Rating: 
Summary: Nowhere Man
Review: The Plot: Harvey Pekar took his dead-end life as a file clerk in the early Eighties and became a minor celebrity by basing a hit cult comic around himself. From the difficulties of being stuck in line at a supermarket through to battling Cancer, his work is brilliantly portrayed as the film uses a mix of animation, the perfectly cast Giamatti, while blending both archive footage and recent narration by the real life Pekar perfectly. Standout Scene: As reality is suspended briefly the actors take a backseat to listen to Pekar & the supremely funny Toby Radloff take centre stage. Any Good? Pekar once called out David Letterman's talk show as manipulative shtick and American Splendor makes no bones about giving one in the eye to the establishment too. This is a genuinely funny film from the ultimate 'anti-American-Dreamer,' and should definitely not be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: Strangers in a strange land...
Review: This is a charming and subtle tale of a twenty something woman and a middle-aged film star who happen to cross paths while visiting Japan. John Harris (Bill Murray) has been given a lucrative sponsorship deal, promoting a Japanese whiskey, and is confronted by a few cultural barriers, mainly language, which he handles in obvious and hilarious ways. One of the funniest scenes in the picture is his two-minute stint on a cross trainer machine that runs out if his control. This is run of the mill slapstick humour at its best, pulled off in that familiar Murray style, which even now, when I think of it, brings tears to my eyes. In fact, this really is the only piece of slapstick in the entire film, because what makes this picture special is the subtle dialogue between the two main characters. There's no over acting in this film, but an understated realism and tasteful honesty, which to my mind, should bring a few industry awards to first time director, Sofia Coppola. Bill Murrey has come a long way over the last twenty years or so. He is one of the world's most funny comedians, with his own unique signature, and has finally reached a point in his craft, where doing a 'serious' role will not upset his many fans. He tried this early on in his career, playing the role of Larry, in the second film adaptation of Somerset Maugham's, 'The Razors Edge'. Tyron Power played in the original and, of course, this was an impossible act to follow. We did not take him seriously back then, ironically, his performance was superb. In the role of John Harris, the character demanded a particular charm, sophistication and worldliness along with an attitude of self-deprecating humour, which Murrey captured brilliantly, revealing a man at the top of his form. Scarlett Johansson also commanded a fine performance as the lonely and abandoned, Charlotte - her close ups encapsulating every emotion and nuance in each and every scene. She managed to connect with Murrey and display a maturity of character that could not have been done any better. The camera simply fell in love with her face. This is an enchanting piece of filmmaking about two normal people, lonely and in a strange country, who in any other circumstance, would more than likely not take a second glance at one another, but cross paths and discover and form a connection, and perhaps, something a lot more. Four and a half stars.
Rating:
Summary: Translation: Oscar Gold
Review: There are many great things that I can say about this film, but I will keep it short. This is the most overall enjoyable film I have seen in years and maybe ever. A subtle smile appeared on my face from the first shot (not just because of the pink panties....) and steadily grew as I watched Bob and Charlotte's equally subtle relationship blossom. Sometimes less is more, and the sparse dialogue and restrained performances allow this picture to resonate with powerful emotion. Through facial expressions (most notably Bill Murray's eyes) and patches of lonely silence, the two leads become a part of the viewer and we lose ourselves in their kindred souls. This reinvention of Murray (which started in Rushmore, was polished in The Royal Tenenbaums and will be furthered in The Life Aquatic. Thank you Wes Anderson) is a marvel to watch and through Lost in Translation is worthy of the Best Actor Oscar. Scarlett Johansson, though here in a lead role, should be marketed as a Best Supporting Actress and is the best candidate in that field. She has been great since The Horse Whisperer, was excellent in Ghost World and is a double threat this year along with her performance in Girl With The Pearl Earring. And what of Sofia Coppola? She will receive three nominations come the end of this month. The first for Best Picture as one of the film's producers, another for Best Director, and one more for Best Original Screenplay (which she deserves to win). The script is smart enough that the characters don't cheapen their relationship by making it "Hollywood" and sleeping together (a choice rarely seen in contemporary films). I do have one question: Would this film have succeeded the way it does if another actor played the role of Bob? I'm still not sure, but luckily we'll never have to find out. Bill Murray has graced this picture with an almost indescibable quality and has aided in creating (along with the talented cast and crew) a memorable film which belongs on the "Classics" shelf.
Rating:
Summary: This movie gets inside and stays with you...
Review: From the opening scene this movie gripped me with it's extraordinary attention to cinematic detail. Truly great movies seem know their great, they take their time in setting the dramatic stage allowing you to "be there" by not innundating you with dialogue all the time. Your permitted to pay some attention instead to the setting, the music, the cinematography. This movie tends to do that, which may put some people off because of it's slower pace. The storyline, the characters, the music, all felt perfect. This was a wonderful experience that I can't wait to have again when the DVD's released. Enjoy...
Rating: 
Summary: Lost in Wishful Thinking
Review: What on earth are people thinking? That this is interesting because it's barely competent? That the dozens (hundreds) of better films dealing with the the same themes just don't reach a mass audience and so should be ignored? (There are even several Japanese films that explore similar personal crises with grace and power.) As someone who really loves thoughtful personal movies--yes even s-l-o-w ones--I was incensed by this piece of drivel. Bill Murray has a dozen better performances under his belt; this one he phoned in. If the director hadn't been named Coppola, if a brilliant lesser-known actor had played the Murray part, this mess would have sunk without a trace. In a few years, the very few people who might try confront this thing will be wondering--"What WERE we thinking?" I confess: my taste is hardly mainstream. While I am a Bill Murray fan, I conscientiously avoid all movies with Adam Sandler and his ilk. Still, I was heartened to note that the audience in the theater when I saw it were virtually of the same mind. As they filed out, their antipathy was strong and obvious. But it was an art-house, and they were expecting something of merit. OK--in the first part of the film, there were two interesting--even fine--sequences: one in the studio with the commercial director, the other in the hotel room with the call-girl. The Japanese actors were right on the mark, and together with the situations, they provided perfect setups for Murray to do his thing. After these promising moments, the movie quickly becomes sludge. Come on, American films are a lot better than this. Think "The Hours." Think "American Beauty." Think "War of the Roses." Think "Mystic River." Think "A Beautiful Mind." Think "The Conversation." Now--What do you think of "Lost in Translation"? Thanks for your thoughts . . .
Rating:
Summary: Nothing much happens, but that's the point (maybe)
Review: Thought this was quite a lovely film, certainly the best of last year (liked 28 Days Later too, to show you where my tastes are). True, the Japanese stereotypes (esp. in the first half) are a bit jarring, but you can, if generous, dismiss them as there to highlight the Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansson characters' cultural confusion. Other than the two's exploration of downtown Tokyo, nothing much happens. We watch as they gradually find themselves approaching some appoximation of lovers. If you want a conventional 'plot' or 'lovestory' it's best to avoid this film. Get the latest Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan vehicle (or an appoximation thereof) instead. If you're willing to explore a little (as Bill & Scarlett's characters eventually are) then please watch this film. As a long time fan, FINALLY the worthy use of the mighty Mary Chain (RIP)'s music in film.
Rating:
Summary: BORING!!!!
Review: I saw this movie in the theatre. It was so boring that quite a few people in the theatre got up and left in the middle of the movie. I considered it a challenge to see if I could actually sit through the entire thing. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! This movie was about as exciting as watching carpet rot. The acting was excellent, but everything else about the movie dragged.
Rating:
Summary: Translating jet-lag for the screen
Review: When Sofia Coppola stormed the silver screen in 1999 with her breakthorugh movie "Virgin Suicides", you could clearly see that talent really does run in the family. That film was still somehwat rough around the edges but the touching story, the soft visual language, and her choice for music (Air) made up for it thousandfold. And luckily Sofia hasn't lost an inch of her touch, but has rather grown maturer (both visually and story-wise). Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is one of those actors who once where on the cover of every magazine and in every blockbuster, but whose career is now on its way downhill. He has found himself a new audience in Japan, a country that still remembers his past glory and is fascinated by everything American. This time he is in Tokyo to promote a whiskey and when his director explains to him in a minute-long intense Japanese monolgoue how he should say those few lines, the translation is, "Turn to the camera and say the words." He is literally lost in translation and drowning in his mid-life crisis. At the same time a young American photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) is staying at the same hotel with his wife. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) has a Yale degree in philosophy, she is married to a guy who doesn't understand that they are slowly drifting appart, and she has chosen to come along to avoid doing nothing at home. She is at the point in her life when everthing seems to be coming down. And then the actor and the wife meet. They glimps each other over the hotel, seeing that both of them are as lost in their present surroundings as the other one. And one night in the bar (where a failed American singer is entertaining her faithful Japanese crowd) they discover that they both are in the middle of a crisis and in a foreign country where only the whiskey still works. This story is at the same time about two lonely people who manage to find a soulmate, and a study of the strange little culture that is Japan. And Sofia Coppola knows both of those stories very well. Her "Virgin Suicides" was first and foremost a hit in Japan (she is almost a cult icon there), and the loneliness is the one she felt when her husband Spike Jonze was constantly working and she was stranded in a foreign country where everything is a twisted mirrorimage of its Western self. The visuals and the story are both subtle and the right word for their characterization would be "observational". This is not a movie where the viewer is only shown the moments that define a relationship. In this movie we are shown how a relationship forms, how in loneliness the only things we need to create a bond are that same loneliness and a common language to express it. And both Murray and Johansson manage to bring this story and their characters to life with an amazing grace and intense realism. In Japanese literature and movies, even in paintings, there are many examples of using subtlety to express important feelings. In "Lost In Translation" Sofia Coppola uses that very subtlety to speak of the same feelings and does it on a backdrop of modern Westernized Japan. A country that uses a strange magnifying glass on everything American to make it part of their everday-life in ways that the author of the original would hardly have thought possible. Overall, I think that this is one of the best movies of 2003 and that Sofia Coppola is one of those young directors whom to keep my eye on because her future is deffinitely bright. It seems that weren't it for the fact that Peter Jackson just has to get an Oscar for his magnificent achivement of bringing Tolkien's world to the big screen, Sofia would be my top choice for the Best Director Oscar. But then again Sofia does have a lifetime to collect them for her mantelpiece (or wherever she will place them).
Rating:
Summary: It's just a mood piece
Review: The best way to watch this movie is to disregard the fact that it stars Bill Murray and to keep in mind that it's a mood piece rather than a big-budget Hollywood movie. Not much happens, the dialogue is sparse, but by the end, you'll either get it or you won't. It's a movie, not a true depiction of daily life in Tokyo, just like Sex and the City isn't a true depiction of New York or Pretty Woman isn't a true depiction of LA. As for the racial overtones, while Japanese stereotypes abound, so do American ones (the trashy lounge singer, the dumb-American blonde who's obsessed with herself and skin cream). As someone who's spent time in Japan, I didn't have a problem with it. The only thing that I did wonder was why the main characters didn't have a better attitude about being there in the first place. If she felt alone all the time and dislocated, why did she go to Japan with her photographer husband in the first place? And shouldn't a guy who's washed-up in the US and being paid two million dollars to do a couple of commercials in Japan be a little more excited about the prospect of being there? I couldn't feel the slightest bit sorry or sad for either of them because they are still luckier than most of the people watching this film.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This was a terrific movie... I'm surprised that so many found this to be boring. Maybe a lot of us have a limited attention span and need constant fireworks in order to be entertained
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