Am I just not blockbuster material?

Last summer I was profoundly disappointed by "War of the Worlds," feeling that it was perhaps the worst use of a film budget ever.

This summer, I'm finding myself saying the same thing about "Pirates 2."

Perhaps if the film had been, oh, an hour shorter, it would have been a bit more palatable. Perhaps if it wasn't 150 minute excuse for special effects, it would have been more enjoyable. Johnny Depp is gifted, but even he can't save a film this endlessly long.

The sequel is lacking so much of the wit and charm of the first one. Nuggets of it appear here and there, and eventually we get around to buckling some swash, but in between we're stuck with the depressing tale of Will and his doomed Dad, and a squid-faced Micky Dolenz, er, Davey Jones, oozing just enough slime and grossness to appeal to the eight-year-old boys in the audience.

Wait for the DVD on this one, folks. Trust me. Perhaps the third installment will recapture the magic; the second Indiana Jones film was a disaster as well, yet the third one, with Sean Connery stealing the show, was a gem. We shall see.

Trailers that looked interesting include the Marky Mark Philadelphia Eagles flick ("Invincible") and the Richard Gere 1970's Howard Hughes story, "The Hoax." And no, I'm not interested in the latter just because I worked on it...