Walk the Plank.

If you’re looking for a matinee with which to beat the heat, avast what you’re doing and check out Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – It’s a solid two hours of mindless summer fun. It runs a bit longish, sure, but Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush keep it light as Captain Jack “Keef S. Thompson” Sparrow and the eeeevil Barbarossa respectively. (Of course, neither Orlando Bloom nor Keira Knightley are harsh on the eyes either, depending on your fancy.) And it’s always good to see Sam Lowry out and about in these trying times. All in all, easily as fun as Finding Nemo, if in the end a little more flawed.

Monkey Island or Bust.

If (like me) you prefer more old-fashioned saber-rattling, the new trailer for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean is now online. With Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, and Jonathan Pryce hamming it up this much, and Keira Knightley (Rachel Weisz look out!) and/or Orlando Bloom as your eye candy of choice, this one could be fun summer afternoon fluff.

Grimm Amusements.

Terry Gilliam fans take heart: Although Don Quixote may be dead and buried, it looks like The Brothers Grimm has now secured funding from a parnership of MGM and Dimension. The film currently stars Heath Ledger and Matt Damon as the eponymous brothers, with Robin Williams and Jonathan “Sam Lowry” Pryce as the villains. Dimension, the senior partner, has a pretty lousy track record with regard to burying films they don’t have control over (Re: Existenz and Below), but hopefully Gilliam can buck the curse this time around.