Pirate Week (Post #2)

On Saturday, I picked up my brother and we met our parents at Laurel Park for lunch and a matinee. After a Three Cheese Olga, some Snackers and some Curley Fries, we saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Aside from the wait-staff who couldn't stop using the phrase "No problem," the lunch was Olgariffic. "Can I get a glass of water when you have a chance?" "No problem!" I know it's no problem; bringing water is probably the easiest part of the job. It was like we were trapped in an episode of ALF. Not only was our server saying it constantly, but the hostess said it and the guy who helped bring the food to the table used that line too. I'm sure this doesn't come as a huge surprise, but my brother and I then proceeded to give the wait-staff as much shit about their little catch-phrase as possible. It also probably comes as no surprise that I really liked the movie. Of course, I'm in the minority who actually like Dead Man's Chest. It picks up basically where Dead Man's Chest left off, but I spent the first 15 minutes w/out a clue as to what was happening. However, once I got that under control, it came together nicely. As they rescued Jack from Davy Jones' Locker / Purgatory, there were some fun references to Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, with the fucked up illogic of the after-life. Keith Richards is also pretty fun as Jack's dad. His part is small (in fact it was probably filmed in a day or two), but he even gets to sit in the background and play guitar a little bit. He had some sort of fake nose which made him completely unrecognisable to my brother. Or maybe it was his intelligible speech that threw him off... or the fact that he didn't look dead. I guess those make-up people really can work miracles. Other aspects of the film include the fact that Keira Knightley Finally looks old enough for her part, the fantastic cinematography, and the great fight scenes. In fact in one of the fights, Johnny Depp gets to slide down a sail with his knife stuck in it like Errol Flynn in Captain Blood (and like Sloth in The Goonies). The little reference was nice after the little nod to that film in The Curse of the Black Pearl when Orlando Bloom Stood on the side of the boat just like this. I'm a sucker for homages and intertextuality. I could have gone for a baby carriage disaster too or maybe the timpani roll from Lawrence of Arabia when Jack was in the desert in Purgatory, but, alas, it was not to be. I suppose it could have also used a shot of Keira Knightley's tits, but then again, what movie wouldn't be enhanced buy such a scene? This concludes Post #2 of Pirate Week. Be sure to check back for more pirate fun and games through Friday here at Visions of Ypsi.