On Stranger Tides

The pirates are back with another sequel: The Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides. Arckham and I had the pleasure of catching it the day it was released in the Philippines.

So let's look at this movie in three parts: Characters, Setting and Plot.

Characters: I do presume Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) would no longer need any introduction. Our dear captain is back as Savvy as ever. Together with him in this movie is Penelope Cruz who plays Angelica, one of the people he had "stirrings" [apparently, according to Jack it means feelings] for. Angelica is the new female focal of the movie. Sad to say though that she fades into the background almost immediately and you rarely feel her presence throughout the movie. Yes, she made me miss Keira Knightly. The Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) and Sparrow moments are still there which is a comfort to know. Baddy of the movie would be Blackbeard played by Ian McShane who does a pretty decent job at that.

Setting: As usual with this series, the setting is amazing. The islands, the props and the costume are still top of the line. The English wigs and the Spanish Armada costumes were superb. The mermaid CG was definitely commendable. The tails and transformations were seamless. Good job on this one.

Plot: Over all, it was predictable, nearly not as funny as the previous movies in this series and the Angelica-Blackbeard relationship was really weak.

The verdict is watch it but at the comfort of your own home when you have the time. There is no need to rush or save up for this one.

Thor (2011)

Thor. Alongside Captain America, X-Men First Class and Green Lantern, this is the comic book movie I most waited for to watch this year. Good thing it came out first. 

I will not spoil the plot for those who have not seen it yet. I'll just share my thoughts on the film.

Just to give Thor fans an idea about the movie (as well as the other Marvel Studios movies), Marvel decided to create a new Universe for the movie line. Like the Transformers movies, the Marvel "Movie Universe" is mostly a clash of other existing Marvel Universes. Mainly Earth-616 and Ultimate. Such indications are that Thor does not turn into Dr. Donald Blake, Nick Fury is Sam Jackson and Captain America uses a gun.

In the case of Thor, as mentioned above, Donald Blake is not Thor's alter ego. He's just perpetually Thor, but stripped of his powers (and his hammer) so that he could learn humility as decreed by his father Odin. An indication of Ultimate, but is obviously not Ultimate Thor. So this is an in-between.

Overall visual appeal of the movie is awesome. Special effects, costumes, fight scenes and sets. Not enough lightning shooting if you ask me, but it was still awesome. The plot was pretty much predictable if you've read

Thor: Ages of Thunder and what happened between Siege and Civil War. Scriptwriting is great. A couple of jokes here and there, combat speeches, and an alarming amount of Facebook references. Lastly, casting. Casting is nearly perfect. Get someone fatter for Volstagg and you have the perfect cast.

My verdict: watch it. Even people not familiar with the comic book story would love it.