Tag Archives: Bill Murray

Review: The Phoenician Scheme

Posted on September 19, 2025 by philipbrasor

As a comic filmmaker, Wes Anderson often doesn’t seem to be in on his own jokes. His overly fussy sets and precise camera movements feel so intense that it’s the intenseness that evinces laughs rather than what’s actually going on … Continue reading →

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Review: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Posted on March 29, 2024 by philipbrasor

Having passed through the original Ghostbusters craze phase unscathed and unenlightened, I came to the fractured franchise late and never quite got its blend of winking gross-out humor and imaginative but tame scares. There was always something under-cooked about its … Continue reading →

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Review: The Dead Don’t Die

Posted on June 16, 2020 by philipbrasor

Without a doubt, zombies are the prime pop culture metaphor of our age, distilling the idea of a population zapped out on consumerism down to deadeyed cannibalism. Jim Jarmusch’s comedy is clearly in on the joke and while portions zip … 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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September 2015 movies

Posted on August 29, 2015 by philipbrasor

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the September issue of EL magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo last week. The Assassin Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first attempt at an “action” movie retains the narrative distinctions peculiar to all his features, … Continue reading →

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