Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Making Port in Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides


POSSIBLE MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD

Arrrr!! We’re setting sail one last time for Stranger Tides! With Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales releasing in theatres this Friday, May the 26th in America I’ve been over the past month diving back into the first three Pirate movies and discussing them, giving my thoughts towards the movie. You can check out those blogs, and I recommend you do before reading this blog.

Curse of the Black Pearl
http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/04/curse-of-blogging-pearl-nintendo.html

Dead Man's Chest
http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/05/setting-sail-for-pirates-of-caribbean.html

At World's End
http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/05/sailing-over-edge-in-pirates.html

Today I’ll be discussing the recent entry in the Pirates franchise, Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is not my favorite entry in the series and actually I can say this is my least favorite. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t adore it like the previous movies.

After the whole ordeal with Davy Jones, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) pinches (Pirates pirating from pirates.) the map to Davy Jones’s locker from Captain Barbossa and if you saw the end credit scene for At World’s End you’ll see Jack discovers it also leads to the Fountain of Youth (As well as other possible treasures), which is said to grant eternal life, or at least give you a couple more years anyway. 

Photo by Peter Mountain - © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Of course things don’t go as planned and Jack, along with first mate Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) with the Pearl nowhere in sight (Thanks Barbossa) end up in London with Gibbs standing trial (As well as being accused of being Jack Sparrow… Whoops) soon to be hung. Captain Jack in attempt to rescue his first mate manages to get Gibbs’s sentence changed to life in prison and after trying to escape Jack ends up face to face with King George II himself. His majesty proceeds to order Jack to guide an expedition to the Fountain of Youth (Having a map and a magic compass must of caused this.) before the Spanish Navy can locate it. Jack wouldn’t be alone, no King George II appoints Jack to serve alongside an old nemesis now turned Privateer for the British Navy, Captain Hector Barbossa. Yeah apparently the Black Pearl is gone, again. That ship sure goes through a lot.

© 2011 - WALT DISNEY PICTURES/JERRY BRUCKHEIMER FILMS

Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), now with a missing leg and no Black Pearl has his own agenda however and seeks to confront the villain of the movie to avenge his leg and the pearl. Speaking of villain, this movie takes a bit of a different approach to the villain of choice. While the previous movies featured Barbossa himself as a villain, who is an original character with some faint inspirations from real pirates and Davy Jones who is based on the legend of Davy Jones’s Locker and The Flying Dutchman (Not Davy Jones from the Monkees) this villain is straight out of real life, though with some Disney exaggeration, the ruthless pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge.  

© 2011 - WALT DISNEY PICTURES/JERRY BRUCKHEIMER FILMS

Blackbeard, real name Edward Teach (Not sure if this applies to the movie.) was a pirate from the early 1700s who operated around the West Indies and at the time the eastern coast of Britain’s North American Colonies. (Before the USA was a thing.) Blackbeard proved to be a fearless and dangerous pirate in those times and it only makes sense for Pirates of the Caribbean (Which takes place during that time period) to finally bring Blackbeard into the Pirate mix. As far as the Disney exaggeration (Bringing just Blackbeard into the movie wouldn’t be that interesting) well Blackbeard just so happens to wield the mythical “Sword of Triton” that allows him to almost become one with his ship, in pretty scary ways.

© 2010 - Walt Disney Pictures

Also along for the ride is another Jack Sparrow? Or should I say Angelica (Penelope Cruz) who disguises herself as Jack in order to commandeer a crew to find the Fountain herself. Basically a lot of people are after this fountain. Angelica just so happens to be, one of many, of Jack’s former lovers and after a reencounter Jack gets swooned and shanghaied aboard Blackbeard’s ship.

© 2011 - WALT DISNEY PICTURES/JERRY BRUCKHEIMER FILMS

After a failed mutiny aboard Blackbeard’s ship Jack is forced to guide the Blackbeard crew to the fountain. It’s not so simple however and the crew of the Queen Anne’s Revenge must retrieve a couple of items before heading to the fountain. First off they must have two silver chalices and then the tear of a Mermaid. These aren’t your typical Disney Mermaids however they tend to bite. See the Fountain of Youth isn’t an automatic way of becoming immortal; actually it’s impossible to become immortal via the fountain. One must drink from the chalice without a tear and one must drink the chalice with a tear, these chalices being filled with water from the Fountain. In doing so one’s remaining years will be transferred to the person drinking the tear and the wielder of the non tear infused chalice will die. There’s always a catch, huh?

© 2010 - Walt Disney Pictures

Anyway this movie while being my least favorite does have an interesting plot, though it seems to drag on and to me seemed like a long movie, odd part is that this movie is actually the shortest movie out of the entire series. Not to down the movie too much but I also found myself missing certain characters from the previous movies such as Mr. Cotton, Cotton’s Parrot and Pintel and Ragetti. Jack the Monkey does make a small appearance however when Jack discovers the Black Pearl has been shrunk down by Blackbeard’s magic and shoved into a bottle. Despite the downers I still enjoyed Johnny Depp as well as Geoffrey Rush’s performance like always and I have to say Ian McShane made a pretty awesome Blackbeard. This is very much a standalone film somewhat like the first movie and while I don’t like it as much as the previous movies it’s definitely worth watching in anticipation for the first movie.

Fun fact about this movie is that it’s actually based on a book! Yeah this movie is actually based on the events of the 1987 released Tim Powers “On Stranger Tides” novel. While Jack is not present in said novel it’s still based around the same plotline of Blackbeard seeking the Fountain of Youth. I’m actually surprised I didn’t put the two and two together until now, On Stranger Tides is a classic historical pirate fantasy novel. There’s actually a unabridged audio book of “On Stranger Tides” on Hoopla (Read this blog to learn more about Hoopla: http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/05/unlock-free-online-book-library-with-hoopla.html) so I think I’ll be giving that a listen while I knit/paint! (Can you knit and paint at the same time? No idea maybe I should try that, I got feet maybe I could paint with my feet.)

To watch this movie go check it out on iTunes a lower then expected price of $12.99 for HD and, well $12.99 for SD. I guess HD is the way to go if you can handle the download.


That’s the final Pirates of the Caribbean blog for now, thanks for joining me on this cruise through these awesome Pirate films! The pirate journey isn’t over however as this Friday May 26th marks the release in theatres of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Photo by Film Frame - © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This is the beginning of the final adventure for Jack Sparrow as he comes face to face with an old enemy from his youth.

Photo by Film Frame - © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) a former Spanish navy turned zombie pirate hunter (Haven’t we done this before? Though I don’t think Barbossa was this flakey.)  after he escapes from the Devil’s Triangle (The infamous Bermuda Triangle.) seeks to wipe out every pirate in existence, most of all Jack himself and his determined to find the legendary Trident of Poseidon which seems to be this movie’s treasure. Along the ride is also Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner, guess who? Yes before leaving for the 10 year curse it seems William Turner managed to have a child with Elizabeth Swan. All grown up now (Man how old is Jack at this point?) he seeks to break the curse that’s stopping him from reconnecting with his father. He’s also joined by Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth, a go getter astronomer.

© Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Sounds like a pretty awesome wrap up to the Pirates of the Caribbean film series especially with Orlando Bloom coming back as Will Turner and Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swan. Sucks that Pintel and Ragetti will STILL not be in this movie, I guess they didn’t survive when Blackbeard attacked the Black Pearl. Speaking of the Black Pearl I’m hoping they wrap up that storyline as well. Anyway it’s releasing this Friday so be sure to go check it out! I’ll be discussing that movie later on this year when it gets a digital release on iTunes and DVD. Also has anyone else noticed how they managed to get someone who looks like he actually could be William or even Orlando Bloom's son?

That’s not the end however! Something else is releasing this Friday, May 26th. This Friday marks the release of the 4th entry in my ZAK Knits Youtube series! Yes after a couple months absence and a lack of knitting I’m back in the groove and bringing you a new ZAK Knits episode. Basically I knit, talk about knitting and show you guys how I knit. (I’m saying it like this because I’m not 100% certain I’m doing everything the RIGHT way.) These episodes have been a blast to record and edit and I can’t wait to start bringing more to the ZAK Entertainment Youtube Channel. Before the new Episode launches early Friday morning check out the previous 3 entries (And one mini entry) by going to the ZAK Knits youtube playlist! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiAcQAX8vtXr3SUFzkEkKFdyGP4yxJY-4


As a teaser here’s a photo I took of the project I’m working on right after filming. Yes this new ZAK Knits episode will focus on my afterthought heel sock project, more importantly doing the cable row. See I’m not using a normal cable needle and you’ll see what I mean on Friday. You’ll soon learn you don’t always need a dedicated cable needle to do cable knitting. I’m sorry about the lack of knitting on my part lately, after recording this video however I’m back in the groove so I should be pushing through this sock project and hopefully some new projects!

Until then however I’ll see you guys on Friday.

That’s a wrap folks!

PS I know some of you are pretty excited after last night's Flash season finale... Keep an eye out soon when I discuss the 3rd season!

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