Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Hollywood is infamous for its vast amount of remakes, sequels, and adaptations from books, comics, and television programs, but Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl broke new ground by being adapted from a ride at Walt Disney theme parks. However, undoubtedly to the surprise of many, it was actually a success, slightly so critically, but largely so financially, setting the foundation for one of the highest grossing film series of all time. Ignoring the fact that the film was based on an amusement park ride, what further made this success a marvel was the fact that pirate films hadn’t been popular in some time, the last one being the bomb that was Cutthroat Island in 1995.

Hellboy

Directed by Guillermo del Toro and adapted from Mike Mignola’s comic book mini-series Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, Hellboy was released in 2004 to success both financially and critically. Del Toro was a perfect choice to direct due to his flair pertaining to dark fantasy, weird fiction, and practical effects, all of which are implemented in the film to its benefit.

AKIRA

All of my life I have been a fan of anime, science fiction, and post-apocalyptic fiction. Akira is a combination of all three of these, which alone justifies my love for the film. However, there is much more to Akira that has made it one of the most popular anime movies, and allowed it to withstand the test of time just as much as its source material from which it is adapted. At over 2,000 pages long, the film is not a bad way to acquaint yourself with the series, as it is guaranteed to have you wanting to read the manga once you have finished it.

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises is the highly anticipated conclusion to the successful Dark Knight saga, directed by renowned filmmaker Christopher Nolan. I feel it would only be appropriate to begin this review by stating my personal opinion on the prior installments to the series. I enjoyed Batman Begins, and found it a pretty good movie, albeit also quite flawed in various areas as well. While The Dark Knight corrected many of Begins’ missteps, and has made its own well-earned stamp in film history, I do not hold it to as high of regards as many of its fans do. In the months building up to the film’s release, I often found myself debating my friends on what the quality ultimately would be of this movie – I didn’t have as much confidence in it as they did. And still now, even months after having seen it for the first time, we still stand on opposite spectrums, holding to our same stances.

Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin is an adaptation of the famous Shonen manga of the same name (also known as Samurai X) written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. I often watched the anime, which was also adapted from the original manga, during its course on Cartoon Network’s Toonami, and I occasionally read the manga while it was featured in the monthly Shonen Jump, but it has been some years since then, and I’ve had little to do with the series since. Upon this film’s release, I took interest out of a nostalgic curiosity, and I’m quite satisfied to report that this film has reminded me why I loved the show and manga, and would spark interest in near anyone who was unfamiliar with them.