A Wind Named Amnesia

This morning I finally took the opportunity to watch A Wind Named Amnesia. I’m sure Netflix will be very happy to finally have their DVD back after 5 months.

Ghost in the Shell

From the fast cars of Lupin to the naked women of GitS.  That was the course of our travel anime.  Kind of sounds a bit rock and roll.

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

Here’s the thing: I just haven’t been all that impressed by the Miyazaki films I’ve seen.  Kiki’s Delivery Service I may well have ‘liked’ since it was something i watched because it was anime once I learned about anime (one of the first I saw that I knew about.)  Next came Princess Mononoke which I just plain did not enjoy.  Laputa still hasn’t been finished since my first attempt eight years ago (although in its defense, I turned it off due to loud neighbors and not the film itself.)  Next came Spirited Away, which started out with promise and then just going and going and going…The biggest disappointment, however, was Nausicaa.  I thought I’d finally found ‘my’ Miyazaki film, because I truly enjoyed the manga.  Alas, that too was not meant to be.

So, on a flight to Los Angeles (for Anime Expo, actually), I decided to see if Miyazaki film #6 would be lucky and popped in The Castle of Cagliostro.

I found ‘my’ Miyazaki film.

Pixar Double Play

This weekend I finally got around to watching two of Pixar’s most recent projects, WALL-E and Ratatouille.  Loved one, the other…not so much.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Today I had the opportunity to watch this lovely anime film.  I wasn’t sure what I would be getting into when starting it.  Would it be deep or shallow?  Light or heavy?  Fun or dramatic?  Enjoyable or boring?  With the exception of “boring,” the film ended up being a combination of things.  It was light and fluffy in part, but it certainly found its depth in other parts.  While most of the film was easy to watch unfold, like being wrapped in a fluffy blanket, some parts were heavy and moving, evoking feelings of near heartbreak.  One thing it was not, as much as the viewer might think to the contrary, was predictable.

The basic story is simple enough: a high school girl finds herself able to leap back in time, and uses this power to make changes to the really bad day she had.  Of course, like most time-travelling films, she becomes aware that her tweaks to the past are having negative consequences on the future–very serious ones in some cases.  The rest of the basic story is a tale of a girl and her two best friends.  Two guys and a girl, but in a relationship that is very far from being a love triangle.  They just love being around one another playing baseball, and all three worry about what will happen if one of the others gets a significant other.  Baseball with just two people is simply playing catch, after all.

What’s nice about this film is that it isn’t solely the predicted morality tale of messing with the past.  Instead, a fairly suprising twist is tossed in during the last quarter of the film that takes it a level up.  If it weren’t for that, I’d call it a good film.  For going beyond the stereotype, however, it’s much more apt to describe it as very good.  It’s not, however, a masterpiece.  But not everything needs to be.

Between the enjoyable and compelling story, simple but sweet art, lovely score, and wonderful voice acting by the seiyuu (with the exception of Makoto’s wailings–those just didn’t work), I can truly say this was an incredibly enjoyable film, one that would be good to watch again every so often, just because of the wonderful feeling it gives you.

The Taste of Tea

Alas, there is alway going to come a time when someone watches a film that they are sure they are going to love, and instead find themselves staring at the screen begging for said film to end.  For me, The Taste of Tea is such a film.

Ping Pong

I’m not sure if that’s ever happened before.  I actually found myself clapping at the end of Ping Pong.  I’m glad no one was around, that was a little silly looking, I’m sure…

Bounce Ko Gals

Last night I popped in my latest Japanese film to arrive from Netflix, Bounce Ko Gals, a 1997 film focused on the compensatory dating between teen girls and salarymen.

Camp

You know what, I’m  not even going to try to hash out a decent review.  This movie simply wasn’t worth it.  Was it the weak script?  The atrocious acting? (Seriously, how does a movie about an entertainment camp end up with bad acting?!)  The overdone musical number?  The trite, stereotyped mini-plots?  Or was it that when you put them all together you get a mess?  I think I’ll go with that last choice.  I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone, unless I just really, really disliked her/him.

Fat Girl

May I start off this discussion with a moment of discontent with whomever chose to use Fat Girl as the title of a film called À Ma Soeur in the original French? Unless it was the choice of the director, someone needs a swift kick for that particular change.