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Reviews
Lost in Translation (2003)
Lost in Translation - the name says it all, it is a yawn!
Lost in Translation - the name says it all, is a yawn! This film had huge potential; a great Hong Kong setting, which was not used to full advantage, here was a chance for Sofia to make something wonderful happen. Instead the movie looks sordid and appears to be created in a dark, badly lit studio (with the exception of two scenes), and comes across as a pointless piece of un-crafted trash from beginning to end. Positive reviews have to be politically based. Sofia Coppola shows no sense of humor or talent. Bill Murray seems a non-participant in this poorly performed effort.
Scarlett Johansson provides a shining glimmer of hope for this movie, as she was obviously trying to make something happen. However Coppola's appalling dialogue and lack of imagination squashed her efforts. Sofia turned out a gigantic disaster. None of our friends would accept the CD of this movie, even as a gift! It became a universal joke.
Hopscotch (1980)
Hopscotch 1980 Film
A rare movie jewel, quirky, funny, intelligent, interesting, with a well paced, and well-developed in-depth story line. Realistic characters believably conveyed by the actors and full of great dialogue. There is no excess un-necessary fluff or overkill in this movie! All players carry their weight and are completely believable in their characterizations, operating, as one would expect normal people to communicate with each other, with intelligence and humor. All of this serves to amplify (Ned Beatty's) Myerson character making him look all the more obnoxious a lifelike caricature when compared to the other key players. This film is a creative alternative to the stale ridiculous explosions, un-necessary violence and 'shoot em ups' seen in many movies. Every aspect of the movie compliments the story line; it is shot on location in the natural settings of Europe and the U.S., which makes it visually attractive. There are no studio backdrops, with dark unrealistic settings. It is unendingly interesting and can be seen many times a year, without becoming old and tired. The only problem it has is the poor picture quality as film sometimes appears out of focus.
Jackson and Matthau are brilliant foils for each other, because despite their obvious age difference they are well matched by intelligence and wit, therefore coming off as a believable pairing as players of equal stature, eclipsing the obvious age issue altogether. This is a delightful movie has an apparent absence of Hollywood movie politics. This is one of the very best films I have ever seen for the all of above reasons.
The Jackal (1997)
This movie does not compare the the original.
This new version of "The Day of the Jackal" disappoints. The attraction of the previous version is subtlety and a riveting story. It was brilliantly executed by an astounding Director and movie team. This newer version is overt, lacks the depth of the earlier version and due to the excessive and extreme violence of the film, renders much of the film unwatchable. I could not stomach any more violence and stopped watching 20 minutes before it ended.
It is not necessary to go excessive violence to tell a story. The original version was riveting, so it would be hard to make it less interesting. This new version had a huge potential to deliver a very laudable update on the previous version, but Hollywood's penchant to resort to staggering violence killed the story, hid the plot, detracting from the story. Too bad, this film had great actors, a great story, but it was ruined by overkill. In this case less is more should have been the order of the day. We won't even bother to give this video/DVD away; it will go straight into the trash pile!