Teaser: Karigurashi no Arrietty

When I heard last year that Hayao Miyazaki's* next project would be an adaptation of Mary Norton's (a children's book writer) The Borrowers, I wasn't sure I'll be thrilled. I remember feeling not too pleased with their adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle, but hopefully with no last minute director swapping, the plot will not suffer this time. Besides, I am unfamiliar with Norton's work and I currently have no strong feelings attached to it being adapted.

But more importantly, after Ponyo, it looks as though Ghibli is going back to that absolutely lush animation style which I first fell in love with as a kid watching My Neighbour Totoro. The teaser trailer is also one which I'm insanely obsessed with already - those few shots of the house and the tempting way which the borrower (i.e. the little pixie like person) is blocked off from the screen by the big leaf is a major draw for me already, not to mention that it has a suitably haunting theme song to go with it. It's well teased, this teaser. But I add that I'm usually a sucker for Ghibli productions anyway, so it won't take much to make me this excited. Unless it's Ponyo again of course.

So yeah. Enjoy.
*Ah. My mistake. Karigurashi no Arrietty is directed by newcomer Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Screenplay is by Hayao Miyazaki though.

Which Dreamed It?

Hello there Alice. After a year or so of eager anticipation Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland arrived with the expected fanfare and everyone has been of course talking about it. Critics have complained about it being an okay film if not mind-blowing. I myself am honestly a little tired of Depp playing so many weird characters. That man needs to do something else that doesn't involve period dressing or eccentric dressing, period. But then I'm a Depp fan and I don't want to have to eat my words and complain about the dearth of Depp-in-kooky-films later either.

When my sister asked me which my favourite character was, I sighed and said the Mad Hatter won by default (see paragraph above) but on more consideration, I definitely liked the Cheshire Cat, which incidentally shared my liking for the Hatter's hat and Ann Hathaway's White Queen. That woman is amazingly funny and I only wished there had been more scenes involving her.

Having gotten the fangirl rant bit out of the way, I want to go on to defend this film (in all its scripterly mediocrity). First of all, it's the first really successful Alice screen adaptation. Of course, that could just have been the audience moving on since the first botched attempt by Disney and other lesser entities and you'll have to admit that there has been a significant increase in dragons, trolls, elves, knights, wizards (and certain vampires) etc lately. Still, this doesn't detract from the film getting a number of things right and that's what counts. You can make a perfect flash in the pan like Twilight and then you can make something like Alice.

The plot suffers of course and I find the good-triumphs-evil dichotomy problematic, especially since both Queens are treated sympathetically and one ends up feeling sorry for the Red Queen (not that she wants your pity - Off with your head!). On the other hand, it does capture the spirit of the original books pretty well. The film keeps a sense of wonder going strong, though haunting may be the better word for it, as Wonderland seems to have experienced rather a bit of wear and tear since Alice first fell down the rabbithole. The castles (both white and red) were fantastic to look at, and Burton obviously had a very good look at the sources of Alice images because certain of the scenes looked almost true to how Tenniel imagined them - that is, before Burton adds his whimisical and sometimes cheeky interpretation to them. I am thinking of the 'Drink Me' scene with all the extra doors. I don't think they were there in the original book... And my personal favourite - the cherry tinted sunnies on the Red Queen's nose as she plays croquet is a clever addition to the scene.

Still, a word of warning: don't go looking for Carroll's Alice in Burton's updated adaptation. You'll be sorely disappointed and while I find myself enjoying the movie, it's hardly a substitute for the novels. (Beware lazy lit student who thinks watching the film is as good as reading the book) This is good. It's about time somebody considered re-inventing Alice rather than try to slavishly copy it or worse still, water it down till the punch it ought to have made has absolutely no impact...

Rating: 4/5

A couple of things

Children are morbid.

"The old lady had fractured her arms and legs. But she is fine."

Will all the forces of everything good and pure tell me how to mark this in compositions?

Unbelievably, I am going to say the following:

Avatar, in spite of being obviously and disgustingly overhyped, is actually worth your 6 bucks (if you're a student). I have it on good authority, trust me.

Campion's Bright Star(s)

This just proves that if a teacher needs anything literary that has been made into a film, the BBC will have had a hand in it somehow. But still, this looks like a lovely portrayal of the life and love of John Keats. *rubs hands*

9 - Shane Acker

This is the original short film titled "9" by Shane Acker which is currently being adapted into a feature length by Tim Burton and Acker.
It is creepy, slightly depressing and rather endearing.

Poster Talk: Weird things and Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland

There is something fishy in the air, only it ain't mermaids. Will the person who is cooking blaachan at a very inappropriate time please desist?

And, of weird things in the air, look what Johnny Depp and Tim Burton did for Alice in Wonderland. And you thought Willie Wonka was weird.

For this edition of Poster Talk, I will also be refraining from placing publicity material of the movie of discussion in the post. This is to ensure that no reader will get hurt, suffer any injuries, physical or mental on having to repeatedly look at Johnny Depp's rendition (apparition) of the Mad Hatter when it finishes loading and pops out at the top of my page.

Disney, in the vein of the Pirates series have released several posters each featuring a different character from the film. So far, spotted include Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (sharing one poster), The White and Red Queens, the Mad Hatter and Alice herself. All of them feature circusy looking backgrounds that are colour coordinated with the indivdual characters. In Depp's case, the background is a lovely peridot green with a painted looking texture and the silhouettes of little black top hats radiating from the centre of the poster in an outward spiral.

If that doesn't sound psychedelic enough, look at Depp in Hatter mode. That shock of orange hair springing out from under the battered hat stuffed and pierced with bibs and bobs, that really ugly bow tie, that hideous make-up. He looks like a walking child molester for goodness sake. Or-or a walking mistake at the very least. Putting aside the purple eyebags that suggest that the Mad Hatter has been imbibing on caffeine for far too long, there is that taut, leering overstretched grin and a generous layer of white powder to rival Robert Pattinson's.

And yet, such a mess of a look which hardly looks like the effort of a rational person and more of a certain escapee from Arkham Asylum was in fact put together with a lot of careful in-depth thinking which makes my own academic experience of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass look like a walk in a park. With such effort on the part of Depp, I can only imagine that the mad hatter, which has played a secondary if memorable role in the novels, would have a more central one in the film.

No doubt, Burton's adaption of the text would be a looser one, something which may breathe fresh air and significance for a well-loved and familiar text if executed well - see Cuaron's adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Disney for one, seems determined to put behind the apparently bad cartoon version that they released in 1951 and is gunning for Burton's rising clout and a audience raised on and innured to the temptations of vampires, gothic-chic, LOTR, Harry Potter, anime, fantasy, and horror. Weird is cool again. It's now or never people, if you want to don a bowler, loud checkered tweed and gloves while walking down Toa Payoh.

No doubt, even if Burton doesn't stray far from the original, and preliminary reports* seem to hint that he will be, the visual mishmash which looks like the twisted dregs left over from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are a far cry from how Tenniel and the Golden Age Illustrators for Children's Books like Rackham envisioned Wonderland - less tame and a lot more dangerous for one - if the deep and intense hues of the poster are anything to go by.

*scroll down. down. somemore. look for the article called "Burton's "Wonderland" Revealed", which gives some insight into how the world of Wonderland works.

Okay, I take it back

This is just to say, I take back what I said about Angels and Demons (the movie)and how it is actually waaay better than I anticipated. I suspect however that my enjoying the movie has also to do with how long it has been since I've read the novel and I was kept in suspension for the film because I'd forgotten the plot. That, and how I now know who Bernini is and Ewan McGregor as the Camerlengo also helped.

Poster Talk: Blood: The Last Vampire

Oooh. Whee. Another vampire movie.

First of all. This is very very loosely based on a Production I.G. animation of the same title. The title of which is Blood: The Last Vampire. First up, this poster does not suck. It is very difficult nowadays to make a sucky poster, as backed by the producers of Crouching Tiger and Hero would ensure that the publicity would at least do the film justice. This is clear from the way my sister was jubilant that there was a life-action adaption of the anime version. When I complained that the poster looked dubious and B-movie-ish, she'd been excitedly raving about it, mostly because of the trailer (which was not bad) and because she had a lot of time to fangirl over the oversized poster in dim lighting at the cinema in AMK. When I, in my dimwitted way (which is what I sound like about any anime that my sister has watched and I haven't) that she has funny eyes my sister cheerfully said that her eyes glowed red because the main character happened to be half vampire. Ookay. Only the poster girl seems to have eyes of a funny silver colour like the evil mutant person whose name I can't remember from the 2nd installment of the X-Men series.

Prior to watching the film, most of the conversation about the same title seemed to be about two different things.

So, I say. Are you sure this is based on Blood+ and the anime film version?

Sis: Yes!

Me: Uh. I thought she had short hair. She's got pigtails in the trailer you know?

Sis: She did in the anime also! But she uses only one sword. The poster (frustrated sigh) shows her with two.

Me: Umm. And is her mother the evil white vampire?

Sis: No! What are you talking about?

Me: But it looked that way in the trailer...

For the record. She does only have one sword in the film, and a very neat way of extracting said kantana from the long container she hides it in. The Powers that Be knows why the publicity shows two in some of them.

But onward to the review proper. Ignoring the signs that this movie was made on a lower budget than most Hollywood blockbuster season flicks, it was an okay watch. There is plenty of hacking and slashing and rooftop action sequences for those who like that kind of thing and well, pretty much nothing else for everyone who doesn't. The plot is thin. The I am your mother schtick is as old as Star Wars (original series). My sister bemoaned how nobody ever does these things nowadays, but they unfortunately did... so yeah. I have mercifullly, not watched the animated version, so I can forgive that a cinematic experience like this usually calls for some semblance of plot and character growth which may have been unnecessary in a shorter animated version. Also, once again, ignoring some of the not so well shot action bits, the movie was quite enjoyable in an average sort of way. I only wish there were more scenes of Onigen (aka boss villain). She is utterly smug and cool in an evil vampire way and about the only thing with class apart from Saya (main character) on screen. I however wish she used Japanese instead of Engrish, as the latter sounded quite terrible. Still, as proof of the coolness of the actress, she still conveyed the evil sexiness of the character in spite of her awkward prounciation, and that is always difficult to execute at best.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

I suggest Terminator Salvation. If you're going to go in blind to a series, watch that instead. I think it was much better. Even with the CGI Arnie in the buff.

Picture sourced from here.

Poster Talk: Summer Wars preview

Already I am excited. Summer Wars puts itself on my must watch list by default that it is helmed by Mamoru Hosoda, whose last directorial effort was the excellent The Girl who Leapt Through Time. They are clearly gunning for the winning formula again, since the writer-director-studio team is the same as observed from various sources.

The last time they came together, The Girl who Leapt Through Time trumped Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea in terms of both public and critical reception (that is how good this film is). This was an amazing feat, because Mamoru Hosoda is a virtual unknown next to Ghibli and Miyazaki. In fact, the irony is that Hosoda had been attached to direct Howl's Moving Castle but stepped down. And, up till now, I have not stopped wondering what the alternative would have been like.

I love Studio Ghibli. But I am also completely interested to see what Hosoda, Satoko Okudera (the writer) and Madhouse (the studio) will give us this time. For one thing, they clearly got a budget raise. The poster is amazingly stylish. There is something futuristic in the chunky font, but the silhouette of a girl clutching a traditional banner/flag seems to point to a less space-age look. It'll probably be something like The Girl who Leapt Through Time which has sci-fi elements but is set in modern Japan.

As for the story, depending on who you ask, it could either be about a young girl who drags her family through a bunch of adventures, or a family on an adventure with an old woman. Sketchy, I know. Nevertheless, I am already suspecting lots of green scenery - like set somewhere with lots of trees. With blue skies. That last one is a cliche for adventure type plots as it is. Basically at least enough bushes to conduct woodland wars in. It is summer after all...

Sources: Twitch, Yokaze, Anime News Network

Poster Talk: Twilight

First up, the producers clearly didn't spend a lot on marketing. I mean, just look at this: the girl actually looks nothing like her poster self in the movie. Then, what in the world were they thinking? That cheesy pose and bare-ness of the poster really really irks. Just because there will be a guaranteed crowd doesn't mean they ought to scrimp on publicity. Then, I do know that Robert Pattinson (aka Cedric Diggory) plays a vampire (Edward Cullen), but did they have to do the make-up like he was dead more than undead? One feels like thumping the table at the wasted opportunity.

The movie itself fares no better. Like the generic, lack of attention and any pretence at effort poster, the flick is utterly flickawayable. The idea of an American gothique in the film seems to be a lot of mist, drippy woods, and green and grey tones for the sets and costumes. While there were some lovely scenes, the cinematography, perhaps unconsciously influenced by all that meteorological wetness, was rather watery fare too. And don't go giving me that old but it's a teen flick adage. Romeo + Juliet was a well-shot teen flick. Titanic stole many hearts (young and old) and won an Oscar. High School Musical was not my kind of movie, but it didn't suffer from bad filming. And grievously, they didn't even follow the book closely, which might have accounted for the awkward dialogue. I found myself just waiting for the next scene to happen, given that the lack of momentum meant me talking to the lovely ladies beside me and ogling the audience instead.

Speaking of which, the audience sighed at Edward Cullen's every whim (wince) and when the lead vampire made his first appearance, there was I kid you not, a collective sigh from them (double wince). One can only wonder what the reluctant boyfriends are thinking. And gorgeous Pattinson may be, but he lacks the something to carry off the character - and gorgeous is nothing if actor and role do not suit. Kirsten Stewart did a better job though their roles aren't anything to compare by. A teenage girl is possibly easier to play than a century-old vampire though I have my doubts about this statement as it is.

In any case, one can only hope the book is tons better. For the sake of the rest of the living world.

Poster Talk: Wanted

Wanted: Six Dollars Back

Or that's what my sis, the veteran gamer says even before we've left the cinema. On hindsight, I suppose this poster should have warned me:

Firstly, Angelina Jolie is NOT the main character in the film, in spite of her taking up two thirds of the poster. Those of you who have some communication studies background should be able to deduce this as poster as being a sneaky attempt to milk the crowd with a well-known sexy A-list star, regardless of actual screen time and plot.

Like the poster, the film didn't seem to require more than a superficial level of acting from the cast. Jolie just has to look sexy and mysterious all the time, which shouldn't take much effort from her, and McAvoy seems to just have to say a particular four letter word while doing the narrative and dialogue all the time, which I suppose, doesn't take much effort either. The only thing that probably needed work was looking buff for the screen. Still, it's a slick movie. Too slick in some ways. The gun fights are cool, but at the expense of screen time that would have been better off dealing with character development. The plot twist was really cliched, and came too late into the film to be properly resolved. I mean, yes, this is an action flick, so there doesn't need to be much character development, but to the point where I don't feel anything for the characters??? Enough said here.

Before I pysch everyone who reads this into thinking "sucky movie", Wanted isn't actually down in the pits yet. It's an average-ish sort of movie, but I admittedly don't think I'll tire of watching them (meaning the cast) curve bullets around bits of meat and each other. Those were some of the coolest scenes involving slow-mo bullets since The Matrix, and that's saying something, considering how the rest of Wanted was so completely lacklustre.

On another point:
Trust the Japanese to come up with a poster that defies the usual Hollywood advertising conventions (no Angelina Jolie in it!).

Images sourced from: http://www.worstpreviews.com/review.php?id=818

Poster Talk: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Everyone knows what this poster is. No need for introductions I think. In any case, skipping the poster harping that has accompanied my movie posts in recent months, I just want to forget the unpleasant staff and slow-crawling queues at Cathay Causeway and just focus on the sole fragment of light and hope for mankind in the whole of a pretty bad day. We entered the cinema in medias res no thanks bloody slow staff, and by the time I'd settled down, I expect I had missed some ten minutes of the film.

I liked the movie, because Andrew Adamson, the director, has made the film his own. It's pretty much nothing like C.S. Lewis at all. Which does remind me... I recall not really liking (loathe is too strong a word) Lucy of the four Pevensie children, but really, the choice of casting is pretty darn good, and the on screen chemistry of the siblings seems to have taken off quite nicely in this sequel, which, if I may add, is really really nothing like the dull, stuffy book version. I do recall, in spite of the years seperating us, that Prince Caspian (the book) was not one of the better Chronicle of Narnia as I was reading the series in secondary school... My favourites are the ever famous The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Silver Chair and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is the subject of the next film in the Narnia franchise. (Yay). It's a pity that Adamson is not directing, as I think he made the films a lot more palatable to a general audience in some ways, for example, by being less morally didactic and emphasizing the value of imagination. Very very important, the latter.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. You can still read though.

The concern of course is that without Adamson helming the third Narnia film, it remains to be seen if the franchise can play catch-up. Already, certain all too familiar images are appearing on the screen, such as walking trees and mild-mannered little New Zealand streams suddenly materializing violent and rapid flooding that kill off a good lot of the enemy. There are of course a few little other details that may also suggest the same production company had some dealing with another famed trilogy, but that is speculation for another day. In any case, I suppose imdb has all the gossip and data to make the comparisons. Alternatively, one may argue that seeing as Tolkien and Lewis were such pals anyway, it is unsurprising if this is Adamson's way of paying homage to that friendship. Or maybe the trees and the river already were in the book.
I honestly can't remember. In any case, I hope it wouldn't turn out to be another X-Men-Ratner debacle. What a way to end the series.

The Film that Might Have Been

And so, in an alternate dimension, an altenate me might have been watching the Mamoru Hosoda version of Howl's Moving Castle had he stayed on with Ghibli for the length of the project. It looks to me like it would have been a more faithful adaptation of the book and looking at the storyboards, I can't help but wish that he had completed the project.

The picture above is actually a scene that existed in the book, though of course there are slight differences. The one below that shows the Witch of the Waste is also closer to the way her physical appearance appeared in the book. The man (I suspect he's Gaston) obviously can't be Howl. If you've watched the Miyazaki version or read the book you'll know what I mean.

What do you all think?

credits for images: http://www.pelleas.net/aniBBS/viewtopic.php?t=400&sid=0b4150aa477a9687252ab4d3e0f2369f

Your 'if' is the only peacemaker, much virtue in 'if'. - As You Like It

Now that my arduous three weeks of revision and exams are over, I am so looking to using my brain for happier things. Cheers for the holidays!

Poster Talk: Sky Crawlers Update

image source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-04-28/oshii-sky-crawlers-trailer-officially-posted-online

I take back what I said about how this was going to be old school animation with less CGI. The new poster, with the added figures (presumably main characters) says its going to be CGI-heavy. Sigh...

Poster Talk: Ponyo on a Cliff

image source: http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html

More anime posters! This one is from Studio Ghibli's latest fare, Ponyo on a Cliff, directed by the venerable Miyazaki Hayao of Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) and Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) fame. Word has it that he is going back to his roots too, and CGI will take a back seat... wait. this sounds familiar... Anyway, it is true that unlike his last 3 works, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's, Ponyo will feature more hand-drawn water coloured art.
Anyway, what you see up there is most likely the official movie poster for the film as so far, what's released on the net appear to be colour sketches for the film and unlikely as poster material. The guy in the middle is Suzuki Toshio, the publicity guy and producer for many many Miyazaki films, since Miyazaki has a habit of not talking to the press. Nevertheless, back to the topic.

The Ponyo poster is cute. Er. Actually, when I saw this, I got into a sulky mood since this really doesn't say anything more about the film than what fans I suspect, already know (namely, that it is about a 5 year-old boy who rescues a goldfish princess). Well, actually it does. The target audience seems to be about five years old. Darn. The sulky mood as some might have guessed is that the film really seems too kiddy for me to enjoy, which is sad. The theme song is also highly simplistic, almost like a nursery rhyme. Ungh. I'm almost worrying that this will end up something like Panda! Go Panda! which is beyond kiddy. Even young-at-heart adults would have found that painful to watch.

The poster's candy colours are appealing though. After the muted palettes in Spirited Away and Mononoke-hime, there seems to be a move towards pastels and bright pinks and yellows and blues - Howl's coat was...colourful to say the least, though echoes of the intricately decadent design from Spirited Away lingers in some of the scenes. Here, in Ponyo, I think there will be less of that decadence and rich art and that it'll look looser in design. I think the deep red from Mononoke and Spirited Away will also be taking a step back, if not from most of the film, it will be in the advertising. Besides, red is really too strong a colour when advertising for children.

Am I being subjective?
Yes.

At any rate, I am wondering if I will be giving this film a miss. Haha. Who am I kidding?

Poster Talk: The Sky Crawlers

image: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-06-20/oshii

Right, this is Mamoru Oshii's latest film which I refered to in an earlier post. The poster has been out for some time and I can't gush enough about it. The design is deceptively simple. Some people naturally would complain that like their first teaser advert of blue sky and fluffy clouds, this poster tells us absolutely nothing about the film. I agree. The poster says very little, and I don't know Japanese, so it's worse, since the taglines are beyond my comprehension too. Nevertheless, allow me to endeavour with gushing.

Firstly, before we get anywhere, a caveat. I am one of those people who are overly fond of blue skies dotted with clouds, so I am defintely approaching this from a biased point of view. If we had that Oz poster, I would assure you that blue skies and a rainbow would have found it's way into the poster somehow. In my defense, it would have fit the theme very much.

Right, so, on to the Sky Crawlers poster. It's nice. The simple design is refreshing. If you park it next to posters that try to squash as many famous faces as humanly possible into the frame, it'll be crowded, looks like a star vehicle (which the film likely is), and more importantly, looks as though it is trying too hard. A poster like this stands out from the rest because of it being opposite - sparse composition, and no stars or characters or various other objects to distract from its clean design. And because minimalist is always tasteful of course.

If you ask me, this poster works for me because it tantalizes. Rather than trying to overwhelm with information, instead, it refuses to say anything, which induces curiosity. Far more can be said by remaining politely poker-faced and inviting speculation. Having said that, I would also add that such a poster attests to several things already. One, it is about aviation. Definitely. Two, it is definitely a wistful sort of film, not in the vein of Ghost in the Shell, which is all cyber punk; this one looks nostalgic, old school. CGI will be taking a backseat here. Three, it's attempting to straddle arty and commercial. In other words, it is tailored for the young movie going crowd. The plot, I suspect, won't be hard to follow at all, and there will be humorous bits.

All guesses of course. I have not watched it yet, and there is only a miserable short trailer out. I wonder if they'll be bringing in this to Singapore, this and Miyazaki's new film... At any rate, a pretty poster, and it says a lot. Really.

Wanted

WANTED:

$000,000 Cash REWARD

for

House of Many Ways

Vintage buttons

Black Jeans

Plain canvas shoes

Pretty ear studs

Dorian Gray

Sky Crawlers

Ponyo on a cliff

Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox

Empire of Ivory

Black Powder War

Life of Pi (illustrated)

Ballet flats

Tickets to Pillowman

A good Mystery/Detective Novel (any recs?)

Vanity Fair

Kite Runner

The Book Post: House of Many Ways preview

image: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/diana-wynne-jones/house-of-many-ways.htm

Hohoho. The sequel to Howl's Moving Castle.
I'd actually heard about this late last year, but didn't want to be too happy till the news was official. And you can't get any more official when the cover's out.

The book will be released in May/June 2008, which is...really soon! I hadn't expected it to be so fast, since the news was still pretty much the kind of "I heard so and so say so" sort of rumour. At any rate, I just want to blabber on about the cover for a bit.

Firstly, I was hoping for a more exciting cover. Or something with curly font, and this cover, with its straightforward vertical lines and realist style just doesn't do for a author who has had a habit of breaking stuffy societal conventions. Secondly, just because she is British, and her characters speak with (I can imagine) a crisp upper-class-ish accent (Chrestomanci) doesn't mean they would like that apalling Victorian era yellow wallpaper print on the bottom half of the cover. In other words, this cover is boring, even if I have to admit that this gradual melting of wallpaper prints into multiple doors is a rather nice concept.

On the other hand, I see what might be an homage to Miyazaki and the animators at Studio Ghibli. If you squint at the top right corner of the cover, you'll see this castle-shaped blot that looks suspiciously like the ramshackle thing Howl puts together in Hauru no Ugoko Shiro, right down to the turrety things rising out of the mist, and which seems to echo the opening scene of the film.

The great thing is, obviously, there is another DWJ book out to read really soon. I can't really be bothered about the cover (yeah right) so long as there is something inside to read, though a nice cover that does justice to the book contents really helps too. Of course, i can't say what the content of this book would be like, but I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be good...

In other news, fans of Mamoru Oshii, long time rival and some time collaborator with Hayao Miyazaki would be pleased to know if you haven't already known, that his new film, Sky Crawlers is due to be released some time this year.

BarberQ

Going to a BBQ and meeting the people you haven't met in a while or people you've never met at all is like watching Sweeney Todd.

Really.
It was

fun
disturbing

(slightly)
and

ended
too

Soon.

(Mostly, I just liked the title, so there, an analogy is born.)

The Incoherent Raving Review of Ratatouille

Oh my god it was soooooo cute my goodness the animation is absolutely brilliant did u see that did u see that? it's amazing what did they to the fur it looks like real fur for crying out loud i mean seriously it waves, the action is so smooth and the way the mouse i mean rats move! they are sooooo fat and tubby and just sooooo cute! aieeeeeee!!
It's a very simple story.
Of course it is! the best stories keep things simple sniffle i love it how touching...
alfredo linguini did u know you can order alfredo linguni for lunch? alfredo is a triple cheese spaghetti and if you prefer linguini you can actually order an alfredo linguini hahahahaha how weird is that?

Well.

If you made it through all that.. not bad. Pity. Because here is the coherent version, which you can actually read.
An excellent little film and all that. Pixar-Disney have done it again. Personally, I thought, with the Incredibles (I hated Incredibles. Who hates Incredibles too?) and Cars, they were on a downhill... but yippee! It seems they have found the right ingredients for the perfect Disney flick again! Whee and whoop and all that. Apart from all that raving, let's see if I can get a proper review done up...

Ratatouille is a cute little film indeed. The animation is absolutely world-class, if it can even be classed as such. Perhaps a more helpful description would be to say it was first rate animation that did justice to one of the mightiest animation houses. The fur looked real. The hair looked real (you can actually see the maroon highlights on one of the characters) and the food. I felt like chewing the screen. Apart from the tech involved, story-wise, it isn't quite anything new, but then who needs new? Chock-full of silly witty puns that actually work and lovable characters, the film would win over the sourest critic. Which goes to show, really, how important being earnest is, and a timely reminder that brilliant animation is nothing without content. (Think Incredibles... or any really lousy animation you had just watched)