The first two movies of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” brought the box office almost $1.7 billion. The budgets of the movies were about $200 million / a movie. But after we watch these first two movies, do we remember William Tuner’s name? Or Keira Knightley’s character’s name? I don’t think so… We remember Johnny Depp’s magnificent acting of the fantastic character of Jack Sparrow. I haven’t remembered any other character to have been so antipathetic and funny, so dreamy and pragmatic, so gay (sometimes) and so lecherous, so fragile and so strong at a time!
Depp cashed for the first two movies $30 million (about 2% from the whole profit) and I really think that he brought the most part of this profit (about $1.3 billion). It meant fresh air for Disney, a company that was not in a well financial condition when the first movie was released.
Would “Pirates of the Caribbean” be as much successful as the movies were without Jack Sparrow? I really don’t think so. Ask somebody about Will Turner. Maybe they’ll think you’ve asked about the next door neighbor. Ask about Jack Sparrow and they’ll tell you: “Aye, captain!” Johnny Depp should negotiate a percent of the gross revenue, because, in relation with the whole image of the movie, all the money is brought in fact by him playing Sparrow.

Technorati Tags: Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow, Disney

Although I like (in some way) Sacha Baron Cohen, I’ve never really understood why he didn’t go to Kazakhstan for filming the scenes for Borat’s videos. As you probably already know, he went to Romania, where he also brought about a press scandal (this is the way the foreigners are getting us in wrong etc). Furthermore, as I was watching accidentally a revival of the MTV Europe Music Awards from 2005, I’ve been once again surprised to find out that the president of Kazakhstan can speak Romanian. Maybe the authenticity of the show was not the main important thing (it’s kind of obvious), but I’m still thinking why didn’t Sacha Baron Cohen filmed actually in Kazakhstan? Do people hate him so much because he laughs so loud on them?

Technorati Tags: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat, Kazakhstan

I received a month ago the DVDs that contained the seasons 1 to 6 of “Seinfeld”. I had ordered them from Amazon a little bit too late (not that I’d wanted that), but “Seinfeld” was still broadcasted by a local television, and I didn’t considered that a priority. But, that was a really big mistake. I had knew that these DVDs would contain many ‘delicious’ add-ons, but my expecting have been overrun. I did ‘waste’ an entire week browsing the inside-looks, all the bloopers, the exclusive stand-ups and other very fascinating stories.
I’m also a big fan of Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm), so I have been very glad to find out that Larry contributed at the main part of the phenomenal success of the series. Larry confessed that he had a few moments when he did not want to be involved anymore, because of the increasing number of episodes that NBC was demanding.
I could say that I understand him. His last work, Curb Your Enthusiasm, is generally an improvised and genial show. It’s so “Larry David”…

To come back to the “Seinfeld” DVDs, they are perfectly composed and it’s obvious that all the ones that were involved in the show did what they could best so everything be more than all right. I was expecting to some more superficial inside-looks. I was expecting to fewer inside-looks, however. But that was not what I found in my DVDs, I was happy! The audio comments of every episode represent a great amount of work. At the seasons 5 and 6, I remember (though not very well) I bought Gift Box DVD (without thinking too much at what represented the gift itself – I was thinking of a DVD with special features).
Yet, it wasn’t so! I got “The Puffy Shirt”, the well-know pirate shirt which is exposed also at Smithsonian and a block notes with the original scripts of  the two episodes “The Pilot”. It was a wonderful surprise.
I need also to mention Larry Charles, who is, in my opinion, the third important man behind the show. He is also a good friend of Larry’s. Many of his ideas became turning points in the important moments of “Seinfeld”.

The “Seinfeld” DVDs – seasons 5 to 6 – need to be seen by a fan of the show! They are about €130.

And now randomly let’s see what one could find out from the inside looks:

• “The Sniffing Accountant” had really been Jerry accountant, and he had left with $80.000 to spend it on drugs.
• “The Contest” really existed, as Kenny Kramer was telling (he’s the one which inspired the producers for creating the character Kosmo Kramer). It seems that then Larry David won.
• Joe Devola is a real character, with whom Julia Louis-Dreyfus met after the end up of the sitcom. He seemed to really impress her in some way…
• Newman was some neighbor of Kenny Kramer’s and Larry David’s.
• “The Bubble Boy” was inspired by some news read by David in the newspapers. The reactions of the ones affected by this disease were not so agreeable.
• “The Jacket” is almost similar with an experience of Larry David when he was dating the daughter of the writer Richard Yates.

From all the parts of Park Chan-Wook trilogy of revenge, Oldboy is far the most successful act. It won the Jury’s Prize at Cannes in 2004, and Park Chan-Wook was nominated for Palme d’Or. At that moment “FAHRENHEIT 9/11” was the winner, because that was the way it should have been by political interests. The international context took away the well-deserved prize from Chan-Wook’s hands.
Oldboy’s story shocks and leaves you with your mouth open. The art of revenge, as an extreme act, is put into play in an extraordinary way. There are no bag guys (although, Oldboy is a movie about revenge!) because every character is animated by their own right. Finally, after the mystery is reveled, one does not surely know what character has succeeded to revenge himself better than the other.
Oh Daesu, because the one who changed him into a monster is now dead or Woo-jin, because he’s glad that Oh Daesu is still living his nightmare? Park Chan-Wook mentioned that the interpretation of the last scenes is let to be judged by everybody in the way they understood the movie. I think that for Oh Daesu the nightmare is still there, every night, and would end up with a suicidal, in hypothetical final scene.

Park Chan-Work is juggles with an extreme efficiency with the camera; ‘the corridor fight’ remained a memorable scene in the history of cinematography. The most irrational it seems, the much realistic it looks, watched on the other side of the screen. Oldboy is not just about revenge as therapeutic means, if one can say so, but is also about elaborating the art of revenge. It’s a movie that everybody should watch!

Technorati Tags: OldBoy, Park Chan Wook, Chan Wook Park

“Taxi Driver” is a movie that’s really haunting me with a powerful insistence. It’s every two months that I need to watch this movie once again. However, what’s the most bizarre thing is that when I read about the main character of “Taxi Driver”, Travis Bickle, I find out that the critics have mainly considered him just a mad man, a crazy, paranoid fellow. That’s rather a strange opinion. For me, Travis Bickle is just the very single individual that really sees the reality, the way that things are really happening.

Furthermore, Bickle is the only one who decides that it’s time for someone to do something! Still, I don’t want to legitimate the political crimes; I don’t think that Scorsese though about this when he directed this movie. I just want to signalize the fact that Travis Bickle’s are correct, consonant to his culture and surroundings (Let’s not forget the great deal of political crimes that exists in the history of the United States). Bickle is not blamable and should not be called a paranoid man.

He is the only fellow of the crowd who can really see the evil surrounding all of them…, but he’s considered insane. Probably, he’s neither the first, nor the last problematic character that Scorsese has ever created. I’m thinking about Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting, for example, from “The Gang of New York”, who is bad character, but whom one is able to understand, without wishing him any ill. It’s hard to believe that somebody that lived the realities of New York, in the 70s, could also consider that Bickle was crazy. However, Scorsese ‘teaches’ his character how to act, by passing him the guilt of crime, but not without leaving open many clear windows towards the soul of Travis Bickle… Folks, he was no crazy man!

Technorati Tags: Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle, Martin Scorsese