Not as good as Lost in Translation

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2006)

I was irritated to see Sean Penn beat out Bill Murray for the Oscar. This was far from a bad movie, but not nearly as good as it is reported to be. The movie was well written, had decent acting, but I could see from the beginning where it was going and largely how it would end. My belief is that Americans love murder and violence, or at least love to see it and read about it. That's why we have so much of it in the news, it makes for good entertainment. A soft, warm-hearted film like Lost in Translation will never be considered better next to murder and dementia, regardless of the fact that Bill Murray's performance was better than Sean Penn's. Bill Murray's performance was better because 1) much of it was ad-libbed 2)it was equally as dramatic as Penn's performance, just without the violence, dementia, and mental disease Americans love to see delivered. Murray got robbed.