I rewatched Lost in Translation for the first time since it came out, and shortly after rewatching what I guess I would describe as its companion movie, Her.
I liked LiT a lot the first time I saw it, but I think I liked it even more this time. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are just so good in ir, and I truly appreciate Sophia Coppola’s willingness to just hold the camera on a scene rather than forcing the plot or dialogue forward.
I don’t know anything about that, but I have to note that “Gita Reddy” seems like a pretty terrific name.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Recommended
This was really great and it felt like watching a play with an absolutely astounding cast. Everyone is at the top of their game here. Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, everyone. I have no idea if real estate sales places are like this, but it would be horrible to work in such an environment. Still, the movie is gripping and I can’t help but feel for Jack Lemmon’s character even though he is deeply flawed.
I missed this for 30 years, apparently. Everyone should check it out.
Inna and I watched GGR a month or so ago, pretty sure I reported it here. Regardless, yes, it’s definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it, and a rewatch if you haven’t seen it in a while.
We watched GGR recently. I wrote up a thing for it to post here, and somehow, it seems to have gotten lost. Maybe I got distracted by a shiny thing. But I, too, hadn’t seen it before, although it had been on my radar for a long time. And yes, agreed on the “Recommended” rating. Pacino Pacinos the place up to good effect. I really wanted to smack Jack Lemmon, which made me feel bad because I don’t want to feel like I want to smack Jack Lemmon.
Hey, so Jack Lemon’s character did rob them? Were we being lead to believe Ed Harris sent in Alan Arkin to do it…but that is not what ended up being the case? Lemmon broke in, took the good leads, sold them?
Yes, that’s what happened. Shelly knew that Williamson didn’t take James Lingk’s check to the bank, something only the person who broke into the office could possibly have known.
It’s been years since I saw it and my memory of it is fuzzy, but I definitely got a very positive impression and agree with you. I’m putting it on my list for a re-watch. And speaking of Jack Lemmon and re-watching old classics, I recently saw Days of Wine and Roses (1962) again and highly recommend it. My solution when flailing around for new movies to watch that aren’t junk is often to dig into the vault for wonderful old classics like that.
Little fun fact about GGR, Jack Lemmon’s character is clearly the inspiration for the hapless Gil character in The Simpsons
Scoop (Netflix). You may recall that when Jeffrey Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking, Britain’s Prince Andrew --aka “Randy Andy” – was implicated, and accused by multiple women of being one of Epstein’s customers. He gave an interview to the BBC where he denied everything. The interview did not go well, and he wound up being relieved of all his royal duties and paying off one of the accusers.
This movie is about the process of booking that interview. That’s it. There’s no real character development, and no plot to speak of, and no drama or suspense. It’s not a bad movie; it’s well made, and the performances are fine … you just wonder why they bothered to go through the trouble for such a slender story.
With Rufus Sewell as Andrew, and Gillian Anderson as the interviewer.
Scoop (2006). By bizarre coincidence, same title as the movie @jsc1953 talks about just above, but a completely different movie that I just saw and wanted to post some comments about!
I’m a pretty big Woody Allen fan, though I maintain that with a few exceptions his real genius is mostly evident in his hilarious early comedies. When he decided to branch out into serious and semi-serious films, the results were hit and miss – a few masterpieces, a few real clunkers, and a lot of movies that were basically good if unremarkable modestly interesting stories.
Scoop is one such movie. Stars Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, and Allen himself in one of his last acting appearances, and written and directed by Allen. Johansson plays a journalism student tipped off by the ghost of a deceased journalist that a British aristocrat (Jackman) may have committed murder and may even be a serial killer, and searches for proof in the hope of scoring the scoop of a lifetime. Allen is an eccentric magician who helps her out.
The movie is basically a crime mystery and not really a comedy, although Allen’s usual quirky behaviours and one-liners add a good bit of levity. It was an enjoyable watch and moderately entertaining, helped considerably by the star power of Johansson and Jackman. The simple crime story with a twist at the end reminded me of Allen’s later film Irrational Man, starring Joaqim Phoenix and Emma Stone. I wouldn’t rave about either of them, but I’ll rate them both as “Recommended” for being moderately good entertainment. But Allen has made much better movies.
Strangely, this I knew already. It primed me to feel really bad for poor-loser Jack Lemmon, but he’s less pathetic in GGR than poor old Gil in Simpsons.
And the thing is, objectively Jack Lemmon’s character in GGR is a shitheel. They ALL are. It’s a film about the dog eat dog world of sorta-legal professional scam artists, bilking suckers out of their money. We shouldn’t feel sympathy for him - he’s an asshole and we get a brief glimpse of that cockier, jerk Jack Lemmon right before his final downfall.
But then we shouldn’t feel sympathy for that little IKEA lamp either 
. It’s a genuinely great film and I’m not usually a huge fan of Mamet and his overly mannered scripts.
I said I felt like I wanted to smack him, but not for being a shitheel. I mean, being a shitheel is bad enough, but this guy is just a fucking balls-to-the-wall, contemptible weasel. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt that he’s suddenly in a situation he finds untenable and becomes desperate, it’s still just…ugh. (But I did like it when he told Spacey’s character. He just got a little careless with it.)
Kudos to Lemmon for pulling it off so brilliantly.
I watched When Worlds Collide last night.
I’d never seen it before, and, since it was mentioned in Rocky Horror, I thought I’d give it a try when it popped up on the Paramount channel.
It was, generously, “meh”.
The science was terrible, the acting stifled, the plot obvious, and the love story unbelievable. But, other than that, it was OK. I noticed some rather huge production issues, and it is mentioned on Wikipedia that they ran out of money during production.
Villains, Inc. - A grade B- movie about three henchmen in a universe with superheroes and supervillains that have ambitions to become villains and take over the world (their plan involves “a billion dollars”). Not too bad for what is obviously a super low budget exercise. The lead (Mallory Everton) demonstrates a mix of spunk and slackerdom that is winning. The universe building makes no sense, of course, but there are several laugh out loud moments in a screenplay that never takes itself too seriously, even through life or death situations.
Challengers - I saw this in IMAX (totally unnecessary). It’s a three-sided romantic drama set in the world of professional tennis. Good performances from all three leads in a non-linear story. Definitely not going to be on anyone’s short list for awards at the end of the year, but it held my interest for more than two hours. Its structure reminded me of Two for the Road, but not nearly as good (perhaps if it had been directed by Stanley Donen. And starred a young Audrey Hepburn. And been set in France.).
He’s the best thing in in, in my opinion. If you actually look at how many lines he has in this movie, it’s kind of crazy. He talks so fast and naturally, it all just tumbles out and fits his character.
A great role for him, one of the better performances I’ve seen him in.
I haven’t seen Lemmon in all that many movies, but always thought he was particularly good in The China Syndrome, as the nuclear engineer who throws his career away and places himself in grave danger for what he reluctantly comes to see he must do.
He was great in that movie but I hope everyone also watches Some Like it Hot and The Odd Couple for more of his great work.
Seen both. He is especially great in Some Like It Hot.