What Color Is Tuesday?

We went to the drive-in theater a few days back and saw a couple of flicks. One, I liked, the other, I could have done without. I’ll save the one I liked for another day.

Neither Lori and I have been very big “Pirates of the Caribbean” fans. We have seen all of them but we’ve not been able to get into them. We watched the first one and liked it pretty well. Lori was in her Orlando Bloom phase and I was in my Keira Knightly phase (which is not quite over, yet). We eventually saw the second, quite a while after it came out on DVD. We were pretty lost because we couldn’t remember what happened in the first one. The same thing happened for this last one. We were a little lost for a while. I’m just not that intrigued by the story line, nor do I feel like it makes sense to have such an extensive group of theiving, savage pirates who adhere so closely to some pirate code. Plus, on top of that there are so many rules that they follow that it comes across to me like kids playing on the playground who just keep making up new rules for their games as they go. It’s the reason I preferred to play alone when making believe. Then, I only had to play by my rules.

If you liked the first two movies, you’ll probably like this one. If they were just okay, then this one is way too long to enjoy. For those who say its the best of the three, in my humble opinion, they’re wrong. I’d rank them as

1. Curse of the Black Pearl
2. At World’s End
3. Dead Man’s Chest

I’d give it 2 out of 5 stars. Not one I recommend.

For a much better review of the flick, go watch my favorite video podcaster, the ninja at “Ask A Ninja“:

http://p.castfire.com/1P48R/video/1408/aanq_2007-05-25-153311.flv

We rented (wink wink, for those that know the secret) Casino Royale and watched it last night. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It is the latest edition of a James Bond flick with the newest James Bond, Daniel Craig. Now, I’ll admit to not being an expert on all the individuals that have played the role in the past but I really felt like the new guy is probably one of the best I seen in the role. How would I rank them you ask? Well, of the ones that I can remember, I would probably go with:

1. Sean Connery
2. Daniel Craig
3. Pierce Brosnan
4. Roger Moore
5. Timothy Dalton

I know there are a couple I left out but I’m too lazy (or uninterested) to even Google the rest. I’m tempted to put the newest Bond at the top of the list since I am member of Generation X and am addicted to special effects and computer enhanced movies. That means that if I had to choose between watching movies made in this century as opposed to the last, I tend to choose graphics over plot. (Shame on me)

As for this one, they followed the same plot line of the last Jack Ryan movie (starring Ben Affleck). They go back and treat Bond as just starting out, portraying events early in his career just as he has been promoted to being a double agent. They don’t worry about details like the fact the “M” is still Dame Judi Dench (or Jame Dooty, as I have been known to call her), the first woman to play the role and who entered the role along side Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye. They also don’t worry about the timeline. It is as though he is just starting out this year, not dating back to before the first Bond movie. Nevertheless, none of this interferes with the fact that it is still a very good story with a window into the more human side of James Bond.

In the end, it is probably a 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it.