The Tourist

[ccfinlay]

Two weekends a month, raecarson and I go out on a date. Since we like caper movies, find Angela Jolie's choice of strong women characters interesting, and usually enjoy Johnny Depp's over-the-top performances, we went to see "The Tourist

Comments

Ebert kinda sez it all

[lsanderson]

The plot involves - oh, hell, you know, the usual mystery man who has stolen millions from a gangster and gone into hiding while smuggling instructions to Jolie, his lover, instructing her to take the train to Venice, etc. And the cops from Scotland Yard who are tailing her in hopes of nailing the guy. And the gangster and his hit men who are also on the thief’s trail. And chases over the rooftops of Venice, dinner on a train, a scene in a casino, designer gowns and a chase through the canals with Jolie at the controls of a motor taxi, and...

Well, there was really only one cliche left, and I was grateful when it arrived. You know how a man in a high place will look down and see a canvas awning that might break his fall, and he jumps into it? Yep. And it’s shielding a fruit cart at the open-air market and he lands on the oranges and runs off, leaving the cart owner shaking his fist. This is a rare example of the Vertical Fruit Cart Scene, in which the cart is struck not from the side but from the top. More

Re: Ebert kinda sez it all

[ccfinlay]

I guess I should have listened to Ebert.

[raecarson]

I liked the pretty clothes. *cup half-full girl*

[ccfinlay]

My cup's half-full. Of bitter!

Although the clothes were pretty. And Angelina was rocking those long gloves. Mrowr.

[raecarson]

I love how she would stand posed a certain way, framed by a huge window, just to show off the line of her skirt/gown/whatever.

[mrissa]

This is the good thing about picking a partner well--either in the life sense or just in the "who am I going to the movies with" sense. They can be wry and entertaining and ranty about something that would otherwise suck.

I mean, not that raecarson would be ranty. Just in theory someone might be like that.

[ccfinlay]

In theory, raecarson is wry and entertaining and ranty.

[ccfinlay]

That user icon wins the internets.

[safewrite]

Oh yeah, I am loving that red pen icon!

[bogwitch64]

Gads, it really seems an epidemic in the film industry these days. Sacrificing plot and character for the big-banging-chase or fight scenes is just a given. We just saw the new Narnia the other night. All bang, no plot to speak of. A bunch of disjointed scenes strung together by the barest threads. The books are kind of meh to begin with, but what little there is got lost in the special effects.

[barbarienne]

I was kind of wondering what they were going to do with the 3rd Narnia movie, because the book doesn't have a plot. It has a character journey (Eustace becoming a person instead of a wanker) and it has interesting landscape; it's my favorite of all the books.

But I couldn't figure how that could possibly translate to the big screen, where people generally want an external plot to follow, and doubly so in a Fantasy movie these days. I guess I won't bother.

[bogwitch64]

It was always my favorite of the books too. Very adventurous. But the lack of a plot was compounded by the producers' stripping away what little there was. My huband asked in the end, "So what was the quest?"

Yes, the seven swords are there, but that whole thing gets so lost, it's barely visible.