Volume 39, Number 01
Movies
Movie News
By Bill Hersey
Nicky and Paris Hilton were in town for Kazumasa Terada, president of Samantha Thavasa Bag Company. I had met Paris before, but never really got to know her.
On her most recent visit, I hosted a party for her and her sister Nicky at the New Lex. I was indebted to her because she praised the Lex in her book Confessions of an Heiress, although I didn’t like a lot of what I read about her in the gossip magazines.
At the party, both girls were great. They do know how to party, and they were really nice to everyone there. In talking with Paris, I realized how much of her image is a creation of marketing. In real life she’s intelligent, interesting and thoughtful. Her favorite word is “hot” and she loves to use it: “the club’s hot”; “that male model’s hot”; “you’re hot” (I loved that one!) Nicky, however, is quieter and very involved in the hotel project—not a Hilton, but a very expensive art deco hotel in Miami Beach.
Guests included superstar Yoshiki, Samantha Thavasa President Kazumasa Terada, actors Taro Yamamoto and Masaya Kato as well as Rakuten baseball team owner Mikitani San.
Superstar Will Smith was in town to promote his Warner Brothers film I Am Legend. In addition to having back-toback interviews, a press conference, TV appearances and the premiere itself, Will made a quick trip to Yokosuko to meet American military members and their families. I first met him over ten years ago, and am happy to report that success has not spoiled the talented, hardworking superstar.
Movie Reviews - I Am Legend/Reign Over Me/The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
by William Casper
I Am Legend
For the record; first there was the post apocalyptic book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, about the last surviving man in a nightmare world of isolation and mutants. This was made into a cheesy B movie as The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price in 1964. This in turn was remade in 1971 as The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, and has now been remade as I Am Legend. As a fan of the Charlton Heston movie and in light of some of the abysmal recent remakes of good movies (Get Carter, Rollerball, Alfie, etc.) I approached this potential disaster with trepidation. Silly me.
The latest version of I Am Legend has retained all that was good about the Charlton Heston film (the ghostly cityscape, the genuine suspense) and quietly lost some of the more surreal aspects (the quasi-religious undertones and the 1970s politics, man). More than that, it has rounded out the main character, made the central premise more believable and best of all, gives Robert Neville (Will Smith) our soul survivor, a German shepherd for a companion.
Will Smith is excellent in what is essentially a one man (and his dog) turn. This is not the kind of role that usually wins awards, which is a shame as Smith shows real depth portraying a man teetering on the brink of insanity but managing, just about, to stay sane enough to continue his work attempting to save the last remnants of the human race.
At times I Am Legend is genuinely frightening and at a breezy 101 minutes it's that rarest of things: a big budget film that leaves you wishing it were longer. Visually spectacular (post-apocalyptic New York looks incredible) try and see it on the big screen.
Release date: Dec. 14, 2007
Reign Over Me
A film about loss, friendship, and healing. Reign Over Me stars Adam Sandler as Charlie Fineman, a dentist who lost his family (a wife, three girls and even a dog) during the 9/11 attacks on New York, and has regressed into irresponsible teenagehood to forget his pain. A chance encounter with his dental college room mate, Alan Benson played by Don Cheadle, now successful and married with kids, seems to awaken something in Charlie; the stifled Benson is drawn to the wild freedom that Charlie's bizarre and erratic behavior in some way represents. And so the unlikely couple begins to hang out.
At times the plot runs perilously close to Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King, but where Gillian's characters use fantasy and charm to escape their loss, Reign Over Me (a few comedic moments apart) is heavy with pain and sadness.
Adam Sandler, looking uncannily like Bob Dylan, does a decent job as Fineman and elicits emotions I thought beyond him. Don Cheadle, in Sidney Poitier mode, is also good in the less showy role. The other characters, particularly the females, are weaker. Liv Tyler is hopelessly miscast as an uptown shrink; Jada Pinkett Smith as Benson's wife is underused, and worst of all, the talented Saffron Burrows is saddled with an ill-conceived character treated with something close to contempt by the script. Donald Sutherland shows up in a brief cameo as a judge that nicely spices the film up just at the point it is becoming long.
9/11 brings monumental baggage that rests heavily on Charlie's shoulders; to lighten the load, I half-wished he was one of a group of people struggling with their loss from that day, or that Charlie's family had died in a more relatable, less public way. Worth a look but take some tissues.
Release date: Dec. 22, 2007
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
As you would expect from the director of Aussie classic Chopper, Andrew Dominik's ambitious, languid retelling of the last few months of the life and death of Jesse James (Brad Pitt) has much to commend it. It's beautiful to look at—there is a real evocation of a time long gone; several of the performances are very good, particularly Casey Affleck as the Uriah Heep-like Robert Ford (had Heep ever seen fit to murder David Copperfield); overall production values are good (though I was a little surprised by the obvious quality of the James gang's dental plan); and the sense of something out of the (contemporary) ordinary being attempted is admirable.
But, and it's a big but, there is just no way of getting round the length (2 hours and 40 minutes) and the lack of action. The problem is accentuated by a ponderous voiceover telling us things we should be seeing. Some might argue the length reflects the time and pace of life in 1880s America, but so little happens they could have trimmed the 40 minutes and lost nothing.
Pitt's performance rests on how you feel about him already—I think he's a likeable actor but just doesn't have the range for something this nuanced—if you like what he does in other films you'll like what he does here. Obvious comparisons (influences?) are Terence Malick's Days of Heaven (which evokes a similar pace of life in 94 minutes) and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller, both flawed classics, both mercifully shorter and as a result more watchable. With Sam Rockwell, Sam Sheppard (underused) Mary-Louise Parker (ditto), Garret Dillahunt, Paul Scheider, Jeremy Renner (all three excellent).
Release date: Jan. 12, 2008
Movie Theaters
Shinjuku
Shinjuku Milano Za, Kabuki-cho 1-29-1, Tokyu Milano Bldg. 03-3202-1189. JR Shinjuku station East Exit, number B13. Walk towards Nishi-Shinjuku station; the theater faces this station. Showing: I Am Legend. http://gojapan.about.com/library/tokyo/bltokyo_movie_shinjuku.htm.
Shibuya
Shibuto Cine Tower, Dogenzaka 2- -17, Shibuya. 03- 89- 210. From JR Shibuya station, take the Hachiko exit to the large intersection (to Dogenzaka). Go up the road, and it will be on your left (across from Shibuya 109). Showing: National Treasure http://gmap.jp/shop-1533.html.
Roppongi
Roppongi Hills Cinema. Roppongi -10-2, Minato-ku. 03- 77 - 090. In the Roppongi Hills Keyakizaka Complex, facing the Mori Tower, a few minutes’ walk from Hibiya Line Roppongi Station. Showing: Beowulf, National Treasure, Alien vs. Predator http://www.tohotheater.jp/index.html.
Odaiba
Cinema Mediage. Daiba 1-7-1, Minato-ku. 03- 31-7878. Across the street from Tokyo Terepoto Station, just behind the Fuji TV building. From the Yurikamone line’s Daiba station, cross the street. The cinema is next to Aqua City Odaiba. For information about movie listings, please see: http://www.cinema-mediage.com.
Shinagawa
Shinagawa Prince Cinema. Takanawa -10-30, Minato- ku. 03-3 0-1111. Across the street from Shinagawa station, in the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. Showing: I Am Legend, National Treasures, Alien vs. Predator http://www.princehotels.co.jp/shinagawa/cinema/index.html.
Yokohama
Toho Cinemas Lalaport. 03 -1 Ikebe-cho, Ysuzuki-ku, Yokohama. 0 -929-10 0. JR Yokohama Line, Kamoii station. Take the North Exit; the theater is on the first floor of the Lalaport Complex. For current movie listings, please see http://yokohama.lalaport.jp.
On DVD
Jan. 8: Free Zone A Jewish-American woman, her Jewish cab driver and a Palestinian black market liaison embark on a tense road trip to the Jordan-Iraq-Saudi free zone.
Jan. 11: The Big White Robin Williams plays a poor insurance agent who, out of financial desperation, tries to stage his estranged brother’s death to collect a hefty insurance claim.
Jan. 11: A Good Year Russell Crowe stars as a London-based investment banker who goes to Provence to sell his uncle’s vineyard, in this charming romantic comedy.
Jan. 12: Borat: Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Watch Kazakh journalist “Borat” – from Britain’s Ali G fame – travel across the U.S. in this hysterical 'mockumentary'.
Jan. 18: Hustle & Flow A petty drug dealer and hustler becomes dissatisfied with his life and tries his hand at hip-hop, in this interesting film.
Jan. 18: Failure to Launch A romantic comedy about the hit-or- miss relationship between a girl (Sarah Jessica Parker) and a guy (Matthew McConaughey) ...who lives with his parents.