Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Synopsis

The roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow's (Johnny Depp) idyllic pirate life capsizes after his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), steals his ship, the Black Pearl, and later attacks the town of Port Royal, kidnapping the governor's beautiful daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). In a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl, Elizabeth's childhood friend Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) joins forces with Jack. What Will doesn't know is that a cursed treasure has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as the undead

As Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) steps off his sinking dingy onto the wharf at Port Royal you just know things are going happen around him. He wants to steal a Royal Navy ship to retrieve his ship, the Black Pearl, from the blackguard Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who led a mutiny against him. He?s fortunate that Barbossa's men have recently kidnapped Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), the daughter of the British Governor because she holds the key to reversing a curse visited on Barbossa and his men after they stole a chest of Inca gold. Elizabeth's fiance Commander Norrington (Jack Davenport) is reluctant to go in pursuit, but Sparrow isn't, and neither is the young man who truly loves Elizabeth, sword-maker Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).

Where other high-concept movies have fallen to earth Pirates of the Caribbean soars. And it's for a number of reasons. The first would have to be the writing team of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio of Shrek fame; they've created characters with wit and charm and a narrative that is unbelievable fun. And then there's director Gore Verbinski who directs at a rattling good pace, letting his fine actors chew the scenery. And they do. 

Johnny Depp's portrayal of Jack Sparrow is a sight to behold braided hair, a suspect gait, teeth that either need a good diet or some more fillings from ill-gotten gains and an accent that's mid-Atlantic cockney. It's such a cheeky performance, and he gets away with it! As does Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, he's absolutely wonderful. Those are the two standouts but they're all good. I haven't had such a rollicking good time in the cinema in ages.

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Toy Story 3

          Toy Story 3 is Pixar's eleventh feature film and the second sequel to their first film Toy Story. The film was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Lee Unkrich, who edited the previous films and co-directed the second, took over as director. Toy Story 3 was released in theatres and 3D on June 18, 2010. 

It won dozens of awards, including the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song, and was the highest grossing animated film of all time, until it was surpassed by Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen in March 2014. This is the Toy Story production that marked the first appearance of Bonnie Anderson and her toys.

Story

In Toy Story 3, Andy is getting ready to depart for college while most of his toys have been lost over the years, and now only Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Slinky, Bullseye, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and the Aliens remain. However, when Andy's departure is around the corner, what will happen to them?

Starting Plot

The film opens with an action sequence in the Wild West, in which Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (acting as One-Eyed Bart and One-Eyed Betty) are committing a train robbery until Woody appears to stop the crime. Woody is knocked off the train by One-Eyed Betty, only to be caught by Jessie riding Bullseye. Then, Bart and Betty set off explosives that destroy a bridge and make their escape in their car driven by the Aliens. Woody tries to save the orphans (troll dolls), but the train falls off the bridge with Woody still inside. Suddenly, the entire train is lifted high into the air and saved by Buzz. Buzz then disintegrated One-Eyed Bart and Betty's getaway car with his laser. 

This leads to a standoff between Woody, Buzz and Jessie against the One-Eyed's and the Aliens, made more fierce when One-Eyed Bart releases Slinky (playing the Attack Dog With A Built-In Force Field), and Woody responds by releasing Rex (playing the Dinosaur Who Eats Force Field Dogs). Suddenly, Evil Dr. Porkchop flies into view in his airship and picks up the One-Eyed couple and their associates, and presses a button labeled "Death by Monkeys". A huge army of monkeys are released, and they quickly swarm and bring down Rex before capturing Woody, Buzz and Jessie, and holding them down. Just as One-Eyed Bart is about to press the "Death" button to kill the heroes, the sequence ends and goes into Andy's room, revealing that it was all just an imagination of a child. A series of home video clips of Andy is then screened, showing him growing up and playing with his toys through the years. 

Ending Plot

Andy drives the toys to Bonnie's house, where he pulls them from the box and passes them on to her one by one, explaining their names, personalities, and other traits. Finally, Bonnie looks into the bottom of the box and sees Woody, who (having decided he didn't want to be separated from his friends) had jumped into the box before leaving the note, and leaving Andy confused about how he'd gotten in there.

Andy picks Woody up before Bonnie can, but then sees the surprised look on her face as well as all of his other old toys lined up together with her. In one last symbolic gesture, he gives Woody to Bonnie, telling her that they've been through a lot together, and he means a lot to him, so she's got to take good care of him. Bonnie gladly accepts, and Andy joins her in playing with what are now her toys one last time. 

Soon, it's time for Andy to leave, and as he sits in his car and prepares to pull away, he looks back to see Bonnie waving Woody's hand at him. He smiles, and thanks his toys for a great life together before. When Bonnie goes inside with her mother, the toys watch Andy drive away as they all wish him a final goodbye, before Woody starts introducing his friends to the rest of Bonnie's toys. 

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Fast and Furious

Fast and Furious Movie

Brian O'Conner is an undercover Los Angeles cop who aspires to become a detective. When he is tasked to stop hijackers led by Dominic Toretto from stealing expensive electronics equipment off of trucks, Brian must choose between his obligation to the LAP and his friendship with Toretto after he becomes good friends with his family.

The title rights (but not the story rights) of the 1955 film The Fast and the Furious were purchased so that the title could be used on this project, another film about racing. According to an interview found on the original DVD release, Cohen was inspired to make this film after reading a Vibe magazine article about street racing in New York City and watching an actual illegal street race at night in Los Angeles. 

       The film was shot in various locations within Los Angeles and parts of Southern California. Key locations included Dodger Stadium (on the opening scene where Brian tests his Eclipse on the parking lot), Angelino Heights, Silver Lake and Echo Park (the neighborhoods around Toretto's home), as well as Little Saigon (where Tran destroys the Eclipse) and the San Bernardino International Airport (the venue for Race Wars, which attracted over 1,500 import car owners and enthusiasts). The entire last rig heist scene was filmed along Domenigoni Parkway on the South side of San Jacinto/Hemet in the San Jacinto Valley in California near Diamond Valley Lake.

       Prior to filming, both Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez did not have driver's licenses, so they took driving lessons during production. In one scene at Toretto's home, the gang is seen watching Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, another film directed by Cohen. For the climactic race scene between Brian and Toretto, separate shots of both cars crossing the railroad and the train crossing the street were filmed, then composited together to give the illusion of the train narrowly missing the cars. A long steel rod was used as a ramp for Toretto's car to crash through the semi-truck and fly in mid-air.

The Fast and the Furious was released on DVD on January 2, 2002. A second print known as the "Tricked Out Edition", released on June 3, 2003, featured Turbo-Charged Prelude, a short film that set the tone to the film's sequel. An abridged version of the short film is also on the DVD of that sequel. The film was released on HD DVD along with 2 Fast 2 Furious on September 26, 2006, along with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift on DVD, and on Blu-ray disc on July 28, 2009 along with Fast & Furious on DVD and Blu-ray. 

The Fast and the Furious was released on June 22, 2001 in North America and ranked #1 at the box office, earning $40,089,015 during its opening weekend. Its widest release was 2,889 theaters. During its run, the film has made a domestic total of $144,533,925 along with a foreign total of $62,750,000 bringing its worldwide total of $207,283,925 on a budget of $38 million, making it a financial success. 

The Fast and The Furious received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a score of 53% based on 146 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a metascore of 58 on Metacritic from 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "a gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an action picture that's surprising in the complexity of its key characters and portents of tragedy." Vin Diesel's portrayal of Dominic Torretto won praise In particular with Reece Pendleton of the Chicago Reader writing "Diesel carries the movie with his unsettling mix of Zen-like tranquility and barely controlled rage." 

Other reviews were more mixed. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying that Cohen "at least knows how to keep matters moving and the action sequences exciting." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C, saying it "works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post gave the film a scathing review, calling it "Rebel Without a Cause without a cause. The Young and the Restless with gas fumes. The Quick and the Dead with skid marks." Paul Clinton of CNN wrote that Cohen "created a high-octane, rubber-burning extravaganza" but he criticized the film for "plot holes you could drive the proverbial truck through" and an idiotic ending.

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Star Wars : The Force Awakens

Star Wars : The Force Awakens Movie

Plot Summary

         Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights.

        The big news about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is spoiler alert that it’s good! Despite the pre-release hype, it won’t save the world, not even Hollywood, but it seamlessly balances cozy favorites Harrison Ford, ladies and gentlemen and new kinetic wows, along with some of the niceties that went missing as the series grew into a phenomenon, most crucially a scale and a sensibility that are rooted in the human. 

        It has the usual toy-store-ready gizmos and critters, but it also has appealingly imperfect men and women whose blunders and victories, decency and goofiness remind you that a pop mythology like “Star Wars” needs more than old gods to sustain it.

        Much as in the real world, though, the war has dragged on, and now Luke, Leia and Han have been succeeded by a charismatic, talented trio played by Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley who look more like the multitudes humankind contains, a genuine diversity infrequently represented in our movies. Yet while these three are variations on the original holy trinity, part of what makes them contemporary isn’t just their skin colors but also the slippery playfulness of their roles. Mr. Isaac, as a resistance pilot, Poe Dameron, suggests a next-generation Han, but so does Mr. Boyega as Finn, stormtrooper turned refusenik. The one seemingly unambiguous note is that the new-school Luke Skywalker is a young woman, a desert scavenger named Rey (Ms. Ridley), who shares Luke’s skill set and love of natural fabrics.

        That Finn saves Rey and she saves him in turn isn’t a new dynamic Princess Leia, created in the wake of second-wave feminism, was always a thoroughly liberated woman, whether shooting a laser gun or working a metal bikini. Leia is now a resistance general and played with a muted twinkle and tasteful up-do by Ms. Fisher. Like Mr. Ford, she has become more of a supporting player in a crowded room that also includes Adam Driver, who brings intensity and flowing physical grace to Kylo Ren. Among the strongest creations of Team Abrams, Kylo Ren is a kind of baby Darth Vader who throws tantrums in inky-black robes while wearing a leather-and-metal head appliance that looks like a domination mask by way of the grille of a 1952 Chevy.

        As for the story, well, it’s as simple as ever, with the usual complications and a bestiary of cute, cuddly and loathsome creatures (humanoid and not) with odd names and habits that keep this circus jumping. It’s the old war of all against all, with fur and feathers, snouts and slapstick, and a guest appearance by Oedipus.

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