Rating: 
Summary: A bad and stupid movie
Review: My husband really wanted this movie. I thought that it my be good because I loved Virgin Suidies. This was one of the most stupied movies. Why did everone think Bill Murry should get oscar. Even after Shan Penn won a person from the stage said"Sorry Bill we wish it was you. What and inslute to Shan Penn and Johnny Depp. If you are unhappy it will make you more unhappy and it you are happy it will reck your night. Do not buy just rent if you must.
Rating: 
Summary: Everybody who gave this a 1 out of 5 are so wrong.
Review: Firt of all this movie is more of a suddle comedy and not a lugh out loud comedy, and that's what I like so much about it. And aside from the comedy, the acting is the best I've ever seen! Bill Murray is at the top of his game in this film. Another thing I like about it is the wacky romance between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.Overal, if youre somebody whose favorite movie is something like Scary Movie, chances are your'e not going to like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time
Review: If you have time to kill this is the movie for you. Don't buy this movie thinking you are getting a comedy. I was greatly disappointed in this movie. I expected to atleast laugh once in a while or atleast get some snickers with Bill in the movie. I think there was maybe three(3) places in the entire movie I snickered at all. I kept watching it expecting it to get better, but it didn't to my disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Lost In Translation¿Camus Revisited
Review: My test of a "great" movie is one that has me thinking about it for days afterward. This one does it in spades. O.K., it is a thinking person's movie. If you are into movies with plots that give themselves away after only five minutes and take every predictable turn and leave you feeling smugly satisfied after ninety minutes-sorry. Try something else. If you crave something deeper, more sublime and with as many layers of meaning as the walls of the Grand Canyon, give it a try.I rented this video with few expectations and knowing little about it-other than looking forward to seeing a flick with Bill Murray that was set in Japan. As a big fan of Bill Murray, I was only mildly disappointed to discover that he was doing a more serious part here, yet one not completely distanced from some of his previous roles. Murray has the uncanny ability to be both funny and tragic--the perfect existential anti-hero. Murray plays Bob Harris, the archetype of an aging film actor, who comes to Tokyo for a quick two million dollar paycheck to film a Suntori Whiskey ad campaign. Overwhelmed by language and culture shock (though we suspect more is behind his alienation), Bob sits forlornly in his posh hotel room, unable to sleep and wanders into the hotel lobby. There he nurses his Suntori scotch, listens to a mediocre American pop group and slinks away from some American businessmen who regale him their admiration of his previous film work. We see this movie through the lens of Bob. Call it the "ugly American-syndrome" and get defensive, but Bob is hopelessly monolingual/monocultural and, like the dog that hears only "blah-blah-blah, Rover", hears a continuous stream of unintelligible Japanese, mangled R's/L's and bare-bones translations from his helpful but oh-so-proper-and-politically-correct Japanese translator-hostess. Enter Charlotte: the 20-ish wife of a clueless, ambitious and insensitive photographer husband in Tokyo for an assignment. Stranded in the same posh hotel, also afflicted with jet-lag/insomnia, she eventually connects with Bob Harris. Despite the age difference, the two develop a common bond within their disaffection and alienation. The source of their angst comes from different sources, yet there is an attraction between that fails to go the anticipated distance. Bob's life, like the existential hero in Camus' The Stranger, is without love, vitality, interest or inspiration. Charlotte, young as she is, finds herself in the same dilemma. She finds comfort and kinship with Bob. There are moments of pure existential chaos such as when the two bored insomniacs explore the bright lights and strange sight and sounds of Tokyo in a drunken escapade. This story unfolds in a crucible--the best of all story devices. A man and a woman, though decades apart in age, find kinship--and a form of love--in a strange land surrounded by a language and people they can barely comprehend. The plot is minimalistic. The timeline is one of only a few days. This is a theme-driven experience that many will not appreciate. Coppolla does an excellent job of creating a world of high strangeness and sublime beauty that will escape many. Don't you miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Delicate homage to friendship
Review: OK, this is my second try. I think this is a lovely and delicate film that not everyone will love, but that only adolescents and boors could loathe with the kind of venom displayed in some of these reviews. This is not a terribly romantic film, nor is it particularly a comedy. It is bittersweet, the acting is superb, and the contrast between the human loneliness of the main characters and the congested, technocentric nightmare that is modern Tokyo works very well. The best advice I got about it was to watch it with as few expectations as possible. I did, and I loved it. It was kept showing at an auditorium here in Spokane long after the first run was over, and long after it was available on DVD and VHS, and people continued to pay $6 and $7 to see it. All of my friends and colleagues that have seen it have loved it.
Rating:
Summary: The Ugly Americans 2
Review: A film about two ugly Americans who find themselves "stuck" in a foreign land. Instead of exploring and enjoying the city and its surroundings, they stay cooped up in their hotel rooms, counting the hours till they day they will be released from this hell. Why? Because nobody speaks English there and they can't understand anything and they have no-one to talk to. So what can they do? They phone home and whine. And then they whine even more because the people at home got tired of listening to their whining and hung up on them. So then what? So they sit in the lounge of the hotel and drink and mope. And mope, mope and mope. And then they spot each other. HEY! A white face! Woohoo! Oh, what relief! He'll understand English! Of course, he's White! Groovy. So now they have someone to commiserate with. Oh, what joy it is to finally find someone who understands just how horrible it is to be stuck in this miserable hell for one whole week, where everything is Japanese. So they hatch their "escape plan". Escape what? All this -ugh!- un-American-ness! So they "escape" out of their hotel prison. She decides to visit a friend. Oh, she has a friend there? And she only visits him as a last resort? What a lovely friend she makes! The two pass through a video arcade and she stares at the people there and the "strange" things they do. They sit spellbound in front of gambling machines. Weird! Some dance to the games, some play guitar. Weird! They then go karaoke-ing with a bunch of locals. They are all drunk and sing out of tune. Sigh... So what is a nice white girl to do but to take the mic herself and show these stupid Japanese people just what good singing really means! There is always much to do and see in a foreign land. But all these two could see was how things did NOT work the way they're used to and people did NOT speak English the way they're used to. And they don't like that, oh no. How un-American this place is! If only Japan would be just like America! Then perhaps they could actually enjoy their time there! The whole 1.5 hours is all about watching two very bored and miserable people. If Ms. Coppola was trying to convey boredom and misery, then well done. But can it be called entertainment? If you're bored on a Saturday night and are looking for an antidote, you'd do good to look elsewhere. The film makes fun of the weird things that the Japanese do, like idolizing Hollywood movie stars (how weird!), their strange habits and social customs like always being polite and ever-smiling (ugh!), their asinine tv game shows (how could they do such stupid things on national tv?), their penchant for old reruns (what poor taste!), their inability to pronounce "r" (how un-American!), and their inability to speak English fluently (how totally un-American!), among other things. If I were Japanese, I would have been deeply insulted. If I were American, I would have been so ashamed.
Rating:
Summary: sigh :(
Review: We, my husband and myself, have never been so disappointed in a film. The good news was that the store, which we purchased it from, did an exchange for another DVD. We do realize that expectations can be a set up for disappointment, but sadly this film was just plain empty other than a few intermittent moments of humor.
Rating:
Summary: Postmodern Pablum
Review: I love many artistic "Indy" films. I love many subtle multi- layered films. I love many unique "outside the box" films. I love many emotionally "dark" films with "reality" endings. I am artist myself who usually "gets it" when it comes to films. So now that you can't stereotype me as one of those guys with a short attention span or "left brain" rigidity, allow me the privilege of body slamming this over rated, self pretentious "movie" to the turf. The problem with this movie is that it tries SO HARD to take you on an artistic, postmodern journey of two people lost in Japan and lost in their own emotional reductionism, that it actually fools some people into thinking that it works. When in reality it is more like that ugly piece of modern art that wins first place in an art show because some judges are beyond the reach of earth's gravity. As a result everyone else loves to throw dirt on it. There are already plenty of other reviews explaining the many flaws of this film. So rather than bore you with redundancy, here is my unique contribution to the ever growing dirt stain on this film. If I took 1000 monkeys with 1000 pens and gave them 1000 years, they still would not be able to write a script as vacuous and "Lost" as this disconnected piece of soulless, postmodern Pablum. The "great" acting is SO subtle and minimalist, at times I thought I was watching the zombies in "Night of the Living Dead". I often like non-descript "mystery" endings, but in this stinker, such an ending is the final dagger that puts this torturous thing out of its' self-absorbed misery. The fact that some of my friends never made it through to the end, speaks volumes toward the great propensity of this "film" to waist your time. That this movie was nominated for even ONE academy award is proof positive that the smog in LA is causing serious brain damage. There are only two things "good" about this movie. The travelogue scenes of Japan and the title of the movie which translates, "WARNING! Get lost and rent a good National Geographic special on Japan instead."
Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: When I was growing up the favorite films of my generation were movies like "Bonnie and Clyde", "2001, A Space Odyssey", "Death in Venice". Today I see audiences who find even "Lost in Translation" too slow and uneventful for them. It's depressing to think that the schlockiest of the film-makers are right and all today's audiences can handle is the awful umitigated [nonsense] that they have been throwing at us for years. Feed people slops for long enough and all they'll want is slops. The negative reviews here make the world safe for the likes of Roland Emmerich. What a horrifying thought. I live in a culture that's not my own, and where people make fun of the differences all the time, from both sides of the divide. "Lost in Translation" is dead on in its analysis of a short term encounter. It amazes me that people can't see anything happening here. Decisions are made. People grow. It's a beautiful film from a brilliant script. Those who can't see it had better enjoy their slops
Rating:
Summary: About the DVD
Review: I already gave reasons why this film is a bit less than average, with some nice things. But just to warn people that the DVD compared to other top releases is lacking, while some top dvd's have multiple comentaries or behind the scenes making of this dvd is very poor with extras. No comentaries and no real big specials, it has a couple deleted scenes that were very short,kind of worthless and the one interview is ok but it's all stuff I heard in interviews during all the PR Oscar hype. Also for audio/video the picture quality of the DVD in a lot of dark scenes is too grainy, it might have been shot that way, but I have seen many low budget movies churn out better overall picture quality than this dvd. So just based on the DVD this is a 1 out of 5 not even taking into account the movie, just a warning people expecting to see the same type of extras as something of top quality in DVD's like Seven, Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, heck my DVD of Thirteen a small little movie has full length comentaries and making of with much better features. This DVD sems like a rush job.
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