Category Archives: Movies

Review: You Were Never Really Here

Posted on June 2, 2018 by philipbrasor

It’s difficult to grasp what director Lynne Ramsay is trying to accomplish with her new movie. Ostensibly a genre exercise, You Were Never Really Here sketchily outlines the daily grind of a hit man, Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), who specializes in … Continue reading →

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Review: The Death of Louis XIV

Posted on May 30, 2018 by philipbrasor

Recently, Christopher Nolan hailed Stanley Kubrick as the greatest director of all time, mainly for his ability to make nitrate film stock mimic the most sublime visual attributes of great paintings. Though he was thinking of 2001, Barry Lyndon is … Continue reading →

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Review: Isle of Dogs

Posted on May 29, 2018 by philipbrasor

As a long-time resident of Japan whose interaction with the local culture is circumstantial, I don’t believe I have much to add to the conversation that has surrounded Wes Anderson’s latest entertainment and which mostly has to do with whether … Continue reading →

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Review: Phantom Thread

Posted on May 28, 2018 by philipbrasor

In the rarefied setting that informs Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest luxury, the title “fashion designer” seems imprecise when describing the vocation of the protagonist, Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis). He’s a dressmaker. All he makes is fine dresses for fine ladies. … Continue reading →

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Review: All the Money in the World

Posted on May 26, 2018 by philipbrasor

It’s a wonder that the incredible tale of the 1973 kidnapping of oil billionaire J. Paul Getty’s grandson hasn’t been dramatized before (for the record, there is presently a TV series covering the same ground), but as it stands this … Continue reading →

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Review: Oh, Lucy!

Posted on May 11, 2018 by philipbrasor

Atsuko Hirayanagi explores familiar screwball archetypes in her debut feature, and while most have been well presented by other Japanese directors, they’ve never attempted them in a cross-cultural setting. Setsuko (Shinobu Terajima) is an uptight, lonely single woman working a … Continue reading →

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Movies April 2018

Posted on April 2, 2018 by philipbrasor

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the April issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo last weekend (a little later than normal due to a printing error). Black Panther By now it’s difficult to separate the … Continue reading →

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February 2018 movies

Posted on February 3, 2018 by philipbrasor

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the February issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo last week. The Beguiled The MeToo movement gives Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of Thomas Cullinen’s novel, previously filmed in 1971 with Clint … Continue reading →

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Best movies 2017

Posted on December 30, 2017 by philipbrasor

Every year my movie-watching regime becomes more rarefied owing to tighter schedules and diminished monetary inducement. Nowadays, however, I can often make up for the films I miss at press screenings by seeing them later at my local multiplex, on … Continue reading →

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December 2017 movies

Posted on December 7, 2017 by philipbrasor

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the December issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo on Nov. 25. The Age of Shadows Set during the Japanese colonial period of the 1920s, Kim Jee-woon’s double agent thriller … Continue reading →

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