Film Review: Lost In Translation — 1 star

ONE WORD REVIEW: Dull

SUMMARY: Two people you don’t really care about wander around their hotel in Japan for way too long.

DETAILS: Sophia Coppola, please give me my 101 minutes back! I haven’t seen a film with so little story in a long time. If you like watching people sing karaoke, ride elevators, and hang out in hotels in Japan with little-to-no character development this could be the film for you. It has to be the most disappointing Bill Murray movie ever made. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is an aging movie star who is now making whiskey commercials in Tokyo. He meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) a twenty-something two years into her marriage who has no purpose other than to help waste 101 minutes of your life. They meet as residents of the same hotel and proceed to wander aimlessly around Tokyo… but mostly just around the hotel. This film was an extreme let down. I’d heard about it and wanted to see it for a decade. Ugh…

 

SCORE: 1 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: R

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Elf — 2 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Ho-Ho-Hum

SUMMARY: Raised by Santa’s Elves, Buddy the Elf learns he’s a human and sets out to meet the father he’s never known. Pseudo-hilarity ensues.

DETAILS: Will Ferrell plays Buddy the Elf who was raised among elves in Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole. But the day comes when Buddy learns he’s a human and that his real father lives in New York City. So Buddy leaves on a journey to meet the man he’s never known. He gets a job in a department store’s Christmas department, falls in love with a co-worker, and destroys his dad’s career, but along the way he helps restore the Christmas spirit that’s long been lost. A Christmas comedy it is, but it’s funny moments are only so funny, and in the end, Elf just can’t compete with the Mother of all Christmas Comedy’s… A Christmas Story.

SCORE: 2 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: PG
COMEDY

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Cold Mountain — 4 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Sad
 SUMMARY: A beautiful and sad story of lovers held apart by the Civil War.
DETAILS: Sad… Jude Law and Nicole Kidman star in this beautifully filmed love story set in and around the context of the Civil War. A pure preachers daughter moves to Cold Mountain and catches the eye of a young laborer just as war breaks out between the States. He must go fight and she must stay behind and wait… and wait. It’s a story of women who need to be strong, of men who desire love more than war, and of the injustices that hunt them down. Their are strong anti-war themes and a couple scenes with strong sexuality in this powerful story.

SCORE: 4 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: R

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The Lost Boys Of Sudan — 3.5 out of 5 stars

Good look inside the lives of two of the lost boys who came to the States as refugees from the civil war in Sudan. With no family and not much support they struggle to make it in America.
SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: NR
DOCUMENTARY

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