Short Review: The Warrior's Way.

Premise: A ninja warrior finds a home in a desert western circus town to hide from his clan after they start hunting him down when he refuses to complete his mission.

Starring: Dong-gun Jang, Kate Bosworth, Danny Huston, Tony Cox, and Geoffrey Rush.

My Reaction: I was super excited for this movie to hit theaters, but never got a chance to see it. Now I have and... well... it's basically taking a poor-man's Ninja Assassin, setting it in the wild west, and filming it with the cartoonish idiocy of The Spirit. There's maybe 2 well-done scenes in the whole film. And WTF is Geoffrey Rush doing in this?


The Zed Word

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES.

Unlike everyone else, I didn't absolutely loathe the second and third Pirates movies. Sure, they weren't as good as the first one, and all the Davey Jones stuff was just a wee bit too much, but they had their moments. I particularly liked the crazy, over-the-top sword-fighting sequences--mainly for their fun choreography. But with a new director coming in, would this fourth installment be even remotely the same?

This installment gives us almost sole focus on Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Because of his past with Angelica (Penelope Cruz), he ends up on the Queen Anne's Revenge, the pirate ship helmed by Blackbeard (Ian McShane). Blackbeard then forces Jack to help him find the fountain of youth. But he's not after it alone. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is back and working for the British king, leading his men to the fountain, as well, bringing along Jack's first mate Gibbs (Kevin McNally), too. Along the way they meet some people, fight some mermaids, and have generally wacky adventures.

The first thing I noticed was that it was horribly clear this was a different director. Not only does the movie feel different, but Jack as a character feels off slightly. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing, either. The film pulls back and tries to capture the charm of the first film, though it doesn't quite get there. And in the process, it loses even some of the better things from the two sequels. For instance, there are maybe 3 good sword fights, but only one is really all that memorable, and it's pretty early on in the film. The action in the movie is scaled back, which is unfortunate, as that was always my favorite part.

Also sorely missed are some of the more secondary characters from the first three films. And no, I don't mean Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. No, I mean the comedic duos (and often Greek Chorus) Pintel and Ragetti, as well as even the two British guards whose names I can't remember at the moment (that both become pirates by the end of the third movie, if I remember correctly). In fact, the whole of the Black Pearl crew is gone because, well, the Black Pearl is gone. It's a plot device--a really weak and overall unexplored one, but one that's there.

But the movie isn't all that bad. It's not all that great, but it's not all that bad. There's just nothing incredibly memorable about it. It's a fun time while watching, but afterwards it's just pretty decent thinking back. The mermaids are a lot of fun, though, to be honest. The whole mermaid sequence was pretty scary, actually, and unnerving. And then the use of the mermaids from that point on is interesting, even though the movie doesn't really go too deep into their mythology after the surface level.

Is Captain Jack back? Not completely, but he's getting there. My feelings on this film were almost equal to my thoughts on Fast & Furious (the fourth installment in that series, as well). It's fun while you're there, but there was a lot that could have been better about it. And hopefully, like that same series, a fifth will come about that will prove to be just as good as if not better than the original. If you're a fan of the series, this one won't hurt you. It's good--it just could have been better.


I Am McLovin!

(P.S. It's a weak McLovin, but between the few fight scenes we got, some good Jack humor, and the mermaid stuff, I think it was good enough to bump up from an OK to that score.)

THE KING'S SPEECH.

Well, I finally saw it. Today was the last day it was playing at my local theater, so I figured I might as well check it out. For those of you who don't know, it tells the story of the rise of King George VI (Colin Firth), who starts out as the measly Duke of York while his father, King George V (Michael Gambon), runs the roost with his brother, Edward (Guy Pearce), is up for the throne afterward. Well, before he was George, he was Bertie, and Bertie has a stutter. So Bertie's wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), takes him to a speech therapist named Lionel (Geoffrey Rush) to get some help. Bertie and Lionel form somewhat of a friendship as they go along, Lionel trying to get the stubborn Bertie to see that he does, in fact, have a voice. The film also features Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill (which brings its Harry Potter count to 3).

There's really nothing to say about this film that hasn't already been said or inferred. The rumor mills have been spinning that it's gonna make a sweep at the Oscars. It's definitely the front runner over the previously established front-runner, The Social Network. At the very least, Colin Firth has Best Actor in the bag. So let's start there.

The acting is, obviously, brilliant. Firth does magnificently in the role, emoting the pain and struggle of not only living with a stutter, but having to be this perfect figure of authority at the same time. There's a lot of emotion displayed, most of it through his facial expressions. Bonham Carter also does well as his wife, and it's pleasant to see her not doing something bizarre. But my favorite of the bunch is Geoffrey Rush, who was outstanding as Lionel Logue. He was funny, charming, and just a bit odd. He was certainly my favorite character in the film.

The visuals of the film were also gorgeous. The camera work and cinematography worked together beautifully. There were some angles and positions that were really inspiring, and working together with what we were seeing truly pulled it together. There's a scene really early on with a car going through the fog, which was probably one of my favorite shots in the entire movie.

The only thing working against the film--for me--is that it really is Oscar-bait. As such, I found myself checking my watch rather frequently (as Oscar-bait films aren't exactly my thing, as it were). Though it wasn't particularly boring, either, thanks to the relationship and chemistry between Firth and Rush. Will I go out and buy it when it hits the shelves? Probably not, but that has nothing to do with its quality. So do I recommend it? Definitely. It's a fantastic film all around: the acting, the visuals, the music... it's all superb, and I totally agree with the accolades it has been receiving.


Royale With Cheese

(P.S. That rating is more on scale of the quality. I wouldn't even give it a Whoa, as it's definitely a 5-star film. It's going back to that difference between favorite and best. So now we wait for Anonymous to comment.)