Shameful

Apparently, the new, second Pirates of the Caribbean is the fastest selling DVD film of all time in the UK. My countrymen should be ashamed of themselves.

Of course, this suggests that the third film, due in the summer, is set to be next year's 'number one film' at cinemas. Sadly, I expect that Spider-Man 3, no matter how much more sophisticated, sincere and well crafted it is, simply won't match up in dollar terms.

What is the appeal to these Pirates movies? I appreciated Johnny Depp's work - particularly in the first film, less so in the second where he seemed to step back and disregard what little character development Jack Sparrow had undergone during part one - and some of the production design is very good indeed... but, well, that's just about it. What more can I honestly feel passionate about here?

I believe, perhaps naively, in a movie industry (that is to say, a moviemaking/moviewatching cycle) where both the most expensive and most financially succcessful films are also the better films - to justify not only their budgets, but also the tidal waves of interest. Instead, of course, relatively cheap films often turn out to be the best while, again relatively, they take somewhat less at the box office.