Category Archives: Movies

The pursuit of happiest: Will and Jaden Smith in Tokyo

In his newest sci-fi blockbuster, After Earth, Will Smith plays a man who is incapacitated during a crash landing on earth some thousand years into the future and in order to survive he has to send his own son, played … Continue reading

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May 2013 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the May issue of EL Magazine, which is being distributed in Tokyo today. Ek Tha Tiger Former documentary filmmaker Kabir Khan has become successful in Bollywood with socially charged subjects that don’t … Continue reading

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April 2013 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the April issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo on Monday. Anna Karenina Arguably the greatest novel ever written and one of the few whose scope translates easily to the … Continue reading

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March 2013 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the March issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo on Monday. Amour Michael Haneke’s unsentimental study of the decay of flesh and soul couldn’t be opening at a more appropriate … Continue reading

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February 2013 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the February issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo today. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel This eminently dismissable comedy belongs to that burgeoning genre featuring older British actors exploring the … Continue reading

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Best movies 2012

These are my favorite movies that were released in Japan in 2012. Of them, only one was produced here and that one wasn’t even directed by a Japanese person, thus demonstrating my continuing resistance to post-bubble Japanese cinema, which isn’t … Continue reading

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January 2013 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the January issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo on Christmas Day. Albert Nobbs The title character of this modest period piece is a waiter in a Dublin hotel at … Continue reading

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December 2012 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the Dec. issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo last weekend. Ai no yukue The “tentatively” titled Where Does Love Go? is extrapolated from a story that Japanese viewers will … Continue reading

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November 2012 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the November issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo last Thursday. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Though clearly a stupid movie, this adaptation locates the exploitative kernel of Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel … Continue reading

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Media Mix, Oct. 14, 2012

Here’s this week’s Media Mix, which is about the fierce competition in Korean high schools to get into prestigious universities. It was inspired by the movie Pluto, which I saw in its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival. … Continue reading

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