14/50x2: Lost in Translation

There was a lot of hype about this movie after its release, and was one of the catapults in Scarlett Johansson's career.

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is an American movie star, who is on the downside of his career in the film Lost in Translation. He is in Tokyo filming a commercial for a whiskey - a commercial that will pay him $2 million.

Also in Tokyo is Charlotte (Johansson), who has traveled there with her husband John (Giovanni Ribisi), a photographer.

Bob is quite possibly in the middle of a mid-life crisis and is dreading having to go back to his marriage, which after 25 years is lacking a bit of romance. Charlotte, meanwhile, feels abandoned by John as he runs off to multiple photo shoots - and also suspects that something may be going on with an American model named Kelly (Anna Faris).

By chance both Bob and Charlotte meet at the hotel bar repeatedly over the course of a few days. On one of those nights Charlotte invites Bob out on the town to meet up with a few of her friends, and he accepts.

They strike up an unusual friendship and begin to bond with the fact that they both feel quite alone in this culture, and are curious with the differences between Japan and America.

I feel the film was beautiful to look at and the performances by Johansson and Murray were spectacular, but I wasn't drawn in like I thought I would be. I guess that is the downfall of the hype machine.

I also couldn't really identify with either of the characters. I have never been to a foreign country alone, and have never been overseas. Plus I am a little young to be going through a midlife crises - though I am sure it's on its way.

But, even after that it was still a pretty decent film. Though, I doubt I would ever sit down and watch it again.

Grade:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs / Planet 51

I am going to do a little double-dip with this review as I have gotten myself a little backed up, and really these two films sort of go hand-in-hand.

I will start with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I had only recently checked out the children's book - which is quite small by the way - and wondered how on Earth they could make a full-length film out of it.

It wasn't spectacular, but it was well worth a watch.

Swallow Falls has been well known for its sardines, and everyone eats them - even though nobody enjoys eating them.

Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) invents a contraption that can change water into any food that you can desire. As he is about to show his invention to the town, it is accidentally shot into sky.

At first, the town is amazed when it begins to rain food. They no longer have to eat sardines and it also puts Swallow Falls back on the map as Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), a weather reporter, announces to the world this amazing feat.

However, things begin to go a little haywire with the contraption and the food begins to get a little bigger - and then massive. And, finally the weather begins to turn and the food starts acting like a tornado.

It is up to Flint and his gang of misfits, including Sparks, a Gummi-Bear loving monkey named Steve (Neil Patrick Harris) and the town's former well-known celebrity 'Baby' Brent (Andy Samberg).

It was a pretty good watch and my son loved it. It is nowhere near the quality of say the Pixar films, but definitely give it a shot.

Planet 51, was also a pretty interesting watch, but I don't think I would give it a second look. Where as I would probably watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs again.

Planet 51 is sort of a bizarro-E.T. as instead of the alien landing on Earth - a human is the alien landing on another planet.

Captain Charles T. Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands on Planet 51 and claims it in the name of the United States. As he turns around, however, he notices that he is not alone and becomes a fugitive on this alien planet.

The planet itself is a lot like Earth, however, 50 years in the Earth's past. The main character is Lem (Justin Long), a kid who is trying to become head of a planetarium and also has the hots for his next door neighbor, Neera (Jessica Biel).

As General Grawl (Gary Oldman) and the alien army try to capture Captain Baker - Lem and his buddy Skiff (Seann William Scott) do everything in their power to keep him safe and get him back to his spaceship.

It was a pretty good watch and it was fun to see a lot of other movies given some sort of homage in the film - like the Planet 51 dogs looking a lot like the alien from Alien.

Still, it could have been a lot better - but it was good for one watch.

Grades:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Planet 51

The House Bunny

Shelley Darlingson (Anna Faris) was an orphan who developed late and ended up becoming a Playboy Bunny.

She spent most of her days living in the Playboy Mansion, throwing parties and doing yoga on the front lawn. After her 27th birthday she gets an odd letter from Hef, asking her to leave the mansion and so starts The House Bunny.

Having no real background in anything except posing and looking hot, Shelley stumbles upon a sorority house and finds that she may just have the qualifications to be a house mother. All of the major sororities already had house mothers, so Shelley took over at probably the worst sorority on campus - you know the one with the nerd and reject girls.

Of course, the sorority is also having a problem - as in if they don't get at least 30 pledges for the upcoming year they would lose their house. So, Shelley to the rescue right.

This movie played out a lot like a mix of Sydney White and She's All That to me

It reminded me of She's All That because of the so called major transformation of the women in the household - going from nerdy, funny looking and basically a joke; to some of the hottest most wanted girls on campus.

The Sydney White comparison is actually pretty darn close to the plot of the film. In the movie, Sydney is forced out of her house and has to live at the reject household with seven guys. Now, she doesn't actually make them cool or better looking - but she makes them fit in with the rest of the school - and helps topple the Greek life that is running the school.

Due to the comparison to the above movie, I have to lower my grade, but I did enjoy the film. Plus, most of the women in the film are pretty easy on the eyes.

Like most films of these type - there is an overall meaning to everything that is happening in the film - and everyone learns a valuable lesson. Which was actually pretty easy to figure out from the beginning - but it was fun to see it being played out.

Grade: