spielberg directed it, though... unless you meant that as a joke, the way that some people are saying that he directed Super 8 because he may as well have. (Same for Poltergeist years ago.)

Fyi to anyone interested in writing movie reviews, I have altered the Write a Review form so that it no longer expects a link to the movie on Netflix. Once upon a time, anyone could look up a movie on Netflix whether they were a subscriber or not. But somewhere along the way, the interface changed: Trying to do almost anything on that site now takes you to the signup form, which doesn't seem like wise planning to me, but what do I know. Anyway, please contribute all of the reviews in TMR that you like whether you use Netflix or not.

Chris Lemler | June 11, 2011
I think they are getting ready to make Pirates of the Caribbean 5 I hope that Johnny Depp plays Jack Sparrow but I think he wants to take some time off to let people get a chance to see the 4th one

Scott Hardie | June 12, 2011
I read that this is intended as the start of another trilogy, which I want to be cynical about but I just can't muster the will to be. I like pirates. I like Johnny Depp. I like the music. I like the blend of literature and history and folklore. This is a fun series. They have yet to repeat the creative success of the first title (and probably never will, for lack of trying), but more movies like the fourth wouldn't be a terrible thing.

Scott Hardie | June 12, 2011
Spoiler... For what little it's worth, there is one thing that really bugged me in the fourth movie. The mermaids got a slow, moody introduction, a very unusual build-up for this series. Sure, there was obviously going to turn out to be some kind of menace to them, but the movie took its time setting that up, and I thought it was going to pay off. Just when the pirate in the rowboat became entranced with the singing mermaid, I got to thinking, "Here's something different. Here's a monster that our heroes will have to outwit. The pirates and mermaids can't just clobber each other. The director can't just slam CGI bodies against each other to resolve this. I wonder what kind of clever solution we're going to see." Then suddenly, CGI mermaids leap out of the water and slam into CGI pirates, and it turns into a dumb senseless brawl like all of the other action scenes in these movies, with a slow-motion explosion for good measure. Silly me for getting my hopes up, I guess.

Chris Lemler | June 12, 2011
I agree with you on that Scott