Re: Lost in Translation and Dawn of the Dead: UE on Blu-Ray?

I think an excellent movie but some people these days don't have the patience for slower paced fare. To me it's worth it just to see Scarlett. The transfer is pretty good in my opinion and it will look the same on Blu-ray unless Universal decides to remaster/restore it.

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Skyhawk, we must have seen two different movies, how did you get sleaze from any of the characters in the movie?

Yikes, perhaps I am getting this movie mixed up with some other one. The movie I saw was about two people cheating of their respective partners in some hotel while away on business, when I thought the movie was going to be about cultural adjustment and perception. Hmmm... now I'm wondering what movie I actually saw.

[Post edited by Skyhawk on Apr 26, 2008]

"...young untested director at the time, with only two smaller films to his credit, THX 1138 and American Graffiti" --Love

Not to seem contrary, but "American Graffiti" returned over $21,000,000 at the box office in 1973 (equal to probably $100,000,000 or more in today's inflated dollars) on a budget of only about three-quarters of a million. It is one of moviedom's biggest success stories.

John

That's true^ John (about Griffiti's surprising box office), but even that film barely got 'greenlighted' without the support of Francis Coppola, the mentor and friend of George Lucas. Both of Lucas's films were small productions, he was an unknown and untested director ('untested' on a studio production like SW would end up being, made in several countries, different continents, with much responsbility for a young director).

But as we all know, contrary to studio executives, theater owners, etc, STAR WARS become an incredible $UCCESS! Fox was so surprised at the early box office returns, they were not prepared for the requests of theater owners for additional film prints! The studio scrambled to get more copies developed and either shipped or hand-delivered to theaters around the country.

And thank goodness that Fox had faith in George Lucas - the project was his creation and vision, and I personally feel the first movie is the best overall in the series. Great direction, pacing, acting, music, effects, sound, costumes, Alec Guinness/Peter Cushing (yes!), and a more 'adult' nature to the actors than seen in later films ("Red leader, this is Gold leader - we are starting our attack run now)... and Han Solo never acted 'tougher' (like the smuggler he was) than in the original Star Wars.

Yes, EMPIRE is great too, but Star Wars will always be my personal favorite. The John Williams musical score is nothing short of a 20th century masterpiece!

-JIMI LOVE (the Voodoo Child)

Note to Skyhawk... there was no 'cheating' in LIT, as Murray and Johansson did not sleep together... the movie is about their new friendship, after meeting in Japan, where, though their English-speaking is 'lost in translation' (hehe) among that country's citizens, both come to 'understand' each other and develop a mutual friendship.

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Apr 27, 2008]

For the record... since Wikipedia has a better summary (info) for LIT than what I provided above (message to Skyhawk), here it is as well -

Lost in Translation is an Academy Award-winning 2003 comedy-drama film. It centers on Bob Harris (Bill Murray), an American movie star whose career (and seemingly, marriage) is in decline. The film joins him as he arrives in Tokyo, Japan to film a Suntory whisky commercial.

Unfulfilled with the work, he meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a recent Yale philosophy graduate who is unsure of the direction she would like her life to take. She is married to a celebrity photographer (played by Giovanni Ribisi), and is in Japan to accompany her husband on work trip to take publicity photos for a rock band and, later, a female movie star, but has become bored and lonely due to her husband's preoccupation with work. Although both are married, Bob and Charlotte share a friendship that borders on unconsummated romance, while briefly exploring the cultural life of Tokyo and the surrounding area. The central focus of the film is on the two characters' feelings of alienation, not only with their immediate Japanese surroundings, but their own separate senses of alienation from those closest to them, and their uncertainty about the direction of their lives. The ending is deliberately ambiguous about whether they will continue their friendship when they return (separately) to America.

Superficially, Lost in Translation is a movie about culture shock. The film explores these themes against the background of the modern Japanese cityscape. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Bill Murray, and Best Director for Sofia Coppola. Coppola won Best Original Screenplay. -[END]-



-JIMI LOVE (the Voodoo Child)