"The Tourist" - in theaters

I saw a lot of movies while I was home in Michigan over the holiday break, so you'll see several posts in the next few days as I get caught up.

Let me start off by saying how I don't understand how this movie got so many Golden Globe nominations. I mean, seriously Hollywood Foreign Press? Did Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp sleep with ALL of you to score those nods? I'm just wondering.

While I was sitting through "The Tourist", I wasn't always entirely sure what was going on. The story revolves around Elise (Jolie), an apparent socialite who is being watched by the authorities because of her involvement with a now notorious thief and tax evader whose name I can't remember. But this guy, let's call him Tom, sends her a note with instructions to get on a train and pick out someone who has his build and befriend him. The point of this is to make the authorities believe that this "tourist" is really the Tom, and hence Elise and Tom can go off while the tourist pays the price. The tourist that is picked is Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), a math teacher from the Midwest on holiday in Italy.

The film goes on from there with Jolie semi-seducing Johnny Depp so that he checks into a hotel with her, escorts her around town, blah blah blah. And of course, not only are the authorities searching for Tom, but also so is the criminal that he stole from. All in all, there are a lot of people trying to shoot him.

I think this film tried to be too many different things, and in the end, it didn't work out. It tried to be romantic, but let's face it: seeing Johnny Depp in a "normal" role was just too weird. Not to mention that there wasn't a ton of chemistry between the two leads. It tried to be an action movie, but it didn't allow Angelina Jolie to kick ass. I was sitting there the whole time thinking, "When is she going to drop kick that guy across the room?" It also tried to be a buddy action flick, which failed miserably. Again, if Depp had a sword in his hand, it might have been a different story.

My favorite character was played by Paul Bettany, who was the Interpol officer assigned to find the illusive Tom, and he took his job seriously to the point of obsession. I always enjoy Paul Bettany and think that he gets the short end of the stick at times. Remember how he was Chaucer in "A Knight's Tale"? Quality shit.

So on the CWeave scale, I give this movie a 5. Maybe it'll improve on second viewing, but I really don't intend to find out. So if you see this movie, see it for Paul if nothing else. Because Johnny Depp as normal doesn't really work.

"Salt" - in theaters

I totally buy Angelina Jolie as an action star. For me, there are some women who can pull off the action movie, and some who can't (sorry Mila Kunis, but you should stick to comedy).

First of all, Jolie kicks some serious butt in this film. I can't describe the plot too well without giving too much away, but I will tell you this: it really keeps you guessing from start to finish. It starts out with a Russian walk-in to the CIA saying that an agent named Evelyn Salt will kill the Russian president the next day at a funeral. And guess who Evelyn Salt is? Angelina, of course. So, she kind of goes all panicky and runs for it. It's at this point that the movie really takes off, and it doesn't take that long to get there. I appreciated that.

I found the supporting cast to also be terrific. Liev Schreiber plays Salt's co-worker/boss at the CIA and their relationship is very brother/sister. You get the sense that over the years Evelyn Salt derived a lot of comfort from that. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the FBI agent brought in to oversee things, and I enjoy whenever he pops up in films. Maybe it's because he was in "Love Actually" and who DOESN'T love that movie?

So on the CWeave scale, I rate this movie a solid 7. It could have used more humor (I do enjoy a good action comedy), but the acting was steady, the action harrowing, and again, Jolie was a total badass. And bonus points for her, because at one point, she disguises herself as a man! Woot!