CosmicBills

JP will impress. (edit) I should clarify...He will impress those who are still on the fence about him, not those who have already designated him to the All-Bust team.

I feel...just wrong. I just feel wrong.

Originally he wrote it as a musical. I wish I were kidding.

Agreed. It's story telling, plain and simple. And a good story is one that makes you want to pop the hood and see how the engine works. At least to me.

I don't want to come off sounding like I am trying to build POTC into the best film in history, clearly it is not. And a lot of the criticism is justified. However, one pet peeve of mine is this sort of comment. It is entirely unfair to criticize the script without reading it. What actually is on the page is very often not what appears on the screen. Changes are made whether it's the producer, director, set designer etc. I've read the script, and it is longer than the typical feature yes, but it is not bloated and does not have a wasted or unused moment -- now what happened on screen is a different story. Again, it's not that I am saying POTC is the best film ever, but the story in and of itself is more layered than most give it credit for. It's not the fault of the writers or the audience for the most part (though I agree with the attention span comments to a degree -- though not about my abbreviations ). It's that in a spectical movie, effects generally take the front seat while the story remains in the trunk. Recently, as others have pointed out, that has changed with great writers and directors tackling big box office movies (Alvin Sargent, Sam Rami in Spiderman 2, Nolan and Goyer in Batman Begins etc). In POTC you have Sparrow who, despite being a blantant shout out to Bugs Bunny (the classic Trickster character) is also a man so conflicted he doesn't know what he wants. So much so that the compas that always points to what you desire most is rendered useless in his hands. And when he finally steps up to do the right thing, to become the good man everyone sees him for, he is screwed over by the woman he loves. Depp brings his own style to the role, but there is a clear arc for Sparrow, one that is rife with conflict and desire masked by humor. In fact, everyone of the main characters has a clear desire and conflict that echos the themes present in the film. Perhaps none moreso than Davey Jones who is a reflection of not only Bootstrap Bill, but Will and Elizabeth's relationship as well. They are there to see, you just have to get past the spectical (which there is plenty of) to see it. So I would argue that Elliot and Rossio didn't write an ADD movie at all, they wrote one that caters to both the ADD crowd and those who are willing to look a bit deeper than a giant, ship eating squid and see the layers underneath. Is there a lot of dreck put out by big hollywood blockbusters? Absolutely. But there are plenty of terrible independant movies as well. Some with great special effects and some with none.

See this is where I disagree. Certainly POTC:DMC is a spectical movie, as hollywood as you can imagine, but the writers are two of the best in the biz and there are a ton of layers to each character within this film. The problem is that the spectical sometimes overshadows it, but there is a good story and great characters writen into this film. Same with the first one. At least in my opinion. Vader, as for Superman, I am a huge fan of the original film. I still think it's the paramount of Comic Book films. So I went into Superman with high expectations, and just found the film dull. Afterwards I went home and watched the original and found that film more riveting and more exciting than the 2006 version, despite being limited with 1970s special effects. I mean, Superman Returns looked pretty, but the biggest story twist (won't spoil it but you know what I mean) you can see coming from the second they re-introduce Lois. There was nothing wrong with the movie in terms of story/plot/logic etc, it just seemed stale for some reason. But that's just me.

I saw POTC:DMC, definitely better than Superman. I'm slightly biased with the Pirates franchise, so I liked it more than most. It was a touch too long and slow to pick up steam, but I found it funny and very much an echo of Empire Strikes Back (in a good way). Just like Empire, the film feels like the middle act of a play rather than a stand-alone movie. Also, if you were luke warm about the original movie, then this one won't do much for you. However, if you dug the first one, then you'll be happy with the sequel.

And they're good at drilling.... ....in the movie I mean

Don't worry, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Steve Bushemi will save us.

George Carlin has a great bit about anorexia and bulimia. Highly recommended. "Only in America can you have people digging through the trash to find an apple core to eat while someone else throws up a perfectly good meal. Somehow I can't feel sorry for an anorexic. Rich c**t don't want to eat? !@#$ her. Don't eat! Like I give a sh@t. 'I don't wanna eat!' Go !@#$ yourself. Why don't you lie down infront of a railroad train right after you don't eat?"

Had the Bills lost that game, they would have picked 3rd in the draft. Not that it means anything, just saying...

Shane Black is either the hero or the villian of any screenwriter you talk to. He is definitely a polarizing persona. Personally, I love his style. I went to a talk he gave a few months back before KKBB came out, I've been a fan of his stuff since the 80s (he's the man who virtually re-invented the buddy cop genre with Lethal Weapon, and also did a whole bunch of other great 80s/90s B movies like Last Boyscout, Last Action Hero etc). He took almost 5 years off between his last film and KKBB because he was tired of his scripts getting rewritten and turned into crap (see Long Kiss Goodnight). He was holding out for the opportunity to direct his own material. KKBB is definitely a Shane Black take on the Noir genre (I guess it would be a neo-noir film?). Witty, hilarious and always entertaining. Definitely worth checking out. For those of you who don't know much about Shane Black but are fans of those action movies in the 80s, check out Predator -- he has a role in that (the guy in Arnold's crew with the glasses, the only one who isn't on Roids). Legend was he had to beg to get the part and originally he didn't have any lines, everything that made the final cut (according to him) were lines he improved.

Wow, who ever wrote that sure is a hateful person. I love how they talk about him dressing in drag as though it were a lifestyle choice, not a NYC Mayorial tradition

What are the thoughts on Vilsack? He's a darkhorse but campaigns very well.

Strong arm is only one part of the equation. Michael Vick, who you already discussed, has an extremley strong arm (stronger than Nall's) and yet he still struggles. If it was just a value pick for GB, Nall would STILL be on the team. Nall would be being groomed to take over for Favre while Rogers was trade bait. I don't hate Nall. I don't know the guy. If he becomes the starter great, I just think that is very unrealistic considering that the Packers, who had him for three years and know more about evaluating QBs than I do, and who saw him for three years, let him walk out the door. If they thought he was as good as some people here seem to believe, there is no way he would be a Bill right now. My point is Marv knows this. Jauron knows this too. They brought Nall in on a flyer AND to push JP. But I assure you that when they talked about bringing him in, it was nothing more than that. I don't think either realistically expected Nall to be the starter for the Bills. But, at his value and with his physical stats, it was worth the risk. It all goes back to my belief that this really isn't a competition. JP is the starter for the Bills this year, despite the lip service coming out of OBD.

If Nall was so good, why did GB use their first rounder on Rogers? I'm sorry, but that above all else, tells me everything I need to know about Nall. He's never going to be anything more than a backup in the NFL.

"The 31-year-old Garden State star has wasted no time moving on, he was recently seen partying with pals at Hollywood hot spot Hyde on June 8 and unsuccessfully romancing Jessica Simpson." That's just an embarrasing thing to have written about you on IMDB of all places

The reason the US is bad at soccer is because it's not ingrained in our culture like it is in other nations. In Europe, kids don't play pickup basketball or baseball, they play pickup soccer. They are born and raised playing it and thus even the slouches develope more skills than the majority of American kids do. There is a reason that the NFL WRs who think they can play in the NBA (see: Moulds) really can't. The NBA isn't like football where you can get by on pure athleticism. To be successful in the NBA you need to practice shooting jumpers, dribbling etc for HOURS a day to maintain your skill. The same holds true in soccer. You need the basic skills AND the athleticism. And soccer isn't a big enough part of American culture for kids to spend their childhood honing the basic skills required of the sport.

The driver is from Maine. Chances are the Patriots will send a thank you card.

I'm a huge fan of Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot (writers of POTC/Shrek/Aladin/and a host of others) and rumor has it that the third installment of the series is going to be the best. I read something with them saying they are slightly nervous about Dead Man's Chest because it sets up the third. The thing with the first Pirates was no one really expected it to be a huge hit. It was an oddity that just caught fire. Now with the sequel there is such a huge buildup it's impossible to live up to the hype -- but I still think it will be a fun film. I'll see pretty much anything written by them, so I'm in either way. I don't know much about Superman other than the very few tidbits I heard from some of the PA's on the shoot -- though neither of them remained full time with the production, so it's not worth much. I just hope it's as good as it should be.

Absolutley, with ticket prices escalating, and as Rico pointed out, the quality (and cheapness) of home theater set ups have really caused a hiccup in the industry's BO numbers. A few months ago Soderbergh released his movie "Bubble" simultaneously in Theaters and on DVD, and Payperview in an effort to change the distribution trend -- the movie was a flop, but it's an interesting way to go. Since Jaws, the way movies are distributed have changed and now Hollywood is watching the other shoe drop. Prior to the blockbuster mentality, movies would be released on limited screens, and grow as word of mouth spread. Jaws was the first film to be released wide and it was a HUGE hit distributors thought that was the best way to go. Now everything starts HUGE and screens dwindle as it falls off. This oversaturation of the market also has to play a factor. The biggest industry problem right now are the residuals actors/directors/writers are getting from the BO. It used to be rare for actors to get any backend of the gross, but no longer. Fox recently pulled the plug on a 115 million dollar sci-fi comedy staring Jim Carey, Ben Stiller and directed by Jay Roach (two weeks before principle photography was to start) because those three guys demanded too much in the back end. This move by Fox is really interesting and should have a shakeup within the industry over the next few months. It's a really good indicator as to how the studios are going to combat the dwindling BO numbers -- next up will be their fight against backend on DVDs. I dunno, I rambled.

If Nall were any good, he'd be in GB. Seriously, I don't get why people are expecting this guy to be anything but a backup. If GB saw abilty, don't you think they would have kept him around and not used a first rounder on Rogers to be Favre's successor? He's going to be the 3rd QB on the team this year. Maybe for his entire career in Buffalo.

Yes -- but, and it's a huge but, whoever steps up has to step up HUGE. If it's close, JP plays. If it's a draw, JP plays. If Holcomb is slightly better than JP in camp/preseason, JP STILL plays. The only way someone else starts is if they totally (and I mean drastically) outplay JP. And frankly, I don't think Nall or Holcomb have the tools to do that.

Absolutley, 100 percent true. It's not a real "competition" at QB. Nall is not a starter, never will be -- if he had talent, he would be the heir apparent for Farve, not Rogers. And Holcomb's best days are behind him. It's JP or bust this season. Everyone at OBD knows it.

I had two in my list.