The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame

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To me Porco Rosso is Miyazaki's best fairy tale it's not visually on the same level as his other works but the story work is much better. It tells a simple story well which is what is missing in many of Miyazaki's films.
Okay.

I've seen 11 of Hayao Miyazaki's movies. I'd probably rank Porco at 9 or 10, though I can't say I'm a fan of any of them.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Now that the Mofo Film Awards are done for a month or so, I can get back to this...
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews










Well I have questions, I'd like to review the film but explaining the plot would be quite the ordeal. Possession is the story of a couple breaking up, she's having an affair with this German atheist drug addict he's a condescending A-hole. I generally enjoyed the film though it was certainly a mixed bag for me. The director in an effort to give it a more affected aspect shoots the film at weird angles with a shaky cam. The camera work actually made me somewhat nauseous.


But I did enjoy the use of metaphor and symbolism and the FX work was very strong. I think what makes this go from a bad movie to a good movie is the lead performances from Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani they both played their characters OTT and did a fantastic job at it.


Good nom, whomever picked it.



Paper Moon is great, I'll even goes as far as; Paper Moon > Bonnie & Clyde '67.

Possession is crazy good, and "gets better in your mind" over time as it sinks in or something, hard to explain. It sure is exceptional and Isabelle Adjani blew me away with her performance. She was 'never the same' after this role much like what Vivien Leigh went through after Gone With the Wind.



Come and See 1985 ‘Иди и смотри’ Directed by Elem Klimov



A RELENTLESS MASTERPIECE…

Stop reading if you haven't seen this one yet, everybody who has to still see this should go in as blank and unknowing as I was. This film just blew me away, my write up is going to be a freestyle write up, no structure, no plot description nothing, just my initial raw reactions right after seeing it. The reactions and emotions this film evokes are on another level, it's of the scale! The makers knew this beforehand and said the following;

I understood that this would be a very brutal film and that it was unlikely that people would be able to watch it. I told this to my screenplay co-author, the writer Ales Adamovich. But he replied: "Let them not watch it, then. This is something we must leave after us. As evidence of war, and as a plea for peace." ~Elem Klimov

This is the realest, most horrific, brutal, shocking war movie I've ever seen. When it comes to getting the uncut raw art out there, Russians just don't give a f and don't tone down a damn thing. After this I need to watch something extremely cute, fluffy and innocent. Maybe i'll watch some 80's Snuggle fabric softener bear adds to wash this down.


Aleksei Kravchenko's lead performance intensity level and acting was bananas.
From a film making perspective it's genius, the build up is perfection. Completely lured me in soften me up and then sucker punched me with the final act. Yes this film successfully knocked me the F out.


Whoever nominated this thank you, the way it's looking now, you got this in the bag.




I think what makes this go from a bad movie to a good movie is the lead performances from Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani they both played their characters OTT and did a fantastic job at it.
The over the top acting kinda killed the film from me, every scene of those two fighting just annoyed me.




Princess Mononoke
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Anime is something I really want to love but just have a hard time connecting with. In my limited experience with it there's Spirited Away at the top, then a pretty big drop to the next tier where Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers and now Princess Mononoke sit.

A young prince protects his village from a raging boar demon becoming infected from the battle and is told that he must now leave the village to find a cure or die. He travels west on his elk and ends up getting involved in a battle between the forest creatures wanting to protect their Spirit and a local town, Iron Town, who is destroying the forest by mining and the production of iron.

This is one of those movies that I think I'm appreciating more as I think about it than I did while watching it, which is good because it means I'll probably rewatch it at some point. It's a great looking movie, maybe my favorite of the anime I've seen. There were quite a few moments where the animation really impressed me, usually whenever the story moved into the forest. The shot were we first see the Forest Spirit through the tree's was kind of a WOW! moment. I like the creative characters of Spirited Away a little more but this was prettier, imo.

I also liked that the story wasn't simply humans bad, nature good which is kind of the direction I thought it was going to go the first time we saw Iron Town with all of its pollution. The characters have layers to them, especially the Prince and the lady who runs Iron Town (sorry, not good with names). It's not Avatar (thank God!) There was a bit of wiggle room in so much as the good aren't always good and the bad aren't always awful, which I appreciated. The voice acting was good with one exception - Billy Bob. Boy, it sounded like he was simply reading his lines and I couldn't get into that character at all.

Overall I thought this was pretty good. There's enough here to warrant a rewatch at some point where I could see the rating going up a little.



That's what I thought, pretty good.

Congrats Fredrick you are the second member to finish pending CaptainT.

Are you still with us CaptainT?



What ones have you seen CR?
Only two Spirited Away & Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Both would be 5/5 movies for me. Well maybe next time we do this HoF I'll get a chance to see more of his work.



Only two Spirited Away & Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Both would be 5/5 movies for me. Well maybe next time we do this HoF I'll get a chance to see more of his work.
Oh gosh, I’ve gotta give you something next time we do this. I think you’ll really love Porco Rosso, that has old Hollywood vibes that you might love. Totoro, Kiki, and Ponyo May be a bit “kiddish” but I still think you’d like them. And I bet you love Howl and Castle in the Sky too.

I’ll probably nominate a couple of them in hall of fames in the future. Sorry MV lol, at least you never have to see Spirited Away again.



It’s interesting though that Ratatouille is one of your favorite movies, to me that’s the most Miyazaki-esque Pixar (I.e the world building over plot, emphasis on creativity/style of animation).*

Although I guess that’s a pretty far fetched comparison, Ghibli and Pixar are nothing alike.



Oh gosh, I’ve gotta give you something next time we do this. I think you’ll really love Porco Rosso, that has old Hollywood vibes that you might love. Totoro, Kiki, and Ponyo May be a bit “kiddish” but I still think you’d like them. And I bet you love Howl and Castle in the Sky too...I’ll probably nominate a couple of them in hall of fames in the future.
That would probably do well with me, you never know but I was very impressed with Spirited Away. Nausica Valley of the Wind I seen when I was much younger and have never seen it since...and yet I still recall certain scenes fondly.



That would probably do well with me, you never know but I was very impressed with Spirited Away. Nausica Valley of the Wind I seen when I was much younger and have never seen it since...and yet I still recall certain scenes fondly.
I think I’d put Nausicaa as my 5th favorite Miyazaki, still great but nowhere near his best. And yeah hope you enjoy Princess Mononoke too!

I think animation is probably the only genre/area where I’m more of an expert than you!