Ye swashbucklers!

Yesterday was cinema day. The choice stood between three movies: The new Pirates movie, "Source Code" and "Water for Elephants". A difficult choice to make, especially since we were several people going out. Personally I was a bit put off by the fact that the local cinema only shows the 3D-version of the Pirates movie, but eventually we all decided to go watch Captain Jack Sparrow's latest adventure regardless. I find 3D-movies to be overrated, and this movie was no exception. It was on the verge of being ridiculous. As one of my friends pointed out, the thing that was most 3D about this movie was the subtitles. Not too far from the truth, actually. So why bother making 3D-versions? I'm starting to believe it's just something that's done, so that Hollywood (and the cinemas) can justify charging two euros more per ticket. I've only seen one good 3D-movie so far, and that was "Avatar". The rest have been pretty awful, so it's not exactly a big surprise that I prefer the non-3D movies. If something is marketed as a 3D-movie, I expect more than seeing the text in 3D.

So besides being a poor 3D-experience, how was the new Pirates movie? My expectations were really low after hearing what others thought of it and seeing as the previous Pirates movies got progressively worse with each new sequel. To be honest, this time I was expecting 150 minutes of Johnny Depp drinking and serving mildly funny one-liners in various exotic environments. Of course there has to be the occasional sword-fighting too, as it's a movie about pirates after all. Doesn't sound like much of a plot, does it? However, the movie did surprise me, despite the fact that most of the movie seemed to center around Sparrow and the comical situations he gets himself into. There were some funny moments here and there, and the story was exciting enough for me. Another plus was the well-made environments, which made the movie more exciting and believable. On the other hand, the movie could have been at least twenty minutes shorter. Certain parts of the movie felt too long, which was the case with many of the previous Pirates movies as well. I still prefer the first movie to the rest, but "On Stranger Tides" (the name of the latest installment in the franchise) wasn't by any means a bad movie. I'd probably enjoy it more if they didn't force us to watch the 3D-version of it, though.

In other news, I'm soon moving to Helsinki, but at least I got one week left here in Vaasa. It's going to be sad to leave (I really like this city), but Helsinki could prove fun as well. As long as the job and my colleagues are nice, I reckon everything should be okay. And if not, you can expect to read about it here. I'm skeptic by nature, so naturally I'm slightly nervous about all of this. Let's hope for the best, though.

P.S. Remember to hit the cinema the coming weekend as "The Hangover - Part II" is premiering then. Very excited about that one!