Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – A Review

If you haven’t heard of the Pirates franchise you must have been living in a rock. The first three films were some of the highest grossing movies ever. Johnny Depp has gone from underground and weird to overground and still a bit weird.

The plot of this instalment is a lot easier to understand than the last two films. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this film could be viewed as a self-contained entity, which is rare praise for a blockbuster in the past five years. It is left open for a squeal but there doesn’t have to be one for it to make sense.

Basically, there is a race to find the fountain of youth and everyone has their motivations. Geoffery Rush is Captain Barbossa and is amazing, as is Ian McShane as Blackbeard. Johnny Depp’s portrayal as Captain Jack is even more over the top and quite predictable but that’s okay because Captain Jack is fantastic. As a side note, I was very impressed by Keith Richards’ acting chops in his brief cameo.

What I found most disappointing about the film is the typical portrayal of the damsel in distress. As the story of Grainne O Malley shows, a strong woman pirate isn’t too far fetched but Penelope Cruz’s character fails to live up to expectations.

However, all in all this is an exciting swashbuckling adventure. And what else would you expect when you go to see a pirate movie.

Chalet Girl – A Review

British comedy- why does it work so well on TV but not in film? There are the rare gems of The Life of Brian and Withnail and I, but all in all British comedy films have been a poor lot. Kevin and Perry go Large anyone?

Chalet Girl is the tale of a working class girl (Felicity Jones) who is living in an upper class world. This upper class world is home to a rather dashing chap ( Ed Westwick). Could romance ensue? Of course it could, this story has been played out so many times.

The 97 minutes could have been cut down to one montage of snowboarding and kissing. Then letting the obligatory happy ending play out in full to give us that fuzzy feeling.

I can’t even think who would enjoy this film, the only possibility is some one who came down in the last shower and doesn’t have a concept of tired or clichéd.

Avoid at all costs.