My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
That sounds like my kind of film.
My daughter watched most of those films, can't recommend enough, especially Spitited away, Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving house and Ponyo. They really tell a story and the animation is very imaginative but also focuses on human emotion. Brilliant
Those all directed by Hayao Miyazaki, of course, or as my daughter calls him, 'The Master'. And all hand-painted. In fact, he's only made one computer animated short, and that can only be seen at the Studio Ghibli museum. The rest are all painted onto cells by hand. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature. Also, recommended if you haven't seen it is Grave of the Fireflies, which is devastating, one of the most moving films of any type I've seen, animated or not. It was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who also made Pom Poko and the The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Elton John's take on his own life/career works as a celebration of his music. The main man is played by Eddie the Eagle Taron Egerton who makes a good fist of the singing, although he looks a little er slimline in the later scenes. Unlike the Queen movie, this film takes the Mamma Mia approach with some stand out musical/dance numbers, although it's a bit strange having characters singing lyrics emoting on Elton's earlier experiences as a child when the lyrics belong to Bernie Taupin. There is a strong hint of self pity running through the story - all that booze and drugs and sex - because he never got hugged as a child. But those songs, and the way they came about through brilliant collaboration, stand the test of time.
Enjoyed watching it - Taron Egerton was excellent.
Glad to hear... Egerton is one of my favourite actors at the moment - Although havent wanted to see the version of Robin Hood he's in
Saw John Wick 3 the other week. V similar to the previous two in total, but I do feel its shtick is gettin a tad old, even for someone like me who loves action films with a martial art theme like this it was feeling a little tired by the end.
The action was great but Halle Berry's part and storyline was definitely unnecessary and added nothing apart from takin up screentime.
Honestly kinda wanted this to be the last one but they've geared it up for a 4th which will definitely be overkill! Enjoyable but wouldn pay to see it in retrospect.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
That sounds like my kind of film.
My daughter watched most of those films, can't recommend enough, especially Spitited away, Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving house and Ponyo. They really tell a story and the animation is very imaginative but also focuses on human emotion. Brilliant
Those all directed by Hayao Miyazaki, of course, or as my daughter calls him, 'The Master'. And all hand-painted. In fact, he's only made one computer animated short, and that can only be seen at the Studio Ghibli museum. The rest are all painted onto cells by hand. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature. Also, recommended if you haven't seen it is Grave of the Fireflies, which is devastating, one of the most moving films of any type I've seen, animated or not. It was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who also made Pom Poko and the The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Grave of The Fireflies has been recommended on here before. One of my top two or three films.
I’ve got some Akira and Simpsons hand-painted production cels, and the drawings they’re made from, but I’d love some from Ghibli.
Just watched the new Deadwood movie on Sky . Absolutely loved it but I wouldn’t recommend it if you didn’t see the series.
Totally loved the series. Had to stop watching the new film after twenty minutes because I couldn't understand the dialogue and there was no subtitle option.
If you loved the series why didn’t you understand the dialogue? It’s exactly the same as it was in the TV show .
There were subtitles on the series box set.
Ok . I never had any problems with the old style English dialogue but I can see how it might be a problem to some people .
I increasingly find it difficult to hear dialogue in modern movies. That's partly why I go less and less frequently to the cinema because I can't put on subtitles - love foreign movies! I have no trouble hearing dialogue in movies from before the 70s so it's the articulation of the actors not my hearing. I know I'm not alone in this.
I'm the same. I have to watch pretty much every programme with subtitles. I'm ok with some UK ones but anything else, I miss half of what's being said.
The problem with some of the shows we download from Sky/catch up rather than record live is that they don't always have subtitles.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
That sounds like my kind of film.
My daughter watched most of those films, can't recommend enough, especially Spitited away, Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving house and Ponyo. They really tell a story and the animation is very imaginative but also focuses on human emotion. Brilliant
Those all directed by Hayao Miyazaki, of course, or as my daughter calls him, 'The Master'. And all hand-painted. In fact, he's only made one computer animated short, and that can only be seen at the Studio Ghibli museum. The rest are all painted onto cells by hand. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature. Also, recommended if you haven't seen it is Grave of the Fireflies, which is devastating, one of the most moving films of any type I've seen, animated or not. It was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who also made Pom Poko and the The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Grave of The Fireflies has been recommended on here before. One of my top two or three films.
I’ve got some Akira and Simpsons hand-painted production cels, and the drawings they’re made from, but I’d love some from Ghibli.
I've bought my daughter some Pom Poko figures from the Studio Ghibli store (because she thought the film was hilarious), via ZenMarket.JP because Ghibli don't ship merchandise outside of Japan. I watched a Ghibli documentary the other day and a fanatic Ghibli collector had some old Toei cells, but I don't remember him having an Ghibli cells. Where did you get the Akira cells from?
I think they do reproduction animation cels at the Ghibli museum shop in Japan. Originals would cost hundreds of thousands of Yen, if they are ever available.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
That sounds like my kind of film.
My daughter watched most of those films, can't recommend enough, especially Spitited away, Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving house and Ponyo. They really tell a story and the animation is very imaginative but also focuses on human emotion. Brilliant
Those all directed by Hayao Miyazaki, of course, or as my daughter calls him, 'The Master'. And all hand-painted. In fact, he's only made one computer animated short, and that can only be seen at the Studio Ghibli museum. The rest are all painted onto cells by hand. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature. Also, recommended if you haven't seen it is Grave of the Fireflies, which is devastating, one of the most moving films of any type I've seen, animated or not. It was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who also made Pom Poko and the The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Grave of The Fireflies has been recommended on here before. One of my top two or three films.
I’ve got some Akira and Simpsons hand-painted production cels, and the drawings they’re made from, but I’d love some from Ghibli.
I've bought my daughter some Pom Poko figures from the Studio Ghibli store (because she thought the film was hilarious), via ZenMarket.JP because Ghibli don't ship merchandise outside of Japan. I watched a Ghibli documentary the other day and a fanatic Ghibli collector had some old Toei cells, but I don't remember him having an Ghibli cells. Where did you get the Akira cells from?
At the NEC Collectormania about 20 years ago. Walked past this table and he had about 30 cels and OPDs at ridiculously cheap prices so I bought the lot.
Three new Black Mirror episodes on Netflix. Just watched Smithereens starring Andrew Scott, who is brilliant as a taxi driver who takes hostage a social media company employee. An emotional watch.
Saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped but certainly wasn't as bad as some of the reviews have made out. The monster fights were impressive even though they could have had more monster action and less cutting away to the annoying humans running around. There's lots of nods to past Godzilla films which fans will enjoy. It was good to hear the original themes for the different monsters. The use of the oxygen destroyer was poor though. That was a major moral issue at the heart of the original 1954 Godzilla - can humans be trusted with the most terrible weapon ever invented, but this film just chucked it in like a hand grenade then ignored it.
I'm not sure the Monsterverse has much of a future after this though. Critics have given it a pasting and the box office is way down on projections. It will have to go big in China to make up for it. The showing I saw had about 25-30 seats taken but there were only actually four people in the cinema to watch the film. I'm wondering if there wasn't the same sort of shenanigans as there was for Captain Marvel with tickets (allegedly) being purchased by the film company out of the marketing budget to pad the numbers for the opening weekend.
Decent horror/ thriller/ comedy. Harks back to the stalker thrillers of the 90s while referencing the slashers of the 80s. Pretty funny at times, and subverts the genres a little a bit like Scream did, in a less-obvious way. Fun, but not particularly special. 3/5
JOHN WICK 3
As expected, impressive action, well shot. Hugely repetitive, as previously said above it’s more of the same but that’s what we sign up for with a film like this. Would have preferred for them to end it here. Wasn’t a huge fan of the casting and the end... well it just seemed to me most of the characters ended up in the same place they started. But otherwise, I wouldn’t really complain. Just a bit Wick-ed out. 3/5
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX
On the list of X-Men movies, this is smack bang in the middle. Nowhere near as smart as the first two or DofP, nowhere near as bad as Apocalypse or Last Stand.
The villains are almost entirely ignored in a way I’ve never seen before. In fact it’s just a reproduction of X beats and it’s gotten rather boring. But it’s almost certainly the last one with this cast before Disney reboot. My guess is Disney are waiting for this movie to pass (and maybe the horror one) before they reveal much more about the next phase of Marvel movies. 3rd best of 7.
BRIGHTBURN
What if Clark Kent grew up as a bad kid in Smallville?
Pretty simple premise that captures the imagination. It’s had a lot of mixed reviews so what I’d say is, you’re best off going in not knowing or expecting too much. It’s understated, not a lot really happens, but it’s suitably creepy and I really like the style of it. 4/5
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
I’ve got all the Ghibli films, well worth watching.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
That sounds like my kind of film.
My daughter watched most of those films, can't recommend enough, especially Spitited away, Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving house and Ponyo. They really tell a story and the animation is very imaginative but also focuses on human emotion. Brilliant
Those all directed by Hayao Miyazaki, of course, or as my daughter calls him, 'The Master'. And all hand-painted. In fact, he's only made one computer animated short, and that can only be seen at the Studio Ghibli museum. The rest are all painted onto cells by hand. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature. Also, recommended if you haven't seen it is Grave of the Fireflies, which is devastating, one of the most moving films of any type I've seen, animated or not. It was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who also made Pom Poko and the The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
I’ve got all the Ghibli films, well worth watching.
And no one's mentioned My Neighbour Totoro yet, who's the mascot of Studio Ghibli itself. Stonemuse what are your favourites? Miyazaki and Takahata loom so large over their output. I know Miyazaki's son, Goro, has made two films, although I saw a documentary about Miyazaki and you see him pointedly walking out half-way through the premier of Goro's first film, Tales From Earthsea. I believe both are working on two new Ghibli films, despite the father, Hayao, retiring and making more comebacks than Frank Sinatra. Hayao's film is How Do You Live? Ready for next year, apparently. I don't know about Goro's.
Three new Black Mirror episodes on Netflix. Just watched Smithereens starring Andrew Scott, who is brilliant as a taxi driver who takes hostage a social media company employee. An emotional watch.
Watch episode 1 and 2 last night. Both were good but not as thrilling as previous seasons. Do feel the show has somewhat lost its bite. V sadly.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
That sounds like my kind of film.
My daughter watched most of those films, can't recommend enough, especially Spitited away, Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving house and Ponyo. They really tell a story and the animation is very imaginative but also focuses on human emotion. Brilliant
Those all directed by Hayao Miyazaki, of course, or as my daughter calls him, 'The Master'. And all hand-painted. In fact, he's only made one computer animated short, and that can only be seen at the Studio Ghibli museum. The rest are all painted onto cells by hand. Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature. Also, recommended if you haven't seen it is Grave of the Fireflies, which is devastating, one of the most moving films of any type I've seen, animated or not. It was directed by the late Isao Takahata, who also made Pom Poko and the The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Grave of The Fireflies has been recommended on here before. One of my top two or three films.
I’ve got some Akira and Simpsons hand-painted production cels, and the drawings they’re made from, but I’d love some from Ghibli.
If you visit the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, the entry ticket is a set of three cells from one of the movies.
My 11-year-old daughter is a big fan of Studio Ghibli (a legendary anime studio) so we've been working our way through those films, always in Japanese with subs. We even went to see Princess Mononoke at the Prince Charles Cinema a few weeks ago, despite having it on Blu-Ray, but we wanted to see it on the big screen. Had to cue up to get in; the cinema was absolutely rammed, at 12.30 in the afternoon. We watched Pom Poko last week. Simply put, shape-shifting racoons kill people who are working on a land development that puts their habitat in jeopardy, then march off triumphantly singing songs about how big their testicles are.
I’ve got all the Ghibli films, well worth watching.
And no one's mentioned My Neighbour Totoro yet, who's the mascot of Studio Ghibli itself. Stonemuse what are your favourites? Miyazaki and Takahata loom so large over their output. I know Miyazaki's son, Goro, has made two films, although I saw a documentary about Miyazaki and you see him pointedly walking out half-way through the premier of Goro's first film, Tales From Earthsea. I believe both are working on two new Ghibli films, despite the father, Hayao, retiring and making more comebacks than Frank Sinatra. Hayao's film is How Do You Live? Ready for next year, apparently. I don't know about Goro's.
That’s really tough, they are all excellent in their own way. Off the top of my head, and may change my mind tomorrow:
Howl’s Moving Castle My Neighbor Totoro Spirited Away Grave of the Fireflies
Saw Booksmart with little miss idle and a young friend on Friday. The phrase 'American high school comedy' would normally make me run a mile, but actually this one made me laugh out loud probably a dozen times. Theyd put some effort into the jokes, which were often not obvious, and the fast back and forth was really well done. If you watch the trailer, it's representative of the film and doesn't contain all the best moments. Above average film of its kind, with likable leads, I'd probably watch it again if it ever gets on the telly. Solid 7 from an old git, higher if I was a late teen.
Saw Booksmart with little miss idle and a young friend on Friday. The phrase 'American high school comedy' would normally make me run a mile, but actually this one made me laugh out loud probably a dozen times. Theyd put some effort into the jokes, which were often not obvious, and the fast back and forth was really well done. If you watch the trailer, it's representative of the film and doesn't contain all the best moments. Above average film of its kind, with likable leads, I'd probably watch it again if it ever gets on the telly. Solid 7 from an old git, higher if I was a late teen.
Thought it was dreadful and very unfunny. Very overrated in the reviews.
Comments
The action was great but Halle Berry's part and storyline was definitely unnecessary and added nothing apart from takin up screentime.
Honestly kinda wanted this to be the last one but they've geared it up for a 4th which will definitely be overkill! Enjoyable but wouldn pay to see it in retrospect.
I’ve got some Akira and Simpsons hand-painted production cels, and the drawings they’re made from, but I’d love some from Ghibli.
I'm the same. I have to watch pretty much every programme with subtitles. I'm ok with some UK ones but anything else, I miss half of what's being said.
The problem with some of the shows we download from Sky/catch up rather than record live is that they don't always have subtitles.
I'm not sure the Monsterverse has much of a future after this though. Critics have given it a pasting and the box office is way down on projections. It will have to go big in China to make up for it. The showing I saw had about 25-30 seats taken but there were only actually four people in the cinema to watch the film. I'm wondering if there wasn't the same sort of shenanigans as there was for Captain Marvel with tickets (allegedly) being purchased by the film company out of the marketing budget to pad the numbers for the opening weekend.
Decent horror/ thriller/ comedy. Harks back to the stalker thrillers of the 90s while referencing the slashers of the 80s. Pretty funny at times, and subverts the genres a little a bit like Scream did, in a less-obvious way. Fun, but not particularly special. 3/5
JOHN WICK 3
As expected, impressive action, well shot. Hugely repetitive, as previously said above it’s more of the same but that’s what we sign up for with a film like this. Would have preferred for them to end it here. Wasn’t a huge fan of the casting and the end... well it just seemed to me most of the characters ended up in the same place they started. But otherwise, I wouldn’t really complain. Just a bit Wick-ed out. 3/5
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX
On the list of X-Men movies, this is smack bang in the middle. Nowhere near as smart as the first two or DofP, nowhere near as bad as Apocalypse or Last Stand.
The villains are almost entirely ignored in a way I’ve never seen before. In fact it’s just a reproduction of X beats and it’s gotten rather boring. But it’s almost certainly the last one with this cast before Disney reboot. My guess is Disney are waiting for this movie to pass (and maybe the horror one) before they reveal much more about the next phase of Marvel movies. 3rd best of 7.
BRIGHTBURN
What if Clark Kent grew up as a bad kid in Smallville?
Pretty simple premise that captures the imagination. It’s had a lot of mixed reviews
so what I’d say is, you’re best off going in not knowing or expecting too much. It’s understated, not a lot really happens, but it’s suitably creepy and I really like the style of it. 4/5
Howl’s Moving Castle
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away
Grave of the Fireflies
Above average film of its kind, with likable leads, I'd probably watch it again if it ever gets on the telly.
Solid 7 from an old git, higher if I was a late teen.