8
august 2006
lifestyles
the stentorian I ncssm
Summer films: flop or fly?
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By Whitney Baker
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man s Chest,
sizzled when it came to box office performance. It
grossed over $55 million on opening day, moving
up to $135 million by the end of the weekend.
The world’s swankiest pirate. Captain Jack
Sparrow (Johnny Depp), over-zealous do-
gooder Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and pirate
enthusiast Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley)
return to continue their adventures on the high
seas, beginning with the results of their previous
actions in the 2003 hit. The Curse of the Black
Pearl. An arrest warrant for Will Turner and
Elizabeth Swann sets the plot ball rolling on to an
unforeseeable end.
Dead Man’s Chest is full of the things that
make an action movie bearable; good visuals, fun
and refreshing action scenes and jokes to break the
tension at just the right moment. Depp’s outrageous
performance still manages to make the audience
giggle with just a wiggle of the hips and a line or
two about rum. From the drunken debauchery of
pirating port Tortuga to the new ship of nasties
that Captain Jack and his crew encounters. Dead
Man’s Chest keeps true to the carefree spirit of the
original and builds on genuine pirate lore to make
for an entertaining story.
However, it does rely too much on the success
of its predecessor, and that is where Dead Man s
Chest takes the turn from a fresh and unique film
to an attempt to recreate something audiences have
already seen. This common “sequel sickness” takes
hold in the form of stale jokes and more plotlines
than stars in the night sky. The witty humor that
made the first movie so popular was dug out of the
bin to be reused in this one. These revisits to old
jokes were enough to make one wonder whether
this was the same film or not.
The biggest failing of the film was the lack of
closure. As an audience, it’s not a lot to ask for some
amount of satisfaction from two-and-a-half hours of
time spent sitting in a dark theater, but the last line
delivered left the viewer with a hollow feeling and
more questions than any movie should ever evoke.
Rather than hyping up the third and final installment
in the trilogy, the open-endedness of the closing in
Dead Man’s Chest was annoying.
While the film as a whole was an enjoyable
experience, it doesn’t stand out as a remarkable
sequel—a feat which franchises like Shrek have
proven to be possible.
SUPERMAN
RETURNS
By Mary Kohlmann
Superman Returns opens on Clark Kent’s return
from a five-year journey to the hole in the sky where
the planet Krypton used to be. In a classic homecoming
twist, he discovers that, while he is ready to pick back
up saving the world where he left off, the world has
moved on. Even the Daily Planet has gone forward
without Clark Kent—as has its star reporter. Lois Lane
(Kate Bosworth) has a five-year-old son, a nice live-in
boyfriend, and deep eontempt for everything to do with
Superman. Brandon Routh’s 2006 Man of Steel has
to fight harder to redeem himself in the eyes of those
around him than he does to defeat Lex Luthor (Kevin
Spacey) and his girlfriend Kitty (Parker Posey)—and
that’s hard enough. When Lois and her sickly little Jason
are kidnapped, will Superman be able to save the ones
he loves? Of course, but the ride is fun.
The movie’s humor was often quick and lively,
snapping along without feeling a need to pause and admire
the joke. Much of the comedy is in characterization.
Routh’s Kent is as endearingly dorky as his Superman
is smugly charming, and Spacey and Posey are nothing
short of hilarious. Jason, Lane’s son, also shows
more honest warmth and wit than child characters are
generally allowed. But particularly enjoyable were the
occasional tributes to earlier incarnations of Superman,
which incorporate Kal-L dogma (“It’s a bird! It’s a
plane!”) in wry but genuinely funny ways.
Superman Returns again pays tribute to its
predecessors with its beautiful visuals. The revolving
Daily Planet logo is constantly in our view, and the
immortal red S is as bold as ever. While many scenes
appear perfectly modem, in others we feel a brush of
comic-book nostalgia. Lois’s clothes often carry some
tribute to post-war fashion. When I first saw a glimpse
of her rooftop scene in a preview, I thought the film was
set in the 1950s.
It was in the same preview, which was the first
mention I had heard of the film, that I heard the voiceover
speech Superman’s father makes about sending humanity
his son to save it from itself “Superman as Christ” is
a theme found throughout this film in touches ranging
from the above-mentioned blatant to the subtle—when
he falls in a fight, he has blood on his palms; the men
trying to kill him stab him in the side. Some people
with whom I saw this movie felt that this equivalency
between religion and pop culture was offensive, while
others found the symbolism meaningful. That one’s a
personal judgment call. The-filmmakers did succeed,
however, in making the movie feel less like an action
flick and more like art.
ADAM SANDLER
CLICK
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By Amy Bryson
For my birthday my fnends and I planned
to catch a matinee movie before going to lunch.
Wanting to get a good laugh, we decided to go
see the new Adam Sandler flick. Click, but as the
plot unraveled on the big screen in front of us, I
looked down our row and saw most of my fiiends
with tears in their eyes.
The plot consists of hardworking architect
Michael (Adam Sandler) having a difficult time
balancing work and family. He ends up finding
the solution to all of his problems in the “Beyond”
section of Bed Bath & Beyond, a life controlling
remote. While using his newest gadget, Michael
fast forwards through fights with his wife (Kate
Beckinsale), fast forwards to his promotion, and
ultimately fast forwards through his life. While
trying to speed through the tough times, he ends
up skipping the good. As the Ti-Vo-like device
builds a mind of its own, Michael loses control
and is forced to watch his body deteriorate, his
parents age and die, his children struggle to grow
up and his wife leave him for a Speedo-wearing
lifeguard.
One problem I had with this movie was the
blatant product placement found throughout. I
felt like every screen shot and at least half of the
script was based on name brands and consumer
goods. Bed Bath & Beyond is only the beginning-
- we see Twinkles, HoHos, Bose stereos... the list
goes on and on. Since when did movies become
advertisements?
Despite how funny the trailer makes this
movie out to be, it will definitely not be found
next to Waterboy, Happy Gilmore. Mr. Deeds
and Billy Madison in Adam Sandler movie
collections. While the movie wasn’t completely
disappointing, it was definitely not the comedy
my friends and I were hoping for. It had moments
that made you smile or laugh slightly, but the
overall tone was heavy and slightly depressing.
In fact, this movie is so much imlike the typical
Adam Sandler movie that many critics are calling
this his midlife crisis.
This movie really hits home on an issue with
a lot of emotional currency for men and women in
America. Since when did an Adam Sandler movie
make you ponder your life’s priorities? Sandler
has set a high standard for himself by each film
that he makes. Click not only failed to meet this
standard, but fell way below.