risen_feenix

I saw this movie with my two 4 year old nephews, and it was a tough job getting them to watch it all the way through. The humor and story were above their pay grade as 4 year-olds, so this was definitely meant for older kids.

The humor was based on a lot of cultural references that only adults could really appreciate, though I didn't laugh all that much. Groaned, yes, laughed…. not so much. If you're going to include dialogue that isn't going to make a lick of sense to the kiddies, at least try to get the humor a wee bit sophisticated for us adults. And the 4 year olds, and I think for many children, they had trouble wrapping their heads around the whole "who is the alien" part. I'm sure there's an age where this won't be a problem, but 4-6 ain't it.

It's been a few days since I saw it, so I can't really recall anything overly memorable about the film. A lot of clichés, general "the West is arrogant" theme throughout the story, and by the end we were all happy to get back in the car and put Wall-E in the DVD player.

This film is not for those with ADHD or the like. Unless you can grasp the meaning in a glance, a smirk, a shrug, a sigh, you will likely find this terrible. Some will liken the film to Rushmore or the Royal Tannenbaums, but I find the similarities few. This film is about 20% comedy, 80% drama, but all of it masterfully done.

Somehow the Director, Sofia Coppola conveys a deep and interesting story with very little dialogue (I had no idea it was her until the ending credits... was I surprised). The dialogue is humorous, well written and honest, but it is rare. The visuals added to the scene, and I was amazed any director and cinematographer would go to the efforts that we see in "Lost In Translation".

This is not a flim that the everyday Joe or Jill will like, but I think we've found a sh*tload of oscar nominations here.

From the reviews I've read, this is clearly a love it or hate it type of film. I'm one of the "love it" crowd. I went into this movie with no preconceptions, and I'm glad I did.

There is a part of me that says "you can't give this 10 stars. You just can't". So I won't. But I loved this little gem. The last 1/2 hour of the movie had me bellowing out loud "damn", "sh*t" and "whoa". The twists and turns came out of nowhere, and were very plausible. This isn't some flick where there's a fantastic story that isn't believeable because of all the out-of-nowhere plot turns. This is solidly written, simple in it's way, but that simplicity is what makes for a truly good flick.

So the plot was 10. The acting was quite good. Hell, they had quite a cast signed on for this. The dog in me says "any movie with Denise Richards more-or-less topless and making out with Neve Campbell is a keeper, for sure". Visually, technically, aesthetically, I have no complaints.

I'm sorry for myself that I waited 5 years after this film was made to see it. It just looked so damned cheezy in the promos. Little did I know this was a great flick.