Letterboxd

I like movies very much. I watch movies often. I thought twitter would be a useful place to ask others for recommendations for good movies to watch…and I could also write my opinion of movies I’ve seen to help other people choose a good movie.

But twitter user @kuma told me about a site called “Letterboxd“.

Why don’t you visit their site and join?  It’s free and it’s easy.  And, if you like movies at all, it’s fun!

You can rate movies with a ☆ star ranking. And you can write a review or summary, if you want to.  You can also search for a movie that you’re thinking about watching and see other people’s rating of it.

Another thing that I like about Letterboxd if that it’s a good way to keep a diary of the movies you’ve watched.  I’ve only just started using their site, so I don’t anywhere near all of the movies I’ve seen listed…but click here to see my Letterboxd page.

If you join, “follow” me on the site…and also write a comment on this post and tell your page URL.

Movie suggestions?

The Hollywood movies that are currently showing or will be later this month here in Tokyo are:

World War Z
White House Down
End Of Watch
Star Trek
The Lone Ranger
Gatchaman

Have you seen any of these?
Which would you recommend?

Or … are none of them worth paying to see in a theater?
If that’s the case, we’ll watch a Japanese movie. 

Worst movies

Tell me some of the worst movies you’ve ever watched.

As for me … here are some movies that I’ve had the misfortune of enduring:

Lost In Translation
2001
The Shining
Forrest Gump
サンシャイン 2057 (Sunshine 2057)

Have you seen any of those?
What did you think of them?

What are some movies you hated?

Specials in Japan

Many people think that prices in Japan are extravagantly high…but, just like anywhere, “locals” know where to go to get the best deals.

I’ll tell you a few secrets for saving money in Tokyo.

First of all, today is 子供の日 (Children’s Day).
Admission to city zoos is free today. But, be warned, free admission to a zoo in a huge metropolis on a warm day that is also a public holiday means that the zoo will extremely crowded.

Visitors to Japan complain that movie tickets and pizza are too expensive in Japan…and they are—if you pay full price.

For pizza, Shakey’s Pizza has all-you-can-eat specials that range in price from about ¥800 to ¥1,900 depending on what day and what time you go (lunch time on regular weekdays is cheapest).

And Domino’s Pizza has specials often in Japan. Currently they are offering a “Buy one get one free” deal if you pick up the pizza yourself (rather than getting it delivered).

Domino’s Pizza Japan “Buy-One-Get-One-Free” for pick-up orders.

If you go to a movie theater in Japan, you shouldn’t pay the full box-office ticket price.
On the first day of every month, it is “Ladies Day” at the movies in Japan. Women can buy a ticket for only ¥1,000. Some theaters offer discounts on Wednesdays, too.
For men, and on other days, you should buy movie tickets from a チケット・ショップ (“Ticket Shop”) that are found all around Japan.

Ticket Shops sell movie tickets at a discount.

Thay also sell tickets for amusement parks, concerts, sporting events, museum admission, trains, McDonalds coffee, and a number of other things.

You should always try a discount ticket shop before you buy any type of ticket in Japan.

Tickets in a チケット・ショップ (Ticket Shop) in Japan.

Does your country have money-saving techniques such as these that “locals” know about?

The Walking Dead

I wrote an earlier post about albums and movies that I like…including the movie “Shaun Of The Dead“.

It’s a zombie-comedy.

I also wrote another post about the movie “Zombieland“.

And recently we have begun watching an American TV series that became available on rental DVD not long ago.
Maybe you have already seen this show (if so, don’t tell me what’s going to happen! 😉 ).

The show is titled “The Walking Dead” and it’s about the struggles of a group of survivors in a zombie-apocalypse.

Do you watch this show too? Do you like it?

I like it so much that I placed an order on Amazon.com for the comic that the TV series is based on.

A panel from "The Walking Dead" comic books.

Best movie quotes

Sometimes quotes from songs and movies become so well-known and often used that eventually many people don’t even know that the expression came from a pop song or movie.

For example, have you ever heard this quote:

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

Do you know where that simple but inspiring quote is from?

It’s a line in the song “Beautiful Boy” by John Lennon that was written for his son Sean Lennon.

John Lennon's "Double Fantasy" album (which includes the song "Beautiful Boy")

Here are some of the most often quoted lines from movies that I could think of off the top of my head (in no particular order):

I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse!

-Marlon Brando (from “The Godfather“)

(I have a feeling) we’re not in Kansas anymore

-Judy Garland (from “The Wizard Of Oz“)

Go ahead, make my day!

-Clint Eastwood (from “Sudden Impact“)

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.

-Strother Martin (from “Cool Hand Luke“)

Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

-Charlton Heston (from “Planet Of The Apes“)

Have you seen any of these movies? Surely you’ve heard those quotes before. Did you know they were from those movies?
What other famous movie quotes can you think of?

Claude Monet art exhibit in Tokyo

I’m not an expert on art by any means.

My tastes might be considered “low brow”.
I listen to heavy metal music, my favorite TV shows aren’t really educational or anything, and I don’t see the appeal of “over-rated” movies such as “Lost In Translation“, “Forrest Gump” and “The Lord Of The Rings“…those movies were all boring to me.
The movies I like are more exciting.

And I don’t feel comfortable eating in “four star” fancy restaurants…I prefer a simple 「居酒屋」 (Japanese izakaya “blue collar” type restaurant).

Even though I may be a “simple man” I can appreciate art sometimes.
I have never attended an opera or even a musical on stage, but I have watched 歌舞伎 (Kabuki) plays and sometimes I go to art exhibits at museums.

I have seen a number of 浮世絵 (Ukiyoe Japanese woodblock prints) exhibits…and yesterday, my wife and I went to 渋谷 (Shibuya, Tokyo) to see the 「モネとジヴェルニーの画家たち」 (“Claude Monet and the Giverny Artists”) exhibit.

It’s at the “Bunkamura Museum” in Shibuya, Tokyo until 2011 February 17th.

I learned that Claude Monet moved to a tiny French village called Giverny and painted the natural views that he saw there. And his work inspired many artists from other countries, but the vast majority were Americans, to go to Giverny and set up an “artist colony” there to learn from Monet.

Also, Monet was inspired by Japanese art (other famous Western artists, including Vincent Van Gogh, were too) and he had a collection of Japanese Ukiyoe prints.

Monet's painting of his wife in Japanese kimono.

Monet's painting of his garden in Giverny, France.

Monet's painting of a hay stack.

 

Are you interested in art? Monet? Ukiyoe?
How about your taste in food, movies, music, etc?

Upcoming movies in 2011

あけましておめでとうございます！ (“Happy New Year!)
2011 is　「うさぎ年」 (“the Year of the Rabbit”).

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Foreign movies (usually “Hollywood” releases) usually premiere in Japan long after they’ve been shown in their home country (usually America).

This is because, I’ve heard, first the movie must be either subtitled or dubbed into the Japanese language…but sometimes the distributors wait to see how the movie does in it’s home country to help determine if it would be worth the cost to show it here.

Here are a few of the many Hollywood movies that are scheduled to be shown in theaters here in Japan in 2011:

– 「アンストッパブル」 (“Unstoppable”)

Stars Denzel Washington in a true story about a runaway train.
It was released in America in November 2010…and is scheduled it show in theaters in Tokyo on 2011 January 7th.

– 「ソーシャル・ネットワーク」 (“The Social Network”)

The story of how Mark Zuckerberg started the internet phenomenom called “Facebook“.
The U.S. release was in October 2010. It will show in Japan on 2011 January 15th.

– 「グリーン・ホーネット」 (“The Green Hornet”)

The story of a masked crimefighter called The Green Hornet and his partner Kato (who was played by Bruce Lee in the 1960’s TV series).

Bruce Lee as "Kato" in the 1960's U.S. TV series "The Green Hornet"

Sometimes American movies are released at the same time (or close to it) in both the U.S. and Japan.
“The Green Hornet” is one such movie. It is scheduled to be shown in the U.S. on 2011 January 14th and in Tokyo on 2011 January 22nd.

– 「トゥルー・グリット」 (“True Grit”)

Stars Jeff Bridges in the role made famous by John Wayne in the 1969 original movie adaptation of this story of a drunken U.S. Marshal in the 19th century “Wild West” who is hired by a fourteen year old girl to track the killer of her father.

The U.S. release of this film was in late December 2010 but won’t hit theaters in Tokyo until March 2011.

Have you seen any of these films? Do you recommend them?
I think “True Grit” looks the best. I’m looking forward to it.

Most of my life in Japan

Today is 2010 October 17.
I came to Japan on 1990 October 17. Twenty years ago.
I was 20 years old when I came to Tokyo…so I’ve now lived half of my life here. Starting tomorrow, I will have been in Japan for “most of my life”.

Time goes by so fast.

In 2008 on this date I wrote a post that compared some of the differences between Japan in 1990 and Japan today.
Click here to read it.

Today is also the anniversary of the day that Yoshihiro Hattori was shot to death in America because he went to the wrong house by mistake on his way to a Halloween party.
Last year I wrote a post on the seventeenth anniversary of his death.
Click here to read a bit about his story in the post I wrote last year.

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Japan for twenty years. October 1990 doesn’t seem that long ago.
Unless that is, you look at I list of the music and movies that were released in 1990!
I checked on Wikipedia…and twenty years seems much longer now that I realized that in 1990 Macaulay Culkin was a cute kid and “Home Alone” was a new movie!

The top-ten movies of 1990 were:
1. “Ghost“…This movie was pretty good, I think.
2. “Home Alone“…This was one funny…but all the sequels (some with different actors in the lead role) were ridiculous.
3. “Pretty Woman”
4. “Dances With Wolves”
5. “Total Recall“…I like action and suspense movies, but this one was mediocre.
6. “Back To The Future Part III“…This is an excellent trilogy. Of course the first one was the best, but the two sequels were good too.
7. “Die Hard 2: Die Harder“…The four “Die Hard” movies are among my all-time favorites—and I recently heard that they’ll will be making “Part 5” soon. I hope so!
8. “Presumed Innocent“…Harrison Ford is a great actor who has starred in many excellent films!
9. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles“…I knew about this comic book because in the liner notes of the excellent 1986 “Master Of Puppets” album by the heavy metal band Metallica it has in the “Thank you” list, among other things, “sushi, Absolut Vodka, Alka Seltzer, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles“.
Metallica is cool, this movie isn’t.

As a sidenote, there’s a similar story with the metal band Anthrax. On their 1987 “Among The Living” album there is a song titled “I Am The Law“. In the album’s liner notes it says that the song is inspired by the “Judge Dredd” comics. In 1995, Sylvester Stallone starred in a terrible movie adaptation of this comic series.

But I digress. Back to the list.

10. “Kindergarten Cop”

I was going to include a list of the music albums that were released in October 1990, too. But I’ve either never heard of most of the bands on that list or they’re albums by bands that I can’t tolerate.
There were a couple good albums released the time I came to Japan in October 1990:

“No Prayer For The Dying” by Iron Maiden

And the “Led Zeppelin box set“.

March 23 and 31

If the world famous Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa were still alive, yesterday would’ve been his 100th birthday.

Akira Kurosawa (1910 March 23 - 1998 Sept 6), R.I.P.

I wrote a post last summer about Hollywood remakes of Japanese movies…and of course it includes some of Kurosawa’s classics (such as “Yojinbou” and “The Seven Samurai“).
(Click here to read that post.)

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It has been announced that all homes in Japan must have a 煙感知器 (smoke detector) in every room by 2010 March 31.

A smoke alarm needs to be in every room.

If you live in Japan, and your house doesn’t have smoke alarms, you can buy them at department stores or electronics stores for about ¥2,500 – ¥3,000 each.
(Even if you don’t live in Japan you should have smoke detectors and a 消火器 (fire extinguisher) in your house.)

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What size beer cans are commonly sold in stores in your country?
What types of places sell beer where you live?
In Japan, beer can be purchased 24 hours a day from convenience stores. It’s also sold in most restaurants (including some fast-food places), supermarkets, etc.

There are even beer vending machines in Japan.

Restaurants usually sell beer in mugs or glasses. Or else they’ll give a 瓶ビール (bottled beer), which is usually 633ml.

Canned beer is usually sold in 350ml or 500ml cans. But other sizes are available too.
Japan has very small 135 ml and 250ml cans, the “regular” 350ml can, the “tall boy” 500ml, and a very big 1,000ml can.

135ml, 250ml, 350ml and 500ml cans of Kirin Beer.