Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

I didn’t geek over the prior Pirates trilogy when they came out. Perhaps it’s my “wavering” fear of the ocean that restricted me from placing these movies beyond the realm of ‘enjoyable’. On Stranger Tides ventures no further. After a fun opening, the film takes a step back, dragging the audience with it. However, the movie drops its sails midway and picks up some much needed speed. McShane’s Blackbeard is a total badass (but could’ve used more moments of badassery) and the mermaid sequence is brilliant. Pirates 4 remains enjoyable, but continuing this generic formula can slowly sink the series.

WATCHABLE

Source Code

Disappointment is a bitter taste. I wasn’t a fan of director Duncan Jones’ (aka David Bowie Jr.) low-brow sci-fi hit Moon, but Source Code had me wildly excited. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from some blatant rule-breaking, awkward pacing and a total cop-out ending. It’s a shame too, because I can’t help but feel like the writer originally crafted a more sophisticated bitter-sweet story before having his script fondled and maimed by the purvey hands of Hollywood. Source Code is still enjoyable on a basic level, but it could have been so much more. Oh well, maybe next time Baby Bowie.

WATCHABLE