lost in translation – 5 stars

okay, objectively, maybe it doesn’t deserve such a high mark. but i give five stars to movies i plan to buy and watch multiple times, and this is one such film. the mood is set with perfection to the loneliness and longing of being surrounded by millions of strangers. bill murray is terrific as usual and scarlett johansson is cute as hell with a lot of personality on screen. i’ll admit it right now, movies that make me laugh and feel sad in the space of a few minutes always get a little bit of favortism from me, and even if people tell you it’s slow in parts they must not be realizing that that’s kind of the point. now i want to visit tokyo, or failing that, go see this movie again.

wonder boys – 3 stars

it was solid, it was about writing and lying and wasted talent, so i can say that i liked it for sure. katie holmes seemed out of place as a character that also seemed out of place in the film’s story — are there really students that rent a room in their professor’s house? — but i did laugh. michael douglas looks like a wreck though, i can’t believe he gets to sleep with catherine zeta jones on a regular basis (in theory).

a fistful of dollars – 4 stars

i don’t think you can not like this movie and still claim allegiance to the united states of america. even though having seen yojimbo first and knowing this was essentially a remake with guns and italians-posing-as-mexicans instead of swords and robed japanese men, i am having a hard time deciding which version i liked better. clint might win on the grounds of two pieces of evidence though: one, telling the bad guys they should apologize to his mule before shooting them dead, and two, the metal plate scene where he just won’t die and taunts the hell out of his nemesis (before also shooting him dead).

[now hearing this: the avalanches]