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July 17, 2024
 

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Giovanni Fazio

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Giovanni Fazio
Giovanni Fazio has been The Japan Times' resident film crank since 1993. When not at the movies, he is busy recording and playing live with his band Makyo and running the independent electronica label Dakini Records.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 24, 2013
'Dredd'
Director: Pete Travis
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2013
'Gambit'
When is a Coen Bros. film not a Coen Bros. film? I can imagine The Dude poring over this koan for hours, but the answer's quite simple: when it's "Gambit," the neo-screwball comedy directed by Michael Hoffman, working off a script by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2013
'Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby'
Director: Adam McKay
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 10, 2013
Hawke film exploits the gruesome myth of snuff
In "Sinister," the new horror movie starring Ethan Hawke, a man explores the attic of his new home and finds a box of old Super 8 film reels. After his family goes to bed, he pours himself a whiskey and watches them: At first it's normal home-video sort of stuff, a family goofing around in their backyard...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 10, 2013
'Sinister'
Horror — like porn and Adam Sandler movies — is one of those divisive film genres that people tend to either obsess over or avoid completely. My own opinion lies somewhere in the middle: I rather like being scared witless, but don't find too many movies that succeed at it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 10, 2013
'Heartless'
Gangbangers quoting poetry, a man biting the face off a living severed head and hoodlum hoodies who are lizard-people straight out of 1970s "Dr. Who" ... If "Heartless" isn't the most ridiculous film I've seen this decade, I'll bite my own face off.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 10, 2013
'The Conspirator (Japan title: Koe wo Kakusu Nin)'
Director: Robert Redford
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 3, 2013
'Evil Dead'
When Sam Raimi's low-budget splatter flick "The Evil Dead" emerged in 1983, it had the same sort of queasy impact you get when you hear a thud and feel something dragging under your tires. "The Evil Dead" was a terrifying and ghoulish film like no other, a signpost of sorts, marking new territory on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 3, 2013
'Trishna'
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 26, 2013
'Killing Them Softly'
There's a scene in "Killing Them Softly" where Brad Pitt, playing Mafia enforcer Jackie Cogan, drives up alongside a car driven by a suspect gambling den operator (Ray Liotta) and pumps a few bullets into him. Here, and only here, director Andrew Dominik slows the film down to the extent that a couple...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 26, 2013
'Iron Man 3'
Amid the legion of superhero franchises, there's been only one that relies on performance more than digital SFX, and that's "Iron Man." You could take any square-chinned blonde with good pecs and put them in the Captain America or Thor roles, but just try to imagine the Iron Man character without Robert...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 26, 2013
'Carlos'
Director: Olivier Assayas
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2013
'Now is Good'
Dakota Fanning ("The Runaways") plays Tessa, a teenage girl with leukemia who has decided to forego the debilitating chemotherapy and live her last days to their fullest. Losing her virginity ranks high on her list — right up there with shoplifting, doing drugs and going to Glastonbury —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2013
'Beasts of the Southern Wild'
On the one hand, Sundance and Cannes award-winner 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' has been correctly labeled as 'magic realism.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2013
'Frankenweenie'
Director: Tim Burton
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2013
'Cosmopolis'
We want to like this movie, "Cosmopolis." David Cronenberg fills his movies with concepts and ideas, then turns them into something stupendous and horrible. Sigmund Freud is finished, Don DeLillo is next. But his cinema is losing its narrative quality the same way that painting did once upon a time....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2013
'Holy Motors'
French auteur Leos Carax's first feature in over a decade isn't as logorrheic and alienating as David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis," but it's twice as masturbatory and aimless. (And I'm a huge fan of Carax's "Boy Meets Girl" and "Les Amants du Pont-Neuf.") Like so many directorial projects gone astray, "Holy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 12, 2013
'Sound City'
Director: Dave Grohl
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 5, 2013
Audiard's method: as slow and steady as the waves
My first impression of director Jacques Audiard is that he's almost as wired as the street-punk hero of his film "The Beat That My Heart Skipped," fidgeting in his chair, desperate for a smoke, jumping in mid-translation to clarify a point. Entering his sixth decade, Audiard shows no signs of slowing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 5, 2013
'Rust and Bone'
A boxer knows how to get back up when knocked down. So when life spins out for French bare-knuckle fighter Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), he spends his last euros on a train out of town, his 5-year-old son in tow. It's a responsibility this sullen brute of a man barely knows how to deal with, but he does...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

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Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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