If you ask ten American movie buffs, there will be no one who doesn’t know Ken Watanabe. No matter what movie he appears in, no matter how short his scene …
REVIEWS | What's Up Hollywood
A “Lukewarm” Depiction of the Devastation of the Atomic Bomb
By: Izumi Hasegawa August 9, 2023
I had very mixed feeling when I first heard that there was a movie being made about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”. However, once I heard …
Tetris, a game with deep ties to Japan
By: Izumi Hasegawa May 23, 2023
Tetris, a game that many, including the writer, have been addicted to. The originator of the “falling block puzzle”, this format has been used by many games, and has had …
Hiroyuki Sanada’s swordsmanship is a work of art.
By: Izumi Hasegawa April 22, 2023
“John Wick” is a movie franchise where, with each new installment of the series, shooting scenes are added, and the violence grows. In the fourth installment, Hiroyuki Sanada and Donnie …
The Choice to Fight Against Fear, Or To Understand It And Find A Way To Coexist Is Up To You
By: Izumi Hasegawa November 10, 2022
Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, whose short animation The Dam Keeper (2014) was nominated for an Academy Award and attracted attention as a promising animator, whose latest work is the Netflix mini-series …
The Infinite Worlds of “What If…” – “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
By: Izumi Hasegawa July 20, 2022
Sci-Fi action-comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, which uses the idea of multiverse (multiple parallel worlds), a current trend in the film industry, was a hit. It had a long …
Almost 60 years old, yet Tom Cruise is still hot and fit himself. – “Top Gun: Maverick”
By: Izumi Hasegawa May 30, 2022
The 1986 movie “Top Gun” hit both box office and billboard charts for the theme song, and became a social phenomenon. Also, literally, Tom Cruise made his international A-list star …
Making sense of the casting for “The Batman” movie.
By: Izumi Hasegawa April 30, 2022
When I heard Robert Pattinson was cast as the title role of the new “Batman” film, I was sure I was not the only person who thought “This is a …