The most recent iteration of the movie franchise, which opened on Friday, has earned a Rotten Tomatoes rating of only 33%, the lowest of any of the four “Pirate of the Caribbean” movies.  Our 14 year old in-house reviewer gives it a slightly better rating, opining that “it was better than the third one, but not as good as the first two.”

Brooklyn Decker

Once movies were based on great novels.  Of course, they usually ruined the story, but at least you could say, “I liked the book better.”   Then, seven years ago,  Jerry Bruckheimer produced a movie based on a Disney World amusement ride. The movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, with a production budget of $140 million, was a huge hit, grossing over $650 million worldwide,  spawning two sequels, with one more on the way.   Now a major studio is investing $200 million on a movie based on the Milton Bradley board game, Battleship.  It will feature Taylor Kitsch, pop star Rihanna and “supermodel” Brooklyn Decker. This will be Rihanna’s first movie and Decker’s second.

Brooklyn Decker’s Cannons To Star In ‘Battleship’

Having moved from novels, to amusement park rides to board games, I wonder from whence the next inspiration for nautically themed movies will come.  I am considering pitching an idea based on something I found stuck to the bottom of my left sea boot.

In other nautical movie news, the pathetic box office of Piranha 3-D this weekend has Slate Magazine‘s Daniel Engber wondering, “Is 3-D Dead in the Water?” If Piranha 3-D is the best they can manage, let’s hope so.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing on the news about and the photo of Brooklyn Decker

I ‘ve got to say that I prefer Neil Young’s and David Crosby’s taste in yachts somewhat better, but Johnny Depp’s Vajoliroja does have a certain idiosyncratic style.

Johnny Depp’s very own pirate ship in the Caribbean

Hollywood actor Johnny Depp is arguably best-known for his role as maverick captain Jack Sparrow in the wildly popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.  Now, he has taken things a step further with his own pirate-inspired ship in the Caribbean.

It may not be as creepy as the “Pirates of the Caribbean’s” “Black Pearl,” but Depp’s ship “Vajoliroja” has more than a hint of the swashbuckler about it. Depp has completely refitted the ship to his taste, with velvet wall hangings and furniture in rich burgundies and gold.  Wannabe pirates can test their sea legs on Depp’s yacht, which is available for charter, although it’s not cheap. One week aboard the ship, which hosts up to 11 guests and eight crew, costs a cool $130,000.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom–and Revenge

“They did not sing “Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Manischewitz,” nor do they ever seem to appear in any of the Disney films about pirates in the Caribbean. The website piratesinfo.com carries not a single reference to them.  

And while September 19 has for a number of years now been designated International Talk Like a Pirate Day (there are even Internet courses available in pirate lingo), none of its initiators seems to have had Ladino (the language spoken by Jewish refugees expelled by the Spanish and Portuguese after the Reconquista) in mind.

Swashbuckling buccaneers who took time to put on tefillin each morning? Better get used to the idea. Long overlooked, the history of Jewish piracy has been garnering increasing interest, with several serious books and articles telling its epic tales.

Many Jewish pirates came from families of refugees who had been expelled by Spain and Portugal. They took to piracy as part of a strategy of revenge on the Iberian powers (though lining their pockets with Spanish doubloons was no doubt also a motive). Many of these pirates mixed traditional Jewish lifestyles with their exploits on the high seas.”

Read the full review here.