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corrielle*deep breath* So.... I got to see On Stranger Tides yesterday. It was completely unexpected. Long story short, I got an email from Hot Topic about "Pirates Day" at their Hollywood and Highland store right across from the El Capitan. I went because I wanted to hang out with other fans and wear a costume and get free movie swag (which I did... OST-themed nail polish, a Barbossa figure, and a Jack t-shirt I miraculously didn't already own). The email also said something about "chance to see the movie," but I thought they were going to do a raffle or something like that and maybe... ten or twenty people would get in. So... when no one else in my house wanted to go with me, I threw on an improvised pirate costume made from stuff I had lying around from faire and went by myself.
I would have dragged someone with me, even kicking and screaming, if I had known that "chance to see the movie" meant "anyone who shows up before the main event starts gets a wristband that gets you into the screening." And people who showed up in costume got yellow wristbands that guaranteed us orchestra seating (ground floor instead of balcony).
I was sitting in my seat in the dead center of the theater with my 3-D glasses on before it hit me that yes, I really was actually gong to get to see the movie. It was quite surreal sitting there in a room full of complete strangers (or new friends I'd just met...) about to watch a new movie in a franchise that has been such a community experience for me.
Just to be clear: The points that follow aren't exactly spoilers, but they are... opinions. And from where I sit, opinions can be spoilers if they are coming from people whose priorities and individual takes on the characters are very well known to me. So I won't say what I thought above the cut.
The one questionghettopeach asked me when I told her I'd seen it was, "Was it good?" My answer? "Yes. It was. Really good." This is pretty much what I said when I got to do the post-film "talk to the camera crew about the movie" thing, so if you see a girl with glasses, a black Chinese looking coat, and a navy hat on any tv promos for the film... let me know.
As for purposefully vague specifics...
The writing was quick, snappy, and clever. Things made sense when they needed to, even though there was a complex storyline with multiple people and groups and motivations all in conflict with each other.
Ian McShane lived up to my expectations as Blackbeard, and then some.
The mermaids were everything I had hoped they would be... charming and deadly.
I can already see places where fandom has space to play and interpret, and the possibilities are making me chomp at the bit as a fic writer.
There were some places where supernatural goings-on weren't explained as much as I might have liked them to be, but my willing suspension of disbelief wasn't stretched too much. In fact, I like that some things weren't explained. They just were.
My adoration of Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa continues unabated.
Jack made me smile many more times than he made me wince, which is the opposite of my reaction to him in DMC and AWE. (However, if I don't wince at Jack at least once in a movie, something is horridly wrong with one of us.)
My navy-loving heart was, at the very least, quite satisfied with the amount of screen time Gillette and Groves got. (To get a "happy" rating, they'd have to be getting main billing...)
Now, I just have to try my hardest to not spoil people who don't want to know for the next four days. I might just take a vow of silence. Seriously. If you see me IRL and you don't want to talk about it, feel free to shut me up at the first mention of the new movie. I am severely spoiler-phobic, and I wouldn't want to be the one spoiling others around me.
However, if you want to know things... ask me. I'll tell you what I remember.
I would have dragged someone with me, even kicking and screaming, if I had known that "chance to see the movie" meant "anyone who shows up before the main event starts gets a wristband that gets you into the screening." And people who showed up in costume got yellow wristbands that guaranteed us orchestra seating (ground floor instead of balcony).
I was sitting in my seat in the dead center of the theater with my 3-D glasses on before it hit me that yes, I really was actually gong to get to see the movie. It was quite surreal sitting there in a room full of complete strangers (or new friends I'd just met...) about to watch a new movie in a franchise that has been such a community experience for me.
Just to be clear: The points that follow aren't exactly spoilers, but they are... opinions. And from where I sit, opinions can be spoilers if they are coming from people whose priorities and individual takes on the characters are very well known to me. So I won't say what I thought above the cut.
The one question
ghettopeach asked me when I told her I'd seen it was, "Was it good?" My answer? "Yes. It was. Really good." This is pretty much what I said when I got to do the post-film "talk to the camera crew about the movie" thing, so if you see a girl with glasses, a black Chinese looking coat, and a navy hat on any tv promos for the film... let me know. As for purposefully vague specifics...
The writing was quick, snappy, and clever. Things made sense when they needed to, even though there was a complex storyline with multiple people and groups and motivations all in conflict with each other.
Ian McShane lived up to my expectations as Blackbeard, and then some.
The mermaids were everything I had hoped they would be... charming and deadly.
I can already see places where fandom has space to play and interpret, and the possibilities are making me chomp at the bit as a fic writer.
There were some places where supernatural goings-on weren't explained as much as I might have liked them to be, but my willing suspension of disbelief wasn't stretched too much. In fact, I like that some things weren't explained. They just were.
My adoration of Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa continues unabated.
Jack made me smile many more times than he made me wince, which is the opposite of my reaction to him in DMC and AWE. (However, if I don't wince at Jack at least once in a movie, something is horridly wrong with one of us.)
My navy-loving heart was, at the very least, quite satisfied with the amount of screen time Gillette and Groves got. (To get a "happy" rating, they'd have to be getting main billing...)
Now, I just have to try my hardest to not spoil people who don't want to know for the next four days. I might just take a vow of silence. Seriously. If you see me IRL and you don't want to talk about it, feel free to shut me up at the first mention of the new movie. I am severely spoiler-phobic, and I wouldn't want to be the one spoiling others around me.
However, if you want to know things... ask me. I'll tell you what I remember.