#melitot rants

[melitot]

So freaking tired of doing NaNiWriMooo 😫

But I can't give up by now. I just wish it had ended already, argh.

[melitot]

On a sidenote. Why did they have to change a charming scoundrel like this

Into this:

I mean, WHY? He was a pirate of good tastes, not a freakin' ridiculous ponce 😭

And now he's dead so they can't even restore his image

[melitot]

Snily fic

… is 1K shy of the 30K milestone 😦

I… don’t know how it happened. No, actually I do – every free moment I have I get ideas and scenes, and can be found writing/typing on every available surface. But still. Ten years and not one word of fic. And now this. I’m approaching the moment where I’ll have to do some serious plot overhaul. I dread it.

(In case you didn’t know, I write patchwork-style. Any scene from any moment, if inspiration strikes, I write it. Then I sew everything together. Inconsistencies galore.) (Yes, why, I do love myself.)

[melitot]

Why, why do I start my Yuletide assignment every year with the best intentions and plenty of time, only to scramble to finish in the last days? 😫

Having to translate the fic to English doesn't help.

[melitot]

By all the heathen gods, now the spammers are back – with articulate private messages consisting of 'hi's 😑

No, I don't want to chat with you. No, I'm not looking for a 'web companion'. Just scram and don't knock anymore 🤐

[melitot]

PotC 4

I finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - Dead men tell no tales.

I've always loved the franchise, since its very beginning; I remember going to the cinema for Curse of the Black Pearl as a starry-eyed highschooler and being crazy about it for some years 😁 those were the days (lol).

I liked #3 too, even if it was a letdown with Will's and Elizabeth's fate. #4 left me mostly indifferent but for Barbossa's presence (have I said that he's my favourite, especially at the Pearl's command? Poor Captain Jack would be horrified 😆).

And #5? Well, I think it's true that they made some kind of soft reboot. The young protagonists, certain plot points, even the music are strong reminders of CotBP. They even finally gave us Barbossa's daughter.

I liked it? Sure. Did I love it? Nope.

The dialogues ARE mostly stupid, without a real spirit behind except for a few exchanges - mostly between Barbossa and Jack. If you think about Barbossa's monologues to Elizabeth in #1, particularly when he describes the tragedy of the curse, there simply is no contest. It was the dialogues that made the characters, not the other way around - if you get my meaning 😐

The new characters do their best, but I found them insipid. Clichéd. Probably needed a stronger director? Will and Elizabeth are much more powerful in the five minutes they got than Henry and Karina in the whole film...

Then, there are too many plot holes and conveniences. People and objects found by anyone in no time. A girl with no sea experience left at the helm. A ghost crew with no real curse explanation behind. A priceless, legendary trident that conveniently contains all curses and can be broken by a common sword. Plus action scenes are mostly chaotic.

What did I like?

• BARBOSSA. The little surprise from his past, clichéd as it may sound. Geoffrey Rush has always done a stellar job with the character - a look here, an expression there and the whole scene dives deep in Hector's heart. He may be an old, traitorous sea 'swine', as he calls himself, but beyond all his flaws he possesses a keen mind and keener heart. Hmm, yes. Need more fanfiX.

• I laughed to tears at the guillotine carousel - gotta say it! Priceless 😂 They really did it, there.

• The ending. Will is free, and reunited with Lizzie at long last. F*cking finally.

• NOT the ending. What the effing mega EFF, why did they have to shoot Barbossa to hell? 👹🔥🔥🔥 Just when we had the perfect chance to see new layers to his character and not have him relegated as merely Jack's rival? 😫

And Rush said that he feels it should be the end of the character, since bringing him back as anything but a ghost would cheapen his sacrifice. I might agree, but still.

Is there any film from this franchise, after the first, that doesn't leave me with a bitter aftertaste? 😟

What about you guys? Have you seen it? Loved it, hated it?