...And a bottle of rum

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides today. And what a pleasant surprise: nothing over the top, beautiful special effects and a nice storyline. Please, dear reader, do not be offended but my timid self found this so much better than the third was.

Penelope Cruz and Johnny Depp on set in costume

At last, we are also blessed with a lady pirate, talk about awesome costuming there!

I found an interview with Penny Rose, the prodigiously talented costume designer of the motion picture, where she talks about 

Royal Guards, from a tweet by Jerry Bruckheimer

And we must mention the mermaids, for who could not help but be captured by these mythical creatures that we all have different conceptions of. For their basic image they played on the most stereotypical view of mermaids. Yet again a proof that simplicity is indeed key (that is one of the things I have realised in the past year, so I have started to keep my eye out for it). For simple as they were, they were just as beautiful. I personally have always loved a depiction of mermaids where the fins and body have a veil-like appearance, and this is exactly what we see in the concept art of Syrena.
I believe for make-up they used DuWop Cosmetics, who have come out with a collection for the release of the movie, but I am not certain. I read about them using this brand in a tutorial Pirates of the Caribbean 4 Mermaids: How to get the Looks.

Beautiful mermaid concept art

On a non-costume-related note; something I was thinking of:
What happened to Phillip (and Syrena) at the end of the movie?

I am sure it is meant to be up to us to decide what happens, but I went to look on IMDb, where the answer to the question had the very same arguments I was bringing up.

PotC SPOLIER:

"There are many opinions and thoughts on this question. In the film, it is stated by one of the other sailors that a mermaid's kiss can prevent a man from drowning. If the mermaid attack scene is closely watched you can see that, while teasing/tempting the sailors, not one of those mermaids actually kissed one of the sailors that they pulled overboard to kill. On the other hand, Syrena did kiss Phillip. Furthermore, it was noted by Blackbeard himself that she clearly cared for him, and they used this as a means to get her tear (making her think Phillip was dead and then have a tear of joy at finding him still alive) It was also noted that she was 'different' and that the entire tone of the end scene at the pond was different from the tone of the mermaid attack scene. Syrena says that she can save Phillip, so it seems likely that is what she is doing, saving him and kisses him beforehand to ensure that he doesn't drown while beneath the water."

Also, it is true that as a missionary he might want to be "saved" in the meaning of dying as a means of suffering for his mistake of falling in love with a woman; however, how would a siren know a religious meaning of "being saved". And when they show her taking him in the water, she is holding him close, she really does not look like she is thinking: "Come my love, I shall shred you into tiny pieces now."

I am a Romantic at the core, thus I would hope of them finding love together. Although I am also thinking: "No! He can't do that!! Is he not a priest??".

On set picture of Geoffrey Rush. (On the top left is a "dead mermaid")

Cannot get away without a close-up

Anyway, that is all for now. I was just really engrossed with the plot and characters. 

More to come later!