Review – Lost in Translation

I guess I would have expected this kind of a movie from a middle-aged man, but I’m genuinely puzzled about what might motivate a young, successful woman like Sofia Coppola to film a serious take on such a Humbert-ish relationship. Here we have Bill Murray playing an aging actor stuck in the middle of a mid-life crisis, which might have slipped past me – let’s face it, Murray’s at least a decade or so past a “mid” life crisis – if the script hadn’t literally come out and said so more than once during the course of the movie. Trapped in a hotel in Japan, he befriends an equally befuddled twenty-something neglected by her photographer husband. Some of the camerawork isn’t too bad (visually Sofia’s somewhere between daddy and Paul Schrader), but otherwise the flat characters, go-nowhere plot and unsavory quasi-romance don’t offer much edification or entertainment. See if desperate

Review – The Cat in the Hat

Though I admit that the cat was never exactly my favorite Dr. Seuss character, it still saddened me to see such a pathetic, vulgar mess made out of this reasonably charming childhood classic. The picture starts out with an astounding amount of set-up; I didn’t time it, but I imagine the cat himself doesn’t even make an appearance until at least 20 minutes in. And though the non-cat plot is no more compelling than a Bart-centered episode of the Simpsons, the movie nonetheless takes a turn for the worse when the titular character debuts. Mike Myers’ Bert Lahr impression gets really old really fast, and the nasty little double entendres and other random vulgarity that might have worked with an Austin Powers audience here only serve to strangle what little charm the production might otherwise have been able to muster. Though I’m well outside what I suppose was the target audience, I have trouble imagining even the dumbest, crudest child finding much entertainment value in this flop. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – Gigli

Me don’t see what fuss was about. Me think this very good movie. Acting good. Ben talented. Jennifer talented. Script good. Pacing good. Long sequences where characters drive aimlessly around LA sharing deep thoughts about gender relations philosophical and entertaining. Cameo by Al Pacino very welcome and amusing. Only trouble, me think me way smarter before me start watch this movie. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – In the Cut

For years I’ve wondered what might happen if someone tried to combine Hollywood production values and big-name stars with explicit sex. Somehow I’d imagined something better than this (though in retrospect I can’t imagine why). Once you get over the whole cutesy-little-Meg-Ryan’s-in-a-dirty-movie thing, there just isn’t that much else to this picture. The script is bad, and the acting is average at best. Much of the dialogue is stiff, and the mystery element is left holding far too much of the bag, especially considering it’s not really all that mysterious. I’ll give this an E for effort just in hope that in the future big-budget productions can work this openly with sex only with more honest results. See if desperate

Review – Unzipped

Curious about what makes clothing designer Isaac Mizrahi tick? After watching this you will be curious no longer. I can’t say that I was surprised to see how frivolous the fashion world is, but nonetheless I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and long hours required to develop a new line of clothes and market them via a major show. Mildly amusing

Review – Wisconsin Death Trip

I never thought I’d write this in a movie review, but in this case the director actually would have been well advised to imitate Ken Burns. After all, the book upon which this documentary was based contained no end of fascinating photographs. Instead what we get is Errol Morris, with plenty of over-arty recreations of bizarre incidents from small-town Wisconsin in the 1890s and 1900s. This isn’t a bad film, thanks at least in part to the excellent source material. However, it might have been better if the director had just avoided working it quite so hard. Mildly amusing

Review – The Front

McCarthyism as screwball comedy? Sure, why not. Woody Allen stars as a cashier and half-assed bookie who takes a step up in the world when he agrees to put his name on scripts by three blacklisted screenwriters. It almost goes without saying that he becomes a tremendous success, resulting in no end of “comedy of errors” hilarity culminating in a crisis of conscience when he’s called to testify before the HUAC. Though the script itself stays fairly light, its grim underpinnings unavoidably assume a certain “whistling past the graveyard” quality, made all the more poignant by the end credits spelling out which members of the ensemble were actual victims of the Red Scare. Worth seeing