Last movie you saw?

[Maximilian]

Speaking of Studio Ghibli, here is a news item from today:

Goodbye Studio Ghibli, your genius will endure

As Studio Ghibli's future looks uncertain, Robbie Collin pays tribute to the magic of Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata's animation studio, which produced Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11009842/Goodbye-Studio-Ghibli-your-genius-will-endure.html

By Robbie Collin, Film Critic
8:53AM BST 04 Aug 2014

When work began on My Neighbour Totoro, the second film to be made at Studio Ghibli, the director,
Hayao Miyazaki, wrote the following notes on the first page of his project notebook.
"My Neighbour Totoro aims to be a happy and heartwarming film, a film that lets the audience go
home with pleasant, glad feelings. Lovers will feel each other to be more precious, parents will fondly
recall their childhoods, and children will start exploring in the thickets behind shrines and climbing
trees to try to find a totoro" – the benign, half-owlish, half-ursine woodland creatures invented by
Miyazaki who give the picture its title.

That's an ambitious remit for a children's cartoon – particularly at a time in which Japanese animation
was produced, sold and guzzled like fast-food. Further down the page, beneath some more preparatory
thoughts, Miyazaki wrote down three phrases, each one describing something he wanted cinema-goers
to see in his film: 'what we have forgotten', 'what we don't notice' and 'what we are convinced we have
lost'.

"Believing that we still have these things," he concluded, "I am proposing to make My Neighbour
Totoro."

Miyazaki wrote those words in December 1986, just a year and a half after he founded Ghibli with
Isao Takahata, a fellow artist he'd worked with on the shop floor of the great animation studio Toei
Doga, and Toshio Suzuki, a former tabloid journalist whose bloody-minded charm had been invaluable
in publishing Miyazaki's great manga work, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, five years earlier.
They named the studio after an Italian warplane: Miyazaki had been fascinated by flight since
childhood, and his father owned a factory that manufactured aeroplane parts during the Second World
War. The plane, in turn, had been named after the winds that blew from Africa across the
Mediterranean, and Ghibli would blow a cleansing wind through the animation industry.

What we have forgotten, what we don't notice, what we are convinced we have lost. Read back today,
after news of the studio's indefinite suspension of production broke late on Sunday night, you
could hardly think of a better summing-up of the unique wonderment of Ghibli's work than those three
phrases. Their films have a rare power that allows you to see the world not through fresh eyes, but
warmer, wiser ones than you knew you had.

My Neighbour Totoro is one of the greatest films ever made in any genre, medium, country or era, but
you could hardly call the studio's output since then slack. Astonishingly, it was originally released in
Japan as a double-bill with Grave of the Fireflies; a tragic, poetic-realist anti-war story directed by
Takahata, who had been inspired by Italian filmmakers such as Rossellini and De Sica and wanted to
make a Japanese Bicycle Thieves; a Rome, Open City that spoke of the devastation suffered by Kobe
in the Allied firebombing raids at the end of the Second World War.

Miyazaki and Takahata were opposites in almost every meaningful way. Miyazaki was so dedicated to
his studio's success that he worked 20-hour shifts at the studio, leaving his wife to raise their two
sons, Goro and Keisuke, single-handedly. Takahata, meanwhile, was significantly more laid-back:
Miyazaki nicknamed him 'Paku-san' – Mr Munch, from the same word as the video-game character
Pac-Man – for the way he would amble into the office every morning still eating breakfast, and would
joke that he was descended from a sloth.

[erin is nice]

what I could recall offhand of the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the same source material (their animated version was released in 2009 or 2010), so I "tuned in" to see if it had aged well; for some time in my memory, I had looked fondly on the '90s version (at least the parts I thought I remembered) after seeing the Ghibli one, because Ghibli's effort came across as unusually weak.  Having re-watched the Borrowers movie from the '90s, I confess I look much more favorably on the Ghibli now: 

I disagree with criticisms of the Studio Ghibli movie. I thought it was beautiful. Every frame was a work of art. Also, it was a truly "G" rated movie. I was able to bring young children to see it at the theater without any objectionable content of any kind.

Have you seen Ponyo? I love Ponyo.

[piabee]

Have you seen Ponyo? I love Ponyo.

HAM

[Maximilian]

what I could recall offhand of the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the same source material (their animated version was released in 2009 or 2010), so I "tuned in" to see if it had aged well; for some time in my memory, I had looked fondly on the '90s version (at least the parts I thought I remembered) after seeing the Ghibli one, because Ghibli's effort came across as unusually weak.  Having re-watched the Borrowers movie from the '90s, I confess I look much more favorably on the Ghibli now: 

I disagree with criticisms of the Studio Ghibli movie. I thought it was beautiful. Every frame was a work of art. Also, it was a truly "G" rated movie. I was able to bring young children to see it at the theater without any objectionable content of any kind.

Have you seen Ponyo? I love Ponyo.

No, I haven't seen Ponyo. I've wanted to watch it, but others with whom I usually watch movies have insisted that it is only for small children.

I highly recommend the overlooked Studio Ghibli gem, Kokurikozaka Kara, "From Up on Poppy Hill."
You can watch the whole movie here:

http://www.animeplus.tv/kokurikozaka-kara-episode-1-online

It's appropriate for adults and teens. There's nothing really bad in it, but it's not aimed at children, and they wouldn't understand a lot of the themes.

[Maximilian]

what I could recall offhand of the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the same source material (their animated version was released in 2009 or 2010), so I "tuned in" to see if it had aged well; for some time in my memory, I had looked fondly on the '90s version (at least the parts I thought I remembered) after seeing the Ghibli one, because Ghibli's effort came across as unusually weak.  Having re-watched the Borrowers movie from the '90s, I confess I look much more favorably on the Ghibli now: 

I disagree with criticisms of the Studio Ghibli movie. I thought it was beautiful. Every frame was a work of art. Also, it was a truly "G" rated movie. I was able to bring young children to see it at the theater without any objectionable content of any kind.

Have you seen Ponyo? I love Ponyo.

Here's where you can watch Ponyo on-line:

http://www.animeplus.tv/ponyo-on-a-cliff-by-the-sea-movie-online

[tmw89]

It came to my attention earlier this week that an old '90s movie, The Borrowers, would air on a cable station tonight. I had seen the movie only when it originally ran in theaters, and thought of it recently while going over what I could recall offhand of the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the same source material

Have you read the books? The live one strays so far that I never bothered to watch it. The Studio Ghibli is an acceptably lovely adaptation. I should see it again.

I'm not sure if I read the books or not (weird as that may sound)... so, probably no.

But after seeing The Borrowers again, I feel like I have to give the Ghibli a re-watch.

[tmw89]

what I could recall offhand of the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the same source material (their animated version was released in 2009 or 2010), so I "tuned in" to see if it had aged well; for some time in my memory, I had looked fondly on the '90s version (at least the parts I thought I remembered) after seeing the Ghibli one, because Ghibli's effort came across as unusually weak.  Having re-watched the Borrowers movie from the '90s, I confess I look much more favorably on the Ghibli now: 

I disagree with criticisms of the Studio Ghibli movie. I thought it was beautiful. Every frame was a work of art. Also, it was a truly "G" rated movie. I was able to bring young children to see it at the theater without any objectionable content of any kind.

Have you seen Ponyo? I love Ponyo.

No, I haven't seen Ponyo. I've wanted to watch it, but others with whom I usually watch movies have insisted that it is only for small children.

It's practically required viewing; although not top-tier, the animation is something special.  Sosuke's mother might be one of the best characters Ghibli made in the 21st century.

I highly recommend the overlooked Studio Ghibli gem, Kokurikozaka Kara, "From Up on Poppy Hill."
You can watch the whole movie here:

http://www.animeplus.tv/kokurikozaka-kara-episode-1-online

It's appropriate for adults and teens. There's nothing really bad in it, but it's not aimed at children, and they wouldn't understand a lot of the themes.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago.  That scene in the auditorium, [spoiler]when they break out into song[/spoiler]... too great!  The non-diegetic music could have been better though.

[Maximilian]

Sosuke's mother might be one of the best characters Ghibli made in the 21st century.

And she looks a lot like Erin is Nice.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago.  That scene in the auditorium, [spoiler]when they break out into song[/spoiler]... too great!  The non-diegetic music could have been better though.

What? The early sixties soundtrack was one of the best parts. Being introduced to songs like "Sukiyaki" (Ue o Muite Arukou) is worth the price of admission alone.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc[/yt]

[Answer posted only after checking dictionary to find out what "non-diegetic music" is.]

[Daniel]

I've seen most Studio Ghibli films (the well-known ones anyway) but I never did see The Secret World of Arrietty.  Was it any good?  I'll have to check it out sometime.  I never saw or read The Borrowers either so I guess I won't have anything to compare it to...

I did like Ponyo but I think my favourite Studio Ghibli film is Castle in the Sky.

[Arun]

I've seen most Studio Ghibli films (the well-known ones anyway) but I never did see The Secret World of Arrietty.  Was it any good?  I'll have to check it out sometime.  I never saw or read The Borrowers either so I guess I won't have anything to compare it to...

I did like Ponyo but I think my favourite Studio Ghibli film is Castle in the Sky.

Castle in the sky was pretty good

[Maximilian]

I just finished watching Omoide Poro Poro "Only Yesterday." (The English title doesn't translate the Japanese at all which means something like "The Drip Drop of Memory."

It was outstanding. Very beautiful. Very moving. It perfectly fits the Ghibli motto of reminding people of "what we have forgotten," "what we fail to notice," "what we think we have lost."

It was made by Takahata, Studio Ghibli's other director. He didn't make as many movies as Miyazaki, but he made "Grave of the Fireflies."

You can watch the movie here:

http://www.animeplus.tv/only-yesterday-movie-online

[tmw89]

I just finished watching Omoide Poro Poro "Only Yesterday." (The English title doesn't translate the Japanese at all which means something like "The Drip Drop of Memory."

It was outstanding. Very beautiful. Very moving. It perfectly fits the Ghibli motto of reminding people of "what we have forgotten," "what we fail to notice," "what we think we have lost."

It was made by Takahata, Studio Ghibli's other director. He didn't make as many movies as Miyazaki, but he made "Grave of the Fireflies."

You can watch the movie here:

http://www.animeplus.tv/only-yesterday-movie-online

He also made Pom Poko, generally considered Ghibli's worst movie.

His fourth movie for the Studio, My Neighbors the Yamadas, felt very much like an hour and a half of animated yonkomas.

Haven't seen his latest, Princess Kaguya, yet.  It's supposed to have flopped at the Japanese box office, but I've read a bunch of favorable reviews for it.

[Maximilian]

I just finished watching Kokurikozaka Kara "From Up on Poppy Hill" again.

It was even more beautiful this time than last time. Everything about it was a stunning work of art. The drawings were gorgeous. The music was so perfectly suited to the time and the place and the mood. The movie was so incredibly heartfelt. It perfectly accomplishes the the goals of Studio Ghibli by reminding us of:
"What we have forgotten,"
"What we have failed to notice," and
"What we thought we have lost,"
while providing hope that perhaps all is not lost after all.

You can watch it on the internet here:
http://www.animeplus.tv/kokurikozaka-kara-episode-1-online

The theme of the movie is all about preserving our cultural heritage at a time when it is being bulldozed away. It's the perfect antidote for traditionalists who are depressed and ready to give up.

We watched it tonight to celebrate a young man who just scored 37 on the MCAT because the characters in the movie are young people who are full of hope and optimism and determined to do their best and overcome every adversity to accomplish their goals.

This is a recent Studio Ghibli movie made by Goro Miyazaki, the son of the famous Hayao Miyazaki. There is some criticism that he will not be able to carry on after his father, but this movie compares favorably with anything else that Studio Ghibli has made.

If Studio Ghibli shuts down, is anyone else making movies that are beautiful just for the sake of being beautiful? I can only think of something like "Days of Heaven," and that was 35 years ago.

[Cesar_Augustus]

I have read today that Studio Ghibli is not closing, instead, they are taking a pause.

[erin is nice]

what I could recall offhand of the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the same source material (their animated version was released in 2009 or 2010), so I "tuned in" to see if it had aged well; for some time in my memory, I had looked fondly on the '90s version (at least the parts I thought I remembered) after seeing the Ghibli one, because Ghibli's effort came across as unusually weak.  Having re-watched the Borrowers movie from the '90s, I confess I look much more favorably on the Ghibli now: 

I disagree with criticisms of the Studio Ghibli movie. I thought it was beautiful. Every frame was a work of art. Also, it was a truly "G" rated movie. I was able to bring young children to see it at the theater without any objectionable content of any kind.

Have you seen Ponyo? I love Ponyo.

Here's where you can watch Ponyo on-line:

http://www.animeplus.tv/ponyo-on-a-cliff-by-the-sea-movie-online

Ooh, thank you!