THE WRESTLER [2008] review
January 12, 2009
In my memory the character of Randy “The Ram” Robinson in THE WRESTLER is unique in movies I have seen in being an awful person to a lot of people while at the same time being a helluva nice guy to a lot of people. At least in the way he goes about it. The Ram is a professional wrestler that just never quit mentally, although his body started quitting on him a long time ago, although you might not tell that right away by looking at him. Superficially he appears to still be in great shape. The entertainment of the movie comes from getting deeper inside Ram the character, physically and emotionally.
Daily Photo: The Man of Nihonbashi
January 11, 2009
I met this man at the Toshi no Ichi festival in Nihonbashi. His hat obviously made him stand out. He seemed to be the Man of the area, down with everyone, chatting to the festival organizers, and providing the biggest smile of any on-looker. He could speak a bit of English so we chatted for awhile as well and he gladly accepted my portrait request.
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Faces of Tokyo Series: Shimo-kitazawa
January 9, 2009
I wanted to try something new for my next FACES OF TOKYO SERIES (Takadanobaba, Kabukicho) instead of another set of photos of people just walking on the streets. I had the idea to take photos of people shopping inside stores while I was out on the street. I decided on Shimo-kitazawa as it has almost countless little shops on small side streets, plus the people who frequent this area are usually more hippie/bohemian/hipster. This proved to be a very challenging thing to do from a technical photography perspective and did not turn out so successfully, but I thought I would still share them to show that one should not always play it safe with one’s photography.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN [2008] review
January 9, 2009
Have you ever seen a vampire movie that did not show fangs once? After you watch the quietly hypnotic LET THE RIGHT ONE IN you will have. This movie is a true original. It’s also truly smart with no hack dialogue, really not any more dialogue than is truly necessary. It is also a very sweet movie, without being heavy handed or manipulative in any way. Make no mistakes though, this movie is also very dark.
MAN ON WIRE [2008] review
January 8, 2009
Philippe Petit had a rare and magnificent and ambitious dream, to walk on a wire between the World Trade Center towers in New York City. MAN ON WIRE is a documentary told in Philippe’s own words about how the magnitude of the logistics to make this happen matched the magnitude of the dream itself.
GRAN TORINO [2008] review
January 7, 2009
GRAN TORINO is a masterpiece. It is as American a film as I’ve ever seen. I truly love it. Clint Eastwood is a master filmmaker and an incredible actor. While watching GRAN TORINO at first I thought my opening line to this review would be my reiteration that Clint Eastwood is the biggest badass in the history of the world bar none. But that would not respect the film enough. That would not respect Clint enough. That would not respect the incredible acting by the Hmong actors in the film enough.
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD [2008] review
January 5, 2009
I blame Roger Ebert for this one. It is well known I don’t like to watch movies that are just about people’s miserable lives, and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is about the miserable lives of characters played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. This movie is not as miserable as some other past offenders (BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, FIVE EASY PIECES) and is not completely bereft of non-miserable qualities. However, only watch this if you like to see a married couple argue, like really argue.
Foote Family Christmas Party Japan 2008
January 4, 2009
Once again the Foote Family opened its doors wide to entertain 30+ people for a post-Christmas, Christmas party. This was also a white elephant gift exchange party, which proved to be a huge success. There were about four highly coveted presents that exchanged hands many, many times. The most popular of these was a Cocoa Latte machine. It was swapped at least a dozen times. I ended up with a nice, wooden hand massager turtle. Aya got a glove hand massager, another win for me!
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