Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The highly anticipated fourth installment of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, titled On Stranger Tides, has sailed into theatres this weekend. It of course stars Johnny Depp as *CAPTAIN*Jack Sparrow and also includes return appearances of Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Gibbs (Kevin McNally). Joining the new adventure is Penelope Cruz as Angelica and Ian McShane as the legendary pirate Blackbeard.

The basic plot revolves around the British competing in a race against the Spanish to locate the Fountain Of Youth. To accomplish this the King Of England has brought on Barbossa to lead the expedition. However, the race becomes more intriguing when Jack gets involved after a run in with a girl from his past, Angelica, which leads on board the ship of Blackbeard-who is also searching out the Fountain. And the plot thickens from there...

Allan's Take:

On Stranger Tides could be my favorite of series since the original. It's hard to say because I like all of them. It includes all the clever action sequences and humor everyone has come to expect. But what I really like is all the new ideas and creative use of new mythical things. The mermaids were awesome and quite scary at times. All the mythology surrounding the Fountain Of Youth was well thought of and presented nicely. Blackbeard was well conceived and wonderfully portrayed by McShane.

In addition to McShane all the acting was great. It doesn't get much better than having the Depp and Geoffrey Rush in the same movies. Penelope also did well.

I really enjoyed On Stranger Tides and thought it was more than worth the ticket price...GO NOW!

Jared's Take:

On Stranger Tides is possibly the best movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It rivals the first one for the best storyline of all four movies. I believe the reason for this is the fact that it is not bogged down by a love story that is dragged across three movies. Don't get me wrong though, the first three pirates movies are among my favorite movies of all time. As Allan stated the acting was top notch and what you would expect. The 3D was done very well and if you do go to see it you should go to the 3D showing.

Overall, On Stranger Tides has that sense of adventure that the first movie captured very well. Not only that, but the characters have an overall goal that they are trying to reach.

If you can't tell this is more than a ringing endorsement this is me screaming........

GO NOW!!!!!!!!

Priest

The graphic novel adaptation Priest has hit theatres this weekend. It stars Paul Bettany in the lead role as Priest. Alongside him is his partner Cam Gigandet as Hicks. They are later joined by Maggie Q as Priestess. Karl Urban plays the bad guy known as Black Hat who has arranged the kidnapping of Priest's niece Lucy, played by Lily Collins. It's this kidnapping of Lucy that forms the basis of the plot.

In this world humans and monstrous vampires have always existed together. These vamps are real monsters. They look more alien than anything in a Twilight movie. There is also a third category: the "familiars," those humans that have been infected by the vamps. They don't turn into whole vamps like what we're used to seeing in the movies. They become hybrids and look and act more like traditional movie vampires. In recent times it was discovered that priests, who could fight as warriors, were the only humans really capable of subduing the vampires. But after the war was over the church and society (the two aren't really separated) placed the priests back into regular life and they came to be treated as outcasts. But our main character Priest comes out of retirement, against the church's orders, upon news that Lucy has been taken by the vamps.

Allan's Take:

I really liked the atmosphere in Priest. It's real dark and gloomy looking all the time, although this has become more common in movies of late. I like Priest and Lucy. The performances of both Bettany and Lily were good, though we don't get to see too much of Lily. I felt indifferent to Priestess and Hicks and didn't really care for Black Hat. At first I thought it was bad acting but I came to the conclusion near the end of the movie that it was script writing for Black Hat. Everything he says sounds dumb and cheesy. So I don't think that Urban had a whole lot to work with.

There's alot of slo-mo action sequences throughout the movie that were okay. They were nothing like what we've come to see from Zack Snyder or anything. Also I don't think it was worth paying extra to see it in 3D. There wasn't a whole lot coming out at the audience.

Overall this was an okay movie. It has some really good parts but the main bad thing from me was Black Hat. He was much cooler when he wasn't saying anything

..............RENT IT.

Jared's Take:

To be honest I was disappointed in Priest. The acting was kind of dry and I did not care about the characters at all. The main place that Priest fails in is character development. This is much the same predicament that last year's Jonah Hex found itself in. I did not feel as if I knew enough about the characters to be emotionally invested in them. They could've all been eaten by vampires and I would not have cared one bit. As Allan stated the 3D was really unnecessary and underutilized. I also have a real problem with the back story of Black Hat and how he became such. It feels as if the people making the film threw that in as an afterthought. The acting of everyone involved was sub-par and what makes it painful for me to say that is that I have seen most of the cast act way better in other projects than they did in this film.

The last nitpick I have about Priest is the fact that it feels like half a movie. I cannot count how many times a movie that has a good premise falls short because the full effort was not put into it to make a good movie. As with most movies like this they always have an ending that lingers with the "promise" that more movies in the series are to follow. Priest is no exception to this and more than likely no sequel will be made. If by some miracle one is I sincerely hope it will be better than this one.

FX/TBS It

Thor

Marvel Comics' much anticipated Avenger solo film Thor has stormed into theatres this weekend like a bolt of lightening. It stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Son Of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), alongside Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, scientist and love interest. Furthermore Tom Hiddleston brilliantly plays Thor's brother and complicated foe Loki. Plus good performances by Kat Dennings, Jaimie Alexander and Stellan Skarsgård.

Thor is a well made movie in my opinion. I admit that I went into it not really expecting too much. I never really have seen the purpose and necessity of the second Iron Man movie and with that being the most recent of the Avenger movies I saw I was kind of not feeling good about this one. I was wrong (and happily so).

At its core Thor is about father-son-brother relationships. It is also about accepting responsibility and making the right and mature choices. These are lessons and principles that Thor (and Loki) must try to learn and grow through. Thor, by our earth realm standards, is a god. He has immense power but his decisions as he approaches his time of coronation to succeed his father Odin as king cost him that power...and he is banished to earth. His famous Hammer is also cast down to earth but is lodged into a stone and separated from Thor. It's at this time that Thor must forge new relationships with the people he meets on earth, mainly Jane. Will he find his Hammer, regain his power and rise to glory?

That's just half the story. While Thor is on earth we see another plot develop between Loki and Odin. Thor does a superb job of essentially telling two stories without rushing through anything.

From an action and visual standpoint Thor does not fail in the slightest. It is awesome and has cool effects. The entire film is well balanced in how it uses action and character development. All the performances of both major and minor characters are strong.

This is easily my favorite of the Avenger movies so far...............GO NOW!!!

Review: Fast Five

Fast Five is the newest entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise. Fast Five picks up literally where 2009's Fast and Furious left off. After freeing Dominic Toretto(Vin Diesel) from his one way ticket to federal prison, his sister Mia(Jordana Brewster), and longtime rival/friend Brian O'Conner arrive in Rio de Janeiro to wait for Dom. While there they pick up a job stealing some cars, but they are not alone in this as the one who organized the job is none other than Vince (You may remember him from the first movie). Everything seems to go well and on the morning of the job Dominic shows up to lend a hand. As the heist takes place things go horribly awry and this places our protagonists on the short list of Rio's well known businessman/crime boss Hernan Reyes. Unfortunately for Reyes, the people he's dealing with aren't new to this game and aren't easily threatened and to make things worse for him, they bring along a lot of familiar faces for the ride. To top it all off you have a strong willed federal agent Hobbs(Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) hot on their heels.

Fast Five is quite possibly the best film in the Fast and Furious franchise. It has everything you could want from this type of movie and more. I will be honest and safely say that this movie is not in danger of being nominated for any sort of Oscar or Golden Globe Award. With all of that said though this film works. The acting is par for the course, but all the familiar faces from the past movies are here. The stunt work and CG is some of best I've seen. The car chase sequences are bigger and better than the past four movies combined.

The actually story and path that the movie takes interests me even more. This film has plenty of familiar things, car chases, humor, scantily clad women, and too much more to list. The one place where Fast Five stands head and shoulders above the other films in the franchise is the fact that it attempts to show the more human side of the characters. I noticed more screen time was spent focusing on the protagonists and their interactions with one another than on the action sequences and I have to admit i liked that. I believe that if the franchise continues in that direction it will garner more attention and gain more fans while strengthening the existing fan base.

Overall, Fast Five is one of the best movies I have seen in the past six months and is definitely the best in the franchise. If you're a fan of the series you have to go see this one and if you're not perhaps you should give it a chance and ......

GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Stay after the credits to see a special scene that will blow your mind!!!!