Soundtrack Treasures Collection

This is a collection of the three official soundtracks for the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, plus a bonus CD with eight extra tracks that were previously unreleased:
1. Pirates, Day One, 4:56AM
2. Marry Me
3. The Heart of Davy Jones
4. Lord Cutler Beckett
5. Jack's Theme Bare Bones Demo
6. Hoist the Colours Suite
7. The Pirate Lord of Singapore
8. Just Good Business
All of it is very good - they're expansions or alternatives of most of the major themes in the movie. 'Marry Me' especially is a beautiful expansion of one of Will and Elizabeth's themes - evoking Will's sadness at the choice he has to make - saving his father, taking Jones' place and losing Elizabeth, or leaving his father to spend eternity on the Flying Dutchman.
The 'Hoist the Colours Suite' contains, to my delight, the full orchestral version of the theme, played at the entrance to Shipwreck Cove.
But my favourite by far has to be 'Lord Cutler Beckett': there wasn't much of a theme for Beckett in the movie, and this track totally rectified that for me.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I'm indifferent towards the Sherlock Holmes books. I've only read the bare minimum (i.e. The Hound of the Baskervilles, A Study in Scarlet, and a couple of others I can't remember). They're very good - mysterious and all that, but I'm not totally googly-eyed over them like I am over Pirates.
The Sherlock Holmes TV series, that scared me, actually. Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes struck me as insane. Now, I'm usually okay with insane, 'cause me and my family are pretty much the reason such a word exists. But, see, I always thought of Sherlock as a bit antisocial and eccentric, but definitely NOT insane. Nevertheless, Jeremy Brett opened my mind, and even though I was a tad disturbed, his performance struck a chord, and I found myself cheering him on.
So, when I heard there was to be a movie adaptation of the world's most famous detective, with Robert Downey, Jr. playing the titular role and Jude Law as his loyal friend Watson, I was simultaneously intrigued, wary, and excited.
I didn't get to see it in the cinemas, but I made up for that by watching it in Blu-Ray. And, I thought it was awesome.
Downey deserves his Golden Globe for his portrayal of Sherlock. Anti-social at times, check. Eccentric, double check. But I didn't see the insanity that I saw in the Jeremy Brett portrayal. This Sherlock is down-to-earth, able to defend himself in a fight (indeed, he likes to pick a few of his own!), and downright charming when the mood takes him. I liked the constant referencing and quoting of the books, and even though Downey's Holmes is a bit more action hero than detective, credit must go to Guy Ritchie for explaining this Holmes' fighting proficiency by working in little slo-mo scenes showing how Holmes' superhuman deductive skills and powers of observation allow him to best anyone fighting him. I also appreciated the slight reference to cocaine in the movie, as seen in the books, but absent from the TV series.
And Watson! Jude Law really breathed new life into the character, as previous actors made him look like a bumbling idiot. Hello? Watson is a DOCTOR. He's served in the Afghan war and lived to tell the tale. This man possesses significant intelligence of his own; perhaps he isn't brilliant in the same way as Holmes, but Watson is ten times more street-smart and sociable.
However, what's better that either Holmes or Watson in this movie is actually the depth of the relationship portrayed between them. Watson and Holmes have a love-hate relationship, a bromance: Holmes, at every turn, tries to keep Watson from marrying Mary, so that they may continue solving cases together; and Watson cannot help but be sucked into the cases that Holmes is investigating, despite his efforts to the contrary.
Mark Strong, as always, is a dab hand at playing the villain (in this case, Lord Blackwood) and genuinely freaked me out in some parts (i.e. when he was in jail).
I cannot conclude this post without mentioning the awesome score composed by Hans Zimmer for this movie. It evokes, in its entirety, the complicated, convoluted mind of Sherlock Holmes. (It also reminds me of Jack Sparrow, for some reason.)
Can't wait for the second! (coming December 16th, 2011!)

Captain Jack Sparrow

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Before Pirates, everybody (well, pretty much everybody in my age group) thought Johnny Depp was some wacko who did emo, low budget movies and was probably gay with Tim Burton. And then...he gave us Captain Jack Sparrow.
A rum-soaked, wobbly-legged, sun-stroked, eccentric, morally ambiguous individual, with dreadlocks, gold teeth and (I imagine) a body odour to rival that of Pepe Le Pew. Yet, despite the character's many shortcomings and idiocies, we find that Sparrow is probably one of the best movie characters of the last decade, and has somehow managed to sneak his way into the public consciousness. His words are often quoted on the streets, his drunken swagger imitated, and girls everywhere love him.
We see in him a careless freedom: he goes where he pleases, takes what he likes, and does whatever he wants, something that is impossible for most of us.
Another thing that endears him to us is Sparrow's altruistic tendencies: he is a pirate, and he is willing to cheat, lie, betray and swindle his way to what he wants, but, in the end, however hard it is, he does what is best for his friends, and what he knows is the right thing to do. In short, he embodies a noble contradiction: Jack Sparrow is an ethical pirate. For example, in THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, he offers Barbossa a non-violent method of getting the medallion off the Interceptor, but Barbossa just tells him that his pacifism is what lost the Black Pearl in the first place. In DEAD MAN'S CHEST, after a moment of weakness in which he leaves the Black Pearl to the Kraken, he comes back to help his crew, and gives the order to abandon ship, the ship which he spent ten years and the entire first movie trying to get back. In the end, when he is chained to the mast, and betrayed by Elizabeth, he doesn't yell for help from Gibbs, who would rescue him in an instant, but goes down with his ship. Also, in AT WORLD'S END, if you pause the DVD and look at one of his hallucinations carefully, you can read the Desiderata tattooed on his back - a peom stating the code by which Sparrow 'tries' to live by. Sparrow also gives Will immortality to save him from dying, instead of taking it himself, even though Will has betrayed him repeatedly during the course of the film.
Also, I must say, Sparrow has an awesome outfit: besides the belts and the collectible knick-knacks he likes to adorn his person with, Jack Sparrow brought the bandanna back into fashion. And the kohl. Sparrow (or is it Depp?) really pulls off the kohl look.

Pirates of the Caribbean

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My first obsession - for about five years (probably more) and counting - I have been hooked, line and sinker, on the amazing trilogy of movies titled 'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN'. I've watched all of them so many times that the DVDs are more scratched than Homer Simpson's fat arse. They're just so cool (Homer's arse to a lesser extent.). The FX are epic (well, in the context of the time they were filmed at, I suppose - THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL's undead skeleton pirates have about the realism of kindergarten drawings next to AVATAR's CGI (like, AVATAR is jaw-dropping in 3D!)), acting is awesome (I salute you, Depp (!!! - more on him later), Rush, and Nighy. Keira, honorable mention. Orlando, darling, you're hot, and I love your character (Will Turner), but maybe you should model instead.), scenery is cool (thanks in part to the supercalifragilistically huge budgets of the sequels) and....aww, just fantastic, okay? (Just nod your head.)
I suppose part of the reason these movies have endeared themselves to me so much is that I read almost every book in my primary school's library, and some of them were about pirates, and I enjoyed these stories immensely. I loved the pirates' freedom, to do whatever the hell they wanted to do, and get away with it. TREASURE ISLAND was (and still is) a favourite of mine. (Also, I must mention that I have always wanted to know how to swordfight. I have a list ('Stuff To Do Before You Snuff It') and learning to fence is, I do believe, in the top ten. (I'll post that list someday.))
I simply don't understand why people (critics of these movies, for example) say that the sequels to THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL have convoluted plot lines and are too difficult to understand, and are too long. I got everything the first time round. And the longer a movie is, the longer the escape from boring, old, non-piratey, physics-bound reality. If your problem is that you can't hold on long enough, tough. Buy the DVD. I guarantee you won't regret it.
This movie series has also given me an enduring interest in film scores. How Hans Zimmer never won anything for his awe-inspiring work on Pirates confounds me to this day.
I must say that I was pleased, but quite puzzled when the powers that be at Disney decided Pirates 4 was worth backing. I was content with the ending provided by AT WORLD'S END (Sparrow chasing Barbossa and the Black Pearl once again), and I have this niggling suspicion that Pirates 4 is a money grab (what a shame). As a result, I am wary in regards to this movie; I don't want such a good series to flop at the end (for cricket fans, I compare such an event occuring, to the ending of Matthew Hayden's career representing Australia). On the other hand, perhaps I should keep an open mind; Captain Jack Sparrow is back, after all.

hello!

This is my first post on this blog (I think you know that already), and I'd like to welcome everyone to 'My Random Fandom'. (If anyone actually ever turns up!!) Just a place where I detail my current obsessions with anything, really. Feel free to comment on anything. Yeah. Peace.