Reel Insight Episode 49: Johnny Depp

We started off our summer TV fun with non-spoiler reviews of the first two episodes of Twin Peaks (are you following along?  You should, it's awesome).  Oh, and some fun discussion of some terrific movies we saw this week, Mary and Max and Gnomeo and Juliet.  Then we moved to our pretty amazing Star of the Week, Captain Jack Sparrow.  Wow has he had a pretty amazing career, right from the beginning - quirky, but great.

Movies seen for the first time with Johnny Depp:

What's Eating Gilbert Grape? - Definitely the best movie I saw this week, and I'm not sure how I skipped it for Leonardo DiCaprio week last year, but what a performance he gives as the retarded younger brother of Depp and his two sisters.  Depp's performance as a young man in a town going nowhere fast is pretty impressive without being melodramatic or overly done.  I really really want to see this again.

Secret Window - This is the more grown-up able to be CRAZY Depp.  I loved this mostly because I totally didn't see the big twist coming.  It's creepy, but not particularly scary though it's based on a Stephen King novel.  If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth the time.

Cry-Baby - Unless you're a HUGE John Waters' fan, this is painfully awful and completely unnecessary.  I really disliked it.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - I'm pretty sure I just didn't GET this movie.  Christophe Meloni as the hotel clerk was hysterical though.  Beautifully made, but so strange it's hard to process.