TF Film Review: Zero Dark Thirty (2013)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by tokyofox

This is the story of the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden and is director Kathryn Bigelow’s first movie since ‘The Hurt Locker‘ (2008) which was critically acclaimed. I can’t say that I ever really went along with the hype of that film but I guess its success made it much easier for the ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ story to be told.

It is not your typical Hollywood movie and doesn’t really have a plot as such but is more about tracking and killing Osama Bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda. The protagonist is CIA agent Maya (Jessica Chastain) who is initially quite shocked at the tactics used by CIA interrogator Dan (Jason Clarke). He humiliates, beats and water boards one suspect in a fairly heavy first third of the movie yet despite this I still feel his character comes across as being more charismatic than Maya. Not such a bad thing though in my opinion and it is testament to Chastain’s acting that she is able to deliver a subdued and restrained performance. There is no attempt to draw the viewer in with any human sentiment by way of character development scenes or the often-used flashbacks which are paramount to the success of most films. I didn’t really care for that though as the story was gripping enough without needing such stuff to help move the story along.

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I went into this film with almost no knowledge of the subject matter other than that it was more about finding the worlds most dangerous man than the events of 9/11. As someone who has been fairly ignorant of such news I was armed with less information and facts than most viewers and therefore had no expectations going in to the cinema. I’m sure the real events were a bit different but as an entertaining piece of documentary-style film (without harder hitting questions of whether it was all worth it) I was more than happy with how it all came together on screen.

Even though 157 minutes is too long for a movie where we all know the outcome it’s still a very tense and breathtaking finale as you don’t really know how its gonna be portrayed. The raid on Bin Laden’s hideout (filmed on a specially constructed set in the deserts of Jordan) had me literally on the edge of my seat. The scenes of the Navy SEALs flying in to siege the place are compelling and with it shot to replicate the zero dark thirty (military code for the time 00:30) raid it brings another sense of meaning to the word dark in a film with very dark themes. Worth seeing in the total darkness of a cinema for that reason.

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Tokyo Fox Rating 8/10

Posted in Films, Middle East Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dining Out: Meguro Tavern (British)

Posted on February 13, 2013 by tokyofox

“Where are you gonna go for British food then?” is probably the most common question I’ve been asked since I started regularly dining out at international restaurants in Tokyo. Whilst most of the many British bars in and around Tokyo serve fish and chips they don’t do too many other actual British dishes.

One such place that does though is the Meguro Tavern (below) which is just a few minutes walk from JR Meguro station. This pub has been in Tokyo since 1998 and as far as I know is the only place to offer a traditional Sunday roast including roast beef (Aus), roast lamb (NZ) and roast pork (Canada/Hokkaido), with all the trimmings (roast potatoes, carrots, peas, sprouts, sweetcorn, gravy, mint sauce etc) including Yorkshire Puddings (below).

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In the food obsessed culture of Japan it can be quite frustrating to hear constant negative comments about British food which is fair enough if they’ve been to Britain and sampled a  few dishes. However, most haven’t and are basing their assumptions on one meal (fish & chips) which is of course a greasy one and that, along with other British dishes, is a very different kind of dish to the rice and noodle staples served up here in the East.

The Meguro Tavern serve all manner of proper British dishes across the week but we were there for the roast (starting from 12:30pm) which is a meal I haven’t had since I was back in my motherland in January 2012. In fact it was actually a bit weird to have a roast dinner cooked by someone other than my mum.

As it is a help yourself buffet style service, I piled my plate up with all the delicious looking food without much thought for the ensuing pictures I would be taking of it which is why they ones below don’t look too arty. The food was absolutely fantastic and I went back for seconds and even a third round as it is not everyday that I get to sample a taste of home. My girlfriends parents Riuko and Mikio have been overly kind to me and very welcoming so I decided to treat them and both were very impressed, way more than they thought they would be beforehand.

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It costs 1950 yen for what is called ‘The Carvery’ and you can have as much as you like as long as you are still drinking. The drinks may be slightly on the expensive side at around 1000 yen per pint (£7) but all-in-all just under 4000 yen for a couple of lunchtime pints and the only roast dinner in Tokyo isn’t too bad. It certainly whetted my appetite for sampling a few more of their other meals and I sure do intend to make my return soon.

* The Meguro Tavern is at 2F, Sunwood Meguro Bldg., 1-3-28, Shimomeguro, Meguro Ku, Tokyo

UPDATE: All-you-can-eat is no more! Since resuming on 4th October 2015, ‘The Carvery’ now costs 3000 yen and includes a drink. The meat is served up by the chef but you help yourself to the veggies so best to pile them up. If you do want more meat though then you have to pay another 1000 yen for a second round. 

Posted in Food & Drink | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tokyo Daytripper: Tora-san Meets Me In Shibamata!

Posted on February 10, 2013 by tokyofox

I’d never heard of this place until I saw it mentioned in one of my film travel books a couple of years back. Little did I know that it was just down the road from Kanamachi on the Tokyo/Chiba border where I worked on Saturdays when I first came to Japan many many years ago. After a trip down memory lane to our old neighbourhood, fellow blogger Gideon (of Gideon Davidson Photography fame) and I decided to finish the day in Shibamata which is less than 20 minutes walk from Kanamachi station. Of course it has its own station but I didn’t want to transfer to the Keisei-kanamachi line just to go one stop whilst paying another 130 yen to do so!

If you think the 007 series of films is impressive by number then thats nothing compared to the ‘Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo‘ (It’s tough being a man) series which consists of 48 films  made between 1969 and 1995. Shibamata is the home to the main protagonist Tora-san and his family and friends which it is why its included in my book. Now I’m no expert on these movies but Tora-san is seemingly an optimistic guy who is unlucky in love as he travels back and forth between his beloved hometown and some remote place where he plans to peddle his wares to the locals. He generally meets a woman there who then by miraculous chance goes to Shibamata and bumps into the clumsily charming Tora-san. Of course its never a straight-forward romance though and chaos and hilarity often ensue with the main man invariably ending up heartbroken and walking off to his next destination.

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There’s a statue of Tora-san outside the station and just round the corner and across a road is the main shopping street lined with traditional Japanese souvenir, sweet and snack shops which all seem to have some kind of Tora-san merchandise or displays. There aren’t too many places left in and around Tokyo where you can escape the hustle and bustle of modern city life but this place, along with Kawagoe, is one such place to sample the more traditional side of Edo period Japan.

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It’s quite a short street and at the end you can see the Taishakuten temple quarters which looked quite nice covered in snow (but would have been even better a few days before) but because of that and the fact that it was late afternoon it was absolutely freezing walking around the buddhist temple gardens boardwalk which has to be done without shoes. Slippers are so often provided in Japan for so many different inside places and boy could we have done with them here!

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Behind the temple is the Tora-san museum which sadly we didn’t have time for but hopefully, like Tora-san himself, I will return to Shibamata to pay the place a visit.

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Posted in Japan Filming Locations, Japan Travel, Movie Locations, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Italy Filming Locations: Angels & Demons (2009)

Posted on February 7, 2013 by tokyofox

It’s fair to say I’ve been to quite a few filming locations over the last five years and as rewarding as they have all been it aint half nice to recognise places you’ve been to when watching an unseen movie. I saw ‘Angels & Demons‘ (2009) recently and was happy to see the story centred around places I’ve already visited. To be fair though, they are pretty famous sights in southern Italy but they certainly helped me get through the film. I was perhaps a little harsh in my review of ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ back in 2006 which in desperate search of a pun I called “a code of cr*p“. Much like that film I was still able to enjoy the fast paced intensity and drama of the action scenes and chases in ‘Angels & Demons’ not that I had much idea what was actually going on! Thankfully there’s Wikipedia for that!

Following the sudden death of the Pope the Roman Catholic Church mourns his death and Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor) takes temporary helm at the Vatican. The marble staircase seen in the screenshot below was obviously not the real one but that of Caserta Palace, just north of Naples, which also played the same part in ‘Mission Impossible III‘ (2006). It is probably more famous as being Queen Amidala’s Theed Palace on Naboo in ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace‘ (1999).

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Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is summoned to save the day and deduces that the four men likely to be elected Pope will all be killed at locations relating to the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – but before all that the pathway leads to the Pantheon on the Pizza della Rotonda.

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This Roman Catholic church possesses the very impressive concrete dome which is the largest unreinforced one in the world.

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The ‘earth’ element takes Langdon to the Piazza del Popollo where he enters Santa Maria del Popollo and eventually finds the first cardinal with a mouthful of soil in the crypt of this church. Not quite the same place in my picture below but near enough as the place where I could erm, be found with a mouthful of pizza was just a stones throw away from that church!

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The ‘air’ element is at The Vatican City in St Peter’s Basilica. The screenshots below are from the latter part of the movie and not exactly clear as they were nighttime scenes.

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‘Fire’ is represented by the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria where the third cardinal is burned to death. Then its on to ‘water’ at the beautifully picturesque Piazza Navona for one of the most dramatic scenes where the cardinal is dumped into the Fountain of the Four Rivers.

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Having saved the cardinal with the help of some passers-by Langdon is informed by one of them that the illuminati’s lair is Castel Sant’Angelo on the Tiber’s west bank. The barge dance scene in ‘Roman Holiday‘ (1953) took place below the bridge in front of this castle.

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BONUS: Temple Church on Inner Temple Lane in London is where Langdon and Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou of ‘Amelie’ fame) search for the tomb of a knight in ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ (2006) movie which came first although the book by Dan Brown was published after ‘Angels & Demons‘.

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Music Videos Filmed In Japan #3 Kaiser Chiefs – ‘Man On Mars’ (2011)

Posted on February 4, 2013 by tokyofox

Although I was very much into the Kaiser Chiefs in the mid-late 2000’s my interest in them had sadly dwindled by the time their 4th album ‘The Future Is Medieval‘ came out. That is my only excuse for not having even heard of ‘Man On Mars‘ until one of my students replied to a comment on Facebook saying that this 2011 song was also set in Tokyo. It features their drummer on lead vocals which you would think is probably a bad idea but remember that it worked for Ringo Starr on a few songs! Initially I didn’t think too much of the tune but in the course of my research for this article I have listened to it a fair few times and indeed it has grown on me a lot. It’s actually a great catchy tune.

The video consists mostly of Kaiser Chiefs’ trip to Japan including footage of fans singing karaoke and some brief clips of their performance at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2011. This is all inter dispersed with footage following Atsushi Takata (below), a Japanese fan of the band, around Tokyo and then on his way to and from the festival via bus.

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It starts with them arriving at Narita Airport Terminal 2 (0:22) which of course I have been to many, many times but I have usually got more important stuff to be doing than looking for these screenshot match-ups! Oh, ok I did have a quick look back in December but couldn’t quite find the same exit doors.

 

So after Narita Airport there are a compilation of scenes filmed primarily in the Shibuya-ku district and now what follows are some of those which I was able to recognise. The passover outside JR Shibuya stations south exit pops up in the video after 0:50 minutes

 

The giant Be@r Bricks (0:51) were on show outside the popular department store chain Parco at 15 -1 Udagawacho in Shibuya. The colourful figures are not on show any longer but by chance my friends Donald and Bing were in town (from China) around the same time (well certainly in the same year!) the video was shot in Tokyo and we grabbed the photo seen below on one night out.

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Tokyu Hands at 12-18 Udagawa-cho in Shibuya-ku is seen on 1:01 minutes as the band members exit the department store which is famed for its hobby, home improvement and lifestyle products. The entrance seen is the one round the back of the store on the hill.

  

Harajuku station on the JR Yamanote Line opened over 100 years ago and appears on 1:06 minutes and its the exit at the southern end of the station rather than the Takeshita one which is on screen.

 

Next up is the ever-popular Yoyogi Park which is adjacent to Harajuku station and Meiji Shrine in Shibuya-ku. 1:13 is when we see the ball-juggling artist doing his thing

  

Super-fan Atsushi is seen singing this very song ‘Man On Mars‘ in a karaoke room on 1:55 minutes. The place is definitely Karaoke-kan and I am hazarding a guess that its actually the same one as Bill Murray’s character sang in in ‘Lost In Translation‘ (2003) as we see that its room 601 which was used in that film. Its address is 30-8 Utagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku.

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Posted in Japan Filming Locations, Music | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

TF Film Review: Life Of Pi (2012)

Posted on February 1, 2013 by tokyofox

When I first heard last year that this Yann Martel booker prize winning novel was being made into a film I was taken aback. Only one question came to mind “How on earth can this be done?!” Having read and really enjoyed the book about ten years ago my mind turned to how a story principally involving just a boy and a Bengal tiger on a boat could translate to the silver screen. Of course CGI was the answer for 86% of the film and credit has to go to novice Indian actor Suraj Sharma who must have spent most of the filming acting by himself in front of a blue screen.

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I’m still not a big fan of 3D but once we get through the fairly religious-based (not in a  preaching way though) beginning background segment it really gets going and you end up living the movie. This is not only down to Sharma but the 3D which is invaluable for all the thoroughly enjoyable boat scenes which were filmed in a giant wave tank built in an abandoned airport in Taiwan. It’s fair to say that “Richard Parker’s” introduction is one of the most dramatic in film history thanks in main to the 3D.

Following the events which lead to him being at sea on a boat with just a tiger for company its a tale of storytelling and survival akin to an episode of ‘Man Vs. Wild‘ which I never thought would work in film but it really doesn’t lag at all with the musical score adding great value to the production.

I may be a little slow to pick up on the meaning of things sometimes but I wasn’t too keen on the bit right at the end where the story and its symbolism is quite patronisingly spelled out as if the viewers hadn’t understood the two hours preceding it. The spiritual themes are quite simple and say more about what one wants to believe rather than any obvious connection to faith in god.

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Overall, I was very relieved to see that this Ang Lee directed adaptation played fairly faithful to the book and for me its the characters (both young and old Pi and even “Richard Parker” himself) and not the scenery and effects which make this film an absorbing 127 minutes.

Tokyo Fox Rating 8/10

Posted in Books, Films | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Review: Films Set In Japan – The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)

Posted on January 28, 2013 by tokyofox

This ridiculously silly low budget B-movie was actually brought to my attention (though strictly not “recommended”) by fellow blogger tokyo5 who mentioned it in a comment on my ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III‘ review a couple of years ago.

Having heard that this comedy, horror film holds a rare 0% rating on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes website (based on the percentage of approved critics giving it a positive review) I thought that I have got to see this so after forking out a few quid on the dvd I settled down to watch it in the early hours of a jet-lagged morning.

Now, of course I haven’t seen the 1984 original but that doesn’t really matter as what little storyline there is, is often explained in the narrative including the lady from the abominable Apocalypse Corporation explaining to her members the background on the Toxic Avenger and some lame connection to Tokyo which sees the Toxic Avenger come  here to find his father. The first film was a big hit in Japan and was I guess the reason they came here to make the sequel much like what happened in the equally awful ‘The Bad News Bears Go To Japan‘ (1978).

This tripe was served up by those kings of campy movies; Troma Entertainment, with the imaginatively titled Tromaville being the home town of the Toxic Avenger who, five years on from the original, is now around to protect its people from all manner of evil. Once he’s been lured to Tokyo by his shrink (working undercover for the enemy) his absence gives the Apocalypse corporation the chance to take over his beloved Tromaville where they have their sights set on first owning it and then destroying it and turning it into a toxic dump or something along those lines. Of course, its then up to the deformed superhero of superhuman size and strength to save the day.

Japan is first seen 34 minutes into the movie with locations including Tokyo Tower, the Yamanote platform, Asakusa Senso-ji, the area around Harajuku station, a pachinko parlour, Tokyo station, Tsukiji fish market and a tsukudani (small seafood, meat or seaweed simmered in soy sauce and mirin) boutique in Tsukishima.

There seems to be some debate to the edit of the film but my version was the directors cut which, at 102 minutes long, has an extra 6 minutes of gore! Lucky me! In fact the original edit was supposedly over 4 hours long so it was split into two movies so ‘The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie‘ followed 8 months later in the same year. I can kind of see why it’s supposedly a cult film among the younger generation  as the action is often fun in a “so-bad-its-good” way. It’s also got a fair amount of gratuitous nudity and foul behaviour as well as its own catchy theme song at the start to keep them attentive throughout.

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Tokyo Fox Rating 4/10

Posted in Films, Review: Films Set In Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Quantum Of Solace: James Bond Filming Locations In Panama

Posted on January 24, 2013 by tokyofox

‘Casino Royale‘ (2006) set the benchmark so high that it was always going to be a tough act for ‘Quantum of Solace‘ (2008) to follow. It may have received some quite negative and scathing reviews but I actually don’t mind it and part of the reason why was that it was visually very exciting for me to see Bond (Daniel Craig) in Latin America.

Due to its diversity Panama doubled up for a couple of countries; Bolivia and Haiti, with the latter first appearing on 17 minutes as Colon fills in for Port Au Prince. I was hoping to make it up to Colon at the Caribbean end of the Canal whilst in Panama but sadly time caught up with me and the warnings of big crime in this slum meant I didn’t want to risk it.  On 18 minutes 007 gets into a bit of a tussle in a hotel and a few minutes after that is the crumbling street which Bond rides along to the waterfront docks in another dangerous part of the city.

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Thankfully, there were a couple of far easier Panama City locations from this film to be seen just a short walk away from my hostel in the historic district of Casco Viejo. Unhappy with MI6 officer Strawberry Fields’ (Gemma Arterton) choice of hotel as part of their cover, Bond takes her by taxi to a far more upmarket hotel on 52 minutes. The Andean Grand Hotel (below) in ‘Bolivia’ isn’t really a hotel but is actually the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (National Institute of Culture) in the World Heritage area of Casco Viejo. It can be seen briefly again on 74 and 77 minutes.

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The main villain Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), holds a party 54 minutes into the film which Bond attends with Agent Fields shortly after he seduces her. The location of this is of course not La Paz in Bolivia but the Old Union Club in Casco Viejo where all the rich people used to go and party. The ruins were scouted out for the film in October 2007 and is (as it was back then) now like an old shell but believe it or not it was completely revamped for shooting which can be seen in the ‘On Location’ dvd extra. At this party, Bond again rescues the beautiful Camille (Olga Kurylenko) from Greene. As I explored this place it was quite hard to imagine how it was transformed for filming as it really is in  a bad state these days.

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It seems that the bar scene with Bond and one of his closest allies Felix Leiter on 77 minutes was also filmed in Colon. Leiter tells James to move his ass as the SWAT team descends on the building. This can be seen in one of the dvd extras titled ‘Bond On Location’.

See other James Bond filming locations by clicking on the places below:

Tokyo        London        Prague        Venice        Como        Istanbul        Las Vegas        Phuket        Vienna        Hong Kong        New York

Posted in Central American Travel, James Bond, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Central America 2012/13 Pt VIII: Panama City (Panama)

Posted on January 20, 2013 by tokyofox

I woke up in a sweat in my San Jose hostel room and it certainly wasn’t because it was hot! Far from it as it was cold at night but I awoke and realised I had booked the wrong bus and thankfully was able to change it to the one an hour earlier.

Business Class travel to Panama City from San Jose was nice but who really needs such comfort just for a flight that falls under an hours travel time! From one extreme to the other as I then took a local chicken bus from the road opposite the Airport to Casco Viejo. Nearly 40km of travel, all for an incredible $0.25!

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I checked into a hostel for $11 a night (dorm room) and went out for a wander around the old town which was awash with half-crumbling white coloured colonial buildings and cobbled streets across the water from the high rise buildings of the city which I know I hadn’t expected to see when when I saw a programme on the place a few months prior to my trip.

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Cafe Coca Cola may have a fairly cr*ppy name but in these parts it is an institution and was where I went to get yet another round of rice and beans for lunch before I wandered aimlessly around the old town where it can be hard to distinguish between ruins and just building sites! With no real sense of direction I decided to ascend Ancon Hill for something to do as much as for the panoramic views from the top. It took far longer than I expected as there was no obvious path up to the parking area from where people have to walk up the winding road to the top which does offer some great views of the new and old. These views can be seen in ‘The Tailor of Panama‘ (2001) on 50 minutes albeit nighttime shots.

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My last full day in Central America was spent getting to its famous waterway; the Panama Canal. Whilst I sure can appreciate that its one of the worlds great engineering feats and has a great history I didn’t really anticipate it being too much of a spectacle. Could it really be much better than Foxton Locks (a somewhat smaller waterway landmark close to my family home back in Britain)?!! Despite good intentions, I didn’t get to the locks till after the 9-11am peak time showing of the big liners passing through. I intended to be there for the heavier through-flow of traffic but it took me far longer than expected to finally get to Halbrook bus terminal and from there I just couldn’t work out how to get a bus to Miraflores Locks. When I eventually did, I met both a family and a German couple (Daniel and Oanna) from my hostel by chance.

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We paid the $5 entrance fee for the 4th floor observatory deck but didn’t hang around too long. Buses back to Albrook didn’t seem to be forthcoming so the german couple and I shared a taxi back to Casco Viejo where we got out at the fish market and Oanna was promptly sick due to the excessive heat which was in the mid 30’s. She recovered quickly and we had lunch which enabled me to get my fix of Ceviche. I had seen Anthony Bourdain sample such a thing on his ‘No Reservations‘ TV show and wanted to try a couple of cups (below) of this cheap fresh raw fish marinated in lemon juice which is spiced and seasoned with chopped onion, celery, habanero pepper, and sea salt.

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Afterwards we walked back to the old town where we parted ways leaving me to have one final look around the place and do some souvenir shopping before my early departure back to Tokyo (via Miami and New York) the following morning.

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Central America 2012/13 Pt VII: San Jose (Costa Rica)

Posted on January 17, 2013 by tokyofox

I had absolutely no problem with Costa Rica or even San Jose (which has a bit of a bad reputation) but my time in this capital city was a bit of a nightmare. On the Nicarguan/Costa Rican border I wanted to get money out of a bank as I only had about $20 left but I couldn’t get cash out of the ATM because my bank had blocked my cards and I needed my passport (which the bus staff had to do the visa stuff) to get money out over the counter.

Once in San Jose I shared a taxi with a very nice American guy called Kenneth who I had been hanging around with after meeting him in the Granada bus terminal. I got out at Hostel Pangea and had to pay cash for my dorm room which, at $16, was the most expensive in Central America. I tried again to get cash out of a nearby ATM as I was aware that the following day was a Sunday meaning that the banks would be closed. I just had to go to bed and hope that something would sort itself out in the morning.

On top of all this I was aware that I couldn’t get a bus from San Jose to Panama City on the Sunday night as I wanted. With it being the New Year the buses were all booked up for the next week and a bit. Of course I could have done the journey using local buses but as I wanted to actually have a day or two in Panama City I had no option but to book a flight for the Monday morning which I thankfully managed to do (at great cost) using the same Mastercard which had been rejected by the ATM’s.

Of course I also had to pay for an extra nights accommodation but with only a few dollars left in cash I couldn’t afford it and the money grabbing hostel (albeit one with a great Star Wars mural on one of the walls – below) would only let me use my card for a private room. I went to Western Union in a nearby supermarket but got nowhere there and was then worried. The situation was really ridiculous as I had two credit cards and 90,000 yen cash on me but couldn’t do a thing with it! Luckily, a guy overheard my English in the supermarket and told me that the only place with banks open on Sundays was at a shopping mall outside of the city centre. He very kindly drove me there saying that as long as I had half a dollar or so I could get back by local bus. It was 10.30am when I arrived at the mall but the banks didn’t open until 11am. The first one rejected me but thankfully the second one gave me $250 cash whilst doing something with my Mastercard and passport.

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The nightmare was over and from then on I could actually get some food, pay my rent, book the morning airport bus and get out to see a capital city with a bit of a bad reputation. I walked for hours round San Jose in the afternoon and though pleasant enough and not as bad as most people said it wasn’t too much to write home about. I was just happy to have some money in my pocket and thereby a heightened chance of being mugged!!

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