Friday, 17 December 2010 The Tourist (Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany) Posted by joeldfisher at 05:41

Venice is a beautiful city, it can evoke many different moods, from the horror of Don't Look Now, to the thrills of Casino Royale but there's no doubting the beauty of one of the most unusual cities in the world, so lets make a movie there.

This was probably how the first meeting went for the screenwriters of The Tourist. Also lets add two of the most beautiful stars in Hollywood, says the casting director.

The Tourist is a comedy, action romance about a beautiful, mysterious woman played by Angelina Jolie; (Tomb Raider, Salt) who meets a bumbling maths teacher (Johnny Depp; Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland)  and takes him on an adventure across Venice. There are shootouts, speedboat chases and gangsters and of course a small cameo from Timothy Dalton.

Elise (Jolie) is on the run from Scotland Yard and is pursuing her love, and partner in crime, the mysterious and illusive Alexander Pearce who is being sought by Scotland Yard but has heavily disguised himself through millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery. Right from the start Elise is leading the best of Scotland Yard right where she wants them and is distracting her pursuers by her unwavering beauty (nice to see Angelina Jolie playing against type for once). She is instructed to find a with the same height and build as Pearce and make Scotland Yard believe he is the real deal, so who does she happen upon? The unassuming Frank, (Depp).

The roles of the pair are not essential to the plot (Johnny Depp could have been a particle physicist for all the audience cares, after all Cary Grant was an advertising executive in North by Northwest) so The Tourist is clearly a character piece and doesn't deal with little squabbles like reality and neither should the audience.

The movie gently guides the audience along and lets them enjoy the scenery with the little intervals of gunfire and chases but never misleads them, and never intends to either. This is a gentle family thriller for those who don't like swearing and blood and that's just fine, you may even guess the ending if you're paying attention, not that you would need to pay much attention in which to do so.

Johnny Depp is an unusual choice to play the mild mannered maths teacher but it certainly pays off, even when he's not acting he's acting and it shows, he's his usual charming and self effacing self and the audience soon warms to him. Angelina Jolie plays a calculating and sophisticated English lady (those Tomb Raider fans out there will get a reminder of her accent) and suitably plays the untouchable and desirable beauty with a hidden secret and she does it well, mainly just by looking pretty, the majority of the acting is left up to Depp.

Steven Berkoff (44 Inch Chest, Rancid Aluminium) plays the aforementioned gangster and does the way he knows best, by being Steven Berkoff, his opening scene is of him wearing black (as all bad guys do) looking menacingly out of the window of an airplane and you instantly know he's the bad guy.

That's the thing about The Tourist, everybody should be exactly as you think they should be and for the most part they usually are and the movie goes in no way to deceive the audience so therefore the ending of the movie seems a little out of place and speaking for myself and perhaps many other audience members I believe the ending in my head would have been better because the 'reality' on the screen is perhaps a little far fetched.

by Joel Fisher

The Tourist (Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany) Posted by joeldfisher at 05:41

Venice is a beautiful city, it can evoke many different moods, from the horror of Don't Look Now, to the thrills of Casino Royale but there's no doubting the beauty of one of the most unusual cities in the world, so lets make a movie there.

This was probably how the first meeting went for the screenwriters of The Tourist. Also lets add two of the most beautiful stars in Hollywood, says the casting director.

The Tourist is a comedy, action romance about a beautiful, mysterious woman played by Angelina Jolie; (Tomb Raider, Salt) who meets a bumbling maths teacher (Johnny Depp; Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland)  and takes him on an adventure across Venice. There are shootouts, speedboat chases and gangsters and of course a small cameo from Timothy Dalton.

Elise (Jolie) is on the run from Scotland Yard and is pursuing her love, and partner in crime, the mysterious and illusive Alexander Pearce who is being sought by Scotland Yard but has heavily disguised himself through millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery. Right from the start Elise is leading the best of Scotland Yard right where she wants them and is distracting her pursuers by her unwavering beauty (nice to see Angelina Jolie playing against type for once). She is instructed to find a with the same height and build as Pearce and make Scotland Yard believe he is the real deal, so who does she happen upon? The unassuming Frank, (Depp).

The roles of the pair are not essential to the plot (Johnny Depp could have been a particle physicist for all the audience cares, after all Cary Grant was an advertising executive in North by Northwest) so The Tourist is clearly a character piece and doesn't deal with little squabbles like reality and neither should the audience.

The movie gently guides the audience along and lets them enjoy the scenery with the little intervals of gunfire and chases but never misleads them, and never intends to either. This is a gentle family thriller for those who don't like swearing and blood and that's just fine, you may even guess the ending if you're paying attention, not that you would need to pay much attention in which to do so.

Johnny Depp is an unusual choice to play the mild mannered maths teacher but it certainly pays off, even when he's not acting he's acting and it shows, he's his usual charming and self effacing self and the audience soon warms to him. Angelina Jolie plays a calculating and sophisticated English lady (those Tomb Raider fans out there will get a reminder of her accent) and suitably plays the untouchable and desirable beauty with a hidden secret and she does it well, mainly just by looking pretty, the majority of the acting is left up to Depp.

Steven Berkoff (44 Inch Chest, Rancid Aluminium) plays the aforementioned gangster and does the way he knows best, by being Steven Berkoff, his opening scene is of him wearing black (as all bad guys do) looking menacingly out of the window of an airplane and you instantly know he's the bad guy.

That's the thing about The Tourist, everybody should be exactly as you think they should be and for the most part they usually are and the movie goes in no way to deceive the audience so therefore the ending of the movie seems a little out of place and speaking for myself and perhaps many other audience members I believe the ending in my head would have been better because the 'reality' on the screen is perhaps a little far fetched.

by Joel Fisher

Posted by joeldfisher at 05:40

The Tourist

Venice is a beautiful city, it can evoke many different moods, from the horror of Don't Look Now, to the thrills of Casino Royale but there's no doubting the beauty of one of the most unusual cities in the world, so lets make a movie there.

This was probably how the first meeting went for the screenwriters of The Tourist. Also lets add two of the most beautiful stars in Hollywood, says the casting director.

The Tourist is a comedy, action romance about a beautiful, mysterious woman played by Angelina Jolie; (Tomb Raider, Salt) who meets a bumbling maths teacher (Johnny Depp; Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland)  and takes him on an adventure across Venice. There are shootouts, speedboat chases and gangsters and of course a small cameo from Timothy Dalton.

Elise (Jolie) is on the run from Scotland Yard and is pursuing her love, and partner in crime, the mysterious and illusive Alexander Pearce who is being sought by Scotland Yard but has heavily disguised himself through millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery. Right from the start Elise is leading the best of Scotland Yard right where she wants them and is distracting her pursuers by her unwavering beauty (nice to see Angelina Jolie playing against type for once). She is instructed to find a with the same height and build as Pearce and make Scotland Yard believe he is the real deal, so who does she happen upon? The unassuming Frank, (Depp).

The roles of the pair are not essential to the plot (Johnny Depp could have been a particle physicist for all the audience cares, after all Cary Grant was an advertising executive in North by Northwest) so The Tourist is clearly a character piece and doesn't deal with little squabbles like reality and neither should the audience.

The movie gently guides the audience along and lets them enjoy the scenery with the little intervals of gunfire and chases but never misleads them, and never intends to either. This is a gentle family thriller for those who don't like swearing and blood and that's just fine, you may even guess the ending if you're paying attention, not that you would need to pay much attention in which to do so.

Johnny Depp is an unusual choice to play the mild mannered maths teacher but it certainly pays off, even when he's not acting he's acting and it shows, he's his usual charming and self effacing self and the audience soon warms to him. Angelina Jolie plays a calculating and sophisticated English lady (those Tomb Raider fans out there will get a reminder of her accent) and suitably plays the untouchable and desirable beauty with a hidden secret and she does it well, mainly just by looking pretty, the majority of the acting is left up to Depp.

Steven Berkoff (44 Inch Chest, Rancid Aluminium) plays the aforementioned gangster and does the way he knows best, by being Steven Berkoff, his opening scene is of him wearing black (as all bad guys do) looking menacingly out of the window of an airplane and you instantly know he's the bad guy.

That's the thing about The Tourist, everybody should be exactly as you think they should be and for the most part they usually are and the movie goes in no way to deceive the audience so therefore the ending of the movie seems a little out of place and speaking for myself and perhaps many other audience members I believe the ending in my head would have been better because the 'reality' on the screen is perhaps a little far fetched.

by Joel Fisher

Wednesday, 8 December 2010 Unstoppable (Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson) Posted by joeldfisher at 08:17

Unstoppable is a story of a little train that could... run very fast out of control, endanger the lives around it and seemingly not be able to stop. The story inspired by the real life event of 2001 where a train did exactly the same thing is heightened to an extreme level thanks to veteran action director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Man on Fire) and his cast; Denzel Washington (Malcolm X, The Book of Eli), Chris Pine (Star Trek, Carriers) and Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Seven Pounds).

The story of the man on his last days of retirement and the young, eager rookie looking to make a fresh start is a tried and tested story and somewhat cliché but it certainly never stops Tony Scott as that's just what we have here. Frank (Washington) is supervising Will (Pine) in the rail yard he has worked in for 28 years, they both have their issues (probably Will more than Frank) but as they journey along and as the journey gets faster the pair start to bond, as you do.

Meanwhile Connie (Dawson) is trying to deal with the bureaucrats, get the train to slow down and make sure the train (which is carrying dangerous chemicals) doesn't cause an accident and endanger the lives of thousands, all in a day's work.

You can always trust Tony Scott to make a mountain out of a molehill, all in the name of entertainment and Unstoppable is no exception. In the past however, there's generally been a bad guy to fight or a heightening of the excitement. Bearing in mind that this is based on a true story, and one so recent as well I couldn't help think how the news footage in real life would have been, well, somewhat underwhelming. Tony Scott ignores all this and takes on the train as the worst thing to happen to Western civilisation. There are schoolchildren in danger, old seasoned train drivers and even a horse nearly gets it in an accident that couldn't have been less staged if it tried.

There is a lot of accuracy in this story, upon doing research after seeing the movie, bar a few minor details adjusted for dramatic licence, but this can be forgiven. However accuracy doesn't always make an entertaining movie. The story of a train speeding in a seemingly 'unstoppable' way (see what I did there?) may seem dramatic enough but the reality is rather dull when you think that the story can be portrayed in so many ways (I vaguely remember an episode from Thomas The Tank Engine where one of the trains did something similar). Tony Scott relies on loud music that increases in pace and volume as the excitement supposedly increases. Also there are a lot of news reports that illustrate (sometimes literally) why the train is so dangerous and covers the story from many angles, as they so often do, to try to keep the audience interested. However unless you're watching the story unfold live as it happens then the story feels a little flat and the lack of a particular bad guy (apart from the corporate big wigs) and a reason for the little guys on a mission, other than being a few days from retirement seems very familiar to those interested in the action genre.

Also if you really want to know what happens in  the movie without paying to watch it you can look up the news reports on Youtube which sum it all up in 90 seconds.

by Joel Fisher