What Swanky Things are you Watching?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yay, good to hear Howl's lives up to Ghibli's standard. I'm itching to see it.

We've been on a T.V. series DVD kick. For some reason I just haven't been in the mood to sit through full movies at home. We saw the first season of Red Dwarf, one of my all time favorite shows. It's a British sci-fi sitcom and is astoundingly brilliant at times (the time echos episode is a masterpiece). Among other things, cat lovers should see this show.

We've got yet another disc from The Prisoner. "Your nonsense bores me." That show has no end of quoteable weirdness.

And speaking of links between anime and Disney, the first disc of Nadia, the Secret of Blue Water is waiting at home. This is the anime series that is very very very very loosely based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (in that they are in a submarine captained by a guy named Nemo...that's about where the similarity ends), upon which Disney's Atlantis is very very very very very very very loosely based (the main character chicks look a lot alike, they both have a glowy necklace, and Atlantis is involved). So there's this lovely tenuous link that brings it full circle from 20,000 Leagues back to Disney.

On the full length movie front, currently collecting dust from Netflix is Hidden Fortress, the Kurosawa film that served as a large influence for Star Wars. Gotta get motivated for this 2 hour+ masterpiece. And we watch Bourne Supremecy. It was okay, but not nearly as good as the original.

[mousepod]

We also saw Howl's Moving Castle this weekend. Fabulous. It's a real treat to see a Ghibli flick on the big screen. The movie was preceded by several Disney trailers including "Chicken Little" and "Valiant" - I cross my fingers and hope for the best...

We were planning to go see the new Batman on Saturday (did you know that Christian Bale is Batman and Howl?), but instead spent most of the weekend installing a new toilet. Delightful.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I post this as a genuine warning. Do not waste your time like we did last night and rent a film called "Taboo". Oh. my. God!

I really wish we would have checked out the reviews before we had watched this. They are pretty unanimous in proclaiming this movie awful. Imagine the most wooden acting you have ever seen coupled with a plot that was humurous, it was so bad. Five minutes in and we realized we had made a horrible mistake. 20 minutes in and we were laughing at how ridiculously bad it was. We stuck it out as it is only an hour and 20 minutes long, thinking that somehow there might be a twist that would turn it around. At the end, we sat, blankly staring at the credits, wishing that we had the time back that we invested in this "film". I truly wouldn't be surprised if this film ended the career of some of its stars. It was that bad.

I really wish I could reformat the section of my brain that was subjected to this load of crap.

[Not Afraid]

We continued our Ghibli obsession by watching Laputa: The Castle in the Sky last night. I am no student of anime, but I can't help comparing and contrasting Ghibli, Parker & Stone, Groening, Disney (contemporary and old school) and Pixar. It's very interesting how American animation has evolved as opposed to Japanese animation, specificially Ghibli.

It's also interesting to me that I ADORE Japanese pop culture but can't find much of interest with the American version.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Wouldn't Disney be considered American pop culture, NA? And you have much Disney interest.

I saw Kinsey, Batman Begins, and Howl's Moving Castle.

Kinsey was a lovely biopic, unflinching in its look at both Kinsey and his subject of interest. Lovely performances and characterizations, plus I could listen to Peter Sarsgaard speak for hours.

Batman Begins IS the best Batman ever made. Period. Perhaps even the best superhero movie made, in terms of performance and screenplay. Really fantastic. Gotham was amazing. Wilkinson's and Oldman's American accents were phenoms, and Murphy's was also totally believable. He was a wonderful Scarecrow, as well. Oldman's tender hearted subtle Gordon was a delight to watch. And Liam Neeson was AWESOME. I was super, super impressed with him, even more than usual. Nice contrast to Kinsey, since I'd only seen that they day before. It was dark and serious, but I laughed out loud numerous times.

Howl's Moving Castle was lovely. The castle was hugely innovative and a delightful take on DWJ's invention, from what I've read. The characters were all really well conceived and necessary. Lovely to watch. I wasn't as impressed as I was with Spirited Away, but I think that might be one of the most impressive films ever made, so it's steep competition.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

Wouldn't Disney be considered American pop culture, NA? And you have much Disney interest.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. There are certain things about American pop culture that I truely love, but I am endlessly choosy. I haven't gotten to the point where I am terribly choosy about Japanese Pop as of yet. I'm sure I'll weed out what doesn't appeal to me as time goes on.

[€uroMeinke]

I found myself secretly routing for the Japanese players at the ball game tonight. I'm a foreign culture whore.

[Not Afraid]

Yeah, and you called them "The Socks". Creep.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Yeah, and you called them "The Socks". Creep.

Actually "Sox"

[€uroMeinke]

I also discovered that Frank Thomas is still alive - and black.