Overunderrated
I have been pleasantly suprised by a few films recently. First up, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3: Son of Richards at the cinema a little while back, and unexpectedly found myself enjoying it. It’s a little long, but I wasn’t checking my watch at any point. The pace keeps up nicely, and the film as a whole is much more entertaining than the cludgy mess of the second Pirates. I do admit I had zero expectations, but it ticked all the boxes for me, including having the Right Kind of ending for a happy movie, leaving the characters carrying on with their stories rather than just stopping dead with the end of the movie. This does, unfortunately, leave it open for yet another sequel, but if the Bruckheimer can restrain himself they’ll be left as a nicely contained trilogy where the continuting adventures are left to your imagination.
Secondly, due to some whimsical recording, I found myself watching Lindsay Lohan vehicle Mean Girls late on saturday night. What I hadn’t previously realised is that it’s written by (and features) Tina Fey, of SNL, and is, in fact, pretty brilliant. There’s a good touch of black Heather’s style comedy, including some literal getting hit by a bus, and in general the film has more in common with the John Hughes and Brat Pack style 80s teen movies than it does with more recent releases. Plus, the Janitor from Scrubs plays Cady’s dad.
Finally, I got round to watching Clerks II last night, again not expecting a lot. Instead the film was proper continuation of the first one, though not quite as funny. I can see why people could have been put of, as it’s still a little sideways from a regular comedy, but everything is so in the character of the film, including the random dance sequence, you can’t help but like it. I still think Chasing Amy is the movie where Kevin Smith really hooked up all the disparate parts of his film making, but anyone that’s a fan of the first Clerks should enjoy this one.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed Pirates 3. I’ve done my best to not see it, I hated, simply hated, the seocnd film with such a passion that I dont know how they can save it. But perhaps I’ll give it a go now.
Havn’t seen either of the other two you mention. I’m looking forward to Shrek 3 and perhaps even the oddly titled:
Clerks III: Everything else is a trilogy so why not?
“if the Bruckheimer can restrain himself”
About as much chance as Woo leaving doves out of his next film!