A New Epic Movie?

In 2009 director Todd Phillips introduced to Hollywood a new movie, a movie that ultimately became the biggest movie of that year, The Hangover. This movie earned a whopping profit of US$45 million in the opening weekend and its total gross over a course of 9 weeks being in the theaters earned a colossal amount of US$256 million. For two years now fans of the movie were wondering if there would ever be another movie that could be as good or maybe better to what became the legendary movie, and somehow Phillips was able to top our expectations.

The Hangover: Part II, was once again almost able to literally make people "ptpfl" (pee their pants from laughing). The story line is basically the same as the first movie though instead of happening in Las Vegas the epic story takes place in Bangkok. The movie is completely unexpected. Major hangover? Absolutely. Missing limbs? Yeap, thats there. Pet monkeys? Sure, that is there as well. Transvestite pole dancers? Oh yes. You name it, its there. With unexpected moments throughout the movie, you are bound to laugh a lot. It is so good, no wonder it had the biggest gross of an R-rated movie making an extraordinary amount of US$137.4 million in the first weekend it was out.

Having the biggest opening for a comedy ever, The Hangover: Part II presents its audience with a great experience. Though most of the reviews of the movie were poor, it still is able to entertain its audience. This movie is insured to make you laugh!

New Summer Hit?

Recently I went to the movies to watch the premier of what is supposed to become the new summer hit, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and to be completely honest I did not like it that much. I mean, Johnny Depp is an incredible actor and so is Penelope Cruz so it was definitely not the acting that bothered me. What really made me leave that movie theater with a disgusted look on my face was the actual story line.

Pirates of the Caribbean has become this major thing this past decade with all the new releases and products created based on the movie, but honestly there is no context to the movie. All of the previous Pirates of the Caribbean, including the new release have the same idea, similar scenes, and nothing really new. So why is it that the creators insist in shooting a new movie every two years? There is no essence to the movies, no real analyses can be made, and there is no character development in the course of the four movies.

In all four movies there is this same outline, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is introduced in some crazy fighting scene, most times there is the evolvement of a damsel in distress, the stud who saves the girl, some sort of magic and voodoo and the final ending scene of Captain Jack Sparrow holding his compass heading off for a new adventure. For the audiences surprise this final movie had the same structure and the same ideas. These predictable movies is what I do not enjoy.

The movie Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman is a perfect example of a movie that has some context to it, in which the writer was able to show (throughout the course of one movie) the character development that Nina, the character that Natalie portrayed, had. That is a movie, which I believe should be a 'must watch' for everyone.

Keep in mind that this is a personal view of the movie and some might agree or disagree, though in my opinion Pirates of the Caribbean should not be this so called summer hit. Of course it is an entertaining movie, good to watch with your kids or friends, but if you are the kind of person, like me, who likes to analyze a movie beyond its sound and visual effects than it will be a disappointing experience.