Monthly Archives: September 2018

Review: Foxtrot

Posted on September 30, 2018 by philipbrasor

Whatever one thinks of Israeli policy and militarism, Israel’s filmmaking contingent more often than not addresses the country’s sticky matters with imagination and verve; which isn’t to say they necessarily confront their problems head-on, but they don’t ignore them. Samuel … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Crazy Rich Asians

Posted on September 28, 2018 by philipbrasor

As some of my colleagues have noted, the Japanese arm of Warner Bros. has dropped “Asians” from the title of this surprise box office hit, and while we can probably surmise the reason for the elision, the Japanese socio-historical relationship … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Skyscraper

Posted on September 22, 2018 by philipbrasor

It’s no scoop to say that the IMAX format dictates the production of certain movies, since it’s difficult to imagine a Hollywood conference call where, after a movie has been greenlighted and cast, someone thinks out loud, “Hey, maybe this … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Faces Places

Posted on September 17, 2018 by philipbrasor

Collaboration is more than just the theme of Agnes Varda’s latest curiosity. Teaming up with the tall-glass-of-water visual artist JR both on camera and behind it, the veteran nouvelle vague director expands her late career discussion of the French polity … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Media Mix, Sept. 16, 2018

Posted on September 16, 2018 by philipbrasor

Here’s this week’s Media Mix about the Asia Games basketball scandal. As I tried to say in the last paragraph, the media response has been dual—the MSM expresses shock and disgust, while the tabloid press shrugs and winks—even though the … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“The Fog of War,” Sept. 2004

Posted on September 14, 2018 by philipbrasor

I recently realized that almost all of the movie reviews I wrote for the Asahi Shimbun in the 90s and early 00s are not available on the Internet, so I will remedy that by slowly, methodically posting them here on … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: Asako I & II

Posted on September 8, 2018 by philipbrasor

I have yet to see Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s previous film, the internationally lauded 5-hour domestic drama Happy Hour, which, probably due to its length, hasn’t been picked up by WOWOW. But having read about its charms for almost a year I … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Posted on September 3, 2018 by philipbrasor

It’s a good thing the second Ant-Man movie is above average, because it’s becoming quite a chore to fit all these Marvel superhero movies into the Marvel universe, at least as it applies to the Avengers movies, which seem to … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Media Mix, Sept. 2, 2018

Posted on September 2, 2018 by philipbrasor

Here’s this week’s Media Mix about the weekly magazines’ pursuit of royal scandal for the hell of it. The point I was trying to make, and which wasn’t really reflected in the headline, is that while the weeklies buck the … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Posted on September 1, 2018 by philipbrasor

Thanks to Japan’s complicated publicity machine, the sequel to the successful movie version of the very successful ABBA-inspired jukebox musical Mamma Mia! arrives well after most of the rest of the world has decided it’s a better movie than the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment