Oh wow, I'm THRILLED!!

I agree with Zahir that I thought Let Me In was really good.  It is definitely slower and more moody than many horror films, but I loved the dark atmosphere and felt that the story offered a unique take on vampirism.  For anyone interested in the original Swedish Let The Right One In, which I thought was at least as good, there is a word of caution about the subtitles- initially, the DVD subtitles were very dumbed down and bland compared with the subtitles that were used in the theatrical release.  You can probably google and find discussions about the criticism about this.  They were going to re-release the DVD but I don't know if that ever happened, but if you ever rent it and don't feel the dialogue was all that great, keep in mind that it may be the fault of the poor subtitles.  At any rate, the English language version removes that problem, though it changes the story slightly and of course changes the location.  I'll be rooting for Chloe (and Johnny, too, of course!) to win a Scream award!

I purposely avoided posting for a couple of days until things settled down a little    (Plus, I was just returning from a trip so I've been busy anyway).  Well, I'm not in love with what I've seen so far, except for the costuming which I personally think is pretty cool.  But I actually think that most of the comments I've seen around the web have been along the lines of my own thinking, which is that these are unofficial photos taken out of context, and we have no idea how this will translate to the film itself, so let's wait and see before worrying too much.  Like some here, I am heartened by the tweet from Breznican, and also from a poster on my Depp forum who claims to have seen a small photo and says the makeup wasn't nearly as "intense" in that photo (I can't guarantee the veracity of the latter person but have no real reason to doubt him).  Either way, I am reminding myself that this is a *vampire* who's walking out in the *sun*, so it's not quite a normal environment for the guy.  I am thinking that either this is one point in Barnabas' treatment that makes him look this way, and/or he will look much different on film with the proper lighting.  But I'm afraid that this is a very late stage of the filming, so they are not just trying out looks at this point.

At any rate, this is just my own guess but I wouldn't expect them to rush out official photos just based on the reactions of the last few days.  I don't think Tim or Johnny care much about the media's first impressions and will probably just continue to do their own thing (don't get me wrong, I still would love to see official photos and hope they do surface soon!)  The first glimpses of both Sweeney Todd and Alice's Mad Hatter brought fairly negative reactions, too, and in both cases, especially Alice, it took awhile before they released any official photos.  And Johnny very famously stood up for his Captain Jack look when the suits had all gotten nervous, so he is definitely one to stand by what he feels is right for the role. 

I think that in general, Johnny is a well loved actor, but MB is absolutely correct that there is a small but very vocal minority that loves to make fun of everything he does, especially when he works with Tim.  The oddball looks are the easy targets, but even in conventional roles there will be people who complain that he looks too bland or that this character looks or sounds too much like that character (never mind that it's his *face* and his *voice*! You never hear these complaints about people like Tom Cruise or George Clooney who pretty much look and sound the same in every role-- somehow for Johnny some people always expect more).  I've learned to just disregard these kinds of remarks but I can see how they would be disturbing if you're not used to seeing them. 

Oops, I should've added this video, where he's talking about being locked up in the basement, which I totally took as a little Barnabas nod

Johnny is seen at about the 1:20 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXWhWU7XtKc

The yacht photos were marked as having been taken on the 20th, and some photos started popping up the morning of the 21st.  It still would've been possible for him to be in Ark on the 19th (if he wasn't filming) and then fly right out.  However, I saw dozens of reports about the release of the WM3, and only about 3 of them mentioned Johnny being present, and those were just in passing- no photos, no quotes; most other reports just mentioned his past support.  The WM3 themselves didn't mention him being there and neither did their website.  More importantly, this was a major news event and no photos spotted him-- believe me, the Depp community is rabid enough that they would be looking very carefully for photo evidence!

As for the Disney thing, I remember seeing something on some site, and when I clicked the link, the page did not exist.  Impersonators do show up at Disney or other places sometimes, and some are quite good.  It is very doubtful that Johnny would be walking around Disney during regular hours- he has even spoken of this problem himself.  Parts of the park (Land, not World) closed when he showed up to ride on the POTC ride after they installed the Captain Jack animatronic.  Vanessa and the kids are sometimes spotted at 'Land, and photos do pop up of them but they are surrounded by an entourage.  Johnny generally needs  more security than that when in public.  Of course, any report of a potential Depp sighting is of interest to us fans, but we usually can figure out what to disregard, because as you say he can't be in all places at once, and believe me, sightings occur ALL the time and most aren't real    Best guess- Johnny filmed during the week and enjoyed the weekend with his family.  

I do hope we'll hear him say something about the release.

I am about 80-90 mi from the epicenter, and we felt it alright!  We didn't really understand what it was at first, as I work in a laboratory/hospital that sometimes has strange equipment going- some thought there was an equipment malfunction somewhere and some thought an explosion.  But the building I work in is HUGE and very solid brick and concrete, and as the floor continued shaking visibly it eventually became obvious it was something more.  The worst part was that it seemed to get worse as it went along, instead of starting strong and dissipating.  What's funny is that I experienced my first earthquake last July that was epicentered only a mile from my house in Maryland, and though it woke me up it was only a 3.4, but yesterday I *still* didn't automatically think "earthquake".  It just doesn't come to mind, here.  Now, the hurricane that's on its way is another matter 

I don't want to dwell on Lone Ranger too much because I know it's off topic, but just a couple of things- while the project may not be dead for good, they cancelled a casting call last weekend (after it had only just been announced!) and are reportedly now taking down sets.  Even if they can reach a compromise with the budget, it likely won't start on time in Oct.  About the werewolves, nobody really knows the full story, but what seems to be shaking out is that 1) the story leak is from an old script that was scrapped a couple of years ago, and 2) most discussion, which I am not sure is based on anything but conjecture, seems to be that there might've been an element of werewolves in more of a sense of Native American spirit guides and such.  But it seems there has been an awful lot of press from people who really don't know the true story.  The whole thing and how it has been handled has been extremely peculiar, however.  This project wasn't one of my favorites so I'm not that broken up about it per se, but the fact that the rug was pulled out like this so close to filming is quite jarring and disturbing.  Thank goodness (knock wood) DS production is going about smoothly!  

Edit- MB posted while I was writing, and he said some of the same things I just did, but I will post this anyway to confirm what I've heard.  Just an addendum, though, werewolves or no werewolves, I think everyone is a little confused about why the budget would be $250M.  Does anyone recall if the budget for DS has been discussed?  I can't imagine it being near that amount.