Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst movies ever!!!
Review: This is one of the worst movies ever. It is a pity that Murray, such a great actor, had to play this part in such a bad story. When one hears the title of this movie, one expects something deeper about the problems found in translation when you are in a foreign country. It is not easy to express what you have undergone in a foreign country, so such a task should not be attempted by a movie director if he/she can't make his/her screenplay live up to its title.This movie is about a sappy love story. More ridiculous than this story? Impossible. There is an actor on business in Tokyo who has few translation problems while in business in Tokyo. He has mild predicaments with his wife(who is in America) because he forgot all about his kid's birthday. He meets this woman married to a dweeb photograper who can't tell his right nostril from his left one. There is something that could be called an attraction between them. This woman's husband has to go somewhere on business, which makes her completely free to betray him. In the end, this actor (Murray) kisses her in the middle of the street, giving you the impression that it is all right to betray your spouse when you have been for a long time in a foreign country, after all, you might be so needy in such a situation... Something else that got on my nerves was that Coppola depicted the Japanese people as stupid morons. Yes, that is the idea that is transmitted by this movie. She should have known better that it takes a lot of intelligence to build a country like Japan. So this movie is translation used as a subterfuge to film a sappy story in a picturesque country. Don't buy this DVD unless you like superficial content... otherwise, this is the movie for you.
Rating:
Summary: What a yawn-fest
Review: Maybe I didn't get it, but this movie was really a disappointment. All the hype and I was left wondering why??? Skip it...
Rating: 
Summary: Love the movie, hate the DVD
Review: I only give this DVD 3 stars because the DVD presentation is fairly bad. The Focus Features advertisement at the beginning has to be fast forwarded through. I couldn't switch audio presentations during the film; Dolby had a light crackle in the right rear speaker (maybe just my system, but DTS didn't have it). When I did switch to DTS I couldn't resume the movie where I left off, I had to use the scene selection to get back to where I was. The list goes on. Extras are nice but the only thing I would have liked would be a commentary track by the stars and/or the director. I thought this movie was out kind of soon on DVD, and now I see that they may have rushed things. I have rarely been this disappointed in the DVD presentation of a movie I've liked so much. Collectors may want to wait for a better presentation. The movie is excellent. Issues aside, once you hit play it's about the film.
Rating:
Summary: Lost in Production
Review: This is a frustrating film for me. I LOVE Bill Murray. He always entertains me, no matter how small a part he has in a film. And again, he is fantastic in this one. They had a great idea going here. Yes, two lonely people with insomnia in a strange city who connect. But they really have no meaningful experiences together. They hop through a bunch of ecstasy parties with her weird friends. This alone doesn't work for me.
'Bob' is clearly in his mid-fifties. No matter how 'cool' he may be, (even for Bill Murray) he would feel totally out of place with those twirps.
I know that they are trying to do an 'artsy','hip' film here (gotta keep up with current hollywood standards), but they had a great idea which to me seemed very undeveloped. A little bit of storyline would have been good, even if it ain't hip these days. I got bored watching them do nothing but watch their friends party for what seemed like 40 minutes. Folks, rent this one first. There are some priceless Bill Murray moments here, but you're gonna want to fast-forward through some extended periods of monotanous and just plain dull film.
Rating: 
Summary: Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation
Review: Bill Murray turns in his strongest performance as Bob Harris, a once-popular American actor who is travelling to Tokyo, Japan to shoot a commercial. Bob knows that he has been almost not heard of by the young generation in his country, and no longer spoken of by the generation who once loved his films. He gets more praise and respect from the people in Japan. When he first arrives at the hotel in Tokyo, he is greeted and treated by some of the strangest and often hilarious characters as you'll see. He sits continually in the bar staring into space, waiting out his time to go home. On the other side of the fence is Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte, a mysterious young woman who is half Bob's age, who he begins to fixate on and she on him. Charlotte is married to a youthful and famous photographer working on an important shoot in Tokyo, and so she spends her days (like Bob), staring out into space - searching for something that will never come in that image she stares at. It seems like every time Bob and Charlotte step out of their rooms, somehow they see each other...whether it be in the elevator, in the swimming pool hall, or at the bar...they see each other. Soon, they realize that each of them are looking for pretty much the same thing: life. When Charlotte asks Bob to come with her to meet a few friends, the two come together like pages in a book being binded. At first, it simply seems like a harmless, strong friendship, but in reality, both know that it is a beautiful affair relationship as Bob has his wife and kids at home, and Charlotte has her husband taking photos every day. The sad thing is, is that they both know that the relationship which has become so close and real, will never last and that eventually Bob will have to leave... Sofia Coppola's masterful direction and the beautiful atmosphere create an overall atmospheric and well-crafted tale of love and curiosity of the unknown. Coppola writes with such realistic tension and style that it was almost as if I saw these characters outside my bedroom window, or as if they were one of my own family members. The entire story is touching and heartwarming, filled with hilarious moments along the way. The connection between Murray and Johanssan is pure magical and the two of them seem meant to be. The difference between ages of the two makes it even more a touching film as Charlotte seeks out love, kindness and attention from Bob and he seeks out the same thing from her. The music is another excellent thing about this film, as it adds the modern touch to the images captured from this modern city of Tokyo, Japan. Some of the music is rock and roll which we are all familiar with which adds a sense of familiarity to the characters in the story. I can sum up all of my review with one word. There is only one word that could ever pay the best compliment to a film or a book: great.
Rating:
Summary: Big Fat Snooze
Review: My dad and I just caught this thing in the theatre. Yawn. I'm sick and tired of these atmospheric, episodic, pointless "art" movies. Endless scenes of Tokyo, endless scenes of the characters staring into space, endless "funny" scenes of Murray and Johannson sitting there while someone speaks Japanese at them, endless scenes where they sample Tokyo's nightlife, endless scenes that seemed to have nothing to do with anything (e.g., the flower-arranging, the karaoke singing, the hospital visit) and NO PLOT WHATSOEVER. No tension, no character-building, no genuine bittersweetness. Why the heck was Johansson's character so attracted to Murray's? He looked like a walking corpse. And why was Murray praised so highly for this role? He was just playing the same character that he's always played, only more tired and worn down. I kept thinking he was a retired, burned out Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters. And if Johansson's character is so smart (recent Yale graduate), why didn't she bring some books and music along to kill time? Why isn't she at least surfing the net instead of sitting in her underwear staring out the window, feeling sorry for herself? Why doesn't she see if the hotel has some English-language guides to local museums or whatever? Did she make no plans at all when deciding to travel to another country? Geez. Ordinary events can be interesting, but in fiction they have to have a point to them. Otherwise, who cares? Don't waste your money--or, if you're determined to see this movie, rent it first before buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Really Bad Movie
Review: I rented the DVD after all the hype from the Golden Globes and Oscars. It was sheer boredom. The cinematography reminded me of the Blair Witch Project - TERRIBLE. After the first 10 minutes, we understood the cultural isolation - after 45 minutes of belaboring the point, we wondered why we were still watching. I was never so glad that I didn't pay the box office ticket price to view this film or purchase it. I really wonder what the critics were thinking. I can only guess they like the Coppola name.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, But a little short on the DVD Extras
Review: Focus films may be known for distributing films that are outside the formulaic holiwood system, but they're not so great on packing the disc with extras that most people want from a movie that's on the academy awards top honor list (Best Actor, Actress, Director, Screenplay (original), and Film). Since my fellow reviewer above has talked at great length about the beauty and grace (as well as plot) of this film, I'm going to focus on the DVD EXTRAS and the PURCHASE VALUE of this dvd. The Movie: The 1:85:1 Anamorphic widescreen looks just as it should. The audio is a little on the quiet side at times, but should be loud enough through the center channel. Considering what 5.1 stands for in the film industry these days...you're not going to get much out of your surround sound speakers...so a 2.0 track would have been nice. The performances by Mr. Murray and Ms. Johansson are particularly sublime, in both what is said and what isn't said, considering the lengthy visual montages that occur throughout the film. What might end up throwing some people off is Ms. Coppola's use of the camera and where she decides to put the focus. She will, from time to time, let images slide in and out of focus and/or have the center of the frame far off from the action, catching bits of each event but never really focusing the scene on any one character. However, taught editing saves this piece from spiraling downward into the realm of the visually incoherent, and the minimalist script fills in the gaps of picture/music/ambient sound nicely. Overall: a well done sophomore attempt. The Extras: NO COMMENTARY TRACK! This movie is screaming for a commentary track. And yet, we don't get the pleasure of one. So a lot of things that might have been explained directly from the horses mouth get left to confusion or, to put it frankly, "lost in translation". Sure, I think it's great to put commentary tracks on the big budget films and find out how difficult it was, exactly, to blow up that big thing with the other big thing. But I'm equally as interested to hear how it went behind the scenes of these smaller, artier films...how the director had to get certain shots, if they improved a scene a certain way or not, was it difficult shooting the Megalopolis of Tokyo, Japan, etc. In my opinion, that's equally as interesting. Word to the wise, Ms. Coppola: please don't go the route of Mr. Spielberg, give us our commentary. Then there is the "Lost on Location" documentary on the filming process. It's about 30-40 minutes long and has some interesting scenes on how shooting went down, some funny outtakes and tidbits of information. But once again, it doesn't really go into any details. It doesn't explain where she got the idea, why Japan, what the studios thought of the idea, what her folks thought, what interested Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. But at least it's quaint. Then there's the last worthwhile extra, the "Interview Murray and Coppola" - which is taken a year after the film and is about 10 minutes long. It gives a small window into why the picture was made and some of the hard points of doing a picture like "Translation", but doesn't really dig deep. It's just an interview with bits of film footage cut in between clips of the interview. The Lowdown: If you saw the movie and loved it or you heard the hype and wanted to see what everyone was talking about, then by all means you should totally get this DVD. The movie, love it or hate it, is the kind of filmmaking that rarely sees the light of day in this "popcorn thriller" producer driven cinema world we see today. However, if you're looking for a DVD that answers some of your burning questions or brings to light things you didn't notice when you saw it in the theaters, look somewhere else...because this DVD package doesn't even come close. Maybe if it wins some awards we'll see a second release with a commentary track or two...but I'm not holding my breath. `Revu
Rating:
Summary: Not enough Platonic Love Movies, thank goodness for this one
Review: I have always searched for platonic love movies, but alas, I am disenchanted by the forever "getting people in bed by the end of the movie" movies. Since young I always had relationships with guys and it was refreshing to see the poignant touch Bill M. put to the part. He showed the restraint of someone who respected youth too much to just bed down with it and the young actress Scarlett who played the young (and felt abandoned wife) took the role and played it as a girl who was actually more mature than her years. She felt Bill M's Character needed some emotional company and gave it to him, not lending physical love but emotional love instead. These relationships exist in real life but Hollywood always seems to get over themselves and get these people into a rating grabing bed scene. Sometimes that doesnt happen in real life. Thank goodness director Sophia understands that. I recommend this movie to any young adult and older adult who want to relate but have the wall between them not allowing them to....This one is a keeper
Rating: 
Summary: A generous rating out of respect to the Coppola name
Review: This movie was visually interesting but, otherwise, a completely unengaging stinker. I saw Sophia on the Charlie Rose program and liked her very much. It gives me no pleasure to be so blunt about this film. I am amazed at the critical enthusiasm and pre-Oscar hoopla. If there is ANYthing here, it entirely escaped me. (If you're reading this, Sophia, please don't be depressed. You're charming. It is more worthy to be an engaging human being than to make a good film. Besides, you'll probably do much better next time.)
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