Remember the Summer of 2011? The sequels, the superhero movies and the throngs of “adult” movie goers who complained that there wasn’t anything that met the needs of their discerning taste?
Somehow, Crazy, Stupid Love filled that void and became the antidote for kiddie movies and blockbusters. I’m not sure how. The movie was very much about surface impressions and, in the end, very much a farce. But the whiners were appeased and went back to their domiciles to eat cheese and drink a nice merlot.
Meanwhile, here comes The Debt – a taut, emotional espionage thriller about former Massad agents who worked together in 1960’s East Berlin to track down a Nazi war criminal. Things go wrong and they’re still dealing with the fallout several decades later.
Meanwhile, no one is talking about it.
I don’t know if the pedigree of the film is turning people off or if it just looks too complex since it’s about espionage and takes place in two different time periods. But it’s been getting great reviews and is probably worth checking out. Frankly, you had me at “Helen Mirren.”
Is anyone else planning on checking out The Debt this weekend?
The trailers put me off to it. I just got a very strange vibe from it. I think the trailer confuses things. But it does have Helen Mirren. And that alone is a reason to see it. The good reviews may get me out there.
I’m not really in a mindset right now myself for a quasi-political thriller, but that’s me right now, not the greater me who enjoys movies and cinema in general. Because otherwise yes this is right up my alley. (that and money is tight)
That said, I think it’s just further evidence that the average american peon likes to talk a big game about having refined tastes when in reality they just want the same pablum fed to them with a different spoon.
but i wonder if the 9.11 anniversary maybe isn’t putting people off heady geopolitical topics at the moment as well?
I’m not really expecting audiences to drive to it en masse. I’m just wondering why it doesn’t seem to have any buzz around it where Crazy Stupid Love did?
I mean, the audience was practically starved mid-summer. So they could take what they could get. But I can’t help but wonder, if the films release dates were reversed, would The Debt have bigger buzz?
I’m planning on seeing The Debt tonight. It has Helen Mirren AND Tom Wilkinson AND Ciarán Hinds, how can you go wrong? And I’m liking what I’ve seen of Jessica Chastain so far.
I’ve been intrigued by this movie ever since I first saw the trailer for it months ago. It’s a shame it’s not getting any buzz.
As good as The Debt looks, I just can’t get excited about another Hollywood remake. The original film is only a few years old, but unfortunately not in English.
At least Crazy Stupid Love is one of those rare original scripts.
That’s news to me. I didn’t know that The Debt was actually a remake!
Now I must investigate.
This was one of the ones I had to put in my calendar when I saw the trailer a couple months ago. Saw it last weekend…The Debt IS as good as the trailer looks. The espionage flashback scene was a little unbalanced, but the film is one of the better films I’ve seen this year.
And regarding the remake…This American version is basically a shot for shot remake. Not that it’s a bad thing. Now I wanna see the original and suffer through the subtitles.