tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post5290704008295183017..comments2024-03-05T21:05:36.848-05:00Comments on CommentaramaFilms: Film Friday: The Tourist (2010)AndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-88378131496678431022011-12-03T11:18:36.067-05:002011-12-03T11:18:36.067-05:00Thanks Anon! Feel free to look around! :)Thanks Anon! Feel free to look around! :)AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-18061983899361137262011-12-02T23:20:30.363-05:002011-12-02T23:20:30.363-05:00sorry, I mean I turned the film off half way throu...sorry, I mean I turned the film off half way through.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-21470979912868778722011-12-02T23:19:30.762-05:002011-12-02T23:19:30.762-05:00Nice blog! I turned this one off halfway through.Nice blog! I turned this one off halfway through.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-8961234701216371732011-12-02T20:52:45.707-05:002011-12-02T20:52:45.707-05:00Thanks ScyFyTerry, I'm glad you liked it.Thanks ScyFyTerry, I'm glad you liked it.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-54676653624566185612011-12-02T20:28:06.488-05:002011-12-02T20:28:06.488-05:00great film! No, I'm kidding. This one stunk....great film! No, I'm kidding. This one stunk. Nice take down.ScyFyterryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12635510395140863437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-2584118465304600132011-12-02T18:57:34.302-05:002011-12-02T18:57:34.302-05:00T-Rav, There is definitely something to be said fo...T-Rav, There is definitely something to be said for being done. Now you can work on movie stuff! ;)<br /><br />I didn't see the shots Gervais took at this film? He <i>can</i> be funny, though usually I just find him annoying.<br /><br />Also, on that point, imagine my NON-surprise that they invited him back. It's all about ratings, isn't it?AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-20224193880553090722011-12-02T18:54:52.502-05:002011-12-02T18:54:52.502-05:00Scott, I need to spend some time thinking about ch...Scott, I need to spend some time thinking about chemistry because I'll bet it's not as mysterious as people think. Otherwise, romance films wouldn't be so consistently successful.<br /><br />I saw at IMDB that they went through a series of possible leads and directors. They should have gone with Sam Worthington (who was the last choice right before Depp). He's such a horrid piece of cardboard that adding him to this movie could literally have generated dull-concentrate.... a substance so powerful that the universe would have ground to a very boring halt the moment a single particle of the stuff came into being. ;)AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-92190048613808292432011-12-02T18:53:41.660-05:002011-12-02T18:53:41.660-05:00Andrew, they may have been good and they may have ...Andrew, they may have been good and they may have been awful, but they're over now and that's all I'm concerned about at the moment. <br /><br />Yeah, I'd say "phoning it in" is the best way to describe this, on the part of everyone involved. <br /><br />And while I don't generally like Ricky Gervais, I loved all the shots he took at the movie during the last Golden Globes. Even atheists get it right sometimes ;-)T-Ravhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10861218035729479354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-12918750456716330752011-12-02T18:46:10.980-05:002011-12-02T18:46:10.980-05:00Was it that they didn't actually like each oth...<i>Was it that they didn't actually like each other and that came through in the acting? Or was it that they are somehow just oddly incompatible? Or was it something else?</i><br /><br />I don't know. Chemistry is one of those things that's difficult to predict (or even create from scratch) so it's a miracle when two actors have any chemistry at all.<br /><br />Judging from the IMDb trivia, this whole thing looks as if it was done as some kind of package deal (like many movies are). I don't know if Depp and Jolie are represented by the same agency but it's one of those "Get me Depp and Jolie and you've got your movie!" deals.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-19068148027670892642011-12-02T18:00:24.064-05:002011-12-02T18:00:24.064-05:00T-Rav, Welcome back to planet Earth! I hope your ...T-Rav, Welcome back to planet Earth! I hope your papers went well. :)<br /><br />I think you're right that there is an assumption that this was going to make money based on star power no matter what the script looked like, so they just ran with a horrid script without trying to fix the problems.<br /><br />And I can see where the pitch would work quite nicely -- we gather a couple A list starts for a big international romance film like <i>Charade</i>. Bingo, we're rich.<br /><br />I suspect all the rest was secondary.<br /><br />And based on the quote from IMDB above, I suspect the actors also felt that they could just phone in their performance and the audiences would still come open their wallets.<br /><br />It sounds like this was a film made purely to exploit a marketing pitch.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-50265684819895388402011-12-02T17:55:53.782-05:002011-12-02T17:55:53.782-05:00Here's something interesting, from IMDB trivia...Here's something interesting, from IMDB trivia:<br /><br /><br /><i>Angelina Jolie admitted in an interview with Vogue Magazine that the only reason she agreed to do this movie was because she knew it would be a "quick shoot" in Venice, Italy.</i><br /><br /><br />So I guess "phoning it in" becomes a real possibility?AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-43207693189156012342011-12-02T17:55:17.670-05:002011-12-02T17:55:17.670-05:00Now that I have completed my arduous paper-writing...Now that I have completed my arduous paper-writing week...<br /><br />I haven't seen "The Tourist," but I read the spoilers anyway, because I had no plans of seeing this movie, ever. I saw the lame previews--even from that, it was obvious Depp and Jolie had zero chemistry--and all I saw and heard was a string of decades-old cliches and obvious plot elements. Nothing about it interested me; and I too was wondering, "He's supposed to be a teacher and he looks like that?" (Granted, I have known some odd ducks teaching high school English and art and so on, but still.)<br /><br />Honestly, I think the basic problem with this is that the writers fell back into the trap of casting big-name Hollywood people for the leads and then getting lazy with the actual story, because they figured everyone would want to see it just because it had Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in it. Well, no. I don't care about either of them, and even if I did, I'm not going to spend ten bucks on their movie if it doesn't look interesting. Sorry to disappoint.T-Ravhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10861218035729479354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-43652778876433864732011-12-02T17:50:14.742-05:002011-12-02T17:50:14.742-05:00Ed, I had a similar sense. For a film that had no...Ed, I had a similar sense. For a film that had nothing to do with the US, there seemed to be a steady light flow of anti-American statements. And as you say, they weren't things like "Bush is evil," they were things like "look a criminal, he must be an American." I wish I could remember the others.... but I'm not re-watching the film to find out.<br /><br />It was enough that I suspect if they had been anti-Chinese comments, the Chinese government would have protested and Hollywood would have removed them.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-18469093812779497032011-12-02T17:47:35.162-05:002011-12-02T17:47:35.162-05:00Andrew, I noticed a number of anti-American lines ...Andrew, I noticed a number of anti-American lines in the film. I can't remember them now, but I remember they came about every 15 minutes. Also, they weren't political, they were digs on Americans not America.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18122308626703654554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-47130923686989873452011-12-02T17:43:52.098-05:002011-12-02T17:43:52.098-05:00Scott, I think you're right that this was inte...Scott, I think you're right that this was intended to be a throw-back to <i>Charade</i> or <i>To Catch A Thief</i> or even <i>The Thomas Crowne Affair</i>, but it just never worked on any level.<br /><br />In fact, watching it, I kept feeling like they had stolen scenes from various romantic films like that and then rammed them all together and then came up with the idea of using the cops to tie the story together... but it never works because it ends up being a series of vingettes rather than a full plot.<br /><br />On the chemistry point, here's a question: why do you think they didn't work together? Was it that they didn't actually like each other and that came through in the acting? Or was it that they are somehow just oddly incompatible? Or was it something else?<br /><br />I tend to think the biggest problem is that they were too similar. I think they both came across as snooty rich Euro-trash and they were both indifferent to the romance, and that made them entirely uninteresting on manys level and incompatible as movie-lovers go.<br /><br />You like <i>Sweeney Todd</i>, huh? I wanted to like it, but couldn't. It was just too similar scene by scene and song by song, though there is one song I really like -- I think it's called "Joanna."AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-57824584381935447452011-12-02T17:31:46.633-05:002011-12-02T17:31:46.633-05:00I loved Sweeney Todd... Burton's best film sin...I loved <i>Sweeney Todd</i>... Burton's best film since <i>Ed Wood</i> IMHO. :-)<br /><br />As for this film, talk about a HUUUGE step down for the director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who directed the excellent <i>The Lives of Others</i> a few years earlier.<br /><br />I can appreciate what they were going for in this film: an old-fashioned romantic caper à la <i>Charade</i> and <i>To Catch a Thief</i> but they failed miserably. It's beautiful to look but I agree: Depp and Jolie have zero chemistry and the twist is one of things where you say to yourself, "God, I hope that's not the twist - there must be something else!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-13752084725325125022011-12-02T17:30:13.713-05:002011-12-02T17:30:13.713-05:00Also, did anyone get the sense this film had anti-...Also, did anyone get the sense this film had anti-American undertones? I kept noticing stupid little digs, like the cops suggesting that the criminals "must be Americans." What?!AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-2554804461726659692011-12-02T17:29:13.698-05:002011-12-02T17:29:13.698-05:00Borrow away doc!
When I first heard the concept, ...Borrow away doc!<br /><br />When I first heard the concept, I thought it could be good. But the ads didn't strike me as particularly good and then the more I heard the less I like. Then the critics hated it and the film bombed. By that point, I knew something was up. Then I watched it and I understood why.<br /><br />I'll tell you honestly, in hindsight, I'm not sure Jolie and Depp actually work together. They don't seem compatible somehow.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-38141511817147345692011-12-02T17:25:04.025-05:002011-12-02T17:25:04.025-05:00Andrew, To borrow your phrase, I wanted to like th...Andrew, To borrow your phrase, I wanted to like this movie so much. I love both Jolie and Depp and I thought the premise looked like a real classic old-school Hollywood international thriller. It wasn't. You've described accurately what it really was.Doc Whoahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16283308866886912377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-26958299781442511022011-12-02T17:22:26.997-05:002011-12-02T17:22:26.997-05:00I wanted to like Sweeney Todd, but it just didn...I wanted to like <i>Sweeney Todd</i>, but it just didn't work for me. It had a couple good numbers, but overall it was the same song and same scene played out over and over. Alan Rickman was good though.<br /><br />I hear <i>Rum Diaries</i> sucks, which wouldn't surprise me because I've never seen anything coherent from Hunter Thompson.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-52633985583750975292011-12-02T17:19:48.488-05:002011-12-02T17:19:48.488-05:00Yeah, I just did the same. "Charlie and the ...Yeah, I just did the same. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Alice in Wonderland," "Sweeny Todd," "The Imaginarium of...." Not a great list.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18122308626703654554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-80433901045600464322011-12-02T17:17:16.342-05:002011-12-02T17:17:16.342-05:00Ed, I liked that one too, though it wasn't &qu...Ed, I liked that one too, though it wasn't "great."<br /><br />I just pulled up his filmography and there are a lot more misses than hits in the past decade.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-86406205810243439952011-12-02T17:13:57.584-05:002011-12-02T17:13:57.584-05:00Individualist, That's a great point! :D
My l...Individualist, That's a great point! :D<br /><br /><br />My last favorite Depp film, other than the Capt. Jack is "Once Upon A Time In Mexico," which wasn't super but I really liked it.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18122308626703654554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-21076694511292443072011-12-02T17:11:29.364-05:002011-12-02T17:11:29.364-05:00Indi, I see your point. If we see this film as a ...Indi, I see your point. If we see this film as a hidden metaphor for the British Tax Code, played out by actors masquerading as thinly-veiled code sections, then indeed, the writer has captured the dull horror and utter confusion that is the tax code! LOL! Bravo! :)AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-80042108821872430652011-12-02T17:09:51.756-05:002011-12-02T17:09:51.756-05:00Crispy, That is my favorite Depp movie. But that ...Crispy, That is my favorite Depp movie. But that was also in 1999. So was <i>Sleepy Hollow</i> and <i>Pirates</i> began in 2003. But between 1999 and the present, his record isn't very good in my book.<br /><br />I think he needs to hire someone to help him pick movies.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.com