The Vault: Lost in Translation (2003)

There are those airplane conversations with a stranger in which you reveal far more about yourself than you ever could to someone you know. For Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johannson) it's simply because you're in a space with someone who speaks the same language.

Charlotte's husband (Giovanni Ribisi) is a photographer who in his short time in Tokyo has adapted it as his home and tells Charlotte that she wouldn't have any fun going around with him anyway - more likely is that he is infatuated with the attention he receives from starlet Kelly (Anna Faris). Bob is an actor whose career has relegated him to doing caricatures of Roger Moore for whiskey ads. Murray doesn't go for broke in playing Bob rather being wryly sardonic than play for the guttural laugh. It took a lot of restraint for Murray to play Bob Harris and he was handsomely rewarded with a nomination for Best Actor for it.

This year's Best Actor race reminds me quite a bit of the 2004 Academy Awards. Sean Penn after being nominated several times, but not winning for Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown and I Am Sam is nominated again for Mystic River and his biggest challenge is Bill Murray for Lost in Translation. While both performances are remarkable Murray's character is the one you want to hang with, yet ultimately the Oscar went to Penn for his collective works. Flash forward to this year's race Colin Firth and George Clooney both give great performances, but Jeff Bridges has gone unrewarded so long that it really would be a travesty to not give him the Oscar for Crazy Heart.

Marriage is hard and Bob has known this for quite some time, but Charlotte in her youth is just catching up to that fact. Two kindred spirits unfocused and unsure where their lives are headed take solace in each other's company during Bob's stay. Coppola could have gone for the lusty melodrama but instead allows Bob and Charlotte to just be with one another. Whether Bob tells Charlotte he loves her, to go back to her husband, or whatever, the whisper they share at the end of one of the finest endings ever.

The Best of the Decade

Over the last ten years, the cinema has given us a great deal to be thankful for: a rebirth of the Batman franchise, a series of examinations of what it means to live in this particular decade, and a mass of character studies whether they be animated or popcorn thrillers. As much as I have enjoyed the offerings, a list must be culled together for the end of the year. Except this year is different, this year ten films must be selected from hundreds. Below are some of the best of the aughts. Enjoy! 10) There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus, a scathing look at extremism in America and the evils of greed and profiteering from religion. It also features the best performance of the decade with Daniel Day-Lewis as oil-man Daniel Plainview. 9) Up A beautiful tale that entrances all ages, Up managed to captivate children and tell a tale that adults cherish as well. 8) The Dark Knight Maybe just a comic book film, but it is the best comic book film

Paprika vs. Inception

Months before Inception hit the theaters forums were alive with rumors that Christopher Nolan either accidentally or intentionally stole some details from another film, the Japanese anime Paprika. The biggest point of comparison for some bloggers and forum runners was the fact that both of the films featured a device that allowed a person, or people, to travel into another’s dreams and delve into their subconscious. Minor points of comparison include scenes in Paprika where the character Paprika breaks through a mirrored wall by holding her hand to it, as well as a scene where a police detective falls his way down a hallway. Claims have been made that Inception abounds with imagery similar to or exactly like the anime movie, but with the recent release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, and with Paprika available for several years now, an examination of the two plots can be made more fully. Let us begin with the primary claim— Inception stole the idea of a dream

Armond White's Top Ten Films on Flickchart

Armond White is film criticism’s most famous contrarian. At one moment he writes a review declaring Toy Story 3 to be the most obscene excuse for toy commercials he has ever watched, and then two weeks later types out a glowing review of Resident Evil: Afterlife . He is of split-mind for sure. But what does his Flickchart look like? Read the rest at Flickchart !

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