E.T. (© Amblin Entertainment)

The latest cinema to face the wrecking ball is Shinjuku Tokyu Milano (1-29-1 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku; , which opened in 1956 and will run its projectors for the last time on New Year’s Eve, bowing out with 35mm screenings of the biggest hits from its long history starting December 20. The lineup includes E.T., which ran for half a year back in 1982, The Towering Inferno and The Matrix. In better news, Shinjuku will be home to an Imax-equipped Toho Cinemas set to open in April.

The Swedish biopic Waltz for Monica explores the life of Monica Zetterlund, a telephone operator and single mother who sojourned to the jazz clubs of ’60s New York to hone her singing chops, then returned home to prove jazz could be sung in her native tongue. On from November 29 at Shinjuku Musashinokan (3-27-10 Shinjuku; http://shinjuku.musashino-k.jp/)

The Israeli thriller Big Bad Wolves, which won international accolades from Quentin Tarantino and others, is currently screening at Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (2-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku; www.ht-cinema.com)

Love Japanese films, but your nihongo isn’t up to scratch? The new website Tokyo Filmgoer ) is publishing info on screenings with English subtitles.