Charles in Japan

AFI's Top movies of 2007

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
 Into the Wild
Juno
Knocked Up
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
The Savages
There Will Be Blood

I've seen none of them and haven't even heard of half.  It's been a busy year for me.

For randomness here is a list from a Japanese blogger of his top 10.  I'll translate some of them.

1.おかあさん (Mother)
2.間宮兄弟
3.時をかける少女 (The girl who jumps through time.  I think)
4.うつせみ
5.私の頭の中の消しゴム (The eraser in my mind)
6.ユア・マイ・サンシャイン (You are my sunshine.  It's actually in English)
7.デイジー (Daisy)
8.墨攻
9.私にも妻がいたらいいのに (I wish I had a wife.  ???  Why does the cover have a woman on it?) 
10.がんばれ!グムスン

I've seen number 3 on this list, but didn't understand all of it.  I got a copy from George before I left Dallas.

Rotten Tomatoes has always seemed a good place for reviews and out of their top 100 movies for 2007 I've seen... two.  Whoops, make that three,  Live Free and Die Hard at 97.  I saw most of it on the plane to Japan.  Does that count?

Hairspray

I went to go see Hairspray this weekend at Ikspiari, which is a fairly large shopping area next to the Tokyo Disneyland.  Disneyland is actually really close.  It only takes about 40 minutes by train for me to get the station.  I guess I'm just used to the US where most interesting things involve getting on a plane.  The shopping area obviously had that Disney touch.  Lots of shops, even more restaurants and way too many places selling sweets. 

We went there for the movie theater, with a massive 16 screens.  I haven't even heard of anything so large here.  Hairspray was on a fairly small screen, but for a two month old movie it was pretty packed.  Tickets were 1800 yen or $16.  How I long for the days of the dollar theater again.  The Japanese seem obsessed with sweet things and you could get carmel popcorn, or half and half.  Hairspray itself was fantastic.  Partially because I didn't know what to expect and had some low expectations.  I'd never heard of it before, but this movie is based on a musical version on the original movie (not a musical) by John Waters.  That explains why the songs were good.  ;)  No idea what the original movie and musical are like, but I'd recommend this one. 

I stopped by Ikea afterwards and picked up a mattress pad and light blanket that covers my feet and an ironing board.  Yeah, I don't have an iron yet, but for $3.50 who can refuse?  Maybe there are cheaper places then Ikea around, but you know you aren't getting a bad deal there.  Unfortunately the sofa bed I saw online turned out to be a big pain to convert back and forth so I think I'm going to get one of the roller types.