Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Rango is.....quirky. Very quirky. John Logan is an absolute genius - best writer in the world right now (he did Skyfall recently and also two exceptional plays in Peter & Alice and I'll East You Last) and it works a treat. The animation style is unique enough that it keeps you engaged. It is overlong and patchy in places though.<<< I didn't know that John Logan wrote the script. Are we talking about the John Logan from Aviator and Star Trek Nemesis? I didn't like both, so I'm not that sure about him. Skyfall was great, but I don't know any other movies from him.
Originally Posted By dagobert I just looked on Wikipedia to get more infos about John Logan and I'm sorry to say, but he wrote more bad movies than good ones. I have to admit I haven't seen all of his movies, but Last Samurai, ST: Nemesis, The Time Machine, Aviator and Sweeney Todd weren't very good. Only Gladiator and Skyfall were fine.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 It does make you wonder if the public is getting tired of Johnny Depp's weirdo schtick.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^I've been tired of that since the first film of his that I saw. It worked in POTC1. By POTC3, it was beyond tired. And like Will Farrell (also on my "do not watch list") he plays the same character in every movie. He tried to play someone 'normal' in The Tourist, but it ended up being a rather dull film and his character had a twist that turns out he's still a weirdo. I've been over it for years; it's nice that I'm not the only one.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I haven't seen Rango yet, but Verbinski isn't a great director.<< Don't let Verbinski or John Logan scare you away from Rango. It's excellent. (But VERY quirky.)
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Here's even more bad news for LR. Comedian Kevin Hart had a concert film Let Me Explain open to 4.1 million in 800 theaters. LR opened to 9 million in 3900
Originally Posted By ecdc >>but Last Samurai, ST: Nemesis, The Time Machine, Aviator and Sweeney Todd weren't very good.<< While it's entirely possible those scripts were the problem, do not underestimate the power of studio meddling to ruin a perfectly fine screenplay. Also, a director has wide latitude in how they shoot the screenplay. A script doesn't say how a line should be read, camera setup or angles, sets (beyond broad descriptions), costumes, score or music, acting, editing, etc. It's not uncommon to see a bland movie, then read the screenplay and go, "Oh, this was really good!"
Originally Posted By leemac I'm not an expert but I think Logan started out doing a lot of script doctoring work so I'm not sure how many of those movies he worked on from start to finish. He is the greatest playwright of his generation - Red, Peter & Alice and I'll Eat You Last are peerless - he deserved the Tony for Red and should have been nominated and won for the Sue Mengers play.
Originally Posted By leemac <<He tried to play someone 'normal' in The Tourist, but it ended up being a rather dull film>> The Tourist wasn't just rather dull - it was snoringly dull. Absolutely uneventful.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I quite liked Rango. And I think Depp is very talented, but he needs to choose a project or two that lays off the weird quotient a little and reminds us again what he can do.
Originally Posted By leemac <<And I think Depp is very talented, but he needs to choose a project or two that lays off the weird quotient a little and reminds us again what he can do.>> I'm not sure about very talented - he unquestionably plays very good oddball characters. The problem is when he plays normal characters like in The Tourist or The Rum Diary or Secret Window. I do think he was excellent in Finding Neverland though.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead Ed Wood Edward Scissorhands What's Eating Gilbert Grape Pirates Sweeney Todd The man is very talented. He's done some clunkers and he himself has clunked. But to say he's not very talented is silly. And yes, Rango is excellent. Smart, funny, and weird. And that canyon chase is spectacular.
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Sorry - I meant to say that he is a great indie actor pretending to be a Hollywood blockbuster actor. POTC was just a perfect storm. Trying to shoehorn him into other tentpoles just isn't wise.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead Ok, but the Hollywood blockbuster actor has changed. Right now Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr are headlining highest grossing movies ever. The days of buff summer action heroes are gone. America's gone quirky.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Alice also did very well. And he has done very well in movies like Gilbert Grape, Finding Neverland... and most definitely in Ed Wood - the character was "oddball," but not weird in the sense we're talking about, and he absolutely found his humanity and didn't just make him a figure of fun. I agree he tends to do better in indies - sometimes things come together a la POTC and Alice so that the box office lights up too - but I'd like to see him take more of the Sean Penn or Daniel Day-Lewis approach; take the part because it's a good part. But of course, if someone offered YOU the amounts he's being offered ... it's really the studio's fault rather than his. If LR tanks, they may not offer it forever.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I' think Johnny Depp is a talented actor. As a reminder, watch Donnie Brasco,in which he plays an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates a group of Italian gangsters. With Al Pacino, Bruno Kirby, Tom Sizemore -- it's solid. And Depp is excellent. Anne Heche plays his wife.
